TechBull

Continuing with secrecy, privacy and avoiding being scammed this episode concentrates on managing cookies.

This episode covers secrecy, privacy and avoiding being scammed whilst using our devices

TechNews covering Windows365, Chrome92, Windpws96, Amazon Matter.

And Google Takeout.

Links mentioned in the episode.

Potential errors creating Linux on a stick, including RUFUS.

CHROME OS updates now fixed.

What the Windows 11 announcement means for you.

Final episode in the Introduction to  Linux Commands.

Episode 1 introduced you to the Linux terminal, how to open it configure it and close it.  In fact, our first Linux command was exit and we then used uname largely to learn about options to commands and how we could use the man command to learn more about Linux commands.

Episode 2 was all about navigating around the Linux filesystem, introducing the pwd and ls commands.  Mention was also made of using the double-hyphen option of help when issuing commands and how that differed between the man command.

Episode 3 introduced you to environmental variables such as $HOME and $PWD.  The cd command was introduced and mention made of relevant and absolute paths to folders.

Episode 4 was all about making folders and files, using the mkdir, rmdir and the echo command.  You were introduced to the concept of standard output and how to redirect that.

Episode 5 introduced the cat, file, mv and cp commands so we could tell what type a file was and to display the contents and copy or move the file to elsewhere.  We explored the world of relevant and absolute paths a little more.

Episode 6 started to consolidate the learning to date and the introduction of the more command along with the concept of pipes.  Along the way we learnt how to append output to a file.

Episode 7 was all about grep – the search facility.  The ps command was introduced and combined with pipes and grep.

Episode 8 built upon the previous episode and now started into the world of systems admin using what we had learnt to date.  We learnt how to run commands in the background simply to learn about process IDs and how we could use the kill command to halt processes.

In episode 9 we built upon our systems knowledge by learning how to install and remove applications or as Linux prefers them to be known – packages.  The sudo and apt commands were introduced.

Episode 10 used sudo and apt again but this time to learn how to update and upgrade systems.

Episode 11 of course was the penultimate episode and simply covered other options to apt that had not been previously covered due to time pressures.

I also teased in episode 11 about the the next series of TechBull – Season 5 which should be available now.  Season 5 will cover tech news across the platforms but I fancy Windows 11 will take prominence!

A further exploration of the  apt command.

Before there was apt there was the apt-get command.

There is also Synaptic Package Manager.

sudo apt purge

sudo apt show

sudo apt list

sudo apt list --installed

sudo apt list --upgradeable

This episode explores apt a little further with an emphasis on using it to keep our systems up to date.

sudo apt update
sudo apt list –upgradeable  (double hyphen)
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt autoremove

Installing and removing software applications using apt - Advanced Package Tool.

Next episode we will learn more about apt.

This episode covers how to see what is inside a file and how to copy files from one folder to another and how to move files from one folder to another

The podcast mentions the following commands that are typed in at a command prompt inside a terminal. They are here just for ease of reference.

mkdir foldername

echo "Hello World" > filename

cat filename

file filename

cp  filename newfilename

mv filename  ../folder  (moves the filename to a different folder from its parent)

This episode introduces Linux navigation commands.

In this episode we introduce the Linux pwd and ls commands and note the differences between the man command and the - -help option to commands.

My theme in this season is going to be Linux commands, or the Command Line Interface.

The series is pitched at the Linux beginner and intermediate level of user.

This episode includes opening and closing the terminal. Three commands are covered; exit, uname and man.

This last episode in the series will provide a brief statement of what each of the other 7 episodes covered and also cover what linux and SSD technology means from a systems admin point of view.

 If you want to see how fstrim has worked on your SSD simply type in a terminal journalctl and pipe its output to grep searching for fstrim.service. e.g $> journalctl  | grep fstrim.service It will list all the dates and times that fstrim has run.

The third part of the triangle to adjust the display for those with Low Vision.

After a re-install of the Operating System there will be things you need to do to get your system as much as the same before you did the re-install.  Catering for your vision needs is just one.

If you have not done so aleay you should also consider synchronising your browser settings.

Just some of the things to do after a fresh install of Linux.
Lessons to be learnt - you did remember ALL your passwords?

A few tweaks for users with  Low Vision.

In this episode, after all our preparation we finally get into the physical installation of the Solid State Drive SSD).

Continuing the series of preparing to install an SSD we turn to browsers, browser extensions and dictionaries.

This episode continues the story of installing a Solid State Drive into an old Lenovo Thinkpad T410.  In particular, this episode covers the some of the preparation, especially GNOME extensions.

Episode 2 deals with some preparation needed before installing a Solid State Drive (SSD) into a laptop that is running Linux Ubuntu 20.4.  Mention is made of using the linux command of dpkg -l which is used to produce a list of packages installed in the system.

I'm back with a brand new series!

This series will start with installing a Solid State Drive(SSD) in my Linux Lenovo T410.

Each episode will cover a few things, basically the lessons I learn which hopefully you will also learn from.

A brief mention is made in this episode of my experience installing an SSD in Windows 10; TrueImage; and CloneZilla.

Welcome to the twelfth and final episode in Series 2 of TechBull. This episode is just a simple guide to all the previous episodes in Series 2.

Series 2 of TechBull has all been about Linux from a Windows perspective, encouraging Windows users to try Linux by dipping their toes in the Linux waters.  The series also took into account accessibility and how Linux compared with Windows in this regard.

Episode 1 started with a brief history of Linux and mentioned also the Internet of Things.

Episode 2 started talking about Graphical User Interfaces,  Linux Desktop Environments, and Linux Distributions.   There was also the first mention of ORCA – the Linux screen reader function.

Episodes 3 and 4 started to get into detail about how to  download Linux distributions, burn the resultant ISO files to magnetic media where they could be booted from into a “live” session without harming in any way your existing device.   The thorny subject of UEFI was also covered.  There was also some mention of the more popular Linux distributions.

Episode 5 introduced one of the accessibility features of Linux, namely MOUSE KEYS which works just like the Windows equivalent, but you need to listen to the episode to hear the difficulties I had with some  laptop keyboards.

Episode 6 covered the BOUNCE, SLOW and STICKY accessibility features, collectively known in Linux as Typing Assist or AccessX tools.  These are just the same as in Windows.

Episode 7 continued to cover accessibility features of Linux mentioning Visual Alerts, On Screen Keyboard, Large Text, High Contrast and Magnifier.

Episode 8 covered ORCA which is a screen reader and equivalent of the Windows Narrator functionality.  A few examples of ORCA in action were included in the podcast.

Episode 9 was all about browsers and Office products and the built-in accessibility features.  Of course it compared with similar products and functions available in Windows.

Episode 10 covered how I had managed to install Google Voice Assistant into Linux and gave real examples of it in action within the podcast.  The episode also covered photography cataloguing and editing applications – how some popular ones worked in Linux also.  Music playing apps were covered.

The penultimate episode in series 2 – number 11 covered audio and video recording software and then briefly mentioned some of the many 100s of games and thousands of other applications all waiting in the Linux store ready to be installed for free or if necessary downloaded and installed for free.

This episode mentions Linux audio recording video recording apps; games, chat, educational and scientific software.

Be prepared to be wowed!

This episode covers just voice assist functionality, photography and music applications.

This episode covers just 2 applications many of us use regularly; browsers and office tools.  

Some of the many accessibility features available in browsers and office functions are mentioned.

We continue the accessibility theme in Linux and how it compares with MS Windows.

This episode covers Text-to-Speech, otherwise known as Screen Reader or ORCA - the equivalent of Windows Narrator.

We continue the accessibility theme in Linux and how it compares with MS Windows.

This episode covers Visual Alerts, On Screen Keyboard, Large Text, Magnification and High Contrast.

This episode continues the theme of the accessibility features within many Linux distributions.

This episode covers BOUNCE, STICKY and SLOW keys - they are just the same as Windows!

This episode starts the investigation into Linux Accessibility features to demonstrate how Linux can do accessibility just like Windows can.

We start with MOUSE KEYS - the ability to control the on-screen cursor/pointer by using the keyboard.

You will need to listen to hear my embarrassment!

Following Episode 3 this episode answers some of the feedback received regarding ISO files.

This link makes a similar point that I have made

Episode 3 is all about downloading Linux ISOs, burning them to media and subsequently booting the live linux.  The following notes expand upon the commentary.

Season  2 is all about Linux from a Windows user perspective and  covering accessibility features.  This episode expands on the first episode, introducing GUI (pronounced GOOEY), WIMPS, and Desktop Environments.

Season 2 is going to be all about Linux from a Windows user perspective and covering accessibility features.  This episode is just a general introduction,

Episode 12 this week is the final one in the "Disaster Recovery" series.  There is a brief summary of what we mean by "Disaster Recovery"  and a quick run through of what each prior episode covers.  After a short break, the next series will begin covering Linux.

This  week, I provide a summary of Episodes 9 and 10.  The whole subject of creating Windows 10 images and using Repair Discs or Recovery Drives can be confusing - so hopefully this episode removes some of the confusion.

And finally I have mastered just having the music at the beginning and end, so hopefully you can hear better!

This  week, in effect is Part 2 of Episode 9 but I have called it Episode 10!

This episode explains how to recover your Windows 10 System from an image you created in Episode 9.

This   week we are continuing the theme of  disaster  recovery  with an explanation of how to create an image of your Windows 10 system and creating Repair Discs and Recovery Drives.  An image of your system can be used to recover your system to the point when the image was created.  If you have the very latest copy of Windows 10 - the 2004 May 2020 published edition, you can now create your image in the cloud!

Next week, the recovery process itself will be covered.

This  week we are continuing to talk about backups from a disaster  recovery point of view and we go into detail regarding Windows 10  File History Backups.

This week we are talking about backups, a bit of theory from a disaster recovery point of view and some detail on using OneDrive on a Windows 10 environment.

This episode is all about emails again from a diaster recovery point of view.  The things you can do to mitigate against disasters; what email systems need to be backed and those that don't.