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A New Life for your Old PCs and Netbooks

What do you do with an old laptop or netbook once it cannot handle the software upgrades that seriously make them crawl to their death? If you want to stick with your favorite operating system, then you should upgrade the hardware or buy a new one. Another thing that you can do is install an operating system that takes up little space and requires less RAM and Processor speed to run. If you’re asking where you can find such an OS, then you’re in luck. The guys at Ubuntu made this awesome Ubuntu variant called Lubuntu.

Lubuntu is a desktop project by Ubuntu. The main objective here is to create a lightweight operating system that’s less resource hungry and more energy-efficient. They made this happen by using light weight applications and a lightweight GUI (Graphical User Interface).

Lubuntu is targeted at “normal” PC and laptop users running on low-spec hardware. The minimum system hardware requirement for Lubuntu is a Pentium II or Celeron system with 128 MB of RAM. It’s probably a bottom-line configuration that may yield slow yet usable system with Lubuntu. It should be possible to install and run Lubuntu with less memory, but the result will likely not be suitable for practical use. This simply means that it’ll run great on computers from five years ago. Another great treat is that Lubuntu can be used by those who aren’t really familiar with Linux command line tools.

If you’ve been meaning to try out Linux but don’t have enough resources for full-featured mainstream distributions (distros), try out Lubuntu on your old computer and see how it works out for you. Who knows, you might find a suitable function for your old laptop that’s been lying around since your last upgrade.

Download Lubuntu

Tags: desktop, Laptop, linux, Lubuntu, Netbook, operating system, OS, ubuntu

The Cheapest USB Stick Computer

Game developer David Barben just managed to develop a USB stick PC that costs only 25 dollars. The tiny two socket computer lets you plug a keyboard via the USB port and HDMI on the other end.

The Hardware:

The 25$ computer uses a 700MHz ARM11 processor, 128 MB of RAM and runs OpenGL ES 2.0 which will allow a graphic performance of 1080p output. Finally, an SD card slot is used for storage.

We can expect it to run a range of Linux distributions, but it looks like Ubuntu may be the distro it ships with. That means it will handle web browsing, run office applications, and give the user a fully functional computer to play with as soon as it’s plugged in. All that and it can be carried in your pocket or on a key chain.

Watch the video below:

 

 
Source: [Geek.com]

Tags: Computer, linux, PC, USB, USB Computer

The “2 Steps” Guide in Fixing Any Computer

Source: [GeeksAreSexy]

Tags: Fix Computers, Humor, linux, Mac, Windows

BlogRadio: Listen to Any Blog Anywhere

BlogRadio is a cloud based, streaming media for RSS. It simply means that you can listen to any blog that has RSS (which is almost all blogs). If you’re too busy to read your favorite blogs but still want to be updated, you can listen to them while you do your stuff. And it’s all for free.

How it works

You’ll have to download a desktop application which supports three major operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac OS-X). Once installed, simply subscribe to your favorite blog(s) using the BlogRadio Desktop Manager Tool. BlogRadio will convert the text of the blog to an audio file for you. All that’s left for you to do now is to sit back and listen.

BlogRadio is an alternative way of keeping in-touch with your favorite blogs. If you’re too busy to read them, why not listen to them. You can choose a male or female voice to read for you and they are made to sound as natural as possible.

Blog Radio also has an iPhone app that allows you to sync your streams and listen (and view images) using your iPhone.

Tags: Blog Radio, Blog Streaming, Desktop App, Download, linux, Mac, Podcast, Windows

Jolicloud: Alternative Operating System for Netbooks

Jolicloud needs no introduction to techies. For the lot of you who have not heard of Jolicloud, it’s not your traditional OS. It’s a new Linux-based operating system that is designed for Netbooks. It aims to make netbook users’ life easier. The best part of all is that it’s free.

What JoliCloud is all about:

They have mixed a super-optimized Linux* that makes the most of your netbook hardware, battery, graphics and connectivity with a cool interface that will make your life easier. Switching OS can be done in a snap and In less than 15 minutes of installation you will enjoy Jolicloud alongside your old Windows and all your data will be perfectly safe. Like in your main computer, you can take advantage and enjoy using a combination of your favorite web apps, packaged for a full screen experience and the most popular native apps.

JoliCloud overview:

No more install hassle. The best and most recent drivers are handpicked for you so everything just works: WiFi, sound, Bluetooth, 3G, screen size.

Jolicloud has been designed to make sure you can connect and collaborate efficiently, and easily share with your Facebook friends and other Joliclouders.

Keep your data locally but with the ability to save anything on the Cloud and control which services you want to use.

With Jolicloud, you are connected anytime, anywhere. They support hundreds of mobile operators, 3G modems, Bluetooth and WiFi.

All the usual suspects are available on Jolicloud: Firefox, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Boxee, Hulu, and many more.

From productivity apps to games, education and art, discover our hand-picked selection of application for your netbook.

No download required anymore, install any app in one click.

In Jolicloud, most native and web applications are available for free.

Jolicloud brings all the benefits of cloud computing today, making your netbook the natural extension of all your other computers and mobile devices.

Tags: Jolicloud, linux, Netbook, operating system

Install Ubuntu Applications From Appnr

Appnr is a web-based tool that allows you to install applications on Ubuntu. If you are an Ubuntu user, then you will definitely find it very handy. It’s a web interface for APT, and the package is downloaded and installed from Ubuntu/Third-Party repositories.

How to Install

You’ll need an AptURL protocol handler and a web browser support in order to install packages from Appnr. AptURL is a program that handles special URLs to installing package on APT-based Linux systems. Firefox on Ubuntu 7.10 or higher has AptURL installed by default. You can view the full tutorial here.

Appnr features several applications that are neatly categorized. Each application is rated and you can view the number of users who installed a particular application. The website is very handy and it saves a lot of time for Ubuntu users, especially the new users.

*There is also a site similar to this one which allows you to download tweaks for Mac/OS-X. Check out Secrets.

Tags: Applications, Appnr, Download, linux, ubuntu