#FREE Office Suite for Windows, Mac, GNU/Linux
When I cleaned out my Google Drive, saving items that were not shared in any way with others or embedded in websites, I ended up with a LOT of files. Those files fit into several b
FreeSoftware
WordPress, Oh WordPress, How I Loathe Thy Links
Since I'm now contributing to a Wordpress blog on a regular basis, one of the annoying aspects of Wordpress includes a terrible way of handling links, as shown in the picture below
THE Journal Interview - Miguel Guhlin on Free Open Source
Doing a bit of navel gazing, I took a moment to google my name to see what might come up. I'd completely forgotten about this [ THE Journal interview](
#TCEA16 - Inexpensive #GoogleCardboard! with @RustyMeyners
[Listen to Rusty Meyners](
TAILS: Getting Files and Finding a File Commander (Updated)
One of the most helpful, "sure to work" distros I carry around with me on a USB flash drive is the TAILS live operating system . I have found it to bo
Reflecting on Beginnings #linux
Jack Wallen shares h
Backing Up a Hard Drive with FSArchiver
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to learn and practice how to backup hard drives and restore copies onto other machines with identical settings. We had purchased a bunch of l
Seminar: Investigative Techniques Using Social Networking Sites
Done a search on Instagram or other social media sites and found your school districts or school represented inappropriately? If so, you're not alone! My own children use Instagram
Free Online Conference - LibrePlanet
Tune in and participate in a
Trying Something Different - @ManjaroLinux (Updated 1/23/2015)
Twenty years ago, I remember that one of my long term goals was to get comfortable with GNU/Linux. I just knew I was missing out...turns out I was right and now, I'm a veteran. I k
MyScratchNotes: Installing Linux on #Chromebook
Next week, we'll be giving out laptops considered obsolete in school settings, but that work fine with a copy of LubuntuLinux running on them to students. After giving a quick to
Opera Mail as a Simple eMail client
Having played around with my share of email clients (e.g. Thunderbird, IceDove, the horrible (IMHO) [Evolution](htt
Avoiding Piracy - Choose GNU/Linux
When I was 13 years old, my Dad bought me an Apple //e computer. It came with 2 floppy disk drives, BASIC, an ImageWriter ][, VisiCalc spreadsheet and The Print Shop software
Encrypting External USB Drives (Linux)
Image Source:
Setting Up My Home Streaming Media PC @plexapp
An old piece of equipment made itself available to me this past weekend, and, while the rest of the family was firmly ensconced in the family room watching the San Antonio Spurs tr
Copy Files to Your iPad with UbuntuLinux
Looking for an easy way to copy files to your iPad running iOS 7? This approach makes it very easy to copy files from your computer's hard drive or an external USB drive to your iP
Converting Files - PDF to Txt
Recently, a colleague asked, "What would be the best way to convert a 200+ page PDF file to a format like Rich Text Format (RTF) or Word? GoogleDocs won't work because the file is
7 Advantages You Probably Don’t Know About Switching From Mac/Win to Linux
7 Advantages You Probably Don’t Know About Switching From Mac/Win to Linux by Miguel Guhlin CreativeCommons Copyright Sharealike Attribution April 27, 2014 Introduction T
Database Magic on the GNU/Linux Desktop
Is your preferred desktop GNU/Linux? If it is, then you may be as excited as I to discover Kexi, a database program that works on GNU/Linux distributions (e.g. Ubuntu, Debian, etc.
Never an Option - Dealing with WinXP
How has your organization dealt with the WinXP apocalypse? I hope you st
Having Fun with Crunchbang Linux #!
Since I get bored from time to time, I decided to reimage my machine at home with a copy of Crunchbang Linux, a light weight Debian distro that comes prel
A: Drive to B:Drive - Copying a USB Drive on Linux with DD #tcea14
Yesterday and for a part of today, I spent some time making copies of a USB flash drive that I'd loaded up with TCEA14 goodies! The flash drives are my
Classroom Technology Planning #chromebook #ipad #linux (updated 5/14/14)
In a few weeks or months (gee, I hope I don't procrastinate that long), I'll have the opportunity to make more recommendations to schools. Those recommendations? Read on.... [
Resurrecting Old Macs with GNU/Linux #txed #txeduchat
Wondering what to do in your school district with old Intel Macs that can't be upgraded to Mac OS 10.9? I recently shared my thoughts on this in this email, but realize that older
Downloading Flickr Sets on GNU/Linux
Looking to download your F
How to Securely Backup Your Thunderbird Email #btsync #synchacks
Thanks to Kathie Pham for sharing my BitTorrent Sync blog entry on their blog, [SyncHacks](
Dual Booting Linux Mint and Mac OS 10.9 Maverick
Prior to this week, OS 10.7/10.8 had co
Quintet of Desktop Computer Tools
A truly amazing quintet of
Tear It Down - Open Source is Our Alternative #privacy #txlege
"Microsoft has a backdoor built into Windows," shared a zealot GNU/Linux advocate to a small crowd of free software enthusiasts. It was an event that took place over 8 years ago an
Open Source Encryption Tools to Protect #Privacy #nsa (Updated 11/2018)
I was totally unprepared for today's bombshell revelations [describing the NSA's efforts to defeat encryption](
Book Review: #Moodle Add-Ons @ghenrick #txed #edchat #elearning
One of the often asked questions I get in regards to Moodle these days isn't about setup and support. The question, which arose as recently as last week, always concerns itself wit
Exploring Peppermint Four @peppermintos
Finding a light weight, speedy, reliable GNU/Linux OS can be a fun search, and choices abound. Having played around with Peppermint OS awhile back, I was thrilled to revisit Pepper
Transfer of Computer Equipment to Students #txed @bevweather
We need to find a better use for
iOS Apps on Linux: Imitation, Flattery and The Apple Way
Imagine running Explain Everything on Linux, or [30 Hands](
Copying Email from GoogleApps to Gmail
Get a free email client [
Get It Done For Free
If you're a school district that still using Microsoft Office on most desktops, you need to stop . Really. Curious about Bring Your Own Technology? [Read Embracing Bring
Grabbing MP3 via YouTube on #UbuntuLinux #avconv
Earlier this week, someone asked me, "How do you strip audio out of a youtube video?" The process was pretty straightforward (using ffmpeg ) before but apparently, it's chan
Guest Post - Jim Klein on Netbooks vs iPads
Jim Klein was kind enough to respond to my blog entry yesterday, [Only Human Ubermix = Yesterday's Solution?](
Exporting XLS Grade Report from #Moodle on #iPad
What happens when you try to export a grade report i
AntiX Linux Install Fun (Updated)
Earlier today, after goofing up my Pe
SSH via Your #iPad
An UbuntuLinux Serve
Setting Up Raspberry Pi @OfficeDepot
Later this semester, I'm hoping to start up a high school Raspberry PI technology group. This is an idea I've been rolling around in my mind for sometime. Here's a [quick revisit o
No Windows 8 or PC Hardware for Me
Avoid the Windows curse?
Playing with Precise Puppy Linux
Don't expect this post to be incredibly informative! [ ](
Evernote on Linux
This past week, one of the questions I've been pondering, Is it time to upgrade to Evernote Premium account? As a result, I've been asking colleagues who have already upgraded ab
Extracting Audio (MP3) from FLV Video
While using lUbuntuLinux machine, I found myself needing to "extract" or pull out the audio from a video in FLV format. The video happens to be a [YouTube video](
Goodbye, Old Friend. #mac #firefox #lubuntulinux
Arriving in my inbox was a
Podcast 24 - Exploring Linux on the Desktop for K-12 #google20 #googleapps
[Podcast 24 Bill Long on Linux on the K 12 De
Differentiating Yourself - GoogleDocs Drops Support for DOC, XLS, PPT Formats
Update: Conversation continues on Google+ Don't you love vendors who make decisions about what's right for yo
Embrace Simplicity,Extend Complexity
Given the authority, the power to make a binding decision, what software would you have in schools today? If technology is a tool(box), what specific choices would you make as esse
FFMPEG Video Conversion Example
Earlier today, I ran across some old video clips featuring the Curriculum Using Technology (CUT) Institute, an initiative Jim Baldoni and I had thought up when we worked at the Edu
Cheap is Beautiful - Linux, RaspberryPi and Scratch
[Back in January, 2012 I experimented
Setting Up Your Own Pre-Loaded Linux Distro
Source: [To Do List Aft
Personalized Learning and School TechTools - Do they mix? @bbray
[Linux 2012 Work Report](
Make It Work - Cherry, Whip Cream and Schools #iPad #edchat
The "new" meatball sundae? Source: [Tech & Learnin
Exploring #! Crunchbang Linux
As a result of some Google+ conversat
Convert OGV to WebM #ubuntu #lubuntu
Converting via command line on left si
Panama Embraces Portable Laptops for 4-6th Grade Students
Do you ever ask yourself, simila
Backing Up GoogleDocs via Linux #CLI (Updated)
Adapted from Image Sources:
Encrypting Files the Easy Way
Update: Are you a school district administrator? You may want to [read this article, 5 Encryption Tips for Administrators , as well!](
Arista Transcoder - Convert from DVD to WebM Video Format
Interested in ripping unencrypted DVDs? Linux focused Arista Transcoder takes an approach worth noting: [ ]
Converting MP4 to xbox360-friendly AVI Video
How do I convert MP4 encoded videos to a Xbox360 friendly AVI video format? Even though there are a million video converters out there that can get the job done the easiest way is
Light and Easy - Linux on the Desktop
Gartner, Inc. predicts that more than 50% of organizations that do not start deploying Windows 7 by early 2012 will not complete their deployments before Windows XP support ends,
Video Editing on Netbooks
Encountered this problem? I have...what a pain. Image So
#LubuntuLinux on Chromebook CR-48 (Updated 11/18/2011)
Upgrading Lubuntu 10.10 on Chromebook
Experimenting with Lubuntu 11.10 (Updated 3/10/2012)
This past weekend, I had fun trying ou
Buying Ubuntu Dedicated hardware
Just a quick note...here are two vendors that sell free software (e.g. UbuntuLinux) based computers: 1. System76 2. [ZaReason](http:
Trying Out Ubuntu 11.10
Once Ubuntu started with its Unity thi
Making the Run for Freedom
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is. Chuck Reid as cited here [
Having Fun Reading RSS Feeds
The other day, I had to shake myself awake as I pored through my RSS feeds. Certainly, looking at the feeds in GoogleReader isn't as visually engaging as watching a few hundred twe
Recording Video/Audio on Desktop on Linux
Earlier tonight,
Shopping for a New Mac
Source: [
Great Video/Audio Conversion Tools for #UbuntuLinux #PeppermintOS
If you have to deal with the DVDs of your daughter or son's choir recital you get the idea you realize that you're going to want to rip those and keep the digital copy somewhere.
Free Software Funnies
Oh, this is hilarious. I'm so sorry I'm late to this. View this in full size at... [ ](h
The Price of Freedom - GNU/Linux
Nice videos to reflect upon as we consider the technologies we use today.... Revolution OS [youtube The Story of Linux.... [y
FOSS Email Archiving Solution? @jfluhmann
Question posted to a Texas list: Lik
@PeppermintOS Two Now Available for Download! #free
Tonight, I had another shot at instal
From DVD to iPod - Ripping DVDs
"If you obey all the rules, you'll miss all the fun." Katherine Hepburn [ ](
Configuring @PeppermintOS Two #ice (Updated 11/2011))
Yesterday, I received an email sharing that Peppermint Two early release was available! What a thrill to find out stuff ahead of the rest of the world. Here's the email from Shane
Exploring a Twitter Alternative - Identi.ca
Earlier today, I realized I'd be facilitating a workshop on Building Your Professional Learning Network (PLN) in an environment that blocked Twitter, Plurk and Facebook. Oh, what t
Finding a Podcatcher for @PeppermintOS ICE
gPodder (sudo apt get install gpodder)
Installing CentOS 5.6 Network Install
In anticipation of a class on June 11, I thought I'd play with the CentOS 5.6 network install as tha
#Moodle Server - Set Me Up! Class Available
Want to setup a server for Moodle,
Get Stuff Done with Your Computer #linux #ubuntu
[Simple Scan
NCrypt Encryption for #Windows and #Linux - Command Line Only
UPDATE 01/03/2012: I now recommend AESCrypt solution for cross platform encrypting. Works great, free open source, and cross platform (
Installing #RainLendar Calendar on @PeppermintOS ICE
It's funny the answers you can find vi
Quark Express for #Free for Teachers #edchat
A colleague recently shared.... For a limited time, QuarkXPress 9 is free for teachers. This short article tells you how you can register for a free license for the software and
Embracing Common Standards with Proprietary Technologies #ok #oklahoma #edchat
It appears that Oklahoma may be embracing common core standards for K 12 education that include Microsoft products. As cited in one email, the following was asserted: All stude
Running WinXP and Watching Netflix on @PeppermintOS ICE #m90z
From How to Watch Netflix in Linux in Linux): This is by NO means, in ANY way shape or form an official
@PeppermintOS ICE - Setting It Up as The Lone Ranger (Updated 3/15/2011)
"Hiyo, Silver! Away!" would call
Partitioning Your Windows Hard Drive - Parted Magic
What partitioning looks
Creating a Persistent, Bootable USB Flash Drive with @PeppermintOS ICE (Updated)
Some of the Steps Illustrated in the Video Above appear below, along with more detailed instructions: ...I hope to add more video for folks who really want to get this going: \
The Joy of Discovery #moodle @markcockrell @shawntx
One of the delights of discovering a podcast series you haven't listened to, not unlike finding a trilogy from a new author, is the exploration of ideas, understanding how people a
Peppermint OS
Yesterday evening, as I was doing my weekly up
MyNotes - Upstart Course-Management Provider Goes Open Source - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Another open source course management system.... Quotes: [Upstart Course Management Provider Goes Open Source Wired Campus The Chronicle of Higher Education](
Mobile Revelations - Bootable USB Flash Drive (Updated)
Image Source: [Ben Wilkoff's blog en
Embracing Innovation - FOSS in Schools @neisd
Thanks to Ken Task's email for pointing out the following about Josh Beck in NorthEast ISD schools: At iMAK we presently have 2 computer labs outfitted with dual boot systems run
Free Open Source ScreenCapture Tool
As much as I like [Skitch on Mac](http:/
Scuttle-d Thinking - Community Bookmarking
Note: As you can see, I can import bookmarks
Free Open Source Discussion Forums
[Wes Fryer (SpeedofCreativity.org) is looking for a free open source discussion forum](
Cross-Platform and SmartPhone ActivSync Support on MS Exchange 2010
Yesterday, an organization near and dear to me upgraded to MS Exchange 2010. I immediately started imagining the questions the end users might be asking. One of those questions was
MyNotes - Schools Combine Netbooks, Open Source
What a great article championing the benefits of low cost netbooks and free, open source software. Often, we see school districts deploying netbooks with expensive operating system
What Type of Server Is Your District Using?
Some time ago, Jeremy Fluhmann, free open source software advocate and technology director in Texas schools, shared the following: Just wanted to share this article
THE GIMP Video Tutorials @elpzimmerman
Image Source: []( Special
Exploring Thin Client Options
Someone asked me to setup a test of our district's
Borg Your iPad - Running Windows on iPads
Image adapted from [HaloLZ.com](
'Open source will save schools millions' - new report
Great report...I like the 3 points made about saving money in 3 areas that are not unlike what appears in Texas (and U.S.) schools. Hello, world!? Anyone listening? Why are public
MyNotes - Ninite on UbuntuLinux
What a deal! If you haven't tried Ninite for Windows apps, you are missing out on an easy way to get Windows software installed on your computer...now, appare
Command Line Aliases (UbuntuLinux)
Great [tip for creating aliases for common
Recording Skype Calls on UbuntuLinux 10.04 Lucid Lynx and Win/Mac
Image: '[IMG 3686](
Running Chrome OS via VirtualBox
Thanks to this series of Plurk exchanges with DMantz7, I decided to take a few moments and see if I could get Chrome OS running via Virtual Box, wh
Unetbootin on Mac (Updated)
Update: Here's my screenshot walkthrough Although Unetbootin (or [PenDriveLinux.com's the USB Universal Instal
How To Get Started with Open Source
When the article first came out in THE Journal, I was a bit concerned about one inaccurac
Correcting THE Journal Article on Open Source (Update)
UPDATE: Thanks to a quick email to the edito
Podcast: Free Computer Reimaging Alternative
FYI Find out more about the open source imaging solution, F.O.G. TECSIG and SOSSIG members, Mark Cockrell and Shawn Kibel, recently interviewed the developers of F.O.G. for a
Exploring JoliCloud OS for Netbooks
Have a netbook in your possession? I have access to a few and in spite of certain protestations, I'm always tempted to install a GNU/Linux OS of some sort. It's kind of silly. My c
Writing Stats and Inexpensive Netbook Software
Image Source:
FOSS Alternative to Stoneware and Zoho
A Texas colleague pointed out the following free, open source alternative to Stoneware [is](
Embracing Free Software
eSchoolNews' print newspaper came to me yesterday
Encouraging Agility in a Time of Fragility
A recent reflection via email about the cordial
Export iCal to CSV
Source: [Mozilla Sunbird
Peel and Orange - Put Your Money in Tech NOT Teachers...huh?
Source: Curt Bon
Think Different in Schools @neisd
"Why should our school systems be paying for proprietary software when teachers are being laid off?" Source: [Computer World Blog](
Registration Now Open - Texas Linus Fest!
[Register online at
Texas Linux Fest 2010 - Call for Proposals
Image Source:
Guides to GNU/Linux
Ken Task shared this list of GNU/Linux related resources and it's definitely worth highlighting here! LinuxLinks.com the source of the links below is a portal site to all things
Internet Explorer on GNU/Linux
Wanting to run Internet Explorer on a GNU/Linux di
Re-Discovering Miro
This evening, I've been re discovering Miro, an easy to use portal to a variety of rich media content. Not being an iTunes fanatic in fact, it's too dog
Texas Linux Fest
Jeremy Fluhmann
DiigoNotes - Open Office 4 Kids
Aside from a nice splash screen and a few other
FSArchiver - Backup/Restore Just the Files
UPDATE 11/16/2009: You may want to [read this summary article on a variety of backup/restore and reimaging options available](
Comment Hoist: Dual Boot Windows and Ubuntu
[](profile/10437596542325739666) Manuel A. left a new comment on this post "[Essential Setup Tools Dell Latitude 2100 Netbook...](
Hulu on Linux! Woohoo!
As I love working on my GNU/Linux side of my equipment, it's great to see that Hulu will now work with GNU/Linux distr
Partition Table Diagram
Yesterday, I had some fun sharing ho
DD - Netbook Backup/Restore Made Easy (Updated 10/25/2010)
Update 10/25/2010: Corrected the zero file input file command. UPDATE 11/16/2009: You may want to [read this summary article on a variety of backup/restore and reimag
Turnkey Linux
A colleague in Texas shared this... Turnkey Linux is an open source project that's developing a family of free, Ubuntu based [software appliances]
Thesaurus in UbuntuLinux
Source: Artha Thesaurus on my computer Earlier today,
Find Your FOSS Self
From Matt Montaigne: On Tuesday of this past week we had our first "Linux Lab Open House." We invited stu
Translated Into Other Languages
Earlier this year, I found out some of my work has been translated into another language for publication in Spain! What a thrill! Thanks to [Natalia Martinez Diaz](
MyNotes - Free software saves Kerala schools Rs.11 crore
Free software saves Kerala schools Rs.11 crore Free software saves Kerala schools Rs.11 crore
Do What's Convenient
Source:
Revisiting Puppy Linux
"Open source," shares Jon Orech via a tweet today, "is free like a puppy." This tweet reminded me of a short blog entry I wrote about PuppyLinux... One of my favorite distributions
Inevitable
“The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too
Firefox and Microsoft - Made for Hacking
Ok, I'm not sure hacking is the right term...but anything subversive falls into "hacking," right? Consider this piece of news about Microsoft and Firefox, an oppressive relations
Boot from USB Flash Drive Using ubuntu Created with Unetbootin
Thanks to Dwight Goodwin for sharing these tips... Here is a how to video on how to install Puppy Linux using unetbootin. Same steps but point it at the Ubuntu iso file. Also on
Change Your Perspective - Attend SOSCON09
I encourage you to join Texas Education Advocates at the June 19 20, 2009 Strategic Open Source Conference! You can read the flyer online below (or click here to view the PDF). Aft
Free Conference - Strategic Open Source
This summer, I may have the opportunity to facilitate several Moodle sessions at the Strategic Open Source (SOS) Conference taking place in Honey Grove ISD! I hope to see you there
Swift - Tracking Issues of Interest
Over the last few years, there's been a desire expressed by some to track what happens at the Texas Education Agency and in Texas in general but enable THE PEOPLE (that's you, me a
MySQL/PHP/Apache on a Mac
Would a dual core Mini, with 4Gigs Ram and a 320Gig Harddrive work nicely, sufficiently, or not at all? If it will work, could you recap the process....and would Joomla also work
Solving Budget Problems
Ric Murry recently shared a snapshot of the kinds of conversations happening around solving budget problems. What he didn't realize is that he missed the conversation happening beh
Mobile Device Comparison Chart
As a result of [the](
Full Circle Magazine - Ubuntu
Full Circle Magazine had slipped by me again, but I s
How To Install Filth on Your Mac
While trying to clean PGP Desktop out of my Mac, I stumbled across a directory or file that was entitled F but without the asterisks to denote that 4 letter word for fornicat
Wireless Generation on Handheld Assessments
A follow up on the blog entry about FOSS Handheld App or Web based App. The question in that entry was:
Making the Right Choices - FOSS Handheld App or Web-based App?
Wireless Generation an
Choices Abound - Google Moodle Microsoft and Blackboard
Image Source:
HelpDesk Software
A few colleagues were looking for HelpDesk solution. One wrote: I am wondering what software anyone is using for help desks, i.e. ticket tracking, user ticket creation, etc.
OpenDisc
A new project... OpenDisc is a high qualiy collection of open source software (OSS) for the Microsoft Windo
19 Open Source Tools
I'm fascinated by free, open source tools, especially for their application in K 12 education settings. Here are a few of the ones that jump out at me as potentially useful in K 12
Myriad Free Solutions Create Problem
This blog entry started out as an email, and since it provides insight into my thinking, I'm going to drop it here. It arose from a back n forth regarding what tools to use in la
Distance Learning - Open Source Tools?
I received this request from Fred in NC but not sure what to tell him... I am looking to open source programs to upstart a distance learning program . . . Are there any sources t
Computers per Person
Source: [Getting Wired (12/1
K-12 Open Source Conversation
Join the exciting conversations starting
Open Source--Too Difficult
Steve O'Connor writes, Is Open Source too difficult?: Okay. We have an open source community on Ning. I
Converting WMAs to MP3 or OGG on Ubuntu GNU/Linux
Although there
Total Control
Tim (Assorted Stuff) nails it when he writes... So these not so flush times are an excellent time to take a break, reflect and take a good
Doing What Works is Hard
One of the slides in my presentation
Open Source in Use
Eighty five percent of companies are already using open source software, with most of the remaining 15 percent expecting to do so within the next year, according to analysts at
Heretical leadership
Source: The concept of heret
TechForum 2008 - Open Source Goes to School
Tomorrow, I get to co present with Scott Floyd and Mike Gras from White Oak ISD at TechForum 2008 Southwest.
DRM free
Steal this Comic via [Stephen Downes](
VisualHub and iSquint go OpenSource
Some time ago, I lamented that two great video converters for Mac OS had become suddenly extinct. We
Dining with Vegetarians
Again, some interesting conversations going on in the comments section of the [Smell the Pansies blog entry](
Government and Open Source
Two pieces of news caught my eye this week regarding open source. The first is how the Homeland Security is investing in evaluating open source and how it might be "hardened."