Why Linux is better than Windows at installing updates.

The Windows installation I have has been reverted back to Windows 7 from Windows 8 after using the Consumer Preview the impression I got from it shows that Microsoft will create another Windows Millennium Edition, it is better to use Windows 7 if you must use Windows at all. The only thing that is aggravating … Read more

How to install updates on various Linux and UNIX distributions.

The MS DOS operating system has quite a lot of command-line arguments that may be used to ease the task of file management. Sure, it is no match for the Linux shell, but the DOS operating system in its time. But then along came the easy to use Linux distributions such as Mandrake Linux and … Read more

Set up the package manager in FreeBSD 10.3 after installation.

The package manager in FreeBSD 10.3 is very effective and easy to use for setting up your FreeBSD 10.3 system. Here is how to install it. type this command as root. pkgpkg This will install the pkg package management system. Then, once that has completed, type this command to update the package repositories information. pkg … Read more

FreeBSD. A very useful UNIX distribution that makes using your computer a lot of fun.

I have just setup FreeBSD with a high resolution framebuffer console easily. I just typed vidcontrol -i mode to list all available framebuffer video modes and then I set the appropriate mode for my laptop screen. I then added this line to the /etc/rc.conf file: allscreens_flags=”MODE_332″. This sets a 1366*768 resolution for the framebuffer console. … Read more

Fixing the failed checksum from server error on FreeBSD 10 with the command line.

The failed checksum from server error is very annoying on FreeBSD 10. I fixed this by using the following command. pkg update -fpkg update -f This updated the package repositories information for FreeBSD 10 and allowed me to install the packages I required. This is a good command to run from time to time that … Read more

How I got Xorg mouse and keyboard working on FreeBSD 10

I recently installed FreeBSD 10 in VMware and I had problems getting the mouse and keyboard to work with Xorg. I solved this in the following manner. I added these four lines to my /etc/rc.conf file. moused_enable="NO" moused_nondefault_enable="NO" hald_enable="YES" dbus_enable="YES"moused_enable="NO" moused_nondefault_enable="NO" hald_enable="YES" dbus_enable="YES" The /etc/rc.conf file looks like this. hostname="deusexmachina" ifconfig_em0="DHCP" ifconfig_em0_ipv6="inet6 accept_rtadv" sshd_enable="YES" # … Read more

Linux has advantages over FreeBSD, but the PS4 has this as its main OS. Could this lead to improvements?

FreeBSD is lagging behind Linux on the desktop. Why is this? Linux has an advantage over FreeBSD. The usability of the aforementioned operating system is not up to the standards set by Linux that has the Red Hat Linux Enterprise distribution that is fully capable of powering servers and uses a simple GUI installer and … Read more

Useful online resources for learning the bash shell and other useful Linux documentation.

Some useful links and bits of information for budding Linux users. Bash cheat sheet. http://www.catonmat.net/download/bash-history-cheat-sheet.pdf. This is a very useful bash cheat sheet that will greatly assist you when you are learning the bash shell. (PDF). The .bash_history file may be blocked by using the unset HISTFILE variable in your .bashrc file. Read more about … Read more

Playstation 4 console to be running the FreeBSD UNIX operating system.

The new Playstation 4 console will have the FreeBSD operating system running on it. This will provide a solid UNIX base for the gaming platform. The actual name of the operating system that will power the PlayStation 4 is Orbis OS, which is a Sony spin of FreeBSD 9.0. It’s not a huge surprise FreeBSD … Read more

FreeBSD 9.0 ISO interesting and the possibility of using KMS to enjoy a fast UNIX desktop.

I have downloaded the FreeBSD 9.0 CURRENT ISO and I am planning to install that UNIX distribution to get more practice using a UNIX based operating system instead of always using Debian based Linux distributions. I want to try out the Intel KMS patch that is available for the FreeBSD 9.0 and later releases, therefore … Read more

Thoughts on the new Ubuntu for the Nexus 7 and installing a different shell for Ubuntu.

I have just found out that the Nexus 7 tablet now has an Ubuntu distribution that is working on that tablet computer. The Unity desktop does not seem to be very stable on this device though; it would be better to develop a proper tablet touch oriented interface like the Windows 8 Metro interface; the … Read more

FreeBSD operating system adopted by Netflix for hosting, and what Linux needs to improve on.

The FreeBSD UNIX distribution has been adopted by Netflix as the operating system of choice for their streaming movies service. This does not mean that they will be adding code to the FreeBSD codebase, Netflix are planning to host their service on FreeBSD powered Apache servers. FreeBSD is a reliable and powerful server operating system, … Read more

KMS support coming for FreeBSD 10 and Ubuntu desktop.

Linux Mint and the Unity desktop are compatible, but the Unity interface is prone to freezing and it is nowhere as fast as the KDE 4.7.4 desktop that is a far superior interface that is more useful, you can use the KDE desktop just like the familiar Windows desktop that many computer users are familiar … Read more

Problems with Fedora Core 16 and move to Ubuntu 12.04.

I have had a show-stopper bug in Fedora Core 16 that is preventing the distribution from loading. I have tried everything to fix this, to no avail. I am installing a CD of Ubuntu 10.10 which I will then upgrade to 12.04 Precise Pangolin. That will work better than Fedora, hopefully installing updates on that … Read more

Testdisk data recovery is very easy indeed.

I have recently corrupted a hard disk on my machine by accidentally typing fdisk -I /dev/ads:12 in FreeBSD and overwriting the partition table. Therefore I am using testdisk from http://www.cgsecurity.org. I got this installed on Sabayon by typing emerge testdisk and waiting a couple of minutes. After this, I selected the /dev/sda device and performed … Read more