OS.ALT

For the vast majority of desktop & laptop computer users, Linux Mint makes a great alternative to the proprietary (and expensive!) Windows... but not always.

Microsoft Office 2010 compared to OpenOffice & LibreOffice. These are considered among the crown jewels of the FOSS movement, so check it out! Everyone loves free software, right?

Looking for free video editing software but don't know if it measures up to the big boys? Check out this week's episode of OS.ALT for a rundown on how Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro compare to KDEnlive, my favorite open source video editor.

Can free software compete with a product so popular that it has become a part of our language? In the world of digital imaging, no other piece of software comes close to matching Adobe Photoshop's power. Check out this week's episode of OS.ALT to see how Photoshop compares to GIMP, a free and open source graphics editor.

While the AAA games are still mostly available for only Windows, indie developers are pushing the envelope, when it comes to native Linux games.

There are so many media players out there, it's not easy to find the best one. VLC is a free media player, but is it better than other free players? Check out this week's episode of OS ALT for the rundown on my favorite cross-platform media player, VideoLAN's VLC Media Player.

Privacy advocates, people who believe in personal liberty, and tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists, this free and open source system is for you. There's no better way to hide your IP, browse the internet, chat, and conduct private business than by using TAILS; The Amnesic Incognito Live System.

Audacity, a free and open source sound editor and recording application, is put to good use whenever Nixie produces videos. Record, edit, and convert sounds in Windows, Mac, Linux, and BSD. In this video, learn how Audacity works and explore all the fun things you can do with this open source audio editor... which includes auto-tuning yourself!

Mozilla Thunderbird is a shining example of an open-source project that has become extremely popular. An estimated 15 to 20 million people use Thunderbird as their every day mail and news client. It is truly cross-platform, running on Windows, Mac, Linux, and more.

What is a filesystem, a partition, and how do they relate to your hard drive? In this week's episode of OS.ALT, I describe how to separate portions of your hard disk into usable chunks, how to partition it, and why file systems are important.

Installing themes in Ubuntu has been easy in the past, but with Oneiric Ocelot and Precise Pangolin it's a bit trickier. Watch this episode of OS.ALT to find out how to skin your version of Ubuntu!

I don't often use an instant messenger, but when I do.. I prefer Pidgin. Here's why. ;)

After much anticipation, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin was released yesterday. Here's how gorgeous a Linux desktop can be, but we can make it look even better. Here's how! Don't worry, my review of Precise Pangolin is coming soon!

Last week, Canonical released Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Precise Pangolin. Check out my review of the latest version of Ubuntu, including exciting features like the HUD, dash lenses, and other fun stuff you wouldn't expect!

Don't like how ugly your PC looks when you dual boot? Customize how your computer boots with Grub 2! In this tutorial, I show you the basic ways to configure your bootloader.

After three years of hard work, the latest GIMP 2.8 image editor has finally been released. Does it live up to the high expectations?

Both Steam and Source have been rumored to be coming to Linux for years. Linux games are probably the biggest need when it comes to Linux software.

Since the release of 11.10, Ubuntu has used Unity as its default desktop environment. There has been a lot of controversy around choosing Unity over Gnome 3, and many of you have requested my opinion. So here goes!

This week in OS.ALT it's internet browser battle week! I compare Google Chrome and the open source Mozilla Firefox.

At a recent Linux Aalto University talk Linus Torvalds, on camera, dropped an f-bomb and flipped NVidia the bird. You can see that here along with my opinion of why Linus is dissatisfied with NVidia's Linux support, the state of gaming on Linux, and how Linux drivers and hardware play a roll.

The Android Market can be a scary place. So many Android applications to choose from! I've been testing out Android apps since the very first droid came out and here are my top 10 picks.

Ventrilo and Teamspeak are the most popular game voice chat programs, but are they the best? Not many people have heard of Mumble, but you should listen to the hype about it.

So you've finished your Ubuntu install. Now what? You probably want to feel more at home with your new operating system, so here are a few tips on what you can do after installing Ubuntu!

In this week's OS.ALT you can see my interview from oscon with Simon Phipps from the OSI. We talk about what the OSI is, what changes are happening to its structure, and how everyone can now both support and benefit from the Open Source Initiative!

In honor of meeting Beefy Miracle in person at last week's OSCON, I have reviewed the latest Fedora release. Rich with features, including some exciting new cloud service applications, and great for developers, Fedora 17 is an RPM-based Linux distribution making a big splash. You know that I am an Ubuntu/Debian girl at heart, so check out what I think of Beefy Miracle in this week's OSALT.

In this week's OS.ALT, I talk about five of the most addicting open source games available to be downloaded free today.

Valve's recent announcement that Left 4 Dead 2 runs better on Ubuntu than on Windows has caused a lot of excitement and controversy. Also in this week's OS.ALT I talk about partnerships and games coming to the Android video game console, OUYA!

By popular request I'll be providing a couple of tutorials to help solve some problems you have identified! This week on OS ALT I go over how to fix the black screen some Ubuntu users have seen with the latest version, especially for people with Intel HD graphics.

From an awesome free antivirus to a sweet FTP, there are many ways to improve the performance of your computer for free! In this week's OS ALT, I talk about some of the best open source utility software available today.

The heart of the home theater PC is its media center software. This is one area where free and open source applications shine - some of the top HTPC programs, home automation systems, and operating systems are FOSS. Check out this week's OS.ALT for my thoughts on some of the very best, including mythtv, xbmc media center, and LinuxMCE.

Disclaimer: I like John Carmack. He's an intelligent and strong-willed businessman. I just had to set him straight on a few things. What do you think?

We've known for a while that Valve is bringing Steam to Linux. One of the most exciting Steam projects for Linux gamers is Steam Greenlight, where we, the gamers, can vote on which games we want to see made. In this week's OS.ALT, I discuss Steam Greenlight and how it impacts Linux Games.

With over 2 billion add-ons downloaded by Mozilla Firefox users, using extensions seem to be essential to using an Internet browser. Let me show you which ones are worth the download.

The most recent indie bundle, Humble Bundle 6, is full of great Linux games and recently added 4 more indie games to the bundle. With Obsidian adding Linux as a stretch goal to Project Eternity, and more Steam on Linux news, things are looking great for Linux gaming!

Though this most recent release of Ubuntu has been good to us, it's not without faults. The launcher for Unity is awesome when it works. And when it doesn't, there's this tutorial!

Nixie shows you how to run one operating system inside of another using a virtual machine, specifically the free virtual machine software, VirtualBox. She explains what a virtual machine is and then runs through how to install and run Windows inside of Linux using VirtualBox.

Is it worth the upgrade? What if you're new to Ubuntu? Today, I'll be covering some of the best new features of 12.10 in this weeks OS ALT!

Doing things a bit differently today, since there's so much linux news to be shared! So in the FOSS spirit, here's this week in open source. Enjoy!

Get ready, get set, it's wget! This is the most robust command in not just Linux, but Mac and Windows as well, to download all your favorite videos, music and media in every way imaginable. Truth.

In Linux, everything is a file. All the files the kernel can understand are displayed. This can make for quite a scary file system for some, so I'm here to break it down!

Finally, Netflix for Linux runs easily, Munich saves millions by switching to LiMux, and San Francisco girl shows us what an open source sex toy is really like. Giggity.

You've probably heard by now - Netflix works on Linux! Yes, installing Netflix on Linux has become much easier, but we still need to break out the command line. Let me show you the easy way to watch Netflix on Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora!

Though gz, tar, zcat and gunzip sound like names of rejected superheroes, they're actually part of a really powerful archive and compression tool in Linux. Learn about tar and more with my terminal tutorial.

Valve has finally opened the Steam beta for ALL Linux users to download, install and play. Learn how to install Steam on your machine with this quick tutorial!

Happy Friday! Here's some semi-pointless but super fun commands in the Linux terminal that will keep you coming back for more...semi-pointless but super fun commands....yes!

Whether you're a veteran or new to playing games on Steam, the Linux Steam beta is a new experience all on its own. Here's my review of the beta, outlining all the features that Valve has to offer with it's steam client.

A fully open source gaming console for 100 bucks. It sounded too good to be true, but is it?

This week I'm showing you some tried and true ways to get the most performance out of your Ubuntu box.

Be your own Success Kid with these 4 must-have open source applications! Works on Linux, PC and Mac.

[Works in any Debian based distro] How do you know if a program is truly deleted from your drive? Here are some of the best commands and software to free up your HDD by fully uninstalling programs.

I should have known better to have you ask me anything. You definitely didn't hold back and so I'm not going to either - here are the more tame (yet equally popular) FAQ from me to you! If you like this style, I'll get to some of the more... challenging ones when I don't have the zombie plague.

Ubuntu has gone to our phones, and it seems like a dream come true. Except with Android dominating the Linux mobile space, what can Ubuntu Touch really bring to the market? Find out this week on OS.ALT as I begin my open source mobile operating system BATTLE ROYALE... n' stuff. =)

I continue the battle of open source OS's with a more developed project, Firefox OS. (previously named B2G ; Boot to Gecko) It's the new mobile pride and joy of Mozilla.. Let's see how it stacks up to the competition.

As weird as it sounds, globbing is essential when using Linux. It will also make your life approx three million times easier! Here's how to use wildcard symbols and why you need them.

Nixie checks out the Tizen OS, but can it establish itself as a new player on the cellular scene?

Nixie headed to GDC 2013 to check out the future of linux gaming!

Regular expressions are the best. They are an ultra-powerful search pattern language that almost anyone can learn, whether you are into programming or not.

It's time for the final mobile OS in the battle of open source operating systems; Sailfish. Many of you thought that MeeGo had a good thing going before it was canceled a couple years ago. Have no fear! Sailfish has risen from the ashes of MeeGo and proves to be even better still.

I don't usually do the 'ask Nixie' type thing... but here are some of your most commonly asked Linux / open source questions and my replies!

Just because a program is free and open source doesn't mean that it's good. Unless you're Clementine that is; an intense media player for Windows, Mac and Linux. See how it stacks up to the competition!

Be careful, you might actually enjoy learning how to troubleshoot your network in the terminal. Monitor performance, bandwidth usage much more using these five easy commands. Fun with IP Addresses!

After 6 months of waiting, Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) is finally here! Watch my review and find out if it's worth the install.

Distractions be gone! Since there's so many good programs and tips out there on how to work smarter, this video is a two parter. We first start by productivity suites, and our beloved hosts file.