I have now loaded the new release of Linux Mint on all four of my laptop and netbook computers. It loaded absolutely smoothly on all four of them, including both HP 2133 netbooks, with no problems and no special "tricks" required.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this Mint release is based on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). That in itself brings along a lot of updates, new package releases and bug fixes.

Linux Mint is actually based on Ubuntu Linux, but simplified for users coming from Windows. The user interface has been tweaked to look and behave more like Windows. Most common applications like the flash pligina as well as video and audio decoders come pre-installed with the base distribution, meaning less things to configure for the beginner user.

Because I liked Ubuntu so much, I decided to install it on my laptop too and also this worked very good. However, these days Ubuntu is way to heavy to run on my laptop. Because I wanted to have a fast system I tried to install Gentoo Linux; the installation took 3 days but I ended up with a very fast and responsible system. However, every time I had to install a program it took ages to compile the software. So then I started searching to a nice and user-friendly lightweight distribution.

It wasn't as easy as I thought, so I decided to write my experiences down in this review. The following distributions were tested:

• Arch 2007.08-2
  
• Damn Small Linux 4.2.5
  
• Puppy 4.0
  
• TinyMe Test7-KD
  
• Xubuntu 8.04
  
• Zenwalk 5.0

The compact and flexible nature of the Linux Kernel, plus the fact that it and all its support code is modular open source, means it lends itself very well to stripped down small and efficient distributions. This article explores a few of these distributions and explains just how useful they can be...

Sabayon promises all of the following and then some: KDE 4.2, smaller footprint, faster boot times, EXT4 filesystem, better support for other Linux installs, new Xorg, Compiz and Network Manager, World of Goo game demo, Media Center. Holy banana, that's quite a list, isn't it?

You should take a backup of your Debian Etch system (you can find some suitable tutorials for this in the Backup category), just in case something goes wrong (but the upgrade worked fine for me).

Ubuntu has brought Linux to the masses better than any other Linux distribution. And with its recent 9.04 release, Ubuntu has not only continued to create one of the most user-friendly operating systems available, it has made it faster and more reliable. Let’s take a look to see if there is one (or 10) reasons to entice you to install Ubuntu 9.04. The following are in no certain order.

These are organized into separate distributions, (distros) and each one is different. If you've read our previous Beginner's Guide to Linux, you are already familiar with the advice we gave about choosing the right distro for your needs. This guide will shed more light on some of the more common distributions in use today and will cover the distinct advantages or disadvantages of each.

The focus of this article is to select some of the finest Linux books which are available to download for free. The vast majority of the books featured here can also be freely distributed to others.

To cater for all tastes, we have chosen a wide range of books, encompassing general introductions to Linux, books that concentrate on a specific distribution or application, books for programmers, as well as books that have defined the evolution of free software. All of the texts here come with our strongest recommendation. So get reading (and downloading).

Instead of multiple sliders that give you direct control over the low-level ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) system, you get one slider for volume. That's it.

You can still get to all the audio control ALSA can give you if you elect to use Alsamixer program or its GNOME interface. The default, however, is still that single volume control.

The latest version of Knoppix represents a radical remake of the venerable Live CD Linux distribution. Knoppix 6.0 is leaner, faster, and more versatile than ever. In addition to that, the new version brings another significant improvement: the amazingly fast boot process. Even when Knoppix runs from a CD, it takes less than a minute to boot to the graphical desktop. More importantly, the improved boot process doesn’t affect Knoppix’ legendary hardware detection capabilities.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I use to work on Desktops PCs, one in my office and one in my Home, I use my Laptop (an old IBM T30) only when I travel, and as I like to travel light, this also goes for my Laptop, so here I will show how do I configured my Laptop with Debian Lenny, and just the necesary software for my job while abroad.