Ubuntu Webapps

Ubuntu webapps are something that get highlighted on the Ubuntu website. Webapps are becoming quite popular, I actually make use of a couple of them daily with the Google Drive Chrome Webapp and the Hootsuite one.

Ubuntu 12.10 brings with it the ability to use Unity webapps and integrate them directly with your desktop. But what does that mean?

Different webapps work in different ways that make sense to the specific service. Webapps for news sites, like BBC News (bbc.co.uk/news), will give you notifications of the latest and breaking news on your desktop. The Facebook webapp and other social apps gives pop-ups about messages and tells you when there's other updates in your social streams to check. Music site webapps allow you to play music in your desktop from the web by hooking into the notifications menu. There's a load of sites that already have Unity webapps but thousands more websites could be turned into Ubuntu webapps too.

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Windows - Linux Dual Boot: What is Linux

Image couresy of DoodleADayDual booting Windows and Linux isn't as much trouble as you would imagine. In fact it's a piece of cake.

I've been a dual Windows/Linux user for as long as I can remember. I prefer the flexibility of Linux but I still need to use Windows because it's 'the norm'. Everyone else has Windows so I need to have it as well. But it's more than just that - it's also that a lot of great software is Windows only software.

With Linux you get free and open source at the heart of things. Almost everything is changeable to how you like it, it's modified and improved by thousands of people and in a very organic 'let's make it better for everyone' kind of way.

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Ubuntu for Android

It's a high-end phone AND a desktop computer in one and it's coming soon to enhance your work and personal life. What you get is the ability to simply dock your phone and it will become a laptop or desktop computer.

With Ubuntu for Android you get the best of both - the worlds most popular open source mobile operating system running alongside the worlds most popular free desktop operating system. Neither operating system is watered-down or scaled-back, you get the full featured versions of both. This is Ubuntu and Android working side-by-side in harmony.

A docked Android for Ubuntu phone

How it Works

When you dock the phone Ubuntu will start-up. When you un-dock the phone Ubuntu will still store it's data, but all the processing power gets directed back to Android. You don't ever get a sluggish mobile experience caused by Ubuntu.

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Working with PDF Files on Linux

PDF (Portable Document Format) is a popular file format created by Adobe in the early 1990s. Even before it was released as an open standard in 2008, PDF was widely used for document exchange because of its universal compatibility. In other words, if you want your documents to look consistent everywhere, you should use PDF. It supports font embedding, which means that other users will see the text just like you formatted it, even if they don't have the same fonts as yours.

Note that some fonts are not embeddable, so they are usually automatically replaced by standard system fonts.PDF files can contain interactive elements – form fields, annotations, even 3D objects – and can be digitally signed or encrypted. Adobe has developed nine versions (specifications) of PDF, and each new version is backward-inclusive, meaning that it supports all features added in previous versions. The safest practice when creating PDF files is to use the latest stable version of PDF (currently 1.7).

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Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 Review

Much better than boring old Windows XP hey?Windows XP for me is like the Nintendo 64; it has provided me with so many great memories, good and bad. But like all great things, you out grow them and seek something better and something new. So, last week I finally got sick of good old Windows XP and decided to research for something I could replace it with. 

I looked at Windows 7 but then, like all good geeks; I decided to go a little outside of the box. I decided to check out the cute little penguin’s offerings. Now Linux isn't something new to me, I have used several variations of it, from Ubuntu to Puppy Linux and even the horrifying Mobilin. So when I stumbled upon the netbook remix of Ubuntu, I simply had to have it.

Now, I am not going to bore you with every little detail on it. So long story short, it’s a version of Ubuntu especially designed for netbooks. After installing the distribution I was immediately amazed by how professional and well designed it was. Evolution Mail hasn’t skipped a beat with my Mobile Me account and the remix also picked up all my drivers and function keys, which is something very important to me. Now, if only Windows install and set-ups were that easy!

But like all things it’s not perfect. At times it is slow and sluggish just opening a new document can take a while, so I think a RAM upgrade might be in order. I was also worried about the printer support, but Ubuntu’s programmers slapped me in the face with that one! Installing a printer on this operating system is as easy as it comes. It is seriously, just plug and play.

So, a week has past and what do I think? I think if anyone wants to dip his, or her, feet into the world of Linux, give this a go. Or at least give Ubuntu a go. It is very stable, gives you plenty of additional software choices on the built-in software centre, also its easy to navigate and above all, its free!

If you want to give the Ubuntu remix a go, but you are still a bit hesitant, please post a comment below. I would love to answer your questions!

So what do you think? Have you used Ubuntu before? If so, what was it like for you?