About Tombuntu
At Tombuntu you will find how-tos, tutorials, useful tips, and reviews for users of Ubuntu. I’m not posting here as frequently as I used to, so subscribe to the RSS news feed in your favorite reader to stay up-to-date. Tombuntu was started in March 2007.
About me
My name is Tom Dryer, and I’m a computing science student from British Columbia, Canada. I enjoy working with and writing about Linux, and programming.
I started with Linux in 2004 after getting bored with Windows and deciding to try another OS that I’d heard about called Linux. At first I just burned various live CDs to see which ones would run properly on my computer. Eventually I found Ubuntu. The first distribution which I dual booted was Ubuntu 6.06. After installing it, I still used Windows the majority of the time until I moved over all my Firefox bookmarks and started to do my day-to-day browsing with Ubuntu. Today I’ve still got a neglected Windows partition for running some games I own, but other than that I use Linux exclusively. My desktop, netbook, home server, and web server run various versions of Ubuntu. My phone runs Android Linux.
For anyone who is interested in learning Linux, I’d suggest downloading some free virtualization software and setting up a virtual Linux system you can play around with. If you have a spare PC, I highly recommend setting up a headless server on your network; it’s a great way to learn and a lot of fun.
Contact
You can contact me via the email address below, or by leaving a comment on a post. Comments will not appear on the site until they have been approved.
About Ubuntu
Ubuntu is an operating system built by a worldwide team of expert developers. It contains all the applications you need: a web browser, office suite, media apps, instant messaging and much more.
Ubuntu is an open-source alternative to Windows and Office.
A bit of newbie myself, followed your column and installed xbindkeys – neat. Rebooted and the short-cuts didn’t work as the utility wasn’t started. Checked the net for howto’s and added xbindkeys to the services start-up list. Thought you might want to add this idea for other newbies.
Regards…
Hey Tom,
Just curious – do you host this yourself, or do you host it via wordpress.com?
Regards,
M.
mkwerner:
I host this site myself.
Tom… Tks for all the post.. got my machine up and ready in a whizz following your posts…
Hey Tom great site. I have been a Linux user on and off since 2000. I used to wipe out my installation on my older computer every other month tying to find one that worked well with my hardware. Then came Ubuntu and I tried it out in 2005 (I think it was the third release 5.10) and since then have been avid user. I had Ubuntu loaded fully and used it as a server (web, MySQL database) and also as a programming machine. Then I got my laptop 2 years ago where I whipped out Win XP Home and but Ubuntu on it fully and now I can say I am Windows free as my new and old desktop and my laptop all run Ubuntu. Thanks and keep up the excellent work.
Hi.. love your site.. i visit it everyday.. could you please add a howto on running gnmoe in kiosk mode [like kde kiosk mode].. im sure a lot of people would appreciate it.. thanks…
hi tom,
nice site u got here. keep up good work.
my request if posible is same as sameep
best regards
Hi Tom..
What a nice site u got..
Very helpful.
Tnx alot.
Regards Rabb
Great work! Your site is a must for any Ubuntu user. I have benefited from your tips and how to’s. Thanks!
Hi Tom. I really enjoy your blog, it seems to be the best Ubuntu blog I’ve seen.
One of the nice things of your blog compared to others is the great amount of images and screenshots.
But you could do better! One image per post would make reading multiple posts much more pleasing… It doesn’t have the be a screenshot or even an exact picture of the “thing”, but something that it could be related to the post itself, making a better first impression.
Like for example, when talking about a new release without having any screenshots, you could use an image of the animal that release represents, if you get the idea…
You’re doing a great job. The last post about vlc was terrific.
Thanks a lot
Your story was really informative, thnaks!
The timing of your post are scary. Everytime I’ve wanted to implement something you would have just posted how to do it. Just today I was thinking it would be great to be able to share my keyboard with my laptop and lo and be hold you had a post about it (QuickSynergy). This is just one of many sure cases where you have been ahead of the curve. I can’t thank you enough. I’ve been using Ubuntu for over 2 years now and your website has made the transition much easier. I go here first to solve any problem I may have.Again Thank You.
Regards;
Dylan
PS — I fear and dread the day when you tire of blogging.
Man, I’m amazed – how do you manage to output so many posts every month, yet make all of them contain real information?
Congrats on an impressive weblog!
Just a short note to say hi and thx. Great site! Very interesting subjects. Regards,
Jos
Man! Are you still alive i miss your nearly daily blogs about Ubuntu stuff…
Are you over there??
// Jonas, DK
hi tom
missing your articles these days please update your blog .
I am studying in 11th at present with PCMCs (Physics Chemistry Mathematics and Computer Science) Combination. And I am interested in Computers and want to work in my fathers industry (www.smitragauges.com, website created by myself) after some years of Work outside(Around 4-6 years).
I want to be connected with computer world so can you suggest an engineering or similar course by which I would be asked to work in Computer (Devices) manufacturing Dept. (Ex: Manufacturing dept of iPod or processor).
I want an amalgam of both manufacturing which is connected with Computers.
I thought of Industrial Design or robotics. Are there any viable alternatives.
Please give your advice and if possible forward this message to your friends.
-Devrath N D
devrathnd.blogspot.com
You haven’t posted in awhile, any idea when we should see some updates?
Tom -
Hey I was wondering if you knew how to get Safari 4 working on Ubuntu? I have wine but it says that it requires XP. Is there a work around?
Hope to see your upcoming post. Also I will soon be making a popurls.com site of my own and was thinking of making it look like an Ubuntu Desktop. ;p
[...] Tom Dryer has written a great introduction to using xmonad on ubuntu. What good is having a large display if you’re constantly rearranging windows to fit them on the screen? I got tired of try to fit a web browser with other smaller windows and decided to try xmonad, a tiling window manager that could do this for me. [...]
Tom! What happened to the blogging?!?!
I have been using Ubuntu for more than three years, and find it is a nice OS. Much funny than Windows OS.