Month: October 2014

Google has announced that the next release of the Android operating system for smart phones will be called Lollipop. They name their releases after deserts and go in alphabetical order.

For full information about the new Android system check out the following links:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-15/google-unveils-android-lollipop
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/features/android-50-lollipop-whats-new-and-updated-607646
http://www.technobuffalo.com/videos/top-5-android-lollipop-features-googles-most-exciting-os-ever/

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo2absVbPEo]

If you are like me, you don’t care for the new tab page in Google Chrome. I have tried a number of extensions, but New Tab Redirect Plus is my favorite. It allows me to choose what page I want to go to when I open a new tab. You will find it is the Chrome Web Store. (see link below)

All you have to do is install it and add the url of the webpage you want it to open. Enter it right below “My new tab page should show this URL:” It also has some “Quick Save” options that you just click and it will add the correct URL. These “Quick Save” options include opening to the apps, bookmarks, and more.

Link
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-redirect-plus/hnpoebddognhfcnfbfjdbgmgadkmmdkj

Soon after you install Xubuntu 14.04, you will want to customize it. One of the things that I didn’t like is the date and time setting on the task bar. I like to have the full day, month, day, year, and time displayed. You can do this easily.

Right click on top of the date and time in the task bar. Select Properties, then a dialog box will appear. Under clock options you will see a drop down menu. Click on it and change it to Custom Format. Then simply copy and paste the following:

%A, %B %d, %Y %l:%M %p

After you are done, it should look like the picture below. To abbreviate the day replace %A with %a, to abbreviate the month replace %B with %b. And strangely enough, to uncapitalized the AM/PM replace %p with %P. This works in Linux Mint as well, and many other distros.

Links
http://php.net/manual/en/function.strftime.php

You may not know it, but you probably use Linux everyday. Google, Facebook, and Android all use Linux. So does the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. The list goes on.

Now that Amazon is hitting the market with their Kindle Fire and Fire Phone, it might be nice to know that it’s running Linux. Linux is everywhere, except on the desktop. But this is slowly changing as people begin looking for an operating system for their older computers.

Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_adopters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_OS

Every so often I work on a computer that is older. Yesterday I worked on an old Compaq Presario PC with only 512 MB of RAM. It was running, or I should say, struggling to run Windows Vista. The solution? Xubuntu. Even with Xubuntu you should have at least 512 MB of memory.

Xubuntu installed fine and was up and running in about a half hour. The owner of the computer is used to Windows, so I had a little customization to it. I first moved the panel to the bottom of the desktop. I eliminated the extra work spaces, added the word Start to the menu, and installed Google Chrome. I also installed the Xubuntu restricted extras. Then I transferred all his files.

It went better than I expected. I had no video card issues (Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950), and so I did not need to install any proprietary drivers. I set up the favorites for him, and customized Chrome.

My first impression was very positive. Xubuntu has come a long way since I used it last. I highly recommend it for older computers.

Xubuntu 14.04 is supported until April 2017.