Tag Archives: software

Renaming USB Devices in Linux

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Sometimes you want to change the name of a USB device, for example because it has no name or because it has a new purpose. I usually give my USB flash drives my own name so that if I lose them, people will know who to return them to.

Modern desktop environments make it easy to rename your device by simply clicking it and selecting ‘rename’ from the context menu. However, sometimes you might want to do this from the command line 😎 perhaps because you have no desktop environment, or your desktop environment does not allow you to easily rename your device, or because you feel you could do it faster this way. Continue reading →

Namibian Mobile Broadband Settings in Linux

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I originally posted this as a Note in the Linux Namibia Facebook group when I still had a Facebook account but I’ve decided to cross-post it here because not everyone uses Facebook and because I still see people having trouble with this. After a few lessons in XML in my Internet Technology course, I contacted local networks and with the cooperation of network staff, I was able to add a little code so that the recent (10 August 2011) update to the mobile-broadband-provider-info package in Ubuntu adds support for Namibian providers MTC, Leo and Telecom. Namibians often seem to have trouble using their cellphones or dongles to get connected on Linux, and the network staff, being unfamiliar with Linux, usually aren’t much help either. This should solve that.
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Installing Ubuntu

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A tutorial on how to install Ubuntu on your computer is completely redundantbecause it’s really that easy. I’ve installed Windows 7 for people and I’ve installed Ubuntu, as well as several other things. Based on my observation Ubuntu’s installer is the easier of the two.This is what you have to do: Download the disk image from the Ubuntu Website, burn it to a CD, put the CD in your computer and restart the computer. Welcome to Ubuntu!

Edit: Based on some feedback there are some things I would like to add:

  • The last step of the installation is to set a good password for your account
  • There’s a countdown to the next Ubuntu release; Ubuntu Natty Narwhal
  • If you’re looking for a reason to install Ubuntu you can find some there too
  • You can download an Ubuntu install disk from their downloads page
  • You can download it in 64 or 32 bit, Intel or AMD and other stuff
  • You can download it directly or torrent it (legally of course; Ubuntu is free software)
  • You can choose between a desktop, netbook or server edition
  • There’s an alternate installer with no graphics that uses less resources

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Ubuntu Natty

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It’s that time of year again, when the Ubuntu users eagerly await the next release of their now purplish OS: Ubuntu 11.04 aka the Natty Narwhal. There have been some very big changes in Ubuntu since the last release (which, if you’ve been following Linux news, you’re probably already aware of), if you thought changing the orientation of the window buttons was radical then you’re in for a shock. Continue reading →