Day 16: Xfce4

      Xfce4 is a desktop environment that is very, very, very fast and lightweight.  It's not very pretty or flashy but it gets the job done.  Though it is not beautiful like Gnome you can download many things to make it look like what you want.  If your computer is very slow get Xfce4.  There's a Ubuntu with Xfce4 on it. It's called Xubuntu and to get it for Arch Linux type sudo pacman -S Xfce4.  That's about it for today, signing off -Sam.

Day 15: Desktop Environments

     Over the next few days I'm going to compare desktop environments to help you decide which one you want.

Gnome

Gnome is a pretty cozy desktop environment that has the nicest menu ever!  It is one of the best desktop environments there are for beauty and coziness but it seriously is logy.  It is the heaviest desktop.  If you're using it in Arch Linux inside VM ware then it's really, really slow.  It's beautiful, awesome and really just a great desktop but not the best for slow computers.  Tune in next time to hear about Xfce. 

Day 14: What To Do If You Forgot Your Ubuntu Password

      Today again we're not trying out a distro.  I'm just giving advice on how to recover your password.   

What To Do If You Forgot Your Ubuntu Password

        First, if you have a Grub menu you just select Recovery Mode, but if you do not have a Grub menu press shift or escape right before Ubuntu boots.  After you click on Recovery Mode you will see lines of code going down your screen, don't panic, just let it do it's thing.  Then when everything is loaded there should be a menu.  Select Root on the menu and click enter.  A command line should appear at the bottom of the screen.  Type mount -o rw,remount /.  After that if you don't know the user your changing, type ls -home then type passwd (user), then it will ask you for your new password.  After that is done type: exit.  You will be at the Recovery Mode menu again.  Select Resume Normal Boot.  Even though it has done a normal boot, it is not a clean boot, some things don't work right, so you should probably reboot after that.              

Day 13: Just A Talk

     Today was one of those days that I'm not going to write a whole lot of Linux stuff.  Since it's a holiday and I have been doing holiday things and just taking a break and playing some games.  On holidays I might or might not post.  I hope you don't mind but if you do leave a comment about how often I should blog, sorry it's not Linux.  Happy Fourth of July!

                                                                            Signing Off,
                                                                             Sam



              

Day 12: Just A Tip

    Today I thought instead of showing off a new distro I would give you some tips about Linux in general.

First We Have Commonly Used Commands

Arch Linux and Pacman based distros 

sudo pacman -S (package) 

Installs a package.

sudo pacman -Rs

Removes a package.

sudo pacman -Syy

Upgrades mirrors and recognizes new ones.

sudo pacman -Syu

Upgrades a package.

Universal Commands

cd

Change Directory

useradd -m -g (group) -G (additional group) -s (login shell) (username)

This is to add a user.  You may have to change it slightly for the distro you're using but often it's pretty similar to this.

More Linux tips tomorrow. . .

Day 11: Sabayon

      Sabayon is a nice looking traditionally KDE distro.  It has Chromium as a web browser which is kind of strange because most Linux distros have Firefox.  The thing that makes this distro stand out is it's Gentoo based.  If you don't know what Gentoo is it's one of the most complicated distros ever.  Gentoo is designed so that it perfectly fits the hardware of the installer by how they configure the install.  It's cool that someone took Gentoo and made it easier to install but that kind of defeats the purpose.  The purpose of Gentoo is to make something that fits perfectly to your hardware, something that's perfectly tuned to your system.  Sabayon is nice and all but I don't know if I'd really like it to be my one OS.

Day 10: Xubuntu

      Xubuntu is a distro made by Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu).  The first thing you might notice about Xubuntu is it's very similar to Ubuntu except it has the Xfce desktop.  If you look a little closer you might see there's a little bit of a difference.  Ubuntu comes with Libre Office, Xubuntu comes with Abiword.  Ubuntu comes with Rhythmbox, Xubuntu comes with Gmusicbrowser.  There are not very many more differences though.  But if your bored with Ubuntu's user interface then come try out Xubuntu.  As always it's a Canonical size download, a tiny 700MB live CD.