Freedom Tech

Handbrake Video Encoder

FreedomTech — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 14:31:58 GMT

# Handbrake Video Encoder

Handbrake is the goto open-source program for ripping DVDs and re-encoding videos in Linux.

Some of the things you can do with Handbrake:

- Rip a DVD disc to a single movie file.
- Re-Encode videos to other formats
(such as encoding them into h264 format so they will be compatible with more platforms, or into h265/HVEC format for reduced file size)
- Resize video
- Crop video (get rid of black edges or watermarks)

Here is a web-page explaining how to rip DVDs in Linux using Handbrake

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#Handbrake #VideoEncoder
#DVDRipper #Linux #FreedomTech #h264

BUILD YOUR OWN DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT

FreedomTech — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 22:18:43 GMT

BUILD YOUR OWN DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT

Ever want to create your own Linux desktop? Us neither.

However, if you are ready for advanced steps and know Desktop Environments you could try following the steps in this MakeUseOf Article.

How To Build Your Own Desktop Environment:

www.makeuseof.com/how-to-build-a-linux-desktop-environment/

#LinuxDesktopEnvironments #Linux

Ubuntu Christian Edition is No Langer Available

FreedomTech — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 19:09:23 GMT

Unfortunately Ubuntu Christian Edition is no longer being developed.

The last available edition was 20.04.2 which is still available for download at their Sourceforge --> website.

Features that Ubuntu Christian Edition had:
(for those that might want to build these into your current distro)

Web Content Filtering w/CleanBrowsing.
DNS Minder lets you choose between
Host Minder provides an easy way to block unwanted websites from your system
Comes with built in Parental Controls to help ensure that you have control over your system.
Set Time Limits w/TimeKpr-nExT
Bible Study Software included
Software for Churches
- Presenter by WorshipTools
- Freeshow
Beautiful Christian Themed Wallpapers

#UbuntuChristianEdition #UbuntuCE #Linux #Christian #Christianity

Computers That Come w/Linux Pre-Loaded

FreedomTech — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:17:02 GMT

Linux native computers are not easy to comeby, so to help you out, here is a list of computer manufacturers that sell new computers with Linux pre-loaded.

ARKPC (Australia)
Dell (USA)
- Dell Linux Latitudes
- Dell Precision Mobile Workstation
- Dell XPS Laptops
- Dell XPS-13 Plus (NLA)
EmperorLinux Inc. (USA)
Entroware (UK)
Framework (UK) (to do)
Free Software Foundation (USA)
HP Dev One Laptop (NLA) (USA)
Juno Computers (UK)
Kubuntu Focus (USA)
Laptop With Linux (Netherlands)
Libiquity Computers (USA/RYF)
Linux Certified (USA, CA) (to do)
Malibal (USA, NV) (to do)
Nova Custom (Netherlands)
- Nova Custom V54 & V56
Pine64 (Poland, ARM procesdor)
Purism (USA)
Raspberry Pi 400 (UK, ARM processor)
Razer Lamda Laptop (NLA)
Slimbook (Spain)
- Slimbook 5 KDE
- Slimbook Fedora
- Starlabs (UK)
- Star Labs StarLite 5 $713
System 76 (CO, USA)
- System 76 Pangolin Laptop
Think Penguin (NH, USA)
- Penguin T4
TechnoEthical (Romania/RYF) (to do)
Tuxedo Computers (Germany)
UbuntuShop.EU (Belgium)
Vikings Computers (Germany/RYF) (to do)

#LinuxComputers #Linux #LinuxLaptops #LinuxDesktops,

Tyler from the Tyler's Tech…

FreedomTech — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:35:14 GMT

Tyler from the Tyler's Tech channel on Odysee has a collection of great introductory overview videos for most Linux distributions. He hasn't been very active the last couple years, but must of the videos should still be relevant enough.

Do you want a quick look at ZorinOS, or Garuda Wayfire to help you decide if you really do want to distro hop them? This is the place to get a quick look at what to expect.

Here's his Odysee channel:
https://odysee.com/@tylerstech:5

#TylersTech #Linux #LinuxDistros

Here is the Linux directory/folder…

FreedomTech — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:12:33 GMT

Here is the Linux directory/folder structure for anyone that is curious, or needs a refresher.

Taken from:
www.prowebtechnos.com/linux-directory-structure/

#Linux #LinuxFolderStructure #LinuxDirectoryStructure

Syncthing

FreedomTech — Wed, 28 May 2025 22:03:36 GMT

### Syncthing

Syncthing is open source software that lets you easily sync files between all your devices. Linux, Android, Mac and MS Windows, without needing a cloud server.

To help you understand how it works, Rob Braxman has a new video where he demonstrates how to sync his BraX2 De-Googled Android phone to a Linux computer, as well as an MS Windows computer, directly from one device to the other device, without a cloud server.

Here is the video tutorial on Odysee:

odysee.com/@RobBraxmanTech:6/syncthing:1

#Syncthing #FileSync #DeGoogledPhones #Linux

Linux Mint snuck around behind Ubuntu'…

FreedomTech — Mon, 26 May 2025 01:35:35 GMT

Linux Mint snuck around behind Ubuntu's back and had a beautiful redheaded love child with Debian. That child's name is "Linux Mint Debian Edition" (LMDE).

The usual Linux Mint options (Cinnamon, Mate, Xfce) are based on Ubuntu.

To ensure that Linux Mint can survive if Ubuntu were to ever go away, Linux Mint maintains and offers LMDE, which brings some nice features, and comes with Cinnamon.

- Debian still offers the 32-bit option, unlike Ubuntu, which means you can still get Linux Mint in a 32-bit version, but you must get the 32-bit version through LMDE.

- LM Debian Edition is more of a rolling distro, so your software will be more cutting edge.

- Possibly less bugs, since it comes straight from Debian and bypasses any bugs that may get introduced by Ubuntu.

You can find the LM Debian Edition by going to the "Downloads" menu option and looking under "Other Versions". It is currently called "LMDE 6".

Direct link to Download 👇 Page.
https://linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

#LinuxMint #Debian #LinuxMintDebianEdition #LMDE #Linux

Thumbnail Picker - Ubuntu

FreedomTech — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 04:08:34 GMT

### Thumbnail Picker - Ubuntu
Tip of the Day: (Gnome Shell / Ubuntu)

Bind the "Windows Thumbnail Picker" to a mouse button that you never use.

This will make for the fastest windows switching you've ever experienced. You'll love it!

Good mouse button choices are the forward and back thumb buttons, or if you have a 10 button mouse, the thumb-down button is the best choice.

- back button = button 8
- forward button= button 9
- thumb-down button = button 10

1. Make sure xbindkeys and xdotool are installed by typing:

sudo apt install xbindkeys xdotool

2. Add xbindkeys to the startup applications list using "Gnome Tweaks", or "Startup Applications Preferences" depending on how new your Ubuntu is.

3. Initialize the xbindkeys config file:

xbindkeys --defaults > ~/.xbindkeysrc

4. Add these lines to the .xbindkeysrc file in your home folder: (replace b:9 with b:8, b:9, or b:10 depending on the button you want)

#Mouse Button 9 to Thumbnail Picker
#For Gnome Shell
"xdotool key super"
release + b:9

5. Restart xbindkeys by typing:

killall xbindkeys
xbindkeys

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#thumbnailpicker #overview #Linux #FreeYourTech

Easily Manager Users and Groups in…

FreedomTech — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 03:37:56 GMT

### Easily Manager Users and Groups in Linux

"Users and Groups" is a simple GUI tool for adding, managing, and deleting users and groups on a Linux system.

Users and Groups comes installed by default on Linux Mint, and can be added to most systems by installing "gnome-system-tools"

sudo apt install gnome-system-tools

It can be started with the "users-admin" command from the terminal, or you can hit the super key and search for "Users and Groups" that way.

With "Users and Groups" there is no need to memorize command line commands and options for basic user and group management.

With this tool you can quickly do things like creating an sftp group, and then creating a separate user for the sftp group, or adding a current user to the sftp group.

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#UsersAndGroups #Linux #FreeYourTech

What are Regular Expressions?

FreedomTech — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 21:36:56 GMT

### What are Regular Expressions?

Regular expressions are a powerful way to search text and documents. Everyone should know how to use regular expressions.

Regular Expressions (aka regex) are used to find and replace words, numbers, and characters in programs such as LibreOffice (Find and Replace), the Thunar File Manager (Rename), and the Linux command line "grep" command, which stands for goto regular expression and print.

See comments to learn how to use regular expressions.

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#RegularExpressions #RegEx #Linux

Foliate - An eBook Reader for Linux

FreedomTech — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 03:20:06 GMT

Foliate - An eBook Reader for Linux

Foliate (johnfactotum.github.io/foliate/) is a great eBook reader for Linux as well as Linux phones, such as the PinePhone.

It is a near perfect replacement for those looking to drop Big Tech and move away from Kindle.

Foliate makes it easy to find and download free ebooks from within by integrating the OPDS (opds.io) protocol that is used by ebook services like Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org), Standard Ebooks (standardebooks.org) and Feedbooks (www.feedbooks.com)

You can get it via Flatpak, install it on Debian based distros from GitHub using the .deb file, or install it using the package for your distro if it is available.

Foliate's GitHub Page:

https://github.com/johnfactotum/foliate

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#Foliate #EbookReaders #Linux #FreeTourTech

Sync Nextcloud Notes

FreedomTech — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 03:11:28 GMT

Sync Nextcloud Notes
to QOwnNotes in Linux

Nextcloud doesn't offer a desktop Note app, but you can get functionality similar to Joplin by using QOwnNotes.

To get notes syncing between the Android "Nextcloud Notes" app, and QOwnNotes on Linux:

1. Install DAVx5 using F-Droid (F-Droid.org) or Zapstore (Zapstore.dev) This gives apps access to your Nextcloud/eCloud WebDAV folders.

2. Install Nextcloud Notes onto your phone using F-Droid.

3. With DAVx5 installed, the "Nextcloud Notes" app will automatically sync your notes to any Nextcloud/eCloud/Murena Cloud (murena.io) account you choose.

>Note: Murena is in Europe, and the European Union just passed an illegal law violating the human unalieanable right to privacy, demanding companies give the European Union acces to your private data ... unencrypted. You may want ot host your own Nextcloud.

4. Install QOwnNotes onto your computer following links here 👉 www.qownnotes.org/installation (scroll down)

5. Install "Nextcloud" onto your Linux computer.

sudo apt install nextcloud-desktop

6. Set up "Nextcloud Desktop" to synchronize a copy of the "Notes" file folder from your Nextcloud/eCloud server to a local copy on your computer.

7. Set up QOwnNotes to use the local Notes file folder you set up in step 6.

>Note: If your Nextcloud provider has the QOwnNotes plugin, you can sync directly with WebDAV without using "Nextcloud Desktop". eCloud does not have this plugin

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#NextcloudNotes
#QOwnNotes #FreeYourTech #Linux #NoteApps

FreeCAD, another open source CAD program…

FreedomTech — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 22:14:52 GMT

FreeCAD, another open source CAD program available for Linux, is a general purpose CAD/CAE program.

It is good for mechanical engineering product design, with tools similar to Solidworks, Catia or Solid Edge.

You can read more about FreeCAD on the FreeCAD website.

You can install the latest, most up to date version of FreeCAD on Linux using the ZAP Appimage Package Manager with this command:

zap install --github --from FreeCAD/FreeCAD

Alternatively, you can also install FreeCAD using your Linux distro's built-in repositories using one of these terminal commands, (depending on your distro) but the distro version may not be up to date with the latest release.

apt-get install freecad dnf install freecad emerge freecad slackpkg install freecad yum install freecad zypper install freecad pacman -Sy freecad

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#FreeCAD #CAD #LinuxCAD #Linux #FreedomTech

Barrier - Software KVM

FreedomTech — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 20:34:29 GMT

### Barrier - Software KVM

Would you like to be able to use the same keyboard & mouse across all the computers on your desk? Well you can with Barrier!

Barrier is the open source software KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) solution that will enable you to use a keyboard & mouse that is connected on one computer across all your other computers by simply moving your mouse pointer out of one screen & onto another screen. It even takes the clipboard with it to other computers, & other operating systems.

1. Install Barrier on the computer that has the keyboard and mouse, and set that computer as the "server".

2. Install & set up Barrier on any other devices that you want to access. Point those devices to your Barrier "server" IP address.

On Ubuntu based distros such as Ubuntu & Mint you can find Barrier in the Software Center, or type:

sudo apt install barrier

For other operating systems it's not so easy, and it's a real pain on MacOS. You have to go to the Barrier GitHub home page and and grab the version that works for that 👇 OS.

>Note: You may need to allow port 24800 on both machines, and/or disable SSL in Barrier settings.

Barrier GitHub home page

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Nala - A Better Front End for…

FreedomTech — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 14:08:04 GMT

### Nala - A Better Front End for APT

(Brought to our attention by Blueghost05)

Nala is a more user friendly front end to the apt command in Linux.

Nala adds color, progress bars and formats everything in a more human readable format.

This Tech Hut Nala video goes over the basics.

Here's the link to get Nala. If you scroll down the page you can find the terminal commands to install it under the Installation section.

You can install it with these three commands:

echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf] http://deb.volian.org/volian/ scar main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/volian-archive-scar-unstable.list wget -qO - https://deb.volian.org/volian/scar.key | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/volian-archive-scar-unstable.gpg > /dev/null sudo apt update && sudo apt install nala

Judging from the logo, the Nala name, and the Scar repository, it seems they derived their name from "The Lion King" movie. 😂😂

Sidenote: We couldn't find a decent size Nala logo image for this post, so we had to redraw it from scratch in Inkscape.

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#Nala #Linux #Apt #FreeYourTech

Solaar - A Programmer for Logitech Receivers

FreedomTech — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 16:40:35 GMT

### Solaar - A Programmer for Logitech Receivers

Logitech does not offer any software for connecting or managing their devices in Linux.

While the Linux kernel now does a great job of recognizing and connecting to Logitech receivers, there is no native support in Linux distros for switching your mouse, or your keyboard, to a different Logitech receiver.

Solaar is an open source project that has been around for a long time. It let's you connect your Logitech mouse or keyboard to any receiver, which is handy if you have a device or receiver go bad.

Note: The latest version of Solaar appears to require root privileges.

Solaar is available in the distro repositories, so it should be easy to install.

On Debian based distros you type:

sudo apt install solaar

This is the Solaar GitHub page:
https://pwr-solaar.github.io/Solaar/

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#Solaar #Logitech #LogitechReceiver #Linux #FreeYourTech

Grub Customizer for Custom Boot Menus…

FreedomTech — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 00:18:20 GMT

### Grub Customizer for Custom Boot Menus in Linux

Boot your Linux laptop with a more professional or fun boot menu using the "Grub Customizer" GUI program, and then grabbing a theme from Gnome.org Grub Themes, such as the "Distro Grub Themes", which has individual custom files for whichever distro you want.

With Grub Customizer you can:

- Install themes from Gnome.org Grub Themes

- Move, remove, or rename menu entries

- Edit the contents of menu entries or creating new ones

- Set default operating systems and kernel parameters

- Customizing the appearance of the GRUB menu, including background images and text colors

Sometimes Grub Customizer is not included in the default repos, and sometimes it is, so here is the PPA. (for Ubuntu based distros).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer sudo apt update sudo apt install grub-customizer

This 👉 post goes into a little more detail.

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#grub #Linux #FreeYourTech #LinuxThemes

Set Up Fingerprint Reader in Linux…

FreedomTech — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 05:52:57 GMT

Set Up Fingerprint Reader in Linux Mint

>Note: This works on the Dell XPS-13 9635 2-in-1, and on the Dell Latitude 5400 fingerprint readers

>For XPS-13, swipe down over sensor. For Latitude 5400 press ... or swipe. The XPS-13 usually take a few tries.

1. Make sure your fingerprint device is compatible with Linux
- type `lsusb`
- check to see if the device is included on this website: https://fprint.freedesktop.org/supported-devices
- If `lsusb` shows a Broadcom device, you may be able to get the driver in the next step.

2. For Broadcom fingerprint devices, such as the "Broadcom Corp. 58200" on the Dell Latitude 5400. grab and install the latest .deb Broadcom driver package from this Ubuntu Canonical website: (Debian based distros only)

>Note: This link is not encrypted or secure
- http://dell.archive.canonical.com/updates/pool/public/libf/libfprint-2-tod1-broadcom/

- `libfprint-2-tod1-broadcom_5.12.018-0ubuntu1~22.04.01_amd64.deb` is what worked on the Dell Latitude 5400 running Mint 22.
3. Make sure fingerprint packages are installed.:
`sudo apt install fprintd libpam-fprintd`
4. Enroll your fingerprints
`fprintd-enroll -f right-index-finger`

- Here's a list of "fingerprint" options. Replace `right-index-finger` in the above command with one of these.
- left-thumb
- left-index-finger
- left-middle-finger
- left-ring-finger
- left-little-finger
- right-thumb
- right-index-finger
- right-middle-finger
- right-ring-finger
- right-little-finger.
5. Enable the fingerprint option in pam. Hit space bare to enable an option. Make sure to leave the other options enabled so if fingerprint fails you can still log in.
`sudo pam-auth-update`
6. Set max fingerprint tries to a larger number, such as 5 or 10
- edit the `/etc/pam.d/common-auth` file and set the `max_tries` equal to something larger than 1.

`sudo nano /etc/pam.d/common-auth`

`max_tries=10`
7. Verify the fingerprint works
`fprintd-verify`

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#FingerprintSensor #Linux

How to Install Signal Using Official…

FreedomTech — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 00:58:20 GMT

#### How to Install Signal Using Official PPA

To install the latest Signal on Debian based distros, such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint, go to this 👉 page for installation instructions.

Click the "Download for Linux" button and these instructions will pop up. See the copy and paste video example above.

### Linux (Debian-based) Install Instructions

>NOTE: These instructions only work for 64 bit Debian-based Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Mint etc.

1. Install the official public software signing key

wget -O- https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee -a /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null

2. Add our repository to your list of repositories:

echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main' |\ sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list

3. Update your package database and install Signal:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktop

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#Signal #MessagingApps #Linux