Entries Tagged 'Ubuntu' ↓

I enjoy looking for Open Source Applications. I use Ubuntu Linux as often as practicable but rarely I need a certain tool or application that is only available under Windows and using it will save me time. I end up booting into Windows and then I am back in Linux as soon as possible. One of the first things I do once the pressure to complete the project has gone away is to look for an application or tool in Ubuntu Linux that I can use the next time it comes up.

Anyways, time is money in business. Any loss of productivity is a loss in income. I have come up with some open source applications that will help your business by saving you money, increasing productivity or both.

1. Open Office. Open Office is a suite of office software that competes very favorably with Microsoft Office. It features good quality applications and with their current level of advancement, they have a better feature set than Microsoft Office.

2. Gnu Cash. I looked over Gnu Cash a couple of years ago and it was clunky and ugly. Now, it is looking a lot better and its usefulness has grown tremendously. It’s now a very useful piece of Accounting software for small businesses.

3. Firefox. I know you all know about Firefox and how useful it is for surfing the internet, but will it help save money or make your employees more productive? Yes, sir. Your employees spend less time dealing with the hassles of Internet Explorer. You know, the spyware and viruses that love to live in IE?

4. Scribus. Scribus is great program for desktop publishing. You can layout and design your own brochures and newsletters from it and the quality is outstanding.

Next week, I will come up with a list of 4 Other Open Source Apps to Help Your Business.

On a forum, I decided to reply to a user about the ability to network two computers together in Ubuntu Linux. I decided to put the text of my response here because I think it’s very useful.

You have stumbled upon the most difficult to use facet of Linux. You have been indoctrinated that things are easier in Windows. Windows considered it a privilege to share an internet connection(some versions of Windows put restrictions on how you share an internet connection). Linux has so many different options, all you need to do is pick your poison.

How are you sharing the connection right now? I will tell you how I have shared my internet connection in the past using Ubuntu.

1) I have been connected on a USB GPRS modem to the internet under Ubuntu and shared my internet connection over a crossover ethernet cable. I merely set the default route to my modem on Ubuntu. I set up static ip addresses on both computers and on the 2nd computer I made sure it used as a the gateway the IP of the first computer, but later I found out this wasnt even needed.

2) When wireless was down in our office, I plugged an Ethernet cable into my notebook to access the net. My computer became a wireless access point. Unfortunately, no one could configure their Windows computers to access it, but my buddy using a Mac could access it.

3) In another school, we used a Linux server to be a proxy. It had two LAN cards. One LAN connected to the internet and the other LAN card connected to our internal network. It used a Squid Proxy server for all traffic.

Lots of options and they all work great.

New routers and professional networking equipment can be very expensive if you have to buy it new. Routers and switches from quality, professional brand names like Cisco can be prohibitively expensive and it isn’t any wonder why. Cisco Routers are high quality and they are made to give your durable and uninterrupted use for years. Unfortunately, this quality comes with a high price tag, that is unless you buy used cisco equipment.

Because of the impressive long lasting durability of used Cisco equipment, Cisco routers and Cisco switches rarely wear out, in fact it’s a lot more likely that you will out grow your capacity long before Cisco equipment wears out. If you find a quality provider of used equipment like Network Hardware Resale, you will even find that their equipment has all been refurbished and it’s as good as new. That means no quality concerns.

Since you know you’re getting the same great quality with used Cisco equipment, you can focus on the money you can save by choosing used networking equipment. The cost savings are phenomenal and if you are in business, saving money is always a good thing. Just find the router or other equipment you need and you are set. Buying used equipment when practicable is one of the best ways to save money.

If you have ever done a lot of repetitive tasks on a Ubuntu Linux machine, I’m sure you’ve wondered if there’s a better way of doing things. For example, say I need to run a dozen or more command line commands. I could enter them in one by one or I can put them all in a single file and run it as a script.
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I’ve used Xubuntu in the past. It works pretty good on older or low memory computers but recently I needed to install Ubuntu on an older system that still had 192mb of ram. It’s a Celeron 800 and under Xubuntu, it worked pretty good, but after a strange failure, I needed to reinstall Ubuntu and only had regular Ubuntu and Edubuntu CD to do the install with.

The Edubuntu Workstation Install is text based installer. It was very straight forward, just as straight forward as the graphical Live CD install. After the install, the system worked perfect.

It has Open Office, Scribus, Gimp,. Firefox, Gcompris, the KDE Education Pack, Kino Video Editor and more. If you need anything else, you can add in the Add/Remove dialog that exists in regular Ubuntu.