Tutorial of the Week

[K.Mandla]

Ubuntuforums.org hosts literally thousands of howtos and tutorials, covering everything from randomizing your wallpaper to patching and rebuilding the kernel from source. It is an immense repository of Linux know-how for beginners and experts alike.

Some of the tutorials are very good -- and some aren't that great. But for every tutorial that was accepted into this section, two or three were rejected.

The forum staff would like to highlight some of the best ones on a weekly basis. The hope is that by drawing attention to well-written, well-supported tutorials, the overall quality of this section will improve. It also gives you the opportunity to learn about new software, new tricks or just new ideas.

If you'd like to see the criteria for threads that appear in this section, a description is here.

The tutorials listed here are chosen on the basis of presentation and support -- not technical accuracy. It's impossible for us to screen each tutorial to see if they work as described; we just don't have the time, equipment or manpower to do that. So it's possible that there are technical points that need clarification. In those cases, you should tack a reply on to the tutorial, and seek help directly from the author, not the staff.

This post is closed to comments so you can subscribe to it (through your user control panel), and receive a weekly update of the best written tutorials in this section. If you have a tutorial you feel is worthy, you're free to contact a staff member and suggest it, or you could mention it in the 'Cafe, in the discussion thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=655209

Enjoy!
Forum staff

[K.Mandla]

The first Tutorial of the Week -- for the week of December 31, 2007 (the first week of 2008) -- is "[Howto] Compile & Install Osmo Organizer" by Onyros:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=616116

Osmo is an all-in-one calendar, task and contact manager. Learn more about it, and how to compile and install it, in the tutorial. Enjoy!

[K.Mandla]

The tutorial of the week for Jan. 7, 2008 is PmDematagoda's explanation of the Magic SysRq keys -- and how to use them to recover your system, if it becomes unresponsive.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=617349

Learn about the key sequences, and how to safely use them, in the tutorial. Cheers!

[K.Mandla]

The tutorial of the week for January 14, 2008, is "HOWTO: RT2500, etc. wireless cards [Gutsy Gibbon]", by wieman01.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=563547

While that thread is specific to a particular range of hardware, it stands out as a tutorial that's well written, concise, clearly documented and constantly maintained.

If you have a Ralink-based wireless adapter, you'll want to look it over; if you don't, it's still worth reading as an excellent example of a how-to. Cheers!

[K.Mandla]

For the week of January 21, 2008, the staff pick is "btnx: Send keyboard and mouse combination events with mouse buttons", by daou.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=455656

If you have a mouse with multiple buttons, or if you'd like to hard-wire your mouse to do certain things on special clicks, this could be of interest to you. daou's tutorial is clean, well-organized and constantly maintained too.

Enjoy!

[K.Mandla]

A pair of advanced tutorials are spotlighted for the week of January 28, 2008: andrew.46's "HOWTO: Setup slrn, the CLI newsreader" and "[Howto] Setup and use Leafnode-2 with the newsreader slrn".

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=676837
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=475246

As you can see by reading over those threads, they're quite complicated. However, they are also an excellent illustration of how to break down complicated tasks into step-by-step instructions for others to follow.

And should you run into problems, both threads are actively tended by the author.

Cheers!

[K.Mandla]

Anyone interested in alternative or lightweight window managers will enjoy this week's highlighted tutorial: urukrama's "Howto: Install and configure Pekwm".

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=662204

urukrama does a fantastic job explaining how to install, configure and use Pekwm, and how to make it beautiful. If you're in the market for a new window manager -- or even if you just like to experiment with your desktop -- you'll enjoy this howto.

See you next week!

[K.Mandla]

The tutorial of the week for Feb. 11, 2008, is a bonus for laptop users -- "HowTo: Disable Synaptics Touchpad While Typing" by Mais.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=271052

For anyone who has ever cursed their touchpad for triggering while they were typing, Mais has a possible solution. The tutorial has clean instructions and illustrations as well, so you won't get lost setting it up. Enjoy!

[K.Mandla]

This week's offering is short and sweet, and explains a nifty trick that can be performed on dual-boot systems -- "HowTo: Fix Corrupted Windows Registry from Ubuntu partition", by kernoPanic.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=624943

With a little creativity, you could adapt this howto to a live environment, and use it for rescuing a damaged Windows-only system. Keep it in mind the next time your Windows friends call for help!

Cheers!

[K.Mandla]

The tutorial of the week for February 25, 2008, is Heliode's nearly immortal "Howto: Backup and restore your system!"

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=35087

First posted in May 2005, you might consider its longevity to be a testimonial to its effectiveness. If you need a time-tested method for backing up your system, give it a try.

Enjoy!