mintCast 249 – Linux Mint 18
249]
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News:
- Linux recommendations for a novice: Trying out Linux Mint, Manjaro, and PCLinuxOS (http://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-recommendations-for-a-novice-trying-out-linux-mint-manjaro-and-pclinuxos/)
- Apple details its latest desktop operating system: macOS Sierra (https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/13/apple-macos-sierra/)
- It’s time Linux fans open their arms to closed source (http://www.techrepublic.com/article/time-linux-fans-open-their-arms-to-closed-source/)
- Sony agrees to pay millions to Linux users (http://www.pcworld.com/article/3088169/linux/sony-agrees-to-pay-millions-for-removing-linux-support-from-the-playstation-3.html)
- Finally there’s an open source drop-in replacement for MS Office (http://www.techrepublic.com/article/finally-theres-an-open-source-drop-in-replacement-for-ms-office/)
BASHing Windows:
- Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion (https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/13/microsoft-buys-linkedin/)
Main Topic:
- Rob explores the in’s and out’s of Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon, while Isaac thinks he might start using Linux Mint 18 MATE.
Tips & Websites:
- Mint Guide: https://mintguide.org/
- Isaac needs old laptops for those that can’t afford computers so let us know if you have a computer that you aren’t using.
Pre-Show Music:
- “Yesterday’s Conversation” by Angus Wallace
- “The Red Stone” by Ground & Leaves
Podcast Announcements:
- Texas Linux Fest 2016 – July 8-9, 2016, Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX
- FOSS TALK LIVE 2016 – August 6, 2016, The Harrison, London, UK
- Sold out, but no reason you can’t go to the pub they will be at and have a beer and talk with other FOSS lovers
- 2016 Ohio LinuxFest – October 7-8, 2016, Hyatt Regency, Columbus, OH
- List of conferences according to the Linux Foundation
More Information:
Hosts: Rob, Scott, Joe and Isaac
Live Stream every other Sunday 2:00 p.m.(Central): mintcast.org/livestream
Contact Us:
- Forum: forums.linuxmint.com (rarely)
- Email: [email protected]
- Twitter: @mintCast @3dbeef @txhawkins @JoeRessington @stupidcoder @Linux_Mint
- IRC: irc.spotchat.org – #mintcast
- Google+: mintCast
More Linux Mint info: website, blog, forums, community
Credits:
Podcast Entry and exit music provided by Mark Blasco (podcastthemes.com). Podcast bumpers provided by Oscar.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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I got a kick out of the SoftMaker article on TechRepublic. I think the headline writer must not have read the article! “Finally there’s an open source drop-in replacement for MS Office,” it proclaims! Except that it’s not open source and it’s not a drop-in replacement, as we find out towards the end of the article. I don’t see anything in the article or anywhere else to indicate that FreeOffice is anymore open source than their $70 or $100 SoftMaker Office that it’s based on. Wallen calls it a drop-in replacement for MS Office, but goes on to list its many shortcomings, just like all the other contenders. They do a good job but if you have have 100% compatibility with MS Office, none of them are going to work for you. Though in fairness, even MS Office is not always 100% compatible with other versions of itself!
The only way to kick the Office habit is to move the office application work flow to one of the alternatives completely and not mess about with sending documents back and forth between Office anymore. PDFs can be used for sharing the final document.
Now I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, so I imagine Rob and Isaac both picked up on that fact, and included it in the docket for its entertainment value! I’ll check it out tomorrow.
If you want to pay for a proprietary office program that is compatible with MS Office and works on Linux, you should probably just use Microsoft Office 365.
Another toe the line pro-tip: “shred -vzn 0 /dev/sdd” — easily and quickly wipe your usb/ssd/hdd drives with this command. 1 pass of 0’s is more than enough to make data totally unrecoverable on modern (1997+) devices. (Replace “sdd” with the device you want to wipe on your system — the “Disks” app is a good way to find out.) Any more effort than zeroing a drive like this is wasting time and compute cycles (generating urandom data to write onto the drive versus all 0’s.)
You can’t rely on your manufacturer’s implementation of “Secure Erase,” so use this instead.