Computer users and programmers have become so accustomed to using Windows, even for the changing capabilities and the appearances of the graphical interface of the versions, therefore it has remained Microsoft’s product. Although, Lycoris, Red Hat, Mandrake, Suse, Knoppix, Slackware and Lindows make up some of the different versions of LINUX. These companies release their own versions of the operating systems with minor changes, and yet always with the same bottom line. The simple fact that not one of these companies are close to competing with Windows, for the most part causes the difference in market share.

It sometimes seems everyone on the planet is using Windows. Many say Windows is way better than LINUX because of the simple handling of the software or hardware. There are huge differences between the number of users of LINUX and Windows. Many say LINUX is far better because it started as an Open Source software and thus is more flexible than Windows. Then what accounts for the enormous difference in market share between these two operating systems?

Windows and Linux are different in many ways.

1. Windows GUI is an integral component of the OS; speed, efficiency and reliability, while the Linux GUI is optional, are increased by running a server instance of Linux without a GUI, something that server versions of Windows simply can’t do. The nature of the Linux GUI makes remote administration of a Linux computer easier with a more natural feel than Windows computers.

2. The command prompts of the operating systems are very different. The command interpreters in the Windows 9x series are very similar to each other and the NT class versions of Windows also have similar command interpreters. There are, however differences between a Windows 9x command interpreter and one in an NT class flavor of Windows. Linux, like UNIX, also supports multiple command interpreters, but it usually uses BASH or “Bourne Again Shell”.

3. While you have to pay hundred’s of dollars for a new Windows version, you can just go download Linux. There’s no manuals or simple installers for the free version. Although there is quite a learning curve when utilizing the free package. There are some easy automated packages of Linux for low prices.

Microsoft’s “big con” is the supposed security issues with windows. Most spyware, adware and malicious files programs work with Windows just fine. In general you do not deal with these kinds of circumstances unless you are working with Windows. whereas Linux offers a strong protection, password protection for Windows can be bypassed with ease.

The software availability is the key to why Windows wins over Linux in this competition. Most software releases are already configured for Windows. If you chose to use Linux you must copy Windows with special software in order to use your windows based programs. You could always install Windows as a subsystem to Linux, this would take the administrative capabilities of Windows and allow them to funtion on Linux.

If Linux is ever to compete with Windows, it must become more user friendly and provide serious technical support.

About the Author: http://www.sddatanet.com

Linux for Home Users

 by: Pawan Bangar

Hey Guys! Dont raise your eyebrows or fear by hearing the word Linux. It is as user friendly as windows. Just take a look at the articles below and all myths about Linux in your mind will disappear.

Introduction to Linux:

Its a free operating system available to download but you have to pay a tiny bit to mail order it or buy it from a company. Linux came into being about 11 years ago- it was developed by Linux Tornados of Finland along with a group of programmers from the open source software movement.

Linux is growing steadily year after year. With a passionate community backing it, with big companies Like IBM and HP pledging their support for it, its no wonder Linux- the wonder operating system for servers of the past, has also made it to the desktops of today.

Linux is based on the commercial OS, UNIX. All the operating systems try to pack in command line management of systems. System administrators of companies use command lines all the times as their lifeline, but its not really meant for regulars users.

Tips for Home Users:

• If you want to get comfortable with Linux, you dont have to let go of windows. Get Linux installed on a separate partition and you can switch between Windows and Linux. For new users who dont have any computer background learning windows or Linux both takes same time and sitting.
• It is suggested that new PC buyers should get both operating systems installed and should use them equally. If youre getting Linux for more than 2-3 PCs, you can also get training and support at a small free, if you choose to have it. Else its the Linux community on the Net to your rescue.
• You dont have to be a great computer user to work with Linux. There are Desktop environments that let you work in Linux as you work in Windows. As you work with windows, same is the case with Linux.

Linux hands in decreasing PC prices.

PC prices are already on their way down. And you get more choice with operating systems and applications. From being an OS only computer professionals had heard about, Linux, in a short time, has made a transition into the lucrative and high profile home PC segment.

The PCs bundle the operating system. Linux being a free open source operating system means that the code that runs is open for everyone to see, work with, modify and develop their own innovative applications for it. But this is nothing compared to the money people spend on Operating Systems like windows. And a company bundles Linux and applications based on it with a computer, quite a bit of the PC cost comes down. Presently some branded PCs coming with Linux are available for Rs: 25000/- onwards.

Linux is better than other OS

Linux users wont even bat an eyelid before they say an emphasis comes from a deep dislike of Microsofts practice of changing the earth for software. But a lot of it comes from the fact they are ready to swear upon-that Linux is more stable. According to a latest survey Web Hosts are using Linux Based Servers for hosting purposes.

One note here though: the free in Linux stands for freedom of choice, to redistribute, to install a feature, freedom to modify the source code. Thats the spirit of Linux being free.

Security:

Linux has a better security support for multi-users, lets you set up a stable server, internet gateways etc, and still lets it-self to be used as a desktop workstation. There are no blue screens and no viruses to speak of. It is rarely attacked by any viruses and there are very less number of viruses written for Linux. It can be given 10+ points on a 10 point scale for security.

Myths about Linux

Installation:

Linux is hard to install, isnt it? Not really. Most people havent ever installed Windows on their computers either-since it comes preloaded. Linux is as easy-some say easier-to install compared to Windows. You can install it through a graphical user interface like Windows. These days Linux Versions are easier to install than Windows. But what really stumps most people in installing Linux on a second partition on their hard disk, when they want to be able to use both operating systems.

A partition is a way of organizing space on your hard disk by creating virtual sections that are separate from each other. Most computers that are running Windows or MS DOS have one large chunk of space holding the OS. This space is the C drive. If you have a large hard disk, its likely that it has been divided up into smaller bits called partitions to help you organize your data better. These partitions are usually called D:, E: etc. you could have Linux on any of these.

Windows 98 creates a file system called FAT32 on the entire hard disk, DOS and Win95 use FAT16. Linux has many file systems-on the most popular is ext3. But you could have Linux installed on Fat32 partitions also.

Linux is very difficult and based on text command

Linux has come a long way from being the system of brilliant computer users. It has extremely advanced X Windows systems that have a complete graphical user interface-you know, like Windows. It also has a large number of window manager that let you work with different levels of customization of your desktop.

Linux has a robust character-cell interface where commands need to be typed in. x Windows is a free program that runs with Linux to provide a GUI where the mouse and keyboard can be used extensively. But the X system itself is quite primitive and needs a window manager, or a desktop environment- like GNOME or KDE- to be really usable. Window managers are programs that let you interact with the underlying X system and Linux OS by relaying commands. The popular window managers are Sawfish, Enlightenment, Black box, after step and Window maker.

As for desktop managers, they have their own window manager and other tools that make you feel that you are working in Window! GNOME and KDE are the most popular of these. GNOME stands for GNU Network Model Environment and KDE for K desktop Environment. They have tools that allow drag and drop, have panels and taskbar- almost like clones of windows.

Hardware compatibility problem and few applications that run on Linux

Well, most new distributions will detect and configure your hardware in a jiffy, unless you have some really old or exotic piece of hardware. All hardware are properly detected and their drivers installed. Only Win modems (internal modems driven by Window drivers) face problems.

As for software, theres plenty. And most of it comes free-free for you to use, modify and configure according to your needs. Almost all excellent software for Linux is free and you dont lose anything by giving it a try. You get free support on the Net quickly on any query you may have. And you dont even have to wipe out your Windows. Just get Linux on a different hard disk partition and free to switch between them as you please.

Other packages are commercial and you have to buy the software-but this is mostly for the software and training you need, and not for the software itself. Sometimes, if you have the Windows version (as a doom) you can download a small program that will allow you to play the game in Linux. The games in Linux are of very high quality and features. Youll enjoy them. Here whats available?

Office suites: Star Office, Open Office, Applixware, Corel WordPerfect

Graphics: GIMP, Corel Photo paint

Music: XMMS, Free amp, Real Player

Video: MTV, Xine

Games: FreeCiv, Tux racer, Doom, Quake, Heretic, Unreal And the list is growing.

Linux varieties for Home Users:

If there are so many people working on it. Theres likely to be many Linux versions too. Many companies working on Linux have come up with what are called Linux distributions. There are Linux versions that are compiled and packaged and released with additional software.

RedHat: Probably the most popular and in many ways the leading version. Its currently in version 9. The installation and configuration is easy. A blue curve file manager and the default GNOME desktop make it look simply stunning. It comes with a host of tools that allow usage as a server and as a workstation. The Red Hat Package Manger(RPM) format developed by Red Hat has almost become the defector for software distribution in Linux world. Installing new software is a breeze. It also has an advanced and easy font management system that makes fonts in X Windows look cool.

Mandrake: Mandrake Linux is now in its 10 version. It can be installed on a native Windows Partition using the Lin4Win tool, but this may slow the machine down. It also lets you do a traditional Linux install into its own dedicated partition. Mandrakes configuration and software installation is painless. It follows a slightly modified RPM architecture called mdk.rpm but most Red Hat software can also be used for Mandrake. The outstanding feature in this version is the collection of window managers-eye-candy freaks will have a great time.

SUSE: From Germany comes the Chameleon, SUSE. Now in its 8.x avatar, it has one of the most extensive software packages compiled, and getting them installed is easy with yast (Yet another Software Tool) which gives a centralized interface from where you can pick and choose the software to be installed. Among other things, SUSE comes with some stunning 3D games that showcase Linux gamming prowess

Corel/Xandross: Corel entered the Linux market with Corel Linux a few years ago. Now it has merged into Xandross OS, which is based on Corel Linux. This is a Debian-type version, and can be installed without much fuss after resizing the Windows partition. Xandross contains Crossover office, which is a refined retail version of WINE that lets you install and run many Microsoft apps.

Windows applications in Linux

Some applications have been ported over to Linux, other run with a program called WINE (Wine is Not an Emulator). Crossover, commercially available software also lets you use your Windows programs on Linux. VMWare is another program that lets you run Windows under Linux. Now many software companies have started developing high end software for Linux.

Bottom Line:

The cool thing about Linux is that most software is free, and you can legitimately use them without worrying about piracy. If youre worried that Linux wont look as pretty as windows can, all you have to do is check out some of the cool Linux interfaces and Window managers. But you dont find a lot of multimedia titles for Linux. And if youre into a lot of these, Windows is in the way to go. So if you have a PC that runs both, you can easily switch between the two, and get the best of both worlds.

About The Author Presently working in the capacity of the Technical Director of Birbals, an e-consulting firm based in India dedicated in providing innovative and effective web, Hospitality and consultancy services to public, private and non-profit organizations. Successfully founded Birbals and other IT companies like Ebirbals and SeoBirbals. Responsible for strategy, positioning and branding, designing, planning, organizing and executing various business plans. Have set up various systems and procedures for the smooth functioning of Birbals. pawan@ebirbals.com

———————————————————– Permission is granted for the below article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website, offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are made and the byline, copyright, and the resource box below is included. ———————————————————– The Linux File System

By Stephen Bucaro

Linux uses a whole different file system philosophy than Windows. Windows automatically assigns a drive letter to every partition and drive it finds. But Linux makes every partition and drive a subdirectory of the root (/) partition. If you are a Windows user, you may get confused when you try to use Linux.

No matter how many partitions, hard drives, or floppy drives your computer has, the Linux File Manager displays everything in a single directory tree under the root directory indicated by a slash (/). Every partition or drive is “mounted” onto the directory tree, and appears in File Manager as a subdirectory.

Linux needs at least three partitions to work, the root partition, the /boot partition, and the swap partition. The root partition is mounted at startup. The root directory itself doesn’t contain any files, just subdirectories. The /boot partition contains files used to boot the system. The swap partition is used as “virtual memory”.

When the operating system needs more memory than there is available in the system’s RAM, it can use disk space to emulate memory. As the system operates, data is swapped back and forth between RAM and the swap partition. The swap partition doesn’t have a mount point because it’s a system file and is never accessed directly by the user.

Note: Linux, the Internet, and the rest of the computing world use forward slashes to form directory paths. Only Windows uses back-slashes to form directory paths. The back-slash also represents an ASCII escape character, resulting in all kinds of bugs in Windows programs.

In Windows you just insert a floppy disk into the drive and it’s accessible. With Linux, before you can access devices such as a CD ROM or a floppy drive, you have to “mount” the drive. For example, to mount the floppy drive, insert the disk into the drive and then select Main Menu | Programs | System | Disk Manager. The “User Mount Tool” utility will appear. In the “User Mount Tool” click on the “Mount” button to the right of /dev/fd0.

Note: Linux abstracts every device attached your computer, including the hard drive and floppy drive as a file. Files in the /dev/ folder are equivalent to device driver files in Windows. Linux provides device files for most common devices, but if you install an uncommon device, you may need a special device file.

After mounting the drive, you can access the floppy disk. Before removing the disk, you have to “unmount” the drive. If you find yourself frequently mounting and unmounting drives, you can right-click on “Disk Manager” in the menu and select “Add this launcher to panel”.

When you installed Linux, information about devices on computer was stored in the file /etc/fstab. If the device that you want to mount was not configured during installation, use the LinuxConf utility to configure the device before you mount it.

For example, if you wanted to configure a floppy drive to access DOS floppy disks, insert a DOS floppy disk into the drive, then log in as root and open LinuxConf - Main Menu | Programs | System | LinuxConf. In the LinuxConf window Config tab, click on “+” next to “File systems” to open that branch. Under “File systems” click on “Access local drive”. The “Local volume” windows appears.

In the “Local volume” window, click on the Add button. The “Volume specification” window appears. In the “Partition” text box type /dev/fd0. Then click on the drop down button for the “Type” text box and select msdos. In the “Mount point” text box type /mnt/floppy. Click on the “Accept” button. Then click on the “Mount” button.

Note: To mount a partition or drive you have to use an existing subdirectory as the mount point. By convention, drives use the /mnt/ subdirectory as the mount point.

To copy files to and from the mounted floppy disk, drag and drop them to and from the directory /mnt/dosfloppy just as you would any other directory. ———————————————————– Resource Box:
Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com
To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com ———————————————————–

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What To Do When Windows Won’t Boot-Upotis f cooper

When Windows fails to boot it is normally caused by the installation of a program or device which caused a conflict with one or more other programs. This will no doubt give you plenty of heartache if you’re not certain which program caused Windows to not boot up.

If you recently installed a program or application and know where it was installed,you may be in much better shape as for as correcting the error. Here are common ways to correct the problem of your computer not completely booting up or not booting up at all.

If your computer will not boot-up at all,hopefully you have made a good emergency boot disk. You can always make a windows startup disk by creating one from another computer running Windows 98 or Me.Perform the following if your computer……..

Won’t Boot-Up At All

FIRST……Put your boot floppy disk in the floppy drive and turn on the PC.On some computers, you may have to access the bios and select the Boot priority to your A: drive.Save any changes and select “Start Computer without CDROM support” and press Enter.Once you are at the A> prompt,type dir c: and press enter.

SECOND….If your programs and other files are present,your hard drive is good.Try to repair or restore your system Registry by following the steps below.This may repair Windows,the Config. Sys and autoexec.bat files to where the PC may boot up normally.

THIRD……If the above procedure did not correct the problem of your computer not booting up,type in “fdisk /mbr” and press Enter to restore your master boot record.Type “Scandisk C:” to check the hard drive for errors that may have occurred. You can also type “Sys C:” to hopefully restore files needed to boot up your computer.

FOURTH……If the above procedures fail to repair your computer,you can repeat the first part of step one above and select “Start Computer With CDROM Support” re-install Windows.

Making A Windows XP Bootable Floppy

Windows XP users should create a boot disk now by placing a formatted blank diskette in the A: drive, open Windows Explorer to the C:,select Tools,Folder Options ,show Hidden files and and folders,then View Tab.

Now you uncheck “Hide Protected Operating System Files (recommended).You will see a warning and click Yes and click OK.Copy the files ntldr,ntdetect.com and boot.ini onto the disk.Remove the disk and label it the Windows XP Boot Disk.

After making your boot disk,recheck “Hide protected operating system files and folders (recommended)” in the Folder Options dialog box.

To use the disk when Windows XP won’t boot,place the disk in the drive,and unto re-booting,the computer, Windows simply bypass the basic boot files on the hard drive and continue to boot up.

If The PC Won’t Boot Pass Windows

FIRST……If your Operating System is Windows Millennium,turn on the computer and immediately press and hold down the CTRL key.Once the startup options appear,release the CTRL key. Select Safe Mode and press Enter.You are now in Windows limited version.If you know what caused your computer not to boot,you can now either change or delete that program.

SECOND….Repair your Registry by selecting Start,Run and typing “scanregw /fix” and press enter.This will fix any damage done to the Registry. You can also restore your registry which replaces your current registry with an earlier copy that was backed up by your computer.Click on Start,Run and type “scanregw /restore” and press Enter.

To repair your Windows 98 Registry,hold down the CTRL key as you start the PC and select “Command Prompt Only”.Type “scanreg /fix” and press Enter and “scanreg/restore” to restore a previousely saved copy of the Registry.

If you have Windows XP,press F8 after rebooting the PC should Windows freeze while booting up. You can select “Last Known Good Configuration” after rebooting to allow the computer to boot the last backed up files.And you can choose “Safe Mode” to remove any files you know caused the operating system to hang up.

Otis F. Cooper is solely dedicated to boosting the knowledge and confidence of every computer user that is serious about knowing computers.Use his informative articles and videos to understand every aspect about the PC.Read more about his formula for pc training at http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com

Installing windows is pretty easy if you know what you are doing, but it can be a complete mess if you are still learning. Dual booting can have advantages if you have a game that support one platform or you want to learn to use a different operating system.

You can install windows NT(Windows 2000 and Windows XP) as part of a dual boat or multi-boot combination, with windows 9x. It is also possible to run any Microsoft Operating system with Linux.

The Requirements for setting up dual-boot system are relatively minimal compared to a single boat. The biggest disadvantage of dual boot is Disk space, and depending on whether you will be dual booting windows 9x with windows NT or Microsoft operating system with Linux, you my have to install a second hard drive or partition the one you are currently using. There are software?s available that you can use if you want to partition your hard drive. The good one is partition magic; it allows you to create a second partition without losing your data. It is possible to install windows 9x and Windows NT on one partition but in different folders, I wouldn?t recommend it to anyone who is still learning dual booting.

Choosing the right file system for your Windows NT can be advantages to users of windows 9x as this will allow them access to windows NT partition. Windows NT support both Fat32 and NTFS while windows 9x only support Fat32. Which means 9x can?t read NTFS partitions, so it is recommended to choose the correct file system carefully, and put under consideration the file system you want to use.

When you are ready to install your operating system, it is very important to start with windows 9x then Windows NT. Your primary partition must be formatted with Fat32. If you?re dual boot is a combination of Microsoft OS and Linux, then I will recommend you start with Microsoft OS, but make sure you have a second partition as Linux is going to create its own file systems and partitions.

Prior to your installation make sure you do backup of your Data for incase something goes wrong. Start windows 98 installation from windows boot CD then follow the instruction on the screen, once installation is complete, insert windows NT or Linux CD and follow instruction on the screen, don?t forget to select a different partition, this partition will be D: or F: depending on how many drives you have.

You will have to install your software applications on both sides. It is pretty easy to dual boot your operating systems, although I personally don?t recommend it, as now days we have virtual pc?s that can be used, and you don?t have to reboot your pc in order to access the other operating system. The good virtual machine is Microsoft Virtual PC.

About the Author: Alfred Moloto is a computer consultant and owner of http://www.compuplanet.co.za. He can be reached at moloto@compuplanet.co.za.

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It is very important for system administrators to have the right tools to to work smart. Linux is a great desktop OS for developers as well as system administrators. Let us take a look at some of the utilities which makes this a great environment for system administrators and developers. Most of the content below is taken from the home pages of these apps and the I make no claims on the originality. My aim is to introduce the reader to the wonderful tools that are available in a Linux/BSD desktop environment.

Konsole

Let’s start from what most people think Linux is all about - a text based shell. Konsole is what is known as an X terminal emulator, often referred to as a terminal or a shell. It gives you the equivalent of an old-fashioned text screen on your desktop, but one which can easily share the screen with your graphical applications. What makes Konsole special? Konsole’s advanced features include simple configuration and the ability to use multiple terminal shells in a single window, making for a less cluttered desktop. Konsole is also available as kpart and can thus be easily embedded in other applications, like practiced by Kate and Konqueror.

As most system administrators need log into servers on a regular basis the konsole gives them a benefit over the Windoze command prompt. In windows one needs to use a program like putty to log in using SSH. Also as linux is the desktop OS the techs can use the man pages on the local system.

One can also try out the various commands locally. Consider a simple example.

Is it

$ ln sourcefile destinationfile

or is it

$ ln destinationfile sourcefile

Such things can be easily found out locally without carrying out experiments on the server. Many techs believe that servers are places where they can experiment. However, such experiments can lead to major losses to the customers due to one small error. A system administrator must understand that people have immense faith in them when they give their entire data to them and they cannot risk carrying out simple experiments on servers.

Some screenshots of the konsole can be seen at the konsole site

Personal Information Manager / Groupware

There are two popular choices here. Evolution from Novel and the Kontact from KDE. Both these an email client, calendaring, meeting scheduling, a task list, contact management and syncing functionality. Kontact is essentially the regular KDE PIM components which have been put in together i.e. kmail, korganizer, knotes etc.. It is very a very neat package and is stable and light. Both these are very functional and can connect to many groupware servers.

Klipper

Klipper is the KDE clipboard utility. It stores clipboard history, and allows you to link clipboard contents to application actions. Klipper can perform actions on the contents of the clipboard, based on whether they match a particular regular expression. For example, any clipboard contents starting with “http://” can be passed to the web-browser as URLs to open.

Copying text is as simple as highlighting the text. And to paste the text all one needs to do is click on the center mouse button. This can be particularly useful for sys-admins as they use a sequence of commands from time to time. Having these in the clipboard and using them often can make the work a lot easier.

Gaim / Kopete

Communicating via an instant messenger is an essential these days. Linux has a very clean solution for this. Both Kopete (http://kopete.kde.org) and Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/) are capable of handling multiple IM protocols such as supporting AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus SameTime. Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.

Kjots

KJots is a small program that helps you to write down some short notes and organizes them for you. It has two basic items used to organize your notes - “Books” and “Pages”. This is a good light tool to write in all the templated responses and other important notes for quick references.

Kwallet

A lovely password manager which can store passwords for all the logins including those of kopete and websites.

Tea Cooker

KTeaTime is a handy timer for steeping tea. No longer will you have to guess at how long it takes for your tea to be ready. Simply select the type of tea you have, and it will alert you when the tea is ready to drink. Now how can a tea cooker be useful for techs. Often techs get involved in solving a problem and forget to update the client about the progress. Without communicating with the client, on many occasions the entire effort goes down the drain as the client get very agitated thinking that nobody is looking at his problem. What the tech can do is use the tea cooker and get a reminder so that he can respond the client with the progress.

Koffice/ Open Office

M$ Office is one of the most used software and a major reason why customers do not shift to other operating systems. They need Word and Excel for just about everything. K-Office and Open Office are two great solutions. Open Office can open M$ Office files and can even safe the files in M$ Office format which makes it easy to communicate with those who still use M$ products.

Lyx

Besides office suites which replicate the windows world products in features, Linux also has some great alternatives. LyX (http://www.lyx.org) is an example of a great document processor.

What is LyX?

LyX is the first WYSIWYM (What you see is what you mean) document processor.

LyX is what?!

LyX is an advanced open source document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents, not their appearance. LyX lets you concentrate on writing, leaving details of visual layout to the software. LyX produces high quality, professional output — using LaTeX, an industrial strength typesetting engine, in the background; LyX is far more than a front-end to LaTeX, however. No knowledge of LaTeX is necessary to use LyX, although it will give a user more power. LyX is stable and fully featured. It has been used for documents as large as a thesis, or as small as a business letter. Despite its simple GUI interface (available in many languages), it supports tables, figures, and hyperlinked cross-references, and has a best-of-breed math editor.

Dia

Dia is a great tool for creating diagrams. It has a huge in-built library of objects which are specially useful for software engineers. So making a diagram of a computer network is as easy as dragging a few computers and switches from the list of objects available. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and simple circuits. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape.

Gnucash

An average tech earns a good salary and spends it is well too. To keep track of all these personal expenses the best is to have a great software. Gnucash is an ideal way to manage personal finances. Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

KTuberling

And finally a product for all those techs who maintain their servers well and have no work or pending issues and yet have to sit through the nights waiting for some issue to popup.

KTuberling (http://opensource.bureau-cornavin.com/ktuberling/) was originally game intended for small children. Of course, it may be suitable for adults who have remained young at heart. Most techs in general love this software. It is a “potato editor”. That means that you can drag and drop eyes, mouths, mustache, and other parts of face and goodies onto a potato-like guy. Similarly, you have a penguin and an aquarium on which you can drop other stuff.

There is no winner for the game. The only purpose is to make the funniest faces you can. There is a museum,like a “Madame Tusseau” gallery, where you can find many funny examples of decorated potatoes, penguins and aquariums.

About the Author

Amarjyoti Krishnan heads Bobcares.com, Tech support company for webhosts and ISPs. He is the co-founder of Poornam Info Vision Ltd., a software and IT services company which specializes in Linux based solutions for Webhosts and ISPs. Poornam Info Vision is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with a team of over 100 engineers.

Amarjyoti is a Computer Engineer based in India and has over 7 years of