Welcome

Here at linuxpcs.co.uk we are all about Linux for the normal computer user. There are plenty of Linux sites for geeks and computer whizzes, so hopefully we can open up the wonderful world of Linux and Open Source Software to the more casual computer user.

We also offer computers to buy via our partners with Linux pre-installed, or with no operating system installed so you can make your own choice of operating system AND save money.

Linux can be a brilliant solution for trouble-free computing and an extremely cost-effective and secure solution for businesses.

News

Karmic Koala is here!

Ubuntu has just got it's latest update to the Karmic Koala version and is available from their website or via the Update Manager in Ubuntu Jaunty. All seems good here, apart from an annoying speaker crackle which I got fixed by turning off the powersaving on my intel sound chip- (See here), but other than that it's been working great. I even setup a virtual machine which now seems to work seemlessly! (great for running windows in a window as it were and testing website with IE).

New Ubuntu LTS coming

Yes next year there will be a new long term release of Ubuntu and it's going to be called Lucid Lynx. This is the third long-term release for the distro and it certainly bodes well for the long term future. Long term releases are more suitable for people who prefer stability over new features, and for the beginner I would certainly recommend them.

Firefox 3.5!

This has been out for a while now but I thought it was definitely worth mentioning here as it has some new features which are really going to give proprietary software a run for it's money.

The main features we're interested in are the new embedded video and the new embedded fonts. The function set of the new embedded video means that flash is no longer required to watch video, and more than that the things you can do with movie support in firefox 3.5 are pretty incredible (coupling javascript with movie playback gives flash-like functionality). Also the embedded fonts mean webpages will be able to use their own choice of fonts which get automatically downloaded when you view the page - no more having to use Microsoft fonts to keep your page from looking ok on all browsers.

Of course the big question is whether IE will take on any of these new open ideas,- it's been reluctant to do so in the past, but hopefully the uptake on firefox will carry on increasing as more and more people realise the power of this browser. Go Here to download firefox for windows, linux and mac.

Google OS

Well the first ever piece of news for this website is that Google is getting into the OS market! - It sounds like a Linux based operating system and they will be opening up the code to the public later in the year. Currently the plan is to offer it pre-installed onto netbooks. From what I've read it looks like the idea behind it is an OS in a browser - so definitely an interesting step!