Linux Reality Podcast (MP3 Feed)

Episode 100 - The Final Episode

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:14:02 GMT

In this, the last Linux Reality episode: I bring back some old audio clips, fire up one last listener tip, play a bunch of audio comments, and then take a few minutes to say thanks. I mentioned the reasons for ending the show in Episode 96 but now I would like to say thank you, everybody, for a great ride. It's been a great two years. This site, the podcast feed and files, the forums, and the IRC channel will remain up and active for the forseeable future, and I'll still be around. In the meantime, keep on hackin'.

Episode 099 - Slackware Revisited

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:37:28 GMT

In this episode: I take a few minutes to revisit The Slackware Linux Project, and discuss some of the great resources available to Slackware users, such as the LinuxQuestions.org Slackware official support forum, Slackwiki.org, Slackbook.org, and Slackbasics.org. I also talk about Slackware package management, how to use SlackBuild scripts such as those from SlackBuilds.org, and some of the new features that will appear in the next release.

Episode 098 - Super Basic Shell Scripting

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:52:14 GMT

In this episode: a generalized discussion of shell scripts with some basic examples of how they can be useful. Here are some additional resources: online slide presentation; Shell Scripting Tutorial; Quick Guide to Writing Scripts; UNIX Shell Scripting.

Episode 097 - A Few Linux Games

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:58:31 GMT

In this episode: an overview of a few games for adults and kids alike that work great in Linux: Quake 2, Quake 3, OpenArena, Unreal Tournament, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, FreeCiv, LinCity, LinCity-NG, Micropolis, OpenTTD, Frozen-Bubble, Enigma, Fillets-NG, Pingus, Neverball, Neverputt, Supertux, Abe's Amazing Adventure, Secret Maryo Chronicles, Barbie's Seahorse Adventures, Trip on the Funnyboat, Moonlander, TuxKart, SuperTuxKart, Armagetron, GLTron, Tuxracer, PlanetPenguin Racer, Extreme Tux Racer, Battle for Wesnoth.

Episode 096 - Two Years Later

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:24:35 GMT

In this episode: I take a few minutes to talk about the last two years of Linux Reality, and also announce the upcoming end of the show. There will be a few more episodes of good Linuxy topics and then the podcast will end at episode 100.

Episode 095 - Listener Feedback

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:55:15 GMT

In this episode: three Listener Tips, three audio feedbacks, and tons and tons of email.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 094 - Linux for Writers

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:30:03 GMT

In this guest episode: Charles Olsen discusses various applications and tools for writers that are available in Linux.

Episode 093 - Interview with Nathan Lowell

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:44:59 GMT

In this episode: an interview with author Nathan Lowell, in which we discuss his four science fiction novels, Quarter Share, Half Share, Full Share, and South Coast, technology, artists and authors releasing their works for free, and his use of Linux. All of Nathan Lowell's books are available on Podiobooks.com.

Episode 092 - Ardour

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:42:33 GMT

In this guest episode: Klaatu, from The Bad Apples podcast, returns and provides a great overview and explanation of the digital audio workstation application, Ardour.

Episode 091 - Happy New Year

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:13:53 GMT

In this episode: welcome to 2008; great audiobooks by Nathan Lowell, including Quarter Share, Half Share, Full Share, and South Coast, all available at Podiobooks.com; Hacker Public Radio; the KDE Release Event at the Google Campus in Mountain View, CA; a review of Absolute FreeBSD by Michael W. Lucas.

Episode 090 - Year End Wrap-Up

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:13:59 GMT

In this episode: a recap of the past year and my thanks to you for a great 2007; two audio Listener Tips; audio and email listener feedback; a special treat at the end.

Episode 089 - Interview with Paul Asadoorian and Larry Pesce

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:08:12 GMT

In this episode: an interview with Paul Asadoorian and Larry Pesce of the Pauldotcom Security Weekly Podcast in which we discuss a variety of issues related to Linux and security; some of the topics and sites highlighted include: the podcast wiki; Paul and Larry's book Linksys WRT54G Ultimate Hacking; SANS Institute; Web-based iptables script generator (probably outdated); Firestarter and Guarddog, two GUI front-ends for iptables; m0n0wall, pfSense, IPCop, SmoothWall, and ClarkConnect; Nmap, Nessus, Tripwire, and Wireshark; SANS Reading Room, SANS Internet Storm Center, and SecurityFocus.

Episode 088 - 2007 Project Donations

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:27:46 GMT

In this mini-episode: a short discussion of the 2007 Project Donation Page and a request that, in the spirit of the holidays, Linux Reality listeners consider making a small donation to any free or open source project of their choosing.

Episode 087 - Interview with Cory Jaeger

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:57:24 GMT

In this episode: an interview with Cory Jaeger, Network Manager at D.C. Everest School District about Linux and open source software in education; three audio Listener Tips, one on Gutsy Gibbon tweaks, one on changing hypertext links in OpenOffice.org, and another on recording with command line tools such as sox.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 086 - Listener Feedback

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:59:12 GMT

In this episode: the Cowon D2; 2007 Project Donations; a Listener Tip on finding your public ip address; lots of listener email feedback.

Episode 085 - Command Line Fun

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:05:52 GMT

In this episode: a new Linux podcast called Linux Basement; a discussion of various fun command line topics, including how to use a different interactive shell, such as Zsh (more information here and here), a look at the great mail user agent, Mutt, and combining Irssi with Bip for text-based IRC (great article here); a Listener Tip on creating desktop launchers.

Episode 084 - Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:08:13 GMT

In this shortened episode: a brief discussion of my upgrades and installs of the newest release of Ubuntu Linux, 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon; Listener Tip on the bash shell's double-exclamation point history operator; email feedback.

Episode 083 - Inkscape Part 2

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:28:02 GMT

In this guest episode: Part 2 of Richard Querin's discussion of Inkscape; a Listener Tip on dmidecode; audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 082 - Inkscape Part 1

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:18:57 GMT

In this guest episode: a new old toy in my household; rootbsd.net, a provider of FreeBSD-based Virtual Private Servers; then, Richard Querin, who co-maintains the Screencasters site with video tutorials, presents the first part of a two part series on the vector graphics editor, Inkscape; a Listener Tip on lspci by Verbal; lots of listener email and feedback.

Episode 081 - Audio in Linux

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:07:28 GMT

In this guest episode: Duncan Macneil discusses a variety of issues regarding audio in Linux, including device drivers, recording applications, and cleaning up audio files in Audacity; Listener Tip on a list of free shell accounts; email feedback.

Episode 080 - The GIMP

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:04:57 GMT

In this guest episode: Klaatu from The Bad Apples podcast gives a great introduction to The GNU Image Manipulation Program, also known as The GIMP.

You can view and download the source files mentioned in the podcast at http://www.thebadapples.info/linuxreality.

Episode 079 - Ohio Linux Fest

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:19:29 GMT

In this episode: a recap of the Ohio Linux Fest; a Listener Tip; audio and email feedback, including a mention of the fiction of James Viscosi. [Note: For some reason, the audio levels got a bit messed up for this one. Sorry!]

Episode 078 - RSS Readers

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:05:56 GMT

In this episode: Ohio Linux Fest update; a discussion of various RSS readers including Liferea, RSSOwl, Straw, Blam, Akregator, Sage, Evolution-RSS plugin, Google Reader, Bloglines, Netvibes, My Yahoo, Feed on Feeds, and RNews.

Episode 077 - Fonts and Font Configuration

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:22:22 GMT

In this episode: a great sci-fi/horror podiobook, "Crescent"; two great short-story podcasts, "Escape Pod" with independent fiction mostly in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, and "Pseudopod" which focuses on horror; a discussion of fonts and font configuration in Linux, with helpful resources available here, here, and here.

Episode 076 - Partitioning and Filesystems

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:04:05 GMT

In this episode: contest and guest podcasts; a discussion about certain considerations to take into account when partitioning a hard drive for a Linux install, and then a talk about various Linux filesystems, including Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, Ext4, Reiser4, and ZFS; audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 075 - BSD Wrap-Up

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:01:55 GMT

In this episode: OReilly discount code for Linux Reality listeners available on the LR website; a new Linux Reality contest where one can win a listener-donated book, LPI Certification in a Nutshell, for the best audio Listener Tip sent in between now and the end of November; a new podcast client I am developing in Python; petition to open source the Main Actor video editing software; a call for guest podcasts; a brief wrap-up discussion of my adventures with the BSD's; audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 074 - Interview with Will Backman

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:25:26 GMT

In this episode: an interview with the host of the BSDTalk Podcast, Will Backman, in which we talk about the history of the BSD's, including FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonflyBSD, PC-BSD, and DesktopBSD, and discuss some of the goals and features of these projects.

Episode 073 - Listener Feedback

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:00:18 GMT

In this episode: a brief talk about some desktop software, including Openbox, Conky, and the ttm Tint Task Manager; audio Listener Tip; lots and lots of listener feedback.

Episode 072 - Interview with Keith Watson

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:53:30 GMT

In this episode: an interview with Keith Watson, a blind systems administrator, in which we talk about accessibility issues in computer operating systems and about accessibility technologies in Linux, including Speakup and Orca.

Episode 071 - Interview with John Rundag

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:01:41 GMT

In this episode: no episode next week; an interview with John Rundag, technology coordinator for an Ohio school district; Listener Tip on static ip addresses using DHCP; audio and email listener feedback, including one on using Twitter for software updates.

Episode 070 - Arch Linux

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:47:12 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of an advanced Linux distribution, Arch Linux, including some hints and tips on getting Arch Linux installed and how to update and configure the system; Listener Tip; audio and email feedback.

Episode 069 - Vim Basics

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:46:33 GMT

In this episode: a new sponsor for Linux Reality, O'Reilly Media -- please be sure to use the coupon code "LREL40" for 40% off your purchases on the O'Reilly website; a new release of Slackware 12.0; a pretty high-level discussion of Vim to introduce folks to the basic movement and editing commands; email listener feedback.

Episode 068 - Interview with Jonas Kron

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:41:01 GMT

In this episode: an interview with attorney Jonas Kron, who practices in the area of corporate social and environmental responsibility, in which we discuss bringing open source software into a small business; audio question on open source groupware (see Citadel, phpGroupWare, and Zimbra); and audio and email feedback.

Episode 067 - Fedora 7

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:05:44 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of the history and background of the Fedora Project and a review of its newest release, Fedora 7, including a talk about some of its cool new technologies like Xen and Revisor; a mention of some great Fedora sites, such as the Fedora Forum, the Fedora FAQ, and third party repositories such as DAG, FreshRPMS, and Livna, and some reviews of Fedora such this; audio Listener Tip on gnome-open; audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 066 - Interview with Andrew Smith

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:22:36 GMT

In this episode: an interview with recent Seneca School of Computer Studies graduate, Andrew Smith, in which we discuss various projects he has worked on including the Freedom Toaster, ISO Master, and a 2006 Google Summer of Code project sponsored by Mozilla that has been incorporated into the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client, as well as Seneca's annual Free Software and Open Source Symposium; an email Listener Tip; audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 065 - Linksys NSLU2

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:20:57 GMT

In this episode: a discussion about running Linux on the Linksys NSLU2 ("Slug") network storage device, including a talk about installing Debian Etch; a Listener Tip on calling the Linux Reality Gizmo SIP number; several audio listener comments and some emails as well.

Episode 064 - Home Servers Part 10: Conclusion

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 30 May 2007 12:40:28 GMT

In this episode: Gizmo and audio feedback; new Linux Reality IRC channel on irc.freenode.net; Brad at anytimegeek.com provides remote support for Linux; a wrap-up discussion of home servers and server-based distributions; listener audio comments on their home servers; audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 062 - Home Servers Part 8: Music Servers

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:41:04 GMT

In this episode: Happy Mother's Day and congratulations to Pat Davila of The Linux Link Tech Show; US VOIP providers; a discussion of various ways to serve music files, from Samba, to SSHFS, GNUMP3d, Firefly Media Server (formerly known as mt-daapd), and a brief mention of Icecast; listener feedback.

Additional links:

GNUMP3d - UbuntuGeek, Ubuntu Forums, Ubuntu Guide

Firefly Media Server (mt-daapd) - Linux.com, Gentoo Wiki

Icecast - HowToForge, Gentoo Wiki

Episode 063 - Home Servers Part 9: Backup Servers

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 23 May 2007 12:25:33 GMT

In this episode: new voice mail number and Gizmo account (username: linuxreality); call for audio comments on server setups; call for interview ideas; a discussion of Linux backup solutions, starting with a brief mention of SBackup and Bacula, and focusing on the use of tar and rsync, including rsync over ssh to backup files and directories locally or to a remote server; listener tip on gtkpod; audio and email listener feedback.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 061 - Home Servers Part 7: Simple Email Server

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 09 May 2007 12:55:02 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of how to set up a simple local imap email server using Getmail and Dovecot (additional information here, here, here, here, here, and here); audio and email feedback.

Episode 060 - Home Servers Part 6: DNS and DHCP

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:59:07 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of Dnsmasq, a very easy to configure DNS and DHCP server; audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 059 - Home Servers Part 5: File and Print Servers

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:18:25 GMT

In this episode: a mention of some excellent free audio books from Podiobooks.com, including ones from Scott Sigler, as well as the novels The Immortals, Singularity, How to Succeed in Evil Volume One, Brave Men Run, and Shadowmagic; a discussion of print servers on Debian Etch using CUPS and file servers using Samba; audio and email feedback.

Episode 058 - Home Servers Part 4: WebCalendar

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:20:44 GMT

In this episode: we bring all the LAMP pieces together and install a php-mysql application, WebCalendar; audio tip on Linux From Scratch; audio and email Listener Feedback.

Episode 057 - Home Servers Part 3: PHP and MySQL

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:19:21 GMT

In this episode: Debian Etch is released; a discussion of the "MP" in "LAMP": PHP and MySQL; audio Listener Tip; audio and email feedback.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 056 - Home Servers Part 2: The Apache Web Server

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 01:07:59 GMT

In this episode: VTC course on Ubuntu Linux; an overview of the Apache Web Server (additional documentation here, here, and here); audio and email listener feedback.

Episode 055 - Home Servers Part 1

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:37:02 GMT

In this episode: the first part of a multi-episode series on home servers; audio Listener Tip on Win4Lin server edition; audio and email listener feedback. Note: there will not be an episode next week, but LR will return the following week.

Episode 054 - Xorg.conf

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:55:02 GMT

In this episode: Dann Washko's discussion of Linux in schools in Episode 182 of The Linux Link Tech Show; the Ohio Linux Fest; a discussion of the X Window System and its configuration file, xorg.conf; several listener emails, including a mention of the Intel drivers and firmware for the 3945 wireless cards, Ralink wireless cards, and Puppy Linux.

Episode 053 - Listener Feedback

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:39:35 GMT

In this episode: LR fliers at LUGRadio Live; the Ohio Linux Fest; a Listener Tip on the Slax Live CD; a ton of audio and written listener comments and feedback, including one on the book "Linux Kernel in a Nutshell".

Episode 052 - Wireless Networking Basics

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:46:40 GMT

In this episode: a basic, general overview of wireless networking in Linux, with mentions of the Intel wireless firmware, MadWifi, WPA Supplicant, NdisWrapper, and more; several audio Listener Tips, one on using an iPod with Amarok, and two regarding ssh and vnc; audio feedback.

Episode 051 - VNC

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:56:29 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of how to use VNC to connect to a graphical desktop on a Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X machine using an encrypted SSH tunnel for security; a Listener Tip on modifying the GRUB menu.lst; three audio feedbacks on Linux in schools.

Additional links: some original documentation from AT&T, Linux Planet article, VNC Linux-Windows document, Ubuntu documentation, more Ubuntu documentation, Gentoo Wiki article on VNC, Gentoo Wiki article on X11VNC, and other documentation regarding VNC on Windows and Linux.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 050 - One Year Later

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:06:01 GMT

Linux Reality is one year old! It has been one great year and in this episode I take some time to say thanks -- to you, the LR listener, for your support by way of listening to the show, participating in the forums, sending in donations, and providing your email and audio feedback. I pack in lots of listener feedback and questions.

Episode 049 - GNU Screen

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:34:57 GMT

In this episode: a few miscellaneous items, such as testing some BSD's, installing Ubuntu Edgy on a Thinkpad t42, and setting up a new server on an old P3 750mhz machine; a discussion of the basics of using GNU Screen (additional tips are here and here); a listener tip on Wine; lots of great feedback including some audio comments on the Linux in schools issue.

Episode 048 - Xfce 4.4

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:22:29 GMT

In this episode: Linux in public schools; the release of Microsoft Vista; a discussion of Xfce 4.4 and the related Xfce Goodies project; an audio Listener Tip on changing window buttons in GNOME; listener feedback.

Episode 047 - OpenPGP

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:57:21 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of OpenPGP, GnuPG, and how to use public-key cryptography to sign and encrypt emails and files (here are some excellent how-to's: GnuPG mini Howto, Gentoo Documentation on GnuPG, and Ubuntu Documentation on GnuPG); an audio Listener Tip on the "cal" command; audio and email Listener Feedback.

Episode 046 - Hidden Directories and Files

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:16:23 GMT

In this episode: my server provider's datacenter move; LR mentioned in Issue #68 of Linux User and Developer Magazine; a discussion of various hidden directories in a user's home directory, such as .config/, .gnome2/, .gnupg/, .icons/, and more, and hidden files, such as .bash_history, .bash_profile, .bashrc, .fonts.conf, .gtkrc, .gtkrc-2.0, .vimrc, .xinitrc, and more.

Episode 045 - KDE and GNOME

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:15:04 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of the two primary Linux desktop environments, KDE (additional sites KDE-Apps.org and KDE-Look.org) and GNOME (additional sites art.gnome.org, gnome-look.org, and gnomefiles.org); a listener audio question on Linux XP; listener feedback.

Episode 044 - System Logs

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:35:54 GMT

In this episode: various administrative items, including a mention of the Linux Reality wikipedia entry, voice mail, forums, and end of email notification; a discussion of the Linux system logs found in /var/log; a Listener Tip on DSL and Freespire; listener feedback.

Episode 043 - Happy New Year

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:21:12 GMT

In this episode: welcome back! Items of discussion include new music, 2006 Linux Reality Project Donation update; Debian Etch netinstall; Debian Etch on the Linksys NSLU2; Parallels virtual machine; KDE, Amarok, and Exaile; lots of listener feedback, including news from a listener on Linux System Administration.

Special Episode 002 - Site Updates

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:30:00 GMT

In this short and sweet special episode: amazing number of donations by Linux Reality listeners to free and open source projects; four new LR feeds are available on the LR homepage, one with the mp3 files for all episodes, one with the mp3 files for the last 10 episodes, one with the ogg files for all episodes, and one with the ogg files for the last 10 episodes. Although these feeds are still in beta, they appear to be working fine.

Special Episode 001 - Slackware

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:53:24 GMT

In this special episode: a discussion of Slackware Linux, with a focus on the installation and initial configuration of Slackware 11.0. Some of the sites mentioned in this episode include the LinuxQuestions.org Slackware forum, the Slackware Essentials Book, SlackBasics.org, Linuxpackages.net, slacky.it, and SlackBuilds.org. If you enjoy Slackware Linux, consider making a donation to the project or purchasing a CD or DVD subscription at the Slackware store.

Episode 042 - Year End Wrap-Up

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 03:35:28 GMT

In this episode: new logo; paying it forward; questionsplease.org; 7th Son; a discussion about the LR podcast, where we have been and where we might go; Dell Optiplex GX620; wireless networking; Microsoft-Novell deal; listener feedback.

Episode 041 - Compiling from Source

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:46:18 GMT

In this episode: donating to free and open source projects; a discussion of how to compile software from source code (more guides here and here); a Listener Tip; listener feedback.

Episode 040 - Listener Feedback

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:43:34 GMT

In this episode: working on a new logo; taking a break in December; new computer; 7th Son podcast novel by J.C. Hutchins; Listener Tip on mp32ogg; listener feedback.

Episode 039 - Cron

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:26:12 GMT

In this episode: new logo submissions; taking a short break at the end of the year; O'Reilly's LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell, Second Edition; a discussion of cron and crontab (additional resources here, here, and here); a Listener Tip on clearing Bash history; listener feedback.

Episode 038 - Useful Shell Commands Part 2

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 03:09:35 GMT

In this shortened episode: upcoming episodes on file managers and Fedora Core 6; interview with Patrick Volkerding on The Linux Link Tech Show; a discussion of various Linux commands including df, wc, cal, date, clear, who, whoami, whois, whereis, cat, lpr, lpstat, and lpq; promo for the Gadgetboyz podcast; a Listener Tip on GParted Live CD; listener feedback.

Episode 037 - SSH

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:10:16 GMT

In this episode: Linux Reality server move; my initial impressions of the Release Candidate of Ubuntu Edgy Eft; a discussion of OpenSSH with an emphasis on ssh, scp, ssh-keygen, public/private key authentication, and dynamic port forwarding (additional link to PuTTY, a Windows SSH client); a Listener Tip on the Flock web browser; listener feedback.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 036 - Other Window Managers

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 12:47:01 GMT

In this episode: a brief look at other window managers, including Openbox (more info here and here), Enlightenment (more info here and here), Ratpoison (more info here and here), Windowmaker, FVWM (more info here), Ion (more info here and here), and PekWM; a Listener Tip; listener feedback.

Episode 035 - Fluxbox

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:08:46 GMT

In this episode: Slackware 11, a free course from LinuxBasics.org, adding Ogg Vorbis files to main feed; a discussion of the Fluxbox window manager (helpful information is here, here, and here); a Listener Tip; listener feedback.

Episode 034 - IceWM

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:01:07 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of the IceWM window manager; a Listener Tip; listener feedback. Not mentioned in the episode is this good IceWM guide here.

Episode 033 - Xfce

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:05:35 GMT

In this episode: a look at the Xfce Desktop Environment and alternative file managers to use with Xfce such as Emelfm2, Rox-filer, PCManFM, and the Gentoo file manager; two listener tips; listener feedback.

Episode 032 - Web Browsers

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 13:19:35 GMT

In this episode: my return from vacation; a discussion of various Linux web browsers, including Firefox, Seamonkey, Epiphany, Galeon, Konqueror, Opera, Dillo, Lynx, Links, ELinks, and w3m; two listener tips; listener feedback - yep, the order is reversed.

Episode 031 - Pat Davila on An Introduction to Video Editing with Kino

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 23:46:57 GMT

In this episode: a very special guest host, Pat Davila of The Linux Link Tech Show, explains how to import, edit, and export digital video to and from Kino. Additional articles of interest are here and here.

Episode 030 - Useful Shell Commands

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 00:37:26 GMT

In this episode: wrap-up of The Linux Link Tech Show Episode 155; listener feedback; three Listener Tips; a discussion of various helpful shell commands, including head, tail, find (more on find at Linux.com), locate, ifconfig, iwconfig, ps, top, grep, adduser, passwd, and how to send a process to the background.

Episode 029 - Printer Networking

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:03:50 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback, two Listener Tips, a review and discussion of CUPS and how to connect local and networked printers to and from Linux and Windows. Additional resources are here, here, and here.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 028 - Linux Friendly Hardware

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 12:46:30 GMT

In this episode: Dave Yates and I will be on the August 30 edition of The Linux Link Tech Show (!); out of town surprise the week of September 10; listener feedback on menu.lst, digital photography (see http://www.petrilopia.net/), and backups (see Mondo Rescue and G4L); Listener Tips on sshfs and Cygwin; a general discussion of sites and resources that provide assistance in finding Linux friendly hardware, including Linux Compatible, the HCL at LinuxQuestions.org, Linux USB, Linux 1394, Linux Printing, and Sane Project, for help with general hardware, Linuxant, NdisWrapper, Linux Wireless Tools, Linux Laptop and Tux Mobile for help with Linux on laptops, and a mention of a few Linux friendly vendors such as Emperor Linux, Sub300, and System 76, with more listed in the LXer forums.

Episode 027.5 - Listener Feedback

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:04:19 GMT

In this special mini-episode: listener feedback on VMware for the Mac and Qemu, windows networking, Webmin, and changing the GRUB boot order; two Listener Tips, one on man pages and the other on the Qunu live help.

Episode 027 - Windows Applications on Linux

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:28:12 GMT

In this episode: new audio equipment; Linux Reality Podcast Volume 1 CD now available with all the MP3 and Ogg files, show notes, and other resources like The One Page Linux Manual; Odeo web-based voice mail system now available; three audio comments; two Listener Tips; a review of various means of running Windows applications on Linux, including Wine (see also Frank's Corner), Cedega, Crossover Office, VMWare, Parallels, and Win4Lin.

Episode 026 - Windows Networking Part 2

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:42:12 GMT

In this episode: voice mail system; upcoming Linux Reality Podcast Volume 1 CD; promo for In the Trenches; listener feedback; two Listener Tips; accessing a Linux machine from a Windows machine using Samba.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 025 - Windows Networking Part 1

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:07:39 GMT

In this episode: listener hotline/voice mail now up and running; promo for Casting from the Server Room; listener feedback; two Listener Tips; a detailed and command-line driven discussion of connecting to a Windows machine from a Linux machine using Samba. Next week, we will look at the reverse.

Extra notes are located here.

Episode 024 - Video Applications

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 02:10:27 GMT

In this episode: voice mail update (or lack thereof) and Ogg Vorbis RSS feed link; listener feedback; this week’s Listener Tip about the alias command; the legal and philosophical issues concerning proprietary video and audio codecs; a review of Linux video players, such as MPlayer, xine and gxine, VLC, Totem, and Kaffeine, Linux video editors, including Kino, Cinelerra, Avidemux, LiVES, and Diva, Linux DVD ripping/encoding applications, such as dvd::rip, acidrip, xdvdshrink, and k9copy, and DVD authoring applications, including QDVDAuthor and DVDStyler.

Episode 023 - Productivity Applications

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:07:55 GMT

In this episode: voice mail ideas; Linux Reality Ogg Vorbis RSS feed; my adventures with a Debian Sarge email server and KnoppMyth PVR; listener feedback; two Listener Tips, the first regarding Midnight Commander and the second explaining OpenOffice.org formatting shortcuts; a review and discussion of office and financial applications, including OpenOffice.org (including how to customize its look and feel to integrate with KDE or GNOME), Abiword, Gnumeric, KOffice, Dia, WINE, Crossover Office, Gnucash, KMyMoney, Moneydance, SQL Ledger, and Nola.

Episode 022 - Audio Players

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:35:37 GMT

In this episode: LR email notification now available; future voice mail possibility; Mutt and Mutt-ng; listener feedback, our first Listener Tip on symbolic links; a review of Linux audio players and applications, including Xmms, Beep Media Player, BMPx, Audacious, Grip, Ripperx, Goobox, Soundjuicer, Kscd, Gnome CD Player, Amarok, kaboodle, Juk, Noatun, Banshee, Rhythmbox, and the Music Player Daemon (mpd) and its related clients, like Gnome Music Player, Glurp, Kmp, mpc, and ncmpc.

Episode 021 - Email Clients

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:29:14 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback, including a mention of the Libsyn podcast hosting service and a discussion of the Intel processor x86 architecture; an overview of various Linux email clients, including KMail, Evolution, Thunderbird, Sylpheed, Sylpheed-Claws, Opera Mail, Mozilla Mail (now part of Seamonkey), Pine, and Mutt.

Episode 020 - Ubuntu Linux 6.06 Part 2

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 14:04:45 GMT

In this episode: three audio feedbacks; new segment “Listener Tips”; Listener Tips from Anita of LinuxBasics.org regarding exporting a partition table to a text file and using a rescue disk; a walk-through of an installation of Ubuntu Linux 6.06 “Dapper Drake” onto a hard drive; a discussion of two scripts created by the Ubuntu community, Automatix and Easy Ubuntu, that help Ubuntu users install a variety of third-party free and non-free software.

Episode 019 - Ubuntu Linux 6.06 Part 1

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 00:07:06 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback, including how to install flash and java in DSL; downloading and booting Ubuntu Linux 6.06 “Dapper Drake”; a discussion of the Ubuntu GNOME desktop environment, including a look at Nautilus, the GNOME file manager; a review of how to install additional packages from the Ubuntu Add/Remove Applications tool and the Synaptic package manager.

Episode 018 - SUSE Linux 10.1 Part 3

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:52:56 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback; SUSE documentation; a brief discussion of how to install the ATI and NVIDIA proprietary video drivers; a look at installing and configuring XGL, with additional guides here and here.

Episode 017 - SUSE Linux 10.1 Part 2

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:06:33 GMT

In this episode: a brief mention of Ubuntu Dapper Drake; audio feedback; a look at the SUSE YaST configuration tool; how to fix the SUSE Linux 10.1 package management problems with the Smart package manager using the packages provided by a SUSE developer; additional resources on how to enable Smart in SUSE Linux 10.1 are here, here, and here; Serenity charity screenings. Note: in this episode, I forgot to mention that you should run “/sbin/SuSEconfig” and then “/sbin/ldconfig” in a terminal as your root user after installing the Smart packages.

Episode 016 - SUSE Linux 10.1 Part 1

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 31 May 2006 14:00:41 GMT

In this episode: GParted Live CD; listener feedback; an audio walk-through of a SUSE Linux 10.1 hard drive installation. Additionally, you may want to see a screencast of the installation here. A particularly good review of this distribution is from Tuxmachines. Next week, we will be using some of things described in this guide to help tweak the installation.

Episode 015 - Partitioning and Bootloaders

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 24 May 2006 00:54:05 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback; an overview discussion of hard drive partitioning, including a look at primary, logical, and swap partitions; brief mentions of third party partitioners like PartitionMagic, Acronis, and the GParted live CD; a look at how Linux designates hard drives and hard drive partitions; a review and explanation of bootloaders, including the Linux bootloaders GRUB and LILO, as well as third party bootloaders; a discussion of alternative locations where a bootloader can be installed, such as the Master Boot Record or the boot sector of the Linux partition.

Episode 014 - Command Line Basics

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 17 May 2006 12:55:42 GMT

In this episode: first donation; information on VMware and LBox from Stefan at LinuxBasics.org; listener feedback, including a distribution chooser and where to install Firefox; command line basics, including a discussion of the shell and terminal, a brief look at the commands ls, CD, cp, mv, rm, mkdir, less, the pipe character, su, and how to exit out of the terminal.

Episode 013 - Users, Groups, and Permissions

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 10 May 2006 13:03:33 GMT

In this episode: minor clarification; upcoming SUSE 10.1 release; listener feedback; a general discussion of Linux users, groups, and file/directory permissions, including the concepts of classes, specific permissions, symbolic notation, and octal notation.

Episode 012 - Basic Package Management

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 03 May 2006 12:58:33 GMT

In this episode: Firefly and Can’t Stop the Serenity charity screenings; listener feedback including Colin’s blog with a screencast of Linux Reality Episode 11; a general, high-level discussion of Linux package management, including a comparison of source file tarballs and binary packages, such as RPMs and Debian .deb files.

Episode 011 - Linux Filesystem Hierarchy

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:55:03 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback; a discussion of the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard as defined by the Free Standards Group.

Episode 010 - PCLinuxOS Part 3

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 02:12:59 GMT

In this (slightly extended) episode: Linux User Groups; the Linux Counter; PCLinuxOS New User Guide and Forum; listener feedback; a Linux Map; configuring PCLinuxOS using the KDE Control Center and the PCLinuxOS Control Center; installing new applications, such as OpenOffice.org and Frozen-Bubble, from the PCLinuxOS software repositories using the Synaptic package manager.

Episode 009 - PCLinuxOS Part 2

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:39:26 GMT

In this episode: the Linux Reality forums; listener feedback; revisiting the PCLinuxOS default KDE desktop and browsing through the KDE menu tree; a review of some of the included applications including k3b, GnomeBaker, various text editors, Konqueror, emelFM, KMyMoney, GKrellM, gtkam, digikam, Grip, amaroK, gaim, kopete, Kmail, Thunderbird, Pan, Firefox, Nvu, and KOffice; choice in Linux; and right-click context menu.

Episode 008 - PCLinuxOS Part 1

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 02:16:51 GMT

In this episode: the Georgia Aquarium; the new Linux Reality site forums are live; listener feedback; booting to a live CD; enabling the ability to boot to a CD in a computer’s BIOS; PCLinuxOS initial boot into the KDE desktop environment; a review of the default desktop, including a look at the KDE Kicker, Konqueror, Kontact, and more.

Episode 007 - Burning ISOs

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 13:30:23 GMT

In this episode: a discussion of additional resources for new Linux users as mentioned in a previous post, LinuxBasics.org and The Linux Learning Station; LR forums coming soon; audio feedback; blank CD-r’s; checking the downloaded ISO’s md5sum in Windows with md5summer, and in OS X with checksum+; burning the downloaded ISO’s in Windows with ISO Recorder, Nero, and Alcohol 120%, in OS X with Apple’s Disk Utility, included with the operating system, and in Linux with k3b.

Episode 006 - Linux ISOs

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 10:10:31 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback including the first audio comment; a discussion of Linux ISO files; purchasing retail boxes of Linux distributions such as SUSE and Mandriva; purchasing ISO images for a nominal fee from third parties such as OSDisc.com, LinuxCD.org, CheapISO.com, and LinuxISO.org; downloading ISO images for free directly from distributions such as Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS; LQ ISOs, a LinuxQuestions.org service that contains links to download locations of most Linux distributions all in one convenient place.

Episode 005 - Version Numbering

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 10:00:38 GMT

In this episode: over 100 pins on the LR Frappr map; international Linux adoption; listener feedback; my two favorite beers; version numbering as it applies to the Linux kernel and Linux distributions; how the movie Toy Story is relevant to the Debian GNU/Linux distribution; Ubuntu naming and numbering conventions.

Episode 004 - Overview of Linux Distributions

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 13:51:58 GMT

In this episode: the Linux Reality Frappr map; site forums; listener feedback; a return trip to Distrowatch for an overview of various Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, SUSE, Mandriva, MEPIS, Debian, Kubuntu, KNOPPIX, and PCLinuxOS; a brief discussion of Linux desktop environments, including KDE and GNOME.

Episode 003 - Linux Resources

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:41:44 GMT

In this episode: listener feedback; a review of Linux news sites, including Distrowatch, Desktoplinux.com, LXer, and LWN.net; places to look for assistance with Linux, including Google’s customized Linux search page, the LinuxQuestions.org community forum, and TUX Magazine; other Linux podcasts, such as the Linux Link Tech Show, LugRadio, and JaK Attack.

Episode 002 - Free Software

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 14:03:13 GMT

Thanks for the great feedback! I appreciate you taking the time to send it along. Please keep sending your suggestions, comments, and questions. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and it will help make the show even better!

In this episode: a discussion of the ideals formulated by the GNU Project, specifically with regards to free software, and how free software compares with open-source software; recursive acronyms; my three reasons why free and open-source software is relevant and important; why it is hard to eliminate proprietary software entirely, notwithstanding free software alternatives to certain programs, like Flash and Java; a brief look at various free and open-source licenses, such as the GNU General Public License (”GPL”), with a nod to the Creative Commons.

Episode 001 - Introduction

linuxreality@gmail.com (Chess Griffin) — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 16:59:56 GMT

Here is the inaugural episode of Linux Reality! In this episode, I take a few minutes to introduce myself and to explain the purpose behind this podcast, which is aimed at new Linux users. I then try to provide some basic answers and definitions to the terms Linux and operating system before giving a broad description of Linux’s genesis, background, and current state in the world of computer operating systems.