Ubuntu Linux
Topic: Computers
I have been gradually weening myself away from Micro$oft products.
Mozilla Firefox has become my internet browser of choice. I have been using it for five months now at both home and work.
Thunderbird is the email client I use at work and I have no complaints. For personal stuff I prefer web based email, such as Gmail. By far the best, free, web based email there is.
I recently downloaded OpenOffice a free productivity suite compatible with all major office suites. The goal being to replace my dependency on Micro$oft Office. So far, so good.
The biggest change however, has been my decision to immerse myself in a Linux environment. I had been waiting for a distro (linux speak for distribution) that didn't require me to use a terminal window. I wanted something your average computer user could use. I don't have a lot of spare time to devote to learning a new OS, so I wanted something that would be easy to install, intuitive to use, and I would gradually be able to learn the intracacies. That time is now.
The are several distros out there with good reputations as getting more user friendly, such as Mandrake, SUSE and Fedora. But I settled on a new distro that is burning up the charts, Ubuntu.
I went with Ubuntu because of their commitment to being easy to install and friendly to use. Thanks to John Little for pointing out this great distro.
I installed yesterday on a second hard drive in my home computer. I'm taking the cautious route... WinXP is the OS on the master drive so I will have it if I need it. But I am going to try to use Linux for everything I would normally do. I'll keep you up to date. As for the installation... no problems at all. In fact, it couldn't have been simpler. If you can put a CD in your computer and restart it, you can install Ubuntu. Here's the default desktop setup. Ubuntu include the Gnome desktop.
I have two programs open, Firefox and The GIMP. The GIMP is The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a graphics program that can replace Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.
More on Ubuntu Linux to come.
I have been gradually weening myself away from Micro$oft products.
Mozilla Firefox has become my internet browser of choice. I have been using it for five months now at both home and work.
Thunderbird is the email client I use at work and I have no complaints. For personal stuff I prefer web based email, such as Gmail. By far the best, free, web based email there is.
I recently downloaded OpenOffice a free productivity suite compatible with all major office suites. The goal being to replace my dependency on Micro$oft Office. So far, so good.
The biggest change however, has been my decision to immerse myself in a Linux environment. I had been waiting for a distro (linux speak for distribution) that didn't require me to use a terminal window. I wanted something your average computer user could use. I don't have a lot of spare time to devote to learning a new OS, so I wanted something that would be easy to install, intuitive to use, and I would gradually be able to learn the intracacies. That time is now.
The are several distros out there with good reputations as getting more user friendly, such as Mandrake, SUSE and Fedora. But I settled on a new distro that is burning up the charts, Ubuntu.
I went with Ubuntu because of their commitment to being easy to install and friendly to use. Thanks to John Little for pointing out this great distro.
I installed yesterday on a second hard drive in my home computer. I'm taking the cautious route... WinXP is the OS on the master drive so I will have it if I need it. But I am going to try to use Linux for everything I would normally do. I'll keep you up to date. As for the installation... no problems at all. In fact, it couldn't have been simpler. If you can put a CD in your computer and restart it, you can install Ubuntu. Here's the default desktop setup. Ubuntu include the Gnome desktop.
I have two programs open, Firefox and The GIMP. The GIMP is The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a graphics program that can replace Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.
More on Ubuntu Linux to come.
posted by Jonathan at 3/29/2005 11:57:00 AM
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