Wow! What A Pain!

Multiple sites are reporting that Microsoft is blocking Google Chrome via its parental control feature in Windows.

Here's The Verge's take on it:

https://www.theverge.com/news/690179/microsoft-block-google-chrome-family-safety-feature

Ubuntu doesn't come with Chrome, but it's possible to install Chrome via a few terminal commands. Here's an article that details the necessary commands to install Chrome in Ubuntu:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1514599/how-do-i-install-google-chrome-on-ubuntu-24-04

This one is a bit complex looking, but I've used the WGET method successfully on multiple machines.

This video makes it even simpler:

Happy computing (Again)!

Dan

Used Microsoft Office Forever, But Don't Love Buying Subscriptions? Ubuntu Has A FREE Full-Blown Office Suite.

Ubuntu Desktop typically comes with Mozilla Firefox (web browser) and Libre Office (full office suite) installed right out of the box.

Both of these are world-class software that is completely free, and Libre Office is open-source.

This video has a lot of tips on how to tweak the Libre Office settings to make it fairly closely resemble Microsoft Office.

Happy computing (Again)!

Dan

Some Seriously Helpful Articles On Making The Switch (From Windows To Linux)

 I've been watching for some great articles on the whole "end of support" thing (EOS, from here forward), and reasons why switching to Linux is a fantastic thing to do.

Here are some of my favorite ones:

• ZDNet doing a write-up on the "End Of Ten" project: https://www.zdnet.com/article/ready-to-ditch-windows-end-of-10-makes-converting-your-pc-to-linux-easier-than-ever/ ... End of 10 is a group dedicated to helping people make the move to Linux, and they have real support behind the project. Give ZDNet's article a read for for the deep dive.
• Also on ZDNet, Another governmental unit (And the entire government of Denmark) are switching from Windows to Linux, for a lot of good reasons: https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-german-state-schleswig-holstein-uninstalls-windows/

(A short video on the topic)

• Now there's an article here on how to install and work with Ubuntu Linux from It's FOSS (Free Open Source Software) There are a ton of linked support articles for installing and customizing Ubuntu Linux to your liking. (I'm using Ubuntu as I craft this post, and indeed, to create this entire blog, and 99% of my daily computing. Did I mention that Ubuntu is FREE?) Check it out here: https://itsfoss.com/getting-started-with-ubuntu/

This is probably enough for one post / article, and there's a lot of ground to cover here, so I'll end this one on a high note.

Happy computing (again, finally)!

Dan

What It's Like To Work In Ubuntu Linux

 

This was the last episode Matt & I did together, but it's a pretty important one. 

If you've just installed Ubuntu, there are a few simple commands you want to run to enable basic security features, and we show you exactly what those are. (It's only three commands, and once done, you don't have to do them again.)




One if the things I wish we had thought to include in this episode is Libre Office, which is a free, open-source full-on office productivity suite. 

Libre Office has its own native file formats, but it will work with Microsoft Office files as well. I'll have to find a good video that covers that later.

Thank you for watching, and for reading.

Dan

Talking About The Coming End Of Win 10 - And Installing Linux - Three Years Ago

 

So a friend of mine, Matt, and I started discussing the end of Windows 10 a few years ago. We were both just wrapping up jobs being IT instructors at the time. 
Here we discuss the upcoming Windows PC apocalypse, and then proceed to install Ubuntu Linux on an old, low-end PC that was a budget model in its hey-day.



Did you make it all the way through? Thank you for watching.

Dan

Ubuntu & Linux Lite Software

Over time, we'll end up building up a library of posts about our favorite software for Ubuntu.

As an example, I love Cool Retro Term.

Cool Retro Term is a beautiful work of art that can emulate the look and font of old mainframe "dumb terminals," which displayed on CRT screens in a single color, or "monochrome."

There are multiple dumb terminal emulations available in Cool Retro Term. Some are amber monochrome, others are green monochrome, like the text in the Matrix movies. There are also silver-white on black monochrome terminal emulators.

To change the settings, you right-click on a corner of the terminal frame.

Here's an example of the default amber monochrome dumb terminal emulator:

Amber Monochrome Terminal

If you do find yourself winding up using the terminal for something, it might as well be pleasant to look at.

More posts about software and terminal later. For right now, I'm creating the categories with this post.

You can find out a great deal more about Cool Retro Term on It's FOSS at this link: https://itsfoss.com/cool-retro-term/

* NOTE: You do not have to use the terminal to install it anymore. It's available in the Ubuntu Software App. (GUI Snap store)

Dan

Questions About Ubuntu Or Linux Lite

 Over time, as various things happen with Ubuntu or Linux Lite, we'll build A library of posts on the topic.

This post is being used to create these categories or labels.

Dan

Hardware Issues & Tips

Over time, I would like to build a list of posts that explain the quirks of various hardware and how it acts with Ubuntu, either in a stand-alone installation or in a dual-boot setup with Windows 10.

The hope is that, as we run into issues with installation, operation, and other software bugs with specific hardware types, we'll be able to build a searchable knowledge library.

We'll want to preserve workarounds, and open standing issues.

I'm using this post to create several categories or labels to help search such issues.

Dan

An Introduction - Windows 10 End-Of-Support, October 14th, 2025

Windows 10 will reach end-of-support on October 14th, 2025.

Because of the hardware requirments for Windows 11, this will leave hundreds of millions of PC's unable to upgrade to a newer version of Windows.

Despite the fact that these machines still function quite well, Microsoft is rendering them obsolete, as far as Microsoft's operating systems go. 

Continuing to run Windows 10 online, connected to the internet, will be a huge security risk after October 14th of 2025.

These machines are perfectly capable of running Linux in most cases, and in some cases, Chrome OS, or other less-weel-known operating systems.

This blog will focus primarily on efforts to keep these machines running and out of landfills by converting them to Ubuntu Linux, or in the case of machines with older hardware and lower-end specifications, Linux Lite.

The reason for choosing these two operating systems is because:

1. Ubuntu is very-well supported and updated fairly often, sometimes weekly. (You can choose when to install updates in Ubuntu)
2. Linux Lite is derived from Ubuntu, and is intended for machines with lesser hardware. However, it is still a powerful operating system with great features, and updated fairly often.
3. I am more familiar by far with Ubuntu than any other operating system, so if I'm going to help others, it should be on a platform I know how to help with.
4. Ubuntu and Linux Lite have good graphical user interfaces, making them mostly point-and-click. This minimizes the need for users to work in the terminal.
5. There is a very large library of free and open-source software, as well as proprietary software available for Ubuntu.
6. Ubunti Desktop (Which works fine on most laptops and desktops) is itself free and open-source. There is no cost or subscription fees required to install, run, or update Ubuntu.

I personally came to start using Ubuntu in late 2017. I put it on a laptop that I was using as an IT student at the time, and set that laptop up so that I can run either Windows 10 or Ubuntu on it.

I have since set the same configuration up for my desktop PC, and have installed Ubuntu on multiple other laptops for non-profit organizations that I have helped with IT support.

I have found that, over time, I have wound up using Ubuntu on these machines 95% of the time. I rarely boot up Windows anymore, and then only for software that I particularly like that won't run in Linux. There are not many.

In the case of my desktop, it used to regularly give me the dreaded Blue Screen of Death and crash. Despite having an MCSA in Windows 10, I was never really able to figure out why. I was afraid to record anything on it, because I was afraid it would crash.

Using Ubuntu on the same machine, it has frozen up on me maybe twice in the last four years (and counting).

Ubuntu also boots a bit faster than Windows as well.

For most users, Ubuntu will do most of the things you need it to quite well, particularly the basics like web surfing, creating documents, video-conferencing, and recording audio and video. 

Ubuntu comes with the Firefox browser, and Libre office already included.

There are a lot of reasons to like Ubuntu, and it's not at all hard to get used to after Windows.

I don't like wasting perfectly good hardware, I hate e-waste, and I hate subscription fees. So on that note, I will try to build resources here and help others migrate off Windows, and if necessary, continue to run Windows 10 safely after October 14th of this year. That lasst, however, is another blog post.

Regards,

Dan