In this piece I will show how the system usage differs among Live CD distributions running different Linux Windows Managers mainly on distros considered to be lightweight. The first distro we will look at is a bit dated, but it is the most recent Fluxbox edition of Linux Mint, Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox edition, and is a damn fine distro that I must say looks great and it’s fun to use. The next lowest contender in regards to initial system usage is PCLinuxOS 2011.08 Openbox edition. Thirdly, we are looking at Crunchbang 10 (Statler) running Openbox. Finally, for comparison’s sake we also looked at the modern, full-featured Gnome distro, Linux Mint 12. We booted each distro using default boot options, then opened a terminal window and ran the ‘ top ‘ command.

Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox edition

As you can see, this distro comes in at a svelte 536 MB of RAM usage upon intial boot

PCLinuxOS 2011.08 Openbox edition

Next, we see a still slim offering from the PCLinuxOS team which comes in at 580 MB (this distro also curiously only saw 388MB of my 1GB swap space on my HD??)

Crunchbang 10 (Statler)

The last offering we are looking at today is the latest Crunchbang distro, based on Debian that comes in at a very surprising 815 MB of RAM – I’m really puzzled by that number and I’d love to know why it comes in so high on this test. (this distro also did not even see my 1GB swap space on my HD??)

Linux Mint 12 Gnome

To show you what a current, standard distro uses we have included the latest Mint distro. As you can see it is running just past Crunchbang at 869 MB of RAM.

As you can see, the alternate Window Manager distros really do start with a lower system memory footprint, however that isn’t always the case we discovered by looking at Crunchbang.

©2012 Linux.Bihlman.com

This post proudly written using Firefox on Linux Mint 9 Fluxbox edition!

In this tutorial we will show how easy it is to enable Adobe Flash player to your Linux Mint 12 Live CD. As usual, please click each screenshot for a larger view.

Linux Mint 12 Live CD -no flash

First step is to boot up your Live Disc and open Firefox. This screenshot shows what will happen by default if you try to view content that relies on Adobe Flash to display.

Type mint-flashplugin-11 into Software Manager

Well, obviously that is going to severely limit the functionality of your Live CD, so the next step is install Flash the easiest way I’ve found. Click on Menu and choose the Software Manager (the yellow star). In the search box, type mint-flashplugin-11  then click on it in the list.

Click Install

Once you’ve clicked on the mint-flashplugin-11 that appears in the list, you’ll see the next window that will have the Install button. Click Install and the Flash player will install to the Live CD environment.

Now, once it’s installed, close the Software Manager and reload Firefox. Voila! Your Youtube page you were trying to watch earlier is now working!

Linux Mint running Firefox with Flash installed

That’s really all there is to it. If you follow these steps you will find installing Flash much easier than trying to click the “Missing Plugins” button that first appears.

©2012 Linux.Bihlman.com

post written using Firefox on the Linux Mint 12 Live CD!

default linux mint 12 Menu

So, you downloaded Linux Mint 12 and are excited to try out all the fancy stuff that people have been saying about it. You have your Live CD burned, you boot into the desktop, you click on Menu in the bottom-left corner, see the popular folders listed there, but one seems to be missing– the games folder!

In just a few simple steps, we will show you how to get the Games folder to appear, complete with a nice selection of popular games for the Gnome desktop environment.

Step 1

Click on the terminal located under the Menu:

click on the terminal

 Step 2

Type sudo apt-get install gnome-games at the prompt:

terminal window

Press Enter when it asks if you want to continue, then it will download the games, and all the dependencies, all within your Live environment!

Step 3

Finished! Enjoy your new games, as you can now see, there are quite a few games to try out, for all ages. Here is a screenshot of the final product, that just took a couple of minutes of your time:

Finally, we have games!

Here is a list of the games we just installed:

AisleRiot Solitaire, Chess, Five or More, Four-in-a-row, FreeCell Solitaire, lagno, Klotski, Mahjongg, Mines, Nibbles, Quadrapassel, Robots, Sudoku, Tali, Tetravex

©2012 Linux.Bihlman.com

post written using Firefox on the Linux Mint 12 Live CD!

By Liz Lavender

Linux Mint is a upcoming and popular distribution of Linux. There are many common questions about Linux Mint that people want to know the answers to.

How do you install Linux Mint?

Download the distribution and burn it to a CD as an image and not a data file. You can put this CD into your computer and boot up from it. You have the option of previewing the operating system and not installing it if you wish. If you want to install it, simply click on the install icon on the desktop and follow the prompts. This process will take about 5 minutes to fill out basic information about about 20 to install.

How do you install the flash player to Linux Mint?

One version of Mint does not come with Flash. Simply search the repositories with the Mint Install tool and find Flash. This will install it to your system.

Is Ubuntu or Linux Mint Better?

Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. The core system is basically the same. Mint comes with a different look and feel and a few additional tools. Neither one is really better than the other. There are differences that just come down to user preference.

How do you run EXE files in Mint?

You need to install a program called Wine. This will let you run EXE files and other Windows programs on your Linux system. It won’t run everything, but will do a fairly good job.

Where is the Thunderbird profile in Mint?

Your application settings are going to be in your home folder. Most of the time these folders start with a period meaning they are hidden from you. You need to select the option to see your hidden folders. For every Thunderbird folder to find your stored mail and profiles. This is the same for just about any program installed to your system.

Liz has been a freelance writer for over four years. Come visit her latest website over at http://walkietalkie-radios.com/ which helps people find the best deals on all types of walkie talkie radios.

By Laura Ging

There are hundreds of versions of Linux to choose from with about five or six that are actually competitive with a large number of users. The most popular version today is Ubuntu. While this is a great distribution for any user of Linux, there is one that is gaining ground called Linux Mint. This is a great distribution to consider using on your computer.

One good reason to use this distribution is because it is based on Ubuntu. Everything that Ubuntu provides Mint also has. The one huge thing that stands out over Ubuntu is that Mint has a much better look and feel. The browns and oranges of Ubuntu are the most common thing to be criticized. Mint has a sleek and polished green and black look that many consider to be the nicest looking Linux distribution.

It takes advantages of all of Debian’s and Ubuntu’s packages. This means that there are tens of thousands of pieces of software that are available with one click installs that are going to work on your system. Using the package manager, simply search and click to install applications that you want on your machine. There are so many open source programs today that in most cases you can find a free piece of software to replace something you used on a different operating system.

One huge advantage of Linux Mint is that most of the plugins and codecs that you will need to play media and use your browser are already installed. For some users, they aren’t completely sure how to get certain things to play on their machine or to get their browser to function properly. Mint takes care of this for you so that you don’t have to do it.

Since it’s free, you may as well give Mint a try and boot up a Live CD to see how this version of Linux runs.

The author has recently started using the Vicks warm mist humidifier. She has submitted her review along with other information and advice on the best Vicks humidifier deals around. If you would like to purchase a humidifier then take a look at her website.

By Herb Leibacher

Linux has a history of being difficult for beginners. For many years Linux really was for experts as doing anything in the operating system was pretty difficult and not too user friendly. As the years have moved on Linux has changed drastically. Every year it becomes easier and easier to use. The complicated expert functions are changed to simple point and click interfaces that most average users prefer.

Ubuntu has been known as one of the easiest distributions to learn for beginners since it is so simple. There is another distribution that might be easier than Ubuntu and that one is Linux Mint. Before this looks like another distribution war, it is not. Linux Mint is actually build on top of Ubuntu and uses the same packages and repositories. Ubuntu is in Linux Mint.

What makes Mint different is that many of the basic set up processes and plugins are included in the distribution. Flash automatically works without have to go to Adobe and select the debian package and install it. Some beginner users might not understand that they need to download the DEB package as opposed to the setup or EXE like they are used to. Things like Java are already installed. While this isn’t too difficult to get setup in Ubuntu, it could be for a new user. Mint typically takes these things that a new user might find a bit difficult and does it for you.

Another reason that this might be the best distribution to consider using is because it’s set up much like Windows users are used to using. There is a taskbar on the bottom of the screen. The “start” button, open programs, and similar icons are all in the same place as one is used to seeing them.

If you have started to get into Linux or have had some problems, download Linux Mint and give it a try.

Herb likes to write about technology issues. Please check out his website that contains bathroom floor cabinets information as well as small bathroom sink information.

By Rana Imran Yousuf

Review:

Linux Mint 9, codename “Isadora” has been released yesterday. The distribution based on Ubuntu with much Peppermint taste has just arrived. Linux Mint is a Linux distribution and its mission is to produce elegant, updated and comfortable desktop GNU/Linux. Based on Ubuntu 10.04 includes Gnome 2.30 as Desktop Manager and Thunderbird 3 to manage your email.

As major developments in this version we can highlight the following:

• New Software Manager that has been rewritten and now contains about 30,000 packages available to users, 10 times more than the previous version. Also have ordered software by popularity and give the opportunity to users to add comments about the applications that appear on the Software Manager.
• New Backup tool which has also been rewritten, allows you to backup data, as well as selection of installed softwares. This option is very useful for installing on multiple computers, this way we make installation on one of them and restore in others.
• Menu improvements where we now have more options to set the different entries in the menus, as well as define the level of transparency. We need to enable desktop effects to enjoy it. In addition the initial menu allows adding favorite applications to have better visibility, as well as create shortcut menu as the desktop.
• Installation options allow you to install the distribution as if it was a windows program as it was not available in the earlier versions. Similarly, the option is added by default to create a boot disk on a USB stick.

There are more new features, not few but we tend that install Linux Mint to discover them all. And if we have any questions, we have the ability to download a manual with all the details to begin using Linux Mint Isadora.

Windows XP doesn’t come with a utility that allows you to see what files/folders are taking up the most room on your hard drive.  Don’t fret: sure there are programs out there you can download and install to do the job, but did you know you don’t have to actually install any software on Windows to actually find out what’s hogging all of your disk space? Well, it’s really easy as long as you have a Linux Live CD lying around. In this tutorial, we will be using Linux Mint 12 since it’s very popular right now in the tech world it’s currently leading the pack according to Distrowatch. Baobab, more commonly known as Disk Usage Analyzer, is part of gnome-utils and it is just an awesome graphical disk usage analyzer. You’ll find it on just about all Linux distros running the GNOME desktop environment.

Step 1:

Fire up your Linux Live CD running a GNOME desktop environment, in this example you will see we are using Linux Mint 12. Then, navigate to: Applications | Accessories | Disk Usage Analyzer

Step 2:

Here you will see Disk Usage Analyzer, and since we are in a Live environment, it defaults to the Live CD environment as shown on the right. Click on the green “Scan a folder” icon.

Step 3:

Choose your hard drive listed on the left side. It will be the item that mostly likely has a size listed in GigaBytes – In this case it’s my 39 GB Filesystem. Then click Open in the bottom-right corner. If you have multiple hard drives they will be listed here as well.

Step 4:

After the filesystem is scanned, it displays the top folders on the left in list form, also graphically on the right side, showing color-coded comparisons of each folder. You can also view it as a treemap chart if you choose.

Hopefully this tutorial will give you some ideas on how even if you don’t use Linux as your daily operating system, you can take take advantage of some of the unique capabilities you gain by at least having a little Linux at your disposal!

© 2011 Linux.Bihlman.com

By Scott Graves

Quite a few people have a tendency to dabble in Linux. This means that from time to time, they might download a distribution, burn it to a Live CD, and try it out on their computer without actually installing it to their machine. If you are a Windows user who is doing this, you need to try Linux Mint.

Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu which is the most popular distribution. This is a pretty big deal since Ubuntu which is based on Debian have thousands of packages of software already available from a simple point and click interface. If you have a need for software, Mint will allow you to easily install it. What else is an operating system good for if it can’t install and run applications easily?

Mint tends to have familiar Windows controls. This means that there is a panel, aka the taskbar, at the bottom of the screen. On the left is the “start” button, followed by shortcuts, and followed by open programs. The look and feel is similar to Windows making new users already feel somewhat comfortable with the system. If you are used to a certain configuration, having something very similar makes it easier to use.

Mint has a menu system that is fairly logical. There is favorites tab and an applications tab. This will let you get to all your software. New users find the menu system easy. There is more than enough software for the average computer user with a browser, editors, and an office suite.

The best part about Mint is that the music codec, Java, and Flash are preinstalled. This means that your media and browser will just work like you expect them to do. You will be able to open all your documents and media just like you are used to without having to install these manually.

Scott has been writing articles online on a number of interesting topics since 2007. In addition to his writing, Scott also operates a number of informative web sites. You can check out his latest website here: Hydraulic Lift Table which offers information on the Hydraulic Lift Table

By Robert Fanning

Linux Mint KDE is another quality KDE distribution that you can choose from. It’s actually based on Ubuntu which will still give you access to those repositories giving you easy access to installing software that you need. It’s what’s called a community edition meaning that volunteers actually put this distribution together. Generally it’s a version behind the main version of Mint but still has everything you need.

Linux Mint KDE has a basic desktop that is already customized. It’s comes with a fresh blue look to it with the default KDE grey title bars. It’s set up quite a bit like Windows with the “start” button the bottom left, a basic taskbar, notification icons, and a clock. It’s your standard KDE layout for those who know what this look like.

It uses the new KDE 4 with the plasma desktop. If you are using the KDE edition of Mint, then you probably love the new plasma and don’t mind the extra resources that this uses over the old KDE 3. There are many who are split on the differences between the two but users have gradually accepted version four’s changes.

Some wonder why to use Mint’s KDE edition over something like Kubuntu since both are based on Ubuntu. Linux Mint comes with proprietary drivers installed to play music, dvd, flash, and java. These do not have to be installed by you at all unlike Kubuntu. By default it also uses Firefox and Thunderbird instead of the traditional KDE browser and mail programs. Mint also has some features like MintInstall and MintUpdate. These will help you get new applications installed and updated really easily.

If you don’t like the KDE edition, there are also Fluxbox, XFCE, and Gnome editions of Mint to try out as well as other distributions that use KDE.

Robert is an author who specializes in niche markets. Come visit his latest website http://www.dragonvoicerecognition.org for product information regarding voice recognition software.