Articles by Bill Toulas
About Bill Toulas
Over five years of experience writing about Linux and open source software on blogs and news websites. As part of the community, this is my way to give back as well as to promote what I perceive as the most amazing development in the area of software and operation systems.
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An introduction to Linux activity/event trackers
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: centos, debian, desktop, fedora, opensuse, suse, ubuntu •
Comments: 1 Most modern GNU/Linux distributions use some kind of a software service that tracks the user activities and events. These events can be anything, from the opening of a document file, to the chat conversation. This isn't happening for the purpose to monitor the user and sell this usage data information to 3rd parties, but to help users enjoy a more user-friendly and unified experience across their applications. For example, if you want to quickly locate that document that you opened last weekend, chances are that you will easily and promptly find it after opening your file manager and going to the “Recent” folder.
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How to transform your Ubuntu installation into a rolling release
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: linux, ubuntu •
Comments: 7 Ubuntu users out there have two ways to go with their systems. Either they choose to follow the “standard” release that gets upgraded every six months, or choose the latest LTS (Long Term Support) which guarantees security updates and support for a five-year period. The problem with the first is that you'll have to perform major upgrades to your system twice a year, while the issue with the latter is that you won't get any major updates on parts of the system that you may care about using what's latest.
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How to configure your gamepad on Ubuntu
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: desktop, linux, ubuntu •
Comments: 16 Linux is maybe the least popular platform for gamers, however the interest to set up and configure gamepads on it has sparked, especially since Valve's decision to make multiple game titles available for Linux on Steam. In this quick guide, I will showcase how to disable xpad, how to replace it with more capable drivers, and how to calibrate and configure your gamepad on Linux.
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How to use Docker in a practical way (part 1 - Introduction)
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: centos, debian, fedora, opensuse, suse, ubuntu, virtualization •
Comments: 7 It is not an uncommon situation, for early adopters of newly introduced concepts and technologies, to be totally confused when these can fundamentally change the ways of developing and delivering services. Especially when everybody talks about something like Docker, and how awesome and game changing it is. This confusion happens when we try things early on and rushing straight to testing them without grasping the whole concept and background of this newly introduced technology.
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How to set up and use Nylas N1 Email Client on Linux
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: desktop, email, linux •
Comments: 21 Nylas N1 is a new open source email client that boasts great levels of flexibility, configuration and expandability. This San Fransisco-made software was built with a strong focus on security, intuitive interface design, and support for all popular platforms.
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How to use the Photo Raw Software Darktable 2.0 on Ubuntu
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: desktop, linux, ubuntu •
Comments: 1 Darktable is an open source RAW photo developing software that has just recently released its second major version, bringing new features, and a renovated GTK+ 3.0 user interface. On this quick guide, we will take a look on how we can use Darktable to perform basic image editing, advanced editing, and apply effects.
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Run Windows applications on Linux with Crossover 15
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: centos, commercial, debian, desktop, linux, opensuse, suse, ubuntu, virtualization •
Comments: 0 Codeweavers has released a new major version of Crossover, the popular Microsoft Windows compatibility layer which is now based on Wine 1.8. The software is commercial and it costs around $40, but there is also a two-week trial version which is fully functional and can be downloaded for free. For this quick guide, I will be using the latter to show how you can install, set up, and run Windows executables with Crossover 15.
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How to use custom commands in LibreOffice
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: centos, debian, desktop, linux, opensuse, suse, ubuntu •
Comments: 2 LibreOffice is one of the most important pieces of free software, allowing many of us to work, study, and share information. Although the software features many tools and capabilities, the spectrum of possible uses for each and everyone out there is so wide, that it is simply impossible to cover every special need with hotkeys and shortcuts. However, LibreOffice can be set to support user-created commands that can essentially help us increase our productivity.
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How to convert packages between .deb and .rpm
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: debian, fedora, linux, opensuse, suse, ubuntu •
Comments: 3 Unfortunately, and after years of development in every part of the free software that we enjoy, there are still two primary types of software package available in GNU/Linux systems. The one is the .deb type which is used by Debian and Debian-based distributions like Ubuntu, Mint, and Elementary, and the other is the .rpm type which is used by Fedora, openSUSE, Mageia, and CentOS. Fortunately, there's a workaround for this as we can try to transform the one type to the other.
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Advanced Audio Control on Linux
Author: Bill Toulas •
Tags: centos, debian, desktop, linux, opensuse, suse, ubuntu •
Comments: 10 Linux audio control is as messed up as the Linux audio system structure. The default and only option of setting the volume level may be enough for the majority of users out there, but it certainly isn't the best when you want to set specific audio levels, or define individual settings for different audio sources, etc. Here is a post on a selection of utilities that could help you get the sound you want on your Linux system.
