Gutsy Gibbon

If you've looked at my blog in the last month or so, you may have noticed the nifty countdown to the right. Now that Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is here and I've had ample time to play around with it, here is my review.

In a nutshell: it's very impressive. The new release does not look or feel too different from the last version. The user interface received some updated features, but I had been using the trial version of the features all along, so the only difference I noticed was that the minor bugs with it have been fixed. But the great news is that ALL of the things that gave me headaches with the previous version have been fixed. After installing and then downloading the few updates (this is essential), things worked beautifully. Here is a rundown of previous vs. current version relative to the problems I experienced.

• Problem #1 - wireless internet. In the last version, it took me a few days to get this working on my first trial install. After I formatted my hard drive to get rid of Windows, it became more difficult for unknown reasons - it took me a week that time. Current version: the OS informed me that I was missing a component for my wireless. A quick Google search brought me to the Ubuntu support page where I could download it. After downloading, it installed automatically and I had wireless. Total time to fix: maybe ten minutes. Tops.
• Problem #2 - Flash player on Firefox. In the last version, the only way to install the flash player (this allows you to do important things like watch YouTube videos) was download the binary and compile it myself using the Console (think DOS). And I never did get this to work on my desktop version, which runs the 64-bit version of Ubuntu. Current version - go to a website that has Flash stuff on it, and it will tell you you're missing plugins. Click on the icon telling you this, and Firefox pulls up a page where you select Flash player and then hit Next. Done. That's it. So much easier I could cry.
  

With these two fairly major bugs fixed, I would now happily recommend Ubuntu even to those who tremble in fear at the thought of programming or DOS-style commands. In fact, my brother is now running Ubuntu exclusively on his home computer with the full blessing of his wife. Simply put, I can't think of anything that Ubuntu can't do at least as well as Windows with free programs that are easy to download and install. And if you think of one, I have an answer to that too - the WINE Windows Emulator (which is also free to download and install) will allow you to run most of your Windows programs without a hitch.

Questions? Thoughts of Ubuntu-ing yourself? Post a comment and I'd be happy to help out.

Screenshots © 2007 Canonical Ltd. Ubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.

A tribute to Bill Gates

My Linux Experience

I've been using Linux exclusively on my laptop for awhile now. I've had a lot of questions about what it is, how it works, and how it's working out for me, so here is a run-down. Please note, there is tons of info out there about Linux, so

What is Linux? Linux is an operating system, like Windows. It's open-source software, which is completely free in every sense of the word. Linux itself is just a set of operating system commands, kind of like the old MS-DOS, so to help make it more usable it comes in several different packages, called distributions, that are built around different user interfaces and with different purposes. The distribution I am using is Ubuntu, which is the one I liked best out of the three distributions I tried. Assuming you have a good distribution, it works a lot like Windows. Or Mac. You can set it up to work a lot like either one of those, or like it's very own thing entirely.

As far as my experience goes, it has really been mixed. I would be lying if I said it had been seamless and easy, but I think the pros have outweighed the cons so far. Getting videos and music to play has been relatively difficult, especially syncing my iPod. I've fixed most of that thanks to Songbird though. Ubuntu comes with a huge list of software that can be downloaded and used free and is very easy to install. For most programs, you'll find yourself choosing from a list of several programs to find the one you like best. But if what you need isn't on that list, good luck. You have to search for it online yourself, and then download it and - here's the kicker - compile the code yourself using the old command-line interface we all love so much. Getting my wireless card to work was also pretty difficult. Overall, I haven't regretted the switch, and now that my computer is basically set up how I want it I have very few complaints.

I don't think I would recommend Linux to just anybody though. While it works well once it's going and is super flexible, the price you pay for the flexibility is the more difficult setup. So unless your just really anti-Windows, or kind of a geek who likes to have lots of control over the way your computer works, stick with Windows . . . no, actually switch to Mac. If I could by the Mac OS and use it on my current computer I would, but you can't do that.

SIDE NOTES:

I have found a few things worth checking out for Windows and Mac users too through my Linux experience.

• Songbird - mentioned it above, but it really is a sweet program. Watch the video.
• OpenOffice - this is a replacement for Microsoft Office. Just as good, and free. It actually has some cool features that MS Office doesn't, like exporting directly to PDF. You can also save your files as the common MS Office file types for sharing or using on other computers.
  
• Firefox - this is more of a side note, since most of you are probably browsing from Firefox right now, but a it's a good example of an open-source application.
• Thunderbird - an e-mail program that's the brother of Firefox.
  
• VLC - an open-source media player that plays almost anything. Next time Windows Media Player can't find your codec, it's probably easier to just download this.

So for now, I'm sticking with Linux. But in case you were wondering, I'm still hoping to get a Mac soon.