February 2010
Demonstration of how to setup a dual boot system with windows
Question: How can I change the default boot menu setting in Grub2?
Just when users were getting used to editing the boot menu in Grub, Grub2 comes along with a different procedure. There are three main steps to changing the default boot entry on Grub2 (Ubuntu). This is useful to know if you setup a dual boot system like our demo and want to boot your windows partition by default instead of Linux.
Note the number of the menu item you want to be default. Remember, Grub starts counting from zero. You can get this number from the menu at start or from the file grub.cfg (/boot/grub/grub.cfg). Do not edit this file directly! Count the menu item entries (start with 0) until you get to your desired entry and note the position.
Edit the file grub (/etc/default/grub) as root (sudo) and change the line GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to the number noted in step one and save changes.
Run the command update-grub, reboot and see if you counted correctly in step one!
January 2010
We discussed a few issues pertaining to Ubuntu and Linux in general.
Question: How can I try Linux out without wiping out my laptop or desktop machine?
The easiest way to try Linux on your Windows computer is to try a Live CD distribution like the Ubuntu Desktop CD. (Get Ubuntu)
A "Live" version of Linux often runs a little faster from a bootable USB pen drive version. Directions for making a bootable USB pen drive from Windows may be found at here and instructions for creating a bootable USB pen drive from the lived may be found here.
Another way to try out Ubuntu without changing your Windows environment is to install it within Windows using "wubi". A guide to installing with wubi may be found here.
Question: Can I use Linux with a dial-up connection?
Linux can be configured to work with a dialup modem. The difficulty is finding a modem that is a real hardware modem and not a winmodem. Fortunately, there are still a few hardware modems still available to those who must use a dialup connection.
Most hardware modems use a RS232 serial connection or a USB connection. It is best to check customer reviews of modems to find out if they work before purchasing. Examples of a serial and USB modems that are reported to work with Linux may be found here and here. Check reviews and specs carefully before purchasing any dialup modem for use with Linux.
There are several howtos that show how to configure a modem with Ubuntu. Two good resources may be found here and here.
Question: Are there any good GUI front ends for OCR programs?
While there are OCR programs available for Linux, most are command line. There is a GUI available for GOCR called gocr-tcl. Other GUI OCR programs include Clara OCR and Cuneiform for Linux. There is also a GUI program called scan2PDF that can scan documents and turn them into a PDF file. Some people report good results from tesseract, an OCR engine created by HP and now maintained by Google, but it is still command line. Others have reported that the windows program SimpleOCR works in Wine. See here and here for more information on the state of OCR software.
