HACKTUX notes from the trenches

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is at Linux World 2008 this week. Founded by Nicholas Negroponte, this non-profit organization is "dedicated to research to develop a low-cost, connected laptop, a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children".

To participate in this great effort, visit: http://www.laptopfoundation.org/en/participate/

At Linux World 2008, the Ubuntu booth had this prototype mobile device by Compal. The small, hand-held system was running Ubuntu MID Edition.

If anyone wants to visit Linux World 2008 (San Francisco),
go to http://linuxworldexpo.com for a free exhibit hall pass.

Here are some of my favorite Linux Wallpapers (by various Flickr artists).

I have posted instructions on how to install Flash on Fedora 9, but Laurent Armstrong wrote me to share his script for automating the Flash install process -- and more. Laurent's script is interesting, so you might want to check it out: http://vegasoft.ca/howto/Install_f9

Thanks for the email, Laurent!

Kuba wrote me from Poland, with some interesting ways to limit the scope of Bash's $RANDOM variable. I updated my instructions for generating random numbers in Bash to include Kuba's suggestions.

Thanks, Kuba!

Todd Zullinger, recently showed me how to change the Fedora 9 GDM background using a gconftool-2 one liner. So, I updated my Fedora 9 GDM instructions to include Todd's suggestion.

Thanks Todd!

Um. Wow. Most importantly: Thanks!
I suddenly went from 8 hits a day to over 500.

I made a Linux themed wallpaper for anyone to use.
A full size JPG is available on Flickr.
If you wish to make this image your grub background, use the attached XPM.

Feedback, questions and suggestions are always welcomed.

Email me at:

Digg users critiqued my instructions for installing Flash plugins using Fedora 9. So, I corrected my article to include Swfdec and NDISwrapper. Thanks, Digg.

I needed a way to jot down Linux notes that could accessed from any computer. Voila! HackTux.com. The posts will be in the form of notes. The idea is to keep it simple, searchable and indexable by search engines. Hopefully someone else can also make use of this information. Comments are always welcomed.