Tutorials on Rick Timmis

Ardour: Your Free, Open-Source DAW for Music Production

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 12:46:39 +0000

If you’re into creating music on your own hardware—without subscriptions, cloud nonsense, or big-tech spying—Ardour is one of the best-kept secrets in open-source audio. It’s a full-featured digital audio workstation (DAW) that rivals paid tools like Logic or Reaper, and it’s completely free (with optional paid builds for convenience). Built for Linux, macOS, and even Windows, Ardour gives you professional-grade recording, editing, mixing, and MIDI sequencing—all running locally on your machine.

Extending Your RAM with Virtual Memory on Windows: Using Fast NVMe Drives for Better Performance

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 10:45:39 +0000

Introduction

If you’ve ever used Linux, you’re probably familiar with swap space—a portion of your disk that acts as an extension of physical RAM. When your system runs low on memory, less-used data is “swapped” out to disk, freeing up RAM for active processes. This creates the illusion of having more memory than your hardware actually provides.

With modern fast NVMe SSDs, swapping no longer feels as sluggish as it once did on traditional hard drives. The result? You can comfortably run memory-intensive workloads even on systems with modest RAM amounts.

Zero-Lag NDI Streaming: Send OBS Video from Linux Host to Windows VM Over Host-Only Network

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 12:46:39 +0000

Introduction

If you’re streaming or recording from a Linux machine (like Kubuntu) using OBS Studio, but want to offload encoding, effects, or streaming to a Windows setup—all while keeping latency ultra-low—you don’t need WiFi, capture cards, or expensive hardware.

Enter NDI® (Network Device Interface) combined with a VirtualBox host-only network. This setup creates a private, wired-like connection between your Linux host and Windows virtual machine. Video travels over a dedicated virtual Ethernet link with typically 30ms or less latency, full quality, and no interference from your home network or neighbors.

Understanding Root and Sudo on Linux

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 15:46:39 +0000

Introduction

If you’re a Windows user transitioning to Linux, welcome! Linux is a powerful, free, and customizable operating system that’s popular for everything from servers to desktops. Unlike Windows, where you might be used to a graphical interface for most tasks (like File Explorer or Control Panel), Linux often relies on the command line for advanced control. This can feel intimidating at first, but it’s like learning keyboard shortcuts in Windows—it becomes second nature and gives you more power.

Enhancing Your Racing Experience on Linux: Introducing new-lg4ff and Oversteer

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:46:39 +0000

Introduction

If you’re a racing enthusiast using Linux, you know the struggle of getting your steering wheel to perform at its best. Logitech wheels like the G29, G27, or Driving Force GT are fantastic hardware, but the default kernel drivers often fall short on force feedback (FFB) and customization options. That’s where new-lg4ff and Oversteer come in—a powerful duo developed by the talented Bernardo Arnau (berarma) to supercharge your setup on distributions like Kubuntu or Ubuntu.

Upgrading from Windows 10 to Kubuntu Linux

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 12:46:39 +0000

A Simple Dual-Boot Tutorial in VirtualBox

If you’re curious about switching from Windows to Linux but don’t want to risk your main computer, this guide is for you. We’ll use VirtualBox (a free tool that lets you run “virtual” computers on your real one) to safely test everything. I’ll show you how to install Windows 10 first, then “upgrade” it to a dual-boot setup with Kubuntu Linux 24.04.

Dual-boot means you can choose between Windows or Linux when starting up. This is beginner-friendly – no advanced knowledge needed. We’ll go step by step, with screenshots where helpful. If you’re completely new, don’t worry; I’ll explain terms as we go. Let’s get started!