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    • Wake Forest, NC, — 2025-09-20
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1

Let’s measure pi with a Raspberry Pi

March 13, 2026October 17, 2025
2

Why I Really Like Linux

March 12, 2026March 13, 2026
3

California’s age verification law is bad for open source

March 10, 2026March 9, 2026
4

Announcing the 3rd Edition of “Using and Administering Linux”

March 7, 2026March 7, 2026
5

Fresh KDE Innovation Meets Ubuntu Stability

March 5, 2026March 4, 2026
6

Make your first contribution to open source

March 2, 2026February 28, 2026
7

The Fedora “Everything” 43 Image Changes Everything

February 27, 2026March 13, 2026
8

Getting Help for Linux

February 24, 2026February 24, 2026
9

Nine traits of the veteran Unix admin

February 20, 2026February 24, 2026
  • Home
  • Jim Hall

jhall

Jim Hall is an open source software developer and advocate. His first contribution to open source was in 1993 with a patch to GNU Emacs, but he is probably best known for his work on FreeDOS, the open source version of the DOS operating system, and for his work on usability in open source software. In addition to writing open source software, Jim also writes about open source software, including Both.org and All Things Open, and about technical writing at Technically We Write.
Fun Raspberry Pi

Let’s measure pi with a Raspberry Pi

Here’s a fun way to measure pi for this year’s Pi Day.

Jim Hall
March 13, 2026October 17, 2025
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Open Source Opinion

California’s age verification law is bad for open source

California recently signed into law an age verification bill. The California Assembly Bill 1043 (or AB-1043) is titled the "Digital Age Assurance Act" and is...

Jim Hall
March 10, 2026March 9, 2026
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Linux 101 Open Source 101

Make your first contribution to open source

Looking to get started in open source? Check out these opportunities.

Jim Hall
March 2, 2026February 28, 2026
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Linux Programming

Writing a fun turn-based game

With a bit of programming, you’ll never get bored.

Jim Hall
January 19, 2026January 7, 2026
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License Open Source

The difference in open source licenses

Not all open source licenses are the same. Choose the one that matters to you.

Jim Hall
January 8, 2026January 8, 2026
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Command Line Linux

Counting words from online articles

Here’s how I automated counting words from a series of articles.

Jim Hall
January 7, 2026December 29, 2025
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Hardware Linux 101

Buying a Linux laptop that will last

My advice when buying a new laptop to run Linux.

Jim Hall
January 6, 2026February 3, 2026
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Command Line Linux

Counting files and words from the command line

Here’s a practical example of how I use the command line to tally how much I wrote this year.

Jim Hall
December 30, 2025December 22, 2025
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FreeDOS Fun Text Editors

Edit text with this Emacs-like editor

If you’re already familiar with GNU Emacs, you should feel right at home in Freemacs.

Jim Hall
December 27, 2025December 16, 2025
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Command Line FreeDOS Fun

Automate tasks with FreeDOS BAT files

Here’s a helpful guide to batch files under FreeDOS.

Jim Hall
December 26, 2025December 16, 2025
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FreeDOS Fun

2 ways to listen to music on FreeDOS

Two great programs to let you listen to music and audio files on DOS.

Jim Hall
December 25, 2025December 16, 2025
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FreeDOS Fun Programming

Old-school programming with BW BASIC

Install Bywater BASIC on your FreeDOS system and start experimenting with BASIC programming.

Jim Hall
December 24, 2025December 16, 2025
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FreeDOS Fun

How to add and remove packages on FreeDOS

Learn how to use FDIMPLES, the FreeDOS package manager.

Jim Hall
December 23, 2025December 16, 2025
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FreeDOS Fun Text Editors

The FreeDOS editor makes it easy

FreeDOS provides a user-friendly text editor called FreeDOS Edit.

Jim Hall
December 22, 2025December 24, 2025
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FreeDOS Fun

4 cool facts about FreeDOS for #DOScember

It’s December, and that means it’s #DOScember – so let’s celebrate with a weeklong series about FreeDOS.

Jim Hall
December 21, 2025December 16, 2025
Read More
Community Fun

Gift ideas for 2025

Use this list of unique gift ideas for this holiday season!

Jim Hall
December 10, 2025December 9, 2025
Read More

Posts pagination

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Random Quote

Interchangeable tapes (disks, CDs, etc) won’t.

— Troutman’s Programming Postulates

Why I’ve Never Used Windows

On February 12 I gave a presentation at the Triangle Linux Users Group (TriLUG) about why I use Linux and why I’ve never used Windows.

Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/live/uCK_haOXPFM 

David Both ATO Interview

Last October at All Things Open (ATO) I was interviewed by Jason Hibbits of We Love Open Source. It’s posted in the article “Why today’s AI isn’t intelligent (yet)“.

“systemd for SysAdmins” Now Available

May 13,2025

My latest book — a #1 New Release on Amazon — “systemd for Linux  SysAdmins” is now available from my publisher, Apress, and on Amazon.

Technically We Write — Our Partner Site

Our partner site, Technically We Write, has published a number of articles from several contributors to Both.org. Check them out.

Technically We Write is a community of technical writers, technical editors, copyeditors, web content writers, and all other roles in technical communication.

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  • Computers 101
    • Hardware 101
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  • End of 10 Events
    • Wake Forest, NC, — 2025-09-20
  • Linux
    • Why I use Linux
    • The real reason we use Linux
  • My Linux Books
    • systemd for Linux SysAdmins
    • Using and Administering Linux – Zero to SysAdmin: 2nd Edition
    • The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins
    • Linux for Small Business Owners
    • Errata
      • Errata for The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins
      • Errata for Using and Administering Linux — 1st Edition
      • Errata for Using and Administering Linux — 2nd Edition
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