New Videos!

Due to technical issues with my Ubuntu install, I will be a few days later on the Gnome 3 introduction video.  In in the meantime, I'll have a couple of Linux Mint 11 videos going live in a few hours.  Thanks!

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Help Ubuntu!: Speed Up Ubuntu

The latest video in our 'Help Ubuntu!' video series has gone live!  In this video we will cover a few basic tips that will help us speed up our Ubuntu 11.04 installation.  And we will not have to uninstall any software packages or even touch the Terminal!

Who would need to do this?  Anyone running older hardware that seems to have issues keeping up with the new Unity desktop environment or the speed demon who is constantly trying to get their computer to boot as fast as it possibly can.  Let me go on record to say that there are more advanced ways to speed up Ubuntu by removing some packages, language packs, etc.  This is probably fine for the more experienced Ubuntu user.

But for those who are newer to the operating system and may not be ready to jump into the Terminal and hammer out a string of commands for which they have no clue what it does, only on the promise that it will work, we'll try to start you off easily.  That way when you get to the point where you can understand what Terminal commands handle what functions, it will make that learning experience a lot easier (trust me, I've been there).

So, without delay see our latest video below.  Feel free to leave a comment or visit and subscribe to our YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts

Help Ubuntu!: Speed Up Ubuntu

Be sure to follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/techiesmarts

And on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/qwpd4i

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Next Ubuntu Video Should Be Live Tomorrow!

Join me tomorrow evening as our latest video in the 'Help Ubuntu!' series *hopefully* goes live!  This video will cover some additional apps that every Ubuntu user should at least be aware of!

Keep watch here on the site or over on our YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts

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Help Ubuntu!: Overview of Some Default Apps in Ubuntu 11.04

Our latest video has just gone live over on our YouTube Channel!  Be sure to check it out.  It's entitled "Help Ubuntu!: Default Apps in Review".  And it covers a quick review of some notable apps that as a new Ubuntu user you'll no doubt come to find useful.

From the terminal to office software, and even multimedia software.  We touch on a little bit of everything to help get you comfortable with what Ubuntu has to offer.

So be sure to check out this video, and our previous videos either over at our YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts or at our 'Help Ubuntu!' section here at TechieSmarts.com!

Help Ubuntu!: Default Apps in Review

As always, we'd love for you to follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/techiesmarts

On Facebook: http://on.fb.me/qwpd4i

And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts

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Help: Ubuntu! Video: How to Use AWN in Ubuntu 11.04

Our latest video is up and running.  In this video we will cover how to use AWN (Avant Window Manager) as a dockbar.  I will be running AWN from with Ubuntu 11.04 using the Ubuntu Classic desktop environment.

Why would you want to use AWN in the first place, we have Unity now?
Simple, Unity is kind of heavy on the resource side of things.  I have ran it on a few physical machines (older hardware) and on several virtual machines (using VirtualBox).  And in every case (except for my newer desktop PC) it caused the system to take a little longer to load, and in some cases even to use for daily/simple tasks.  I like the idea of using a dockbar.  Especially to mess with my friends who are Apple fans because with a dock and the right theme, it's extremely easy to get that 'Mac' look to the desktop.  Plus, it's just fun to play around with some extra customization.  Whereas, with Unity what you see if what you get with it.

Themes are pretty easy to find for AWN, and they are incredibly easy to install and use.  Plus, you can move the dockbar around the screen and you pretty much have a really simple way to add or take away applets from the dock with very little trouble.  And it's pretty stable as well, so there isn't as much of a worry about hanging up or crashing.

As always, be sure to swing by my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts
There we have more videos and will be continuing our Help Ubuntu! video series for folks who may be new to Ubuntu or Linux in general.  Our next video will focus on some of the software included in the base install of Ubuntu and certain settings within them that will help ease some transition pains for new Ubuntu users.

Also find us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/techiesmarts
And our Facebook Page: TechieSmarts on Facebook! http://on.fb.me/qwpd4i







If you decide that the AWN dockbar isn't to your liking, and you want to reset your GNOME panel back to default (after a GNOME panel) than the following commands are used in this video to reset GNOME:

Open Terminal and type (after each line hit the Enter key):
gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/panel
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel

And that should reset it for you.

Happy Surfing!

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