Reviews

Reviews and thoughts regarding books, hardware, software, and operating systems.

Book Reviews

Desktop Witness Computer security in-depth! Contains thought-provoking information regarding computer security across international borders. ⌚ April 4, 2012	Linux Phrasebook An easy-to-grasp command line introduction. ⌚ March 20, 2012	Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible The next step after reading the Linux Phrasebook ⌚ May 11, 2012
Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification Studying for Linux certifications? Start here. ⌚ March 6, 2012	The Complete Guide to Linux System Administration Supplements the Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification ⌚ March 14, 2012

Hardware Reviews

Personal reviews about hardware that I have used with Linux.

Acer Aspire One 722 Netbook What is the Aspire One 722 and does Ubuntu run on it? ⌚ April 27, 2012	Acer Aspire One 722 Netbook Update How is it holding up? ⌚ July 25, 2012	Acer Aspire One AO756 Netbook Experience It could have been better. ⌚ October 8, 2012
Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook and Ubuntu 12.04.1 A great Linux performer. “Wow, this is slim!” ⌚ December 7, 2012	The Corsair Vengeance K70 and Linux Need a better keyboard? ⌚ July 1, 2014	The Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook After One Year Is it still a great Linux performer? ⌚ October 12, 2013
Installing Linux Mint 15 on the Acer S3 Ultrabook ⌚ June 21, 2013	Enjoy Fast Transfers with the Mach Xtreme MX-ES SLC USB 3 Stick 160 MB/s reads and writes! ⌚ July 16, 2014	Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Albino Gaming Mouse Clean. Pure. Sleek. ⌚ March 22, 2012
Silicon Power A80 1TB Portable Drive Durable, portable hard drive. ⌚ June 12, 2013	Ubuntu and the Patriot Supersonic Boost XT 16G Faster performance even on a USB2 motherboard ⌚ July 31, 2012	Upgrading the Acer Aspire One 722 to 8GB Yes, it works. ⌚ May 28, 2012
Using the Mad Catz M.M.O.7 with Linux Mint and Ubuntu The Cyborg R.A.T.7 improved ⌚ July 29, 2013	The 128GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Using MicroSD Cards ⌚ October 17, 2012	The Samsung SSD 840 EVO and Linux Performance ⌚ June 7, 2014
The Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Drive and the Netbook The best of both hard drive worlds ⌚ October 27, 2012	Which is faster: Tuff n Tiny 8G or Xporter XT 8G? ⌚ June 7, 2014	Zonet ZSR4174WE – Wireless Networking on the Go ⌚ June 27, 2012
Verbatim 32 GB Tuff n Tiny USB Stick and Linux Mint 15 ⌚ July 31, 2013	Using the Ableconn USB 3 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter with Linux Simply plug it in and go! ⌚ July 17, 2014	The Plugable USB 3.0 Multi-Card Reader and Linux External card reader for Linux ⌚ August 6, 2014
The Satechi Aluminum Mouse Pad Give your hard-working mouse the love it deserves ⌚ August 8, 2014	Samsung EVO 64 GB Micro SD and the 128 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo Adapter Create a 126 GB Memory Stick Duo from two micro SD cards. ⌚ September 30, 2014	Sabrent External Aluminum Drive Enclosure Turn that spare hard drive into an external USB 3 drive. ⌚ November 12, 2014

• Broken MS Pro Duo Micro SD Adapter – An Internal Look
• PSP or PS Vita – Which is Better for Linux?
• Linux Sound is Good: Four Headphones Compared
• The Silicon Power S60 120G SSD and Linux
• The Edimax Wireless Nano USB Adapter and Linux
• EVGA 980 Ti 2-Way SLI Performance with Modded Skyrim and ENB
• The Silicon Power 128GB MicroSD Card, Linux, and the PSP
• The SanDisk Ultra II SSD and Linux
• PNY 128G MicroSD vs. Patriot 128G MicroSD
• RetroPie 3.5 and the 8Bitdo NES30 Pro
• The PNY CS1311 240G SSD and Linux
• The Samsung 950 Pro 256G and Linux. Does it Work?
• Ubuntu 16.04, Xubuntu 16.04, and the Samsung 950 Pro 256G M.2
• The Weme External USB 3.0 Enclosure vs. the Sabrent
• The Seagate 2TB Ultra Slim+ and Linux
• co2CREA Portable Hard Drive Case
• SanDisk 200GB MicroSD, Linux, and the PSP
• Samsung EVO 128GB MicroSD and Linux
• Better PlayStation Video with RGB SCART
• Adding USB 3.1 to Linux
• Experience Better Sound in Linux with the Asus Xonar DX Sound Card
• Asus Xonar DSX and Linux
• The Plugable USB 3 Ethernet Adapter and Linux
• Adventures with the Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
• The EVGA GTX 1060 SC and Linux Mint 18.1
• The Samsung 960 EVO 250G and Linux. How Well Does It Work?
• The EVGA GTX 1050 SC and Linux. What can you expect?
• Linux Hardware – How Well Has It Performed? Part 1
• Linux Hardware – How Well Has It Performed? Part 2
• The Acer Predator X34 and Linux: Does It Work?
• Samsung EVO Plus 256GB MicroSD and Linux
• SanDisk Ultra 500G 3D SSD and Linux
• PNY Elite-X 256G MicroSD and Linux
• The Razer Huntsman Elite Keyboard and Linux – A Major Disappointment
• The Logitech G513 RGB Keyboard and Linux – A Major Delight
• SanDisk 400GB MicroSD and Linux
• Seagate Expansion 4TB External Drive and Linux
• The Samsung PRO Endurance MicroSD and Linux
• The Customizable Mad Catz RAT 8+ Optical Mouse and Linux
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus and Linux
• More SATA Ports for Linux
• The UGREEN USB Card Reader and Linux
• The Mad Catz R.A.T. 8+ 1000 Limited Edition and Linux
• EVGA RTX 2080 Super XC Ultra Review
• Lexar 64G JumpDrive M45 and Linux
• SanDisk 256G Ultra Fit and Linux
• Ducky One 2 Horizon Mechanical Keyboard and Linux
• The 5TB WD Black P10 External USB Drive and Linux
• The Akko 3068 Mechanical Keyboard and Linux
• SanDisk Ultra Fit 512G USB and Linux
• MK Typist Frozen Llama Full-Size Mechanical Keyboard
• SanDisk 1TB MicroSD
• The Ducky One 3 Mechanical Keyboard and Linux
• Attempting to Silence the Ducky One 3 Keyboard Ping with Foam
• Modifying the Ducky One 3 Keyboard with Akko Starfish Switches
• Akko Radiant Red Switches and the Ducky One 3 Keyboard
• Akko Jelly Blue Switches and the Ducky One 3 Keyboard
• Akko CS Jelly Pink Switches and the Ducky One 3 Keyboard
• Akko CS Sakura Switches and the Ducky One 3 Keyboard
• Akko CS Jelly Black Switches and the Ducky One 3 Keyboard
• Swapping the Ducky Keyboard Guts
• Vansuny 128G USB and Linux
• DROP Alt Custom Keyboard and Linux
• The Silicon Power A55 SSD and Linux
• The Kingston Fury Renegade PCIe Gen4 NVMe and Linux
• The Silicon Power A60 NVMe and Linux
• The Intel i9-12900K CPU and Linux Benchmarks
• WS Silent Switches for Mechanical Keyboards
• Akko Macaw ASA Profile Keycaps for Typing Fun
• DROP MT3 Cyber Keycap Set for Mechanical Keyboards
• Akko Cream Blue Tactile Switches for Mechanical Keyboards
• MeLE Quieter3Q and Linux – A Faster Silent Mini PC
• The Silicon Power 1TB A60 NVMe with Linux
• Akko 5108S Pac-Man Themed Keyboard
• The Varmilo Sword 2 Mechanical Keyboard – Gorgeous, But Not Linux-friendly
• EPOMAKER Flamingo Switches – A Better Jelly Pink
• MeLE Quieter Mini PC Freeze Up Issue
• The Hagibis External 10Gbps USB NVMe Enclosure and Linux
• The Glorious Extended Pro Gaming Mousepad and Linux
• Lightweight Koss KPH40 Headphones + Yaxi Ear Pads for Comfortable Listening
• The Crucial P3 4TB NVMe Used as External Storage with Linux
• AMZPILOT Rugged NVMe USB 10Gbps External Enclosure and Linux
• Crucial T705 Gen5 NVMe and Linux
• WD Black SN850X Gen4 NVMe and Linux
• Cooling the Crucial T705 Gen5 NVMe Beast

Software Reviews

DBAN – Darik’s Boot and Nuke Data be gone! ⌚ June 15, 2012	Blocking Web Page Comments in Firefox Using CommentBlocker and Comment Snob Remove comments from web pages for a cleaner view. 📅 January 6, 2014	Clementine Music Player – A Darling Music Manager A superb music manager with visual moodbars! ⌚ October 28, 2013
	Ejecter – A Convenient Way to Remove USB Media Devices Another icon for the panel. ⌚ June 11, 2012	htop – A Better Process Viewer Than top Now, in technical color! ⌚ March 24, 2014
Ktouch Typing Tutor Let’s learn to type with a colorful keyboard GUI. ⌚ December 7, 2013	Minitube – A Standalone YouTube Video Player Watch YouTube videos without a web browser. ⌚ August 20, 2013	Monitor Network Activity With iftop ⌚ April 2, 2014

• bmon – A Terminal Bandwidth Monitor
• Ktouch Typing Tutor
• Minitube – A Standalone YouTube Video Player
• Monitor Network Activity With iftop
• Okteta Hex Editor
• Psensor Temperature Monitor
• Relive the 80’s BurgerTime with BurgerSpace
• Retroshare – Secure, Private File-Sharing
• Secure Delete
• slurm Network Load Monitor
• Stellarium – Your Personal Planetarium
• Test Your Typing Prowess with Typespeed
• Hardinfo – System Profiler and Benchmark
• PeaZip – A Cross-Platform GUI Archiver
• Which is faster: SSH or FTP?
• Monitor System Uptime with Uprecords
• Asciijump – The Ski-jumping Terminal Game
• Display an ASCII Table with ascii
• Linux Has a Voice with Espeak
• tree – List Directory Contents with Color
• Vivaldi Web Browser Technical Preview
• Linux Mint 18 BETA Released
• Vivaldi – A Superb Web Browser for Linux
• Play a Terminal Game with Cavez of Phear
• Enjoy a Math-based Tiling Puzzle Game with 2048 Game
• Mesmerize Yourself with ASCII Art Juggling
• GUI Juggling with JuggleMaster Deluxe
• Hide Text in Text Files Using stegsnow
• i7z – What Is Your i7/i5/i3 CPU Doing?
• Are You Smarter Than Chess for Linux?
• Hard Drive Caching in Windows 7
• Enjoy Smoother Video with SmoothVideo Project
• Create ASCII Charts in a Gui using asciio
• Pop the Bubbles with Frozen Bubble
• gtypist
• Atom – A Superb Text Editor for Linux
• Five Raspberry Pi Uses
• ascii2binary
• Ukuu – The Kernel Upgrade Utility
• TypeCatcher Font Picker
• Vivaldi 3.0 Released
• Ho, Ho, Ho with xsnow!
• Angband – A Text-based RPG
• asciiquarium – The Cutest Lil’ Aquarium for your Terminal
• cmatrix – Falling ASCII Characters
• Bash2048 – A 2048 Game in the Terminal

Operating Systems and Virtualization

• A Quick Look at Elementary OS
• Linux Mint 15 At last! A well-made Ubuntu derivative.
• Linux Mint 17.1 – A Worthy Upgrade
• Kubuntu 12.04 on the Aspire One 722 Netbook
• Ubuntu 12.04 and the Aspire One 722
• VirtualBox 4.1.12 and Linux Mint 12
• Linux Mint 10 vs Linux Mint 12
• Linux Mint 17.2 – The Best Yet
• Linux Mint 20
• Xubuntu 12.04 Beta 2
• Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 2
• Ubuntu 12.04 Beta1 and Windows 8 Consumer Preview
• Ubuntu 13.10 and Xubuntu 13.10
• Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix
• Ubuntu Family 14.10 Released
• A Quick Look At Ubuntu MATE 14.10 In VirtualBox
• SSD or HDD: Which is Faster for a Virtual Machine?
• Which is Faster: Btrfs or ext4? A short file system comparison.
• Xubuntu 14.04 Released
• Xubuntu 16.10 Runs Well in VirtualBox
• Xubuntu 18.04 – A Worthy Upgrade
• Fixing the Windows Setup “Missing Media Driver”
• PeppermintOS – A Lightweight Linux Distribution

Other Stuff

• Quickly Create a 1 GB File of Random Data Using dd
• Fun Password Generation Using Rory’s Story Cubes
• SweetFX Shader Suite Post-processing effects for DirectX 9,10, and 11 games
•     SweetFX – Splitscreen
•     SweetFX – Cartoon
•     SweetFX – Technicolor
•     SweetFX – Monochrome
•     SweetFX – Bloom
•     SweetFX – Border
•     SweetFX – HDR
•     SweetFX – Sepia
•     SweetFX – SMAA
•     SweetFX – Vibrance
•     SweetFX – Cineon DPX
•     SweetFX – Explosion
•     SweetFX – Explosion
•     SweetFX – Tonemap
•     SweetFX – Lift Gamma Gain
•     SweetFX – Vignette
•     SweetFX – Levels
• Which is Faster: SSH or FTP?
• Run Windows93 in Linux!