The default software and codec selection is very nice, it's probably the first time ever that I didn't have to install any codecs. Some examples of the smart choices made by the Mint team are Tomboy, Gimp, Thunderbird, Pidgin, and Gnome Mplayer. Another GREAT decision was the removal of games. These aren't needed by everyone and shouldn't have been installed by default anyway.

What we want to concentrate on right now is the first bit, drwxr-xr-x. This string of characters lists the full permissions of the file or directory. It is also important to know the next two strings (in this case both are jlwallen) are the user and group associated with the file.

Let’s go back to the permissions string. The first character, d, means the listing is a directory. Now, instead of looking at the next portion of the string as a single group, think of it as three groups:

KShutdown allows you to set the exact date and time or "time from now" which is what I and likely you will want. Just set the time in hours or minutes and click ok. You can also set it to initiate when a certain application you select closes which may come in handy sometimes as well.

In an operating system such as Ubuntu or openSUSE, your data is stored on your hard disk, in the Google operating system, everything is stored somewhere out there on the internet. Chrome is not like other operating systems and is being aimed at netbooks. The early netbooks, such as the Eee PC 701, did not arrive with a great deal of RAM or disk space, however, more recent netbooks have something like 64GB or 160GB of disk space and at least 1 or 2GB of RAM. You can install a full version of GNU/Linux into any of these.
Some design goals for the Google Chrome OS user interface include using minimal screen space by combining applications and standard webpages into a single tab rather than separating the two.

Gentoo, as you may already be aware, has long had a reputation for not being particularly friendly to folks new to it. Although it has shined as a distribution for Linux power users, it has sometimes scared away less tech-savvy users that might have found it somewhat intimidating to deal with.

Sabayon Linux aims to tame Gentoo and make it more accessible to non-power users and it largely succeeds at this goal in this release.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) is a Canonical-sponsored netbook-optimized Linux distribution that is (of course) based on Ubuntu. It has been available since Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron". UNR is an optional preinstalled operating system (OS) on some netbooks such as Dell Inspiron Mini 10v and the Toshiba NB100, and also runs on popular models such as the Acer Aspire One and the ASUS Eee PC. Canonical has collaborated with Intel and is working with a number of OEM's to deliver Ubuntu on netbooks in retail. All of the initial Ubuntu Netbook remixes combine optimizations from the Moblin project for Intel Atom processors.

Zenwalk is a France-based distribution originally based on Slackware. It first appeared in 2004 under the name “Minislack”, and changed to the current name in 2005. The current stable version, 6.2, was released in September 2009. At Christmas 2009, Zenwalk was the 19th most popular distro tracked by distrowatch.com, with an average of 375 page views per day. (This placed the distro in roughly the same range as Kubuntu and Knoppix.)

One of the great things about Linux is that there's usually more than one way to do something. Chances are, the way you are doing a particular task right now isn't necessarily the best way either. This collection of hacks is the result of a lot of effort: some are functional, some are fun, but they are all cool! So, start reading, and find out what you could be doing with Linux...

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.