The computers in my Radio Shack and home run on Ubuntu Linux. A great way to share this good experience with others is through the Ubuntu Live CD.  The downside of the Live CD, however, is that no changes are saved.  To get a more lifelike experience in the Ubuntu demo, a bootable Ubuntu system can be loaded onto a USB thumb drive.  With this method, any changes will be kept on the thumb drive.

With the USB bootable thumb drive, it also means that you can carry your operating system with you with all the files you like to use.  There certainly is a performance issue compared with a regular hard drive instalation, but having your e-mail, internet, audio/visual programs, ham radio programs, etc. with you all the time, available to use on any computer that can boot by USB, is an awesome thing.

Here are some detailed instructions to make a bootable USB thumb drive from the Ubuntu 8.10 live CD.

Download PDF of this page.

• Insert Live Ubuntu CD and allow it to boot up completely

• Insert Thumb Drive into a USB port and wait for system to recognize it

• Click “System” on the TOP menu of the Desktop

• Select  “Administration” under the “System” menu.

• Click “Create a USB startup disk” under “Administration”

• The “Make USB Startup Disk” program should start

• CD info for the Live CD should appear at the top

• USB information should appear in the middle. If the USB thumb drive is not inserted, you can do it now and the information should appear.

• Make sure “Store in reserve extra space” is selected.

• Move slider to the right to allocated additional memory on the thumb drive for the Ubuntu system. If you want a bit unused (eg. ½ GB) for other files, do not go all the way to the right. Note – This “unused” portion, or any files on the unused portion of the thumb drive WILL NOT be accessible when Ubuntu is booted from the thumb drive.

• Click “Make Startup Disk”

• The system will begin to copy the Ubuntu Operating system to the thumb drive.

• It may take some time for the process to complete. When it is done, close the program and unmount the USB thumb drive by right clicking on the disk icon on the Desktop, and click “Unmount Volume”

• This completes the installation of Ubuntu onto the thumb drive. Reboot the computer with the thumb drive in place and enjoy Ubuntu.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

How To Install Free42 in Ubuntu

Free42 is a free, open source emulator of the HP42S scientific calculator. The 42S is a nice little RPN, scientific calculator that got me through my engineering education. Well, a sharp programmer by the name of Thomas Okken has written this nice emulator that runs on your PC (as well as Macs, Pocket PCs, Palm Pilots, and the Sharp Zaurus).

Click the link below to find out how to get and install this neat calculator.

Linux HowTos and Gadget Reviews: How To Install Free42 in Ubuntu.

Are you using Google GMail? Or, have you sent an e-mail to someone who has Google GMail?  Watch this little video, and beware and be aware!

If you frequent McDougallsHome.net, you may have seen the widget displayed above. What is this “Ubuntu 8.10″ thing?
Your computer, that you are looking at right now, has an “operating system” that controls the computer and runs the programs you want to run. On your computer, the operating system is probably Windows XP or Windows Vista. Ten percent of computers have an operating system called OS X. Those computers are Macs. Besides Windows and OS X, there are many other operating systems out there. One such system is called Linux. A few percent of personal computers have Linux on them. Ubuntu is a type of Linux and the computers in our house all have Ubuntu on them.
A new version of Ubuntu Linux is about to be released. It is version 8.10, meaning 2008, and the 10th month. This version representation is very nice when trying to determine what version of Ubuntu one has.
The neat thing about Ubuntu and most other Linux version, is that it is FREE. And almost all the programs that run on it are FREE. It is also EXTREMELY EASY to install new programs and to delete old ones. With the help of a free program called Compiz, the Desktop environment (what you see on the screen) is WAY COOL, with multiple desktops, that rotate from one to another. It has many special effects that are just plain neat! Click the picture of my desktop above to see what it looks like.
Linux is also a safer operating system. Mostly because only a percentage of computer users use Linux, it is not a big target for virus’s and other bad stuff that happens so often on Windows computers. Our kids love it too.
So, I am excited about the new version of Ubuntu that is about to come out. If you are tired of expensive software, and bad malware, and want a cool looking desktop, try out Ubuntu.