I made a post yesterday that has received an insane amount of traffic involving my processes and procedures for installing, setting up and tweaking Ubuntu Linux on my personal computer.

With the number of folks that have read, and commented on this article, I thought it was appropriate to follow up here with some additional thoughts.

First - please remember, first and foremost, this is how I set up my system. These settings/tweaks/application-set, etc. may not, and very possibly will not work for your specific case. My main purpose behind posting that was two-fold. First (like many of my posts) the information is for me - it’s my way of documenting things that I do, so I can go back and reference them later. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked up my articles on setting up alpine to work with gmail. I’ve also used some of these posts, such as my posts on VMware as a quick way to send someone some down ‘n dirty documentation. I use my own blog too

Secondly - please understand that no single tweak

If you are looking for a free and easy way to create a VPN(Virtual Private Network) connection to another computer, share files, remote control or share screens between computers? Gbridge helps you to manage your multiple PCs, and collaborate works with close friends. In addition, you will be able to use it when you want to privately exchange large media files with your friends. Gbridge is a free tool which you can use to sync folders, share files, control another computer, share your desktop, or chat. It connects two computers directly and securely.

After downloading Gbridge’s Windows client, installing is relatively straightforward. Once you are done with the installation, you’ll be asked for your Gmail/Google account information, and to give a host name in the login screen as below.

When everything’s set up, you’re ready to go, but you might want to set up Gbridge on any other computers you own to create a virtual network amongst your PC’s. You can install and auto-start Gbridge on multiple computers, using the same Gmail logon, and it will keep all those computers connected and ready to trade or stream files.

Gbridge

In Britain we’re very good at being a a very miserable bunch I find. Some of the most vocal people in this country seem to be dead set on decrying anything and everything. I see things differently because I know things aren’t perfect, but they never will be. I always try to view things reasonably and with a view to improve them through a bit of graft and an open ear.

Local Government websites in the UK and particularly England (due to funding about 5 years ago) can comfortably say they are some of the best in the world. Now before hammer me with e-mails about this is rubbish, I hate my council, I hate council tax (we all do) — Local Government websites in the UK by proportion are more accessible than other governmental websites around the world and have pioneered delivery of services over the web. It’s still not perfect but I’m sure many people who work on these sites will agree that the heart is in the right place and that we don’t purposely sit at our desks working out how to wind people up.

I’ve tried myself to drive forward

I laugh whenever I heard someone make a comment that “Linux is hard to install”, or that “Linux is only for geeks and nerds”.

Installing Ubuntu can literally be as easy as typing in some very basic information, and clicking next a few times. Almost all of the time (except in rare cases of unusual hardware) you will wind up with a perfectly functional, perfectly speedy install without (like in Windows) having to go through and find drivers, and applications on your own. Those few mouse-clicks get you pretty much everything you need to use and enjoy your PC.

There is, however always some room for tweaking. I can tweak out Windows XP with the best of them, and make it an even leaner, meaner OS than it already is. The same thing applies to Ubuntu. There are many little things you can do, some very safe, some a little bit more risky that you can do to really improve Ubuntu’s speed, as well as make it a little more fun to use.

Disclaimer: Please note that these are my personal processes and procedures for installing, tweaking and configuring Ubuntu to meet my own personal needs and expectations. You may not