There are many computer users throughout the world that either do not have access to the internet or do not own a CD/DVD burner. In the past, this has made acquiring Linux, or more specifically, Ubuntu, very difficult. Of course, you could always ask your friend for a copy of Ubuntu or use a…read more
DistroWatch Rankings
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If you follow the Linux community there is no doubt you frequent the DistroWatch website. For those of you who have never heard of DistroWatch, Wikipedia defines it well by saying: DistroWatch is a popular website which provides news, popularity rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open-source…read more
Once again, RSS brings me good things in the morning! Todays feed included an article mentioning that Google’s Gmail has increased allowable attachment size from 10MB to 20MB. On the Gmail help site it is officially stated as: With Gmail, you can send and receive messages up to 20 megabytes (MB) in size. However, the…read more
Zonbu
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Earlier today my Google Reader fed me some news about Zonbu, the new “$99 Linux PC”. The first thing I should point out about Zonbu is that in order to buy one for $99 you must sign a 2-year contract ($249 without). But what would a contract be without monthly payments? Well, Zonbu has 3…read more
Some Aptitude Fun!
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For those of you out there that use APT as your package manager in Linux, I have something fun for you to try! Open a Terminal and type the following commands: apt-get moo aptitude -v moo aptitude -vv moo (continue until 6 v’s) Users of GNOME give this one a shot! Press Alt+F2 to run…read more
Recent Dabblings
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Over the last week I have been testing various Linux distributions to ensure that Ubuntu is the best one for me. There really is not anything scientific to this article as I basically only spent a few hours with each to get a general idea about the system. Yes, I do realize that Linux is…read more
Many times since the inception of Shift+Backspace, friends have approached me asking what open-source software they should be using and where they can get it. Usually I toss out names such as FireFox, VLC, Nvu, and Filezilla. This prompted me to start compiling a list of open-source software I regularly use along with descriptions…read more
Linux Cartoons
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I was stumbling across the ‘net last night and came across a website devoted to popular cartoons and their strips that have involved Linux. Dilbert, March 29 and 30, 1999 Foxtrot, August 16, 1999 Foxtrot, February 2, 2000 If you would like to see more please check out the site. Also, if you ever come…read more
Rockbox for iPod
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After posting the article on Ubuntu coming to mobile devices I finally remembered that I have been using open-source firmware on my iPod (5th generation) for the last few months. What exactly does this mean? Essentially, I have replaced the existing closed-source Apple firmware with the Rockbox open-source (and multi-platform) firmware. Rockbox allows the user…read more
Who am I?
Hi, my name is Margaret Wilson and I am an engineering student.
ShiftBackspace is my personal blog and I try to solve different problems regarding mobile phones and PCs. Stay tuned!