When asked for an alternative to Microsoft Office I almost always recommend LibreOffice. In fact I generally recommend LibreOffice over Microsoft Office because: It’s free (both as in freedom and cost) When pasting from the web it tends to format better than Microsoft Word (in my experience) It can be shared with others freely (you…
(barcode) Improvements to hardware.sh script
Last week I mentioned the hardware detection BASH script I wrote for refurbishers installing Ubuntu-based distributions on desktops and laptops. I’ve made several changes to the script, including: fixing a bug where the script broke on a laptop if a battery wasn’t present changing the margins so more information could be included in the future…
Hardware detection script for Debian/Ubuntu-based Computer Refurbishers
Paper forms versus automation One of the steps Volunteers have traditionally done at The Working Centre’s Computer Recycling Project is fill out a form outlining the specifications of each of our refurbished computers. Volunteers would grab an empty “spec sheet”, run phoronix-test-suite off a Debian-live image, and hand write the results on the spec sheet….
LibreOffice – Saving in MS Office formats
Introduction If you have to work with people who use Microsoft Office using LibreOffice can be a bit of a challenge. By default the programs in the LibreOffice suite save in Open Document Formats (ODF) that older versions of Microsoft Office programs (older than Microsoft Office 365) cannot read by default. Generally speaking, if you…
Introduction to adding software to Xubuntu 20.04 using apt in a terminal window
Introduction This post covers using commands in a “terminal” under Xubuntu 20.04 to install, get information about, update, and remove software. You might have heard that using a “terminal” is difficult, or that it’s outdated/archaic, or just for hackers and super-geniuses. A lot of talk about using a terminal is FUD, Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt,…
Introduction to adding software to Xubuntu 20.04 using the Software application
If you’ve ever used the Google Play store on an Android phone, or the iTunes store on one of Apple’s devices then you’re probably already familiar with programs that are similar to how the Software application on Xubuntu 20.04 works. To open the Software application click the whisker menu icon in the top left of…
Ripping Television Shows with Handbrake
For this article I’m going to make some assumptions: You have handbrake installed You have the proper codecs installed for DVD playback You’re backing up your own movies If none of these things don’t make any sense to you please be patient, I’m working on a longer article describing the installation of Handbrake and DVD…
A Linux-only project
When COVID-19 first hit a lot of volunteer-driven projects, including our computer refurbshing project shut down. While the project was shut down many of our not-for-profit organization staff were still working helping keep other more necessary infrastructure pieces for important projects (housing, community kitchen, keeping the lines of communication/IT running for the rest of the…