Kick-start your week with four easy (but still cool) tricks on your Linux desktop. Install the media server you've always wanted but never got around to doing, or fine-tune your hardware to squeeze out a few more hours of battery power ... All this an more in this week's How To Roundup. Oh, and send us your favourite Linux tricks.

" I am currently in the process of learning CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) based web design since it is now the standard foundation of layout for almost all web sites. I have read several books now and I still believe that I am slightly lost when it comes time to applying what I know from scratch.

"An Erlang IDE based on NetBeans. With syntax checking, syntax highlighting, auto-completion, pretty formatter, occurrences mark, brace matching, indentation, code folding, function navigator, go to declaration, project management, Erlang shell console."

Introducing Onion 75! It’s a very amusing and funny emoticon theme for Kopete.

The Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver. In short, a backup program. I’ve been following Amanda for a couple of years, and started using it intensively last January. I’ve been extremely happy with my decision to implement Amanda, so I decided to list some of the reasons.

I think Microsoft has given up on Vista behind the scenes. I’m sending this via email because well, I know it sounds like tinfoil hat time, but I think there’s some validity to it.

Today my co-worker Allison repeated something I said a couple of years ago. “I bet these people paralyzed by choice starve to death trying to buy breakfast cereal.”

Sure, we are drowned in tides of twaddle about precious IP, Trade Sekkrits, Sooper Original Algorithms that must not be exposed to eyes of mere mortals, and all manner of silly excuses. But that's all a smokescreen to cover up the real reason: to hide code of such poor quality that even PHBs know to be embarrassed. Exhibit A: Windows itself.