Ubuntu Linux and other Random Stuff…

April 24, 2009 by Randomguru · Comments

The above photo is a screen shot of my laptop with Ubuntu 9.04… running command line terminal, Firefox web browser with Personas, and date/calendar.

Writing For Hire vs Writing For Me

Lately, I haven’t been too prolific here when it comes to writing about my own life, or talking about raw foods or yoga or meditation… Lately, (as many of you have noticed, and are rather quiet about saying something) I’ve been writing reviews and articles for extra earnings since the job prospects in my local music scene have pretty much vanished. So, yes I’ve been writing for-pay reviews, and I think that has gotten in the way with writing about myself. And I apologize for that.

But, it’s a challenge. And I try to look at it that way. If I can successfully switch back and forth between “writing for work” and “writing for me”, then that is something to be accomplished… a goal. And I’ve been trying to focus more on the “writing for work” more so, that I may become better at it, and hopefully more successful.

So, please bear with me while I make the adjustments in my writing style.

Connecting Twitter to Facebook

A few people have asked me how to get their Twitter posts to show up on Facebook. And, instead of coming up with a good step-by-step article on the subject, there are already some good tutorials on the web. Here’s a good one!

The Switch to Ubuntu Linux 9.04

It’s always been a “hacker’s dream” of mine to have some form of Linux running on my laptop. And the latest release of Ubuntu Linux 9.04 (“Jaunty Jackalope”) came out yesterday, and I quickly downloaded and installed it in a couple of hours.

Now. The problems I’ve encountered in the past when launching a Linux OS:

Problems with installing Linux when dual-booting with Windows (Linux would steal all of the available free space from the Windows partition).

General problems that might have occured during the dual booting process.

Lack of decent software that would rival Windows software. And lesser quality software (though FREE) on the Linux side.

And for many of you who make their living by using Powerpoint, Photoshop, and the whole Office suite of Microsoft products, switching to Linux would be quite hard if you’re used to the above apps.

Also, lack of games… Let’s face it, many of the major MMO RPG, shoot ‘em up, 3D games are all on Windows (and Mac OS X).

Now, if you love iTunes you might want to stick to Windows or Mac OS X at this point, because iTunes doesn’t run on Linux and there isn’t a Linux version yet. But, “RhythmBox” is a very similar app that works just like iTunes, is faster and quite simple to use. And you can easily import your iTunes library.

A Look at Some Benefits of Running Ubuntu Linux

So, what’s so useful and special about Linux?

LifeHacker.com spells it out quite well as to what’s new in Ubuntu 9.04. But here are some things I truly like about Linux in general, particularly Ubuntu Linux 9.04:

The Linux operating system is absolutely and positively FREE to download!

With Ubuntu 9.04, downloading the ISO and burning it to a disk was painless and though it took a few hours to download, it wasn’t too bad.

Installation was painless and quite easy.

Partitioning Linux on a Windows machine was also painless and easy. The minimum partition to set for Linux is 4GB, but it’s easy to set whatever partition size you want for Linux and it won’t compromise or hog up memory on the Windows side. I have a 100 GB hard drive and partitioned 25 GB for Ubuntu.

Linux is a faster, leaner and much more stable operating system. That is why most web servers use some form of Linux to serve up web pages. Of course, you may wish to just use the “desktop” version as opposed to the “server” version, unless you’re going to be running a Linux server.

All the basic software programs can be found on Ubuntu that are equivalent to the Windows and Mac OS X versions. I am totally digging OpenOffice, the open source equivalent to Microsoft Office. And since you can NOW work with documents online at Google Docs, having Microsoft Office suite isn’t such a big deal nowadays!

The best thing about Linux apps is that virtually all are open source and FREE!

Dell Computers now gives you the option to have Ubuntu Linux already installed, so imagine a world in which you are FREE from Windows Vista or XP and running FREE apps that you download off the web.

Of course, Linux is better suited for those who want to run a fast, lean and highly stable operating system that can be totally customizable and perfect for programmers and web developers.

You can download an app called Wine to run some Windows programs and games, but I still have yet to test this myself, and I just successfully downloaded and installed Wine last night.

Anyway, I plan on adding Ubuntu Linux to my list of “categories” as I feel I’ll be writing more about it as I continue to explore the Ubuntu Linux world and let you know what I find useful and exciting about this great alternative to Windows Vista/XP and Mac OS X…..

Filed under: Blog, Technology
Tagged: Computers & Internet, Jaunty Jackalope, Linux, operating system