One of the first things I did when I moved from Vista to Ubuntu was install a nice looking theme. The default Ubuntu theme is pretty decent, but I dont like the brown and when browsing posts like this and this, I knew I wanted a sexier look for my laptop.

No, I didn't write that title wrong. Linux's key advantages, such as customizability, the repository system, hardware support, and excellent interfaces, are frequently viewed as downsides or deal-breakers to new users. How many times have you seen someone complaining that it is so much easier to install software on Windows or claiming you can't do anything with Linux without being a hacker?

So one of the cool things I was asked to do for someone a couple of months ago was show them how to convert an AVI video into a playable DVD that they could give to a friend. I had originally suggested VSO ConvertXtoDVD program, which I had a lot of good luck with in the past. But I wanted to do the same thing in Linux and I found a program that I think does a better job.

The last Windows computer in our house is very shortly going to be history :-) I have been threatening my wife’s PC for quite some time now, but there has been no real motivation to move until today… Our bank called and told her a credit card has been fraudulently used in the last few days.

A file manager is software which provides a user interface to assist in the organisation of files. It helps users with their daily work in managing their files on a hard drive or other storage device. With terabyte hard disks becoming prevalent, file managers represent an essential tool in managing file systems.

Flickr offers a vast collection of photos you can use with your OpenOffice.org documents, but trawling hundreds, if not thousands of photos in order to find the right one can be a rather tedious and time-consuming affair. Fortunately, the CCOOo extension can help you to find a photo you like on Flickr without leaving the convenience of your favorite productivity suite.

Since there isn’t any iTunes for Linux, i wanted to know how to be able to rip my audio CD’s, convert them to MP3 files and transfer them to the Apple iPod. When I tried to Google for help, I was able to get bits and pieces of information on how to do it. This weekend, I decided to write a how to about it to provide a step by step procedure on how a Ubuntu user with an iPod can do it.