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KDE 4 logo
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Upgrade to 64 bit Goosebuntu (9.04 & 9.10)(Jaunty & Karmic)

This is a relatively quick and very effective way to beef up your (K)Ubuntu installation. In other words, it’s how to install all your favorite Ubuntu apps all in one go! Note this primarily applies to (K)Ubuntu 9.04 & 9.10 (Jaunty & Karmic), 64 bit versions. For (K)Ubuntu 8.04 please visit earlier (and possibly outdated)…

Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 4 – eBuyer
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Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 4 – eBuyer

This is the fourth article in a series of case studies illustrating the difficulty one has purchasing a PC in the UK without being forced to pay a “Microsoft Tax”. We use Linux on all our PC’s and have done so for several years. Therefore we do not need, nor should we be forced to…

Surely Ubuntu Linux is only for a minority of geeks & programmers?
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Surely Ubuntu Linux is only for a minority of geeks & programmers?

Minority interest? Yes. Only used by geeks & programmers?  Not necessarily… Ubuntu is a minority interest insofar as it only has a fraction of the users that M$ Windows has. Moreover, despite great improvements in recent years, some configuration issues with Ubuntu are still a pain. However I disagree that you need to be a…

Update – Dell
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Update – Dell

This is an update to the Dell OS-free laptop fiasco:- http://www.garfnet.org.uk/joomla/index.php? option=com_content&view=article&id=182&Itemid=331 Seems that whilst Dell cannot be bothered to respond to our enquires with regard to buying laptops OS-free, or whether it is prepared to refund customers for unused Microsoft licenses as per Microsoft’s EULA, it is however perfectly happy to spam its customers…

Tux with broken logo
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Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 2 – Laptops Direct

This is the second article in a new series of case studies illustrating the difficulty one has purchasing a PC in the UK without being forced to pay a “Microsoft Tax”. We use Linux on all our PC’s and have done so for several years. Therefore we do not need, nor should we be forced…

Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 – PC World
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Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 – PC World

This is the third article in a new series of case studies illustrating the difficulty one has purchasing a PC in the UK without being forced to pay a “Microsoft Tax”. We use Linux on all our PC’s and have done so for several years. Therefore we do not need, nor should we be forced…

My Ubuntu sound system suddenly stopped working. Can I restart it without rebooting?
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My Ubuntu sound system suddenly stopped working. Can I restart it without rebooting?

Sometimes your Ubuntu sound system can stop working. Often this is caused by a media player plugin in your web browser. You might also notice that your computer goes very slowly and that if it is browser-related, then the browser will perform at a snail’s pace! As a Linux user, you will no doubt consider…

Google Chromium logo from the Wikipedia
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It’s war!

Two events this week could herald in the clash of the titans as the two global IT giants, Google & Microsoft slug it out for global internet dominance. Or so one might believe. MS started rolling-out its much-hyped Microsoft Online Services (MOS). The new services are scheduled to be available to customers by mid-July 2009….

Ubuntu-chrome logo
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How do you install Google’s Chromium browser on (K)Ubuntu Linux?

Unfortunately the new Google Chromium open source browser is not included in the Ubuntu software repositories yet. Therefore installing it is a little more complex than other Ubuntu applications. But it still takes less than five minutes. Here’s how… 1. You need to tell your system to connect to the appropriate software repository. That is,…

What is the best media player for the GarfNet internet radio tuner?
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What is the best media player for the GarfNet internet radio tuner?

Editors note: Gerfnet radio tuner was effectively made obsolete by the fact that most modern browsers play media directly. However, some reader may find our static Internet Radio page helpful for finding stations and addressing other problems that may arise. The internet radio tuner is cross-platform compatible and should work on any modern operating system….

It works!
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It works!

GarfNet’s upgrade to Joomla 1.5.x is now complete. Even better, the rather nasty “$live_site” bug reported in our last site blog item is now fixed. Many thanks to Joomla developer, Ian MacLennan for providing us with a timely patch:- http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla/tracker/?action=TrackerItemEdit&tracker_item_id=16930 We still have our doubts whether Joomla 1.5.x should be deemed to be in its…

Fifty years between them: Goodmans DSR80DAB & Bush VHF61
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Internet radio tuner

Editor’s note: the Garfnet internet Radio player has been discontinued and this article amended accordingly. However the streams have all been updated and can be played through your browser or separate media player. This is a brief introduction to Internet radio. In a nutshell, we finally had to abandon GarfNet’s somewhat ageing internet radio &…

What is LAMPP?
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What is LAMPP?

LAMPP – sometimes written as “LAMP” – is an abbreviation for Linux | Apache | MySQL (database) | PHP ((Pretty) Hypertext Pre-processor) | Perl (programming language). Today, many Linux distributions come with Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl & Python anyway – or they are very easily added from the distributions software repository. If you want to…

Which CMS has GarfNet chosen and why did you choose it?
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Which CMS has GarfNet chosen and why did you choose it?

Editor’s note: this article dates back to 2009 and is VERY obsolete. It is here for historical interest only. Currently we are evaluating a number of quite different Content Management Systems. For the main part of the site it was a battle between Joomla & PHP-Nuke. Both are good systems. However Joomla’s administration tools are…

Would you use Debian on a desktop or laptop PC?
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Would you use Debian on a desktop or laptop PC?

Editor’s note: Things have changed since this article was published. Today’s Debian installer is excellent and many of our desktop and laptop machines now run Debian “stable” branch. We have also found that in many cases Debian runs faster on old hardware than Ubuntu. Currently the editor’s own laptop is running Debian “testing” branch. Yes…