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Saturday, 5 Jun 2010
Extending OpenOffice.org
Date: 5 Jun 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 3479 / Comments: 7
Everyone has heard the old saying "lies, damn lies, and statistics", well statistically OpenOffice.org is used somewhere between 0.2% and 22% depending as to where you live. (these statistics can be found at Webmasterpro.de). This leaves a lot of people saying, "Huh?!?". So I will resolve to discuss OOo adoption anecdotally. The first class of pharmacy students I taught 4 years a go had never heard of OpenOffice.org prior to me using it for a presentation, but this past month (May 2010) I had several students email me their pharmacy law papers as ODTs. The reasons for this increased adoption could be due to multiple reasons such as alternatives being perceived as bloated, slow, and expensive or the increased number of students I have using alternative operating systems where OOo has a native port or maybe even the fact that they find their pharmacy professor so darn cool that they want to be just like him and run OOo as well. As biased as I am towards myself, I seriously doubt it's that last reason but I am seeing more and more OOo use. My intention with this article is not to proselytize OOo, but instead to show some good ways to extend the use of OOo.
Tuesday, 1 Jun 2010
What is your favorite office productivity suite?
Date: 1 Jun 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 277 / Comments: 1
There are those that were wondering when it was going to happen (myself included), but finally there is a new poll here on TLB. In this poll we dare to ask:
"What is your favorite office productivity suite?"
Please vote in the poll on the right hand side of the screen and leave comments within this story.
Sunday, 25 Apr 2010
A Dozen GNOME Themes
Date: 25 Apr 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 4838 / Comments: 6
Now there are plenty of sites that have posted their top 10, top 16, top 25, even their top 50 themes for GNOME, but some how their lists always include the same designs over and over. The goal here is to look at some newer and/or forgotten themes, some interesting combinations fom preexisting themes, and some inclusions of original work to provide a reason to look at these themes.
Thursday, 8 Apr 2010
How To Obtain Linux
Date: 8 Apr 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 1039
Linux can run on nearly any electronic device including set-top boxes, cellphones, and even gas pumps; but in this article we are going to concentrate on the most classic of environments that receives the majority of attention....personal computers.
Saturday, 27 Mar 2010
7 Cool Firefox Add-ons
Date: 27 Mar 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 11335 / Comments: 8
One of the coolest things about Firefox is its extensibility. Everyone has their collection of favorite Firefox add-ons and I thought I would share mine. Some provide improved organization, some have a certain "WOW!" factor, and others just look pretty.
After you check out my list, I would also like to know which ones you use the most.
Wednesday, 24 Mar 2010
Firefox Persona: The Linux Box
Date: 24 Mar 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 603
Today,
My first attempt at creating a Persona for Firefox was posted, and I have to admit that I think it looks ok (now there's an overwhelming endorsement). Check out the article to see some screenshots, or just go to https://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/139796 to check it out for your self.
Tuesday, 9 Mar 2010
What is your favorite DE/WM for Linux/UNIX?
Date: 9 Mar 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 1000 / Comments: 3
Today I decided to add some polling software to The Linux Box. With said software in place I have decided to ask a ridiculous question:
"What is your favorite DE/WM for Linux/UNIX?"
Please participate in the poll on the right hand side of the page and leave comments within this story.
UPDATE: This poll has been completed. View the story to see the results
Monday, 8 Mar 2010
Free Software Time Line Video
Date: 8 Mar 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 866
I decided to entertain myself figuring out how Pitivi works and in the process I ended up throwing together a brief video providing a loose time line for some major milestones in free and open software.
Thursday, 4 Mar 2010
TLB Comix #3
Date: 4 Mar 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 944
Wednesday, 3 Mar 2010
TLB Comix #2
Date: 3 Mar 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 818 / Comments: 1
Tuesday, 16 Feb 2010
Comparing Browsers on Linux
Date: 16 Feb 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 4534 / Comments: 15
Recently I decided to make a screencast comparing some of the more popular browsers that are currently available for Linux: Firefox, Epiphany, Konqueror, Opera, and Google-Chrome. Included is the screencast posted with the new HTML 5 video tag, a video download option, and for those that prefer reading, a short synopsis of the scenario.
Monday, 15 Feb 2010
TLB Comix #1
Date: 15 Feb 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 979
Friday, 12 Feb 2010
Pandora Icon
Date: 12 Feb 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 1279
We've all listened to and enjoyed Pandora, and some of us have even downloaded and installed the AWN applet for Pandora so that we have the player nicely embedded to use all the time. I love the applet as it is convenient way to enjoy Pandora (and it is also an easy way around the web filters where I work). I wanted a slightly spiffier looking icon to use, so here it is (see picture to the right).
Wednesday, 3 Feb 2010
Why Use Linux?
Date: 3 Feb 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 5475 / Comments: 9
Often I get the question, "Why should I use Linux?". Obviously this is a very nebulous question that may have as many different reasons as there are Linux users, but let's try and answer it anyway.
If you are using this article to convince someone to switch to Linux, you may need to first explain what Linux is. You can find a newbie friendly article on that subject here.
We can make a good argument for using Linux with eight basic points including coolness, speed, feature richness, ease of use, support, upgrade options, low (no) cost, and freedom.
Friday, 22 Jan 2010
What Is Linux?
Date: 22 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 2496 / Comments: 3
I recently had the opportunity to accidentally switch a very lovely couple to Linux. Before I explain this unintentional OS conversion, I should give you a little background information.
I currently work at a very nice non-profit post-secondary school teaching pharmacy classes. I'm kind of a geek, and therefore function as our department's unofficial tech support both around the office and on staffs' home equipment. Enter Grace, not the kind we receive from the Lord, but the name of my co-worker whom teaches electronic health records courses.
Tuesday, 19 Jan 2010
Gentle XFCE
Date: 19 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 3321
It's not just my favorite XFCE theme, but a lot of people seem to like it as its been downloaded over 35,000 times from various places, and has even been included in several distros. With anything this nice, I can't take all the credit so read on to learn more.
Friday, 15 Jan 2010
Previous Distro Wallpapers
Date: 15 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 3794
A few years ago, I went through a phase where I wanted to make wallpapers for various Linux distributions.This was in a time when everyone's monitors were formatted to a 4:3 ratio and things like United Linux still seemed like a good idea. There are other websites out there that still post these wallpapers without giving me attribution (a violation of the GPL they were released under), but not a real stressor for me anyway.
Thursday, 14 Jan 2010
6,760 Fonts
Date: 14 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 7648 / Comments: 3
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to try a different font every day for the next 18.5... years and never repeat any fonts?
TLB is Back!
Date: 14 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 971 / Comments: 1
The Linux Box is back up and running. While it will take time to put up all the content people came here for on a regular basis, I think that this new set-up should provide a more stable platform as TLB has transitioned away from WordPress (due to frequent security problems) to use some simpler php scripts for content management along with a good css to help place content correctly.
Tuesday, 12 Jan 2010
Fun Fonts
Date: 12 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 5374 / Comments: 5
Fun fonts are intended for creating eye-catching documents and graphics. These fonts have been collected from various places on the web so it incorporates a rather eccentric collection of fonts and licenses. I recommend not trying to (re)sell the included fonts.
ooo templates by sean, version 0.2.0
Date: 12 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 4528 / Comments: 4
I have created a few templates, some of which aren't terrible. I intend to continue creating more templates to make this at least a decent template collection. Right now this package contains 18 templates (11 ooimpress, 1 oodraw, 4 oowriter, 2 oocalc), but I intend to add more within the next couple of months.
Old Episodes: The Linux Box Show, Episodes 1-7
Date: 12 Jan 2010 / Author: SeanParsons / Views: 1180
Back in 2005 I put together seven episodes of The Linux Box Show. There were some interesting interviews and stories and may be useful if anyone wishes to utilize them when writing updated stories for the topics covered.
Despite being only seven episodes, they included stories of things ranging from book reviews of some mandatory g33k reading, to history on some important projects like Firefox and KDE, and even a couple of interviews.