We just moved to a new (old, new to us) house. After hooking up my computer it suggested that I upgrade. I was using Ubuntu (notice the word was) Yep, I clicked to upgrade to Ununtu 12. Twenty hours later, that would be downloading and installing I got an error that scripts were not loaded. Tried again and still nothing. Rebooted and, you guessed it. Blank screen. In the Windows world that would be the blue screen of death.
Now one of the good things about Linux is, I just put in a live Distro, and mount my hard drive and get the few important pics and documents, a few songs and audiobooks put them all on a thumb flash drive.
Now next step. What distro do I want to use?
I like Debian, Ununtu (even with the problems), Mint, Fedora, OpenBSD, KNOPPIX, PCLinuxOS, OpenSUSE and many, many more. I have tried many of these as live versions. Some I really like because everything is loaded ready to go. But I also like the thought that I can install what I want. (By the way I am working on LFS and hope to have one system built from scratch. Best way to learn what you are doing is - to do it). I am a huge Commodore 64 fan and love the look of the new Commodore (Mint) Linux. But, until all the bugs are worked out of it and it becomes a good Linux I will have to skip it.
I am currently running live CD on one Laptop with Windows Vista. Another Laptop with KNOPPIX, A desktop with Mint and this one don't know which distro I want to put on it.
I do like using different Desktops. I am currently using Ultimate Edition Live CD. A lot of eye candy and little bits of extra features than basic Linux. I like it.
I am not a fan of Unity Desktop by Ubuntu. But, I have not used it enough to see if I really like it.
So a few more days of playing with a few different distros and maybe by weeks end I will have decided which one to go with. I will let you know which one I use and why.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
New Commodore 64x.
I just watched a video of the new Commodore 64 running Linux Mint 10-10
One word - Awesome.
It has the great eye candy installed, Retro Sounds for your computer. Many Commodore 64 things laying around the screen.
Eye Candy alone is worth the download.
Of course I cut my teeth in Computing on the Commodore 64 and the Commodore VIC-20. I did (still have) a Commodore 128. and last time I powered them up, they all worked. and the disks still were readable. Some 20 years later.
And today all three of my computers are running Linux Mint. The Commodore 64 was one of the best home computers way back then. Apple was the other. There were at one time about 20 different home computers. Radio Shack had the Tandy.
Today I am glad for Linux. It is one of my favorites. I am not to hip on Fedora or the Red Hat based distros. I do like the Debian based, and I love the Gnome Desktop over the KDE. Nothing wrong KDE or Fedora, Slackware or any of their distro downstream. Debian was the one I learned on and thats the one I like.
I am starting to go through the Linux From Scratch. Wanting to build a system from the ground up.
Have some fun and download a few Linux Distros and play awhile, you just might give up that Windows machine.
I just watched a video of the new Commodore 64 running Linux Mint 10-10
One word - Awesome.
It has the great eye candy installed, Retro Sounds for your computer. Many Commodore 64 things laying around the screen.
Eye Candy alone is worth the download.
Of course I cut my teeth in Computing on the Commodore 64 and the Commodore VIC-20. I did (still have) a Commodore 128. and last time I powered them up, they all worked. and the disks still were readable. Some 20 years later.
And today all three of my computers are running Linux Mint. The Commodore 64 was one of the best home computers way back then. Apple was the other. There were at one time about 20 different home computers. Radio Shack had the Tandy.
Today I am glad for Linux. It is one of my favorites. I am not to hip on Fedora or the Red Hat based distros. I do like the Debian based, and I love the Gnome Desktop over the KDE. Nothing wrong KDE or Fedora, Slackware or any of their distro downstream. Debian was the one I learned on and thats the one I like.
I am starting to go through the Linux From Scratch. Wanting to build a system from the ground up.
Have some fun and download a few Linux Distros and play awhile, you just might give up that Windows machine.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Linux has been great.
I move to Linux a few years ago and I have never looked back. Windows has so many problems and bugs that I was spending more time running anti-viruses than doing what I wanted to do.
My wifes old laptop refused to run Windows XP. She has had it for over 8 years. So for her retirement I let her get a new laptop. She picked it out. We had it for less than two months and it stopped working. Had to ship it off to get a new motherboard and harddrive. Got it back and it had VIRUSES all threw it. So my wife called and they said it was not their problem. So after a long battle between Windows and the games she can play and Linux that does not have all those games she likes. She is considering it after we got our Credit Card bill and Norton charged us $80 for something that doesn't work. Their Anti-Virus. She gets so frustrated over the fact that I can do almost anything she does and I don't have to spend Hours waiting for the Anti-virus to do its thing.
I put Linux on her old laptop and it works good. I have some problem with her WiFi card and some Distributions. The Distributions (Distros) that I don't like, reads her WiFi. The Distros I like does not.
I have a lot more to learn about Linux and one of them is getting her WiFi to work using the Distro that I like and works well with her old Laptop.
There are plenty of great Linux books and podcasts that can help you with learning Linux. I have been tempted with starting a podcast for Linux newbies. First listen to Chess Griffins - Linux Reality. So much great stuff there and I don't know if I could do better than what he did. Second get a few ebooks and read through them. You can find plenty of them for free online.
If you want to do some programming - look to Linux. If you need to run a office - look to Linux. There are plenty of reasons to move to Linux. The biggest reason - its free. As in costs nothing to get or use. You have control of your computer. Unlike Windows where they have control of your computer. Read the License Agreement. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but its worth the time and trouble. You have several office suites to choose from, by the way most of the programs on Linux are also free like before costs nothing to get or use. That includes most of the office suites.
I move to Linux a few years ago and I have never looked back. Windows has so many problems and bugs that I was spending more time running anti-viruses than doing what I wanted to do.
My wifes old laptop refused to run Windows XP. She has had it for over 8 years. So for her retirement I let her get a new laptop. She picked it out. We had it for less than two months and it stopped working. Had to ship it off to get a new motherboard and harddrive. Got it back and it had VIRUSES all threw it. So my wife called and they said it was not their problem. So after a long battle between Windows and the games she can play and Linux that does not have all those games she likes. She is considering it after we got our Credit Card bill and Norton charged us $80 for something that doesn't work. Their Anti-Virus. She gets so frustrated over the fact that I can do almost anything she does and I don't have to spend Hours waiting for the Anti-virus to do its thing.
I put Linux on her old laptop and it works good. I have some problem with her WiFi card and some Distributions. The Distributions (Distros) that I don't like, reads her WiFi. The Distros I like does not.
I have a lot more to learn about Linux and one of them is getting her WiFi to work using the Distro that I like and works well with her old Laptop.
There are plenty of great Linux books and podcasts that can help you with learning Linux. I have been tempted with starting a podcast for Linux newbies. First listen to Chess Griffins - Linux Reality. So much great stuff there and I don't know if I could do better than what he did. Second get a few ebooks and read through them. You can find plenty of them for free online.
If you want to do some programming - look to Linux. If you need to run a office - look to Linux. There are plenty of reasons to move to Linux. The biggest reason - its free. As in costs nothing to get or use. You have control of your computer. Unlike Windows where they have control of your computer. Read the License Agreement. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but its worth the time and trouble. You have several office suites to choose from, by the way most of the programs on Linux are also free like before costs nothing to get or use. That includes most of the office suites.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Today, I am going to talk about starting Linux.
I can no longer consider myself a newbie on Linux, but I still have much to learn.
But if you are a brand new user to Linux there are a few things you should know.
I suggest you get Mint Linux or PCLinuxOS because they both are internet ready. They have the flash and java already installed. Most of Linux "YOU" have to install the flash and Java. One thing about Linux is there are thousands of programs for you to download and install. You can't use Windows. So programs that end with .exe are usually Windows and unless you have Wine (free) and a wine support program (That costs) You just might be able to run that program on Linux.
I started off with Debian. I downloaded the entire Debian distro. It was like 14 cd's of programs. You don't have to do that. You can just download one of the two above and go to the software download section and download the programs you want. There is almost everything you can think of available to download.
Education, Games, Graphics, Programming, Video, Sound, Internet, Office and Science thats not counting the system tools and accessories. Thousands of programs.
Another feature of Linux is the different Desktop programs. The two powerhouses are Gnome and KDE. Gnome is going through an identity crisis at the moment. But there are many more desktop programs to choose from.
Not only that then you have virtual desktops most of the distros give you 2 to 4 but if you download Debian you can have up to 32 different desktops. That is if you have enough memory.
Once you get started with Mint or PCLinuxOS and you feel comfortable you can move to Ubuntu. I have Ubuntu on one desktop computer and it found my web cam, camera and printer with no disk required. My printer is one of those multifunction printers and it made sure I had scanner software and printer software for MY printer.
If you are wanting to just surf the web, play simple games and chat with your friends Linux is the best.
Another benefit of Linux I don't have to purchase a anti-virus,
Best of all it cost nothing.
Okay I had to purchase a cd to burn the distro to.
Now if you don't want to burn a cd you can purchase a magazine with a cd/dvd in the back or a book with a cd/dvd.
Now I mention cd/dvd because some older systems don't have dvd drives. So if you purchase this make sure you can use it.
Another feature of the cd/dvd is that you can run most of these distros right from the cd/dvd drive. Nothing is written to your disk. Another option is getting a flash USB thumb drive that is 2 gigs or higher and install Linux on the flash drive and you will also have the ability to save any work on the same flash drive.
Now can you do that with Windows? 95/98/2000/ME/XP/VISTA/and / or 7? Or how about Apple?
By the way the newest Apple OS is actually a crippled version of Linux. That way you can't do everything Linux can and Linux can't do what you are doing on Apple.
I hope this gives you some insight as to where Linux is, and is going. I like Linux for many reasons. Games, Office programs, Internet, Programming and the price. When the word free is used its free as it doesn't cost you any money but also free because you can change and modify it for your own personal needs. You are not stuck with an out of box this is all you get and paid huge bucks for program you need to install and hope it runs on Windows. Not saying that Linux is bug free. But any bug you find and submit will get you a fix in a few weeks to days or even hours. With Windows you have to wait until enough bugs will fill up an update for you to download and wait, wait, wait.
You will see some sites charge for Linux. Actually they are charging for the disk that they are going to ship to you if you ordered it that way. Some are pretty pricey. But if you have Linux installed you can download distros and burn disks. You can even Virtually install it and run it from memory. Again that requires that you have plenty of memory. Once you are feeling very comfy with Linux you can download almost any source code and modify it, recompile it and run it on your computer. That includes Linux itself. But that is a long way away.
I think I am rambling on so if you haven't tried Linux, give it a shot.
By the way, if you are going to be using this on a laptop, right now most Red Hat Distros will read and run your software wifi. If you have a wifi that you can turn on or off only after the operating system is installed then, that I call a software wifi. If your wifi can be turned on even when the operating system is not installed then you have what I call a hardware wifi and you can use Debian or Slackware based distros. But that I will save for another day. For right now just look up on the internet what distros are Red Hat/Fedora based. You may have problems playing music or watching movies because the programs needed to run music and movies are not usually installed on these versions of Linux.
Have fun.... I know I covered alot. Just play and it will fall into place. Next will be the several branches of Linux and Unix.
I can no longer consider myself a newbie on Linux, but I still have much to learn.
But if you are a brand new user to Linux there are a few things you should know.
I suggest you get Mint Linux or PCLinuxOS because they both are internet ready. They have the flash and java already installed. Most of Linux "YOU" have to install the flash and Java. One thing about Linux is there are thousands of programs for you to download and install. You can't use Windows. So programs that end with .exe are usually Windows and unless you have Wine (free) and a wine support program (That costs) You just might be able to run that program on Linux.
I started off with Debian. I downloaded the entire Debian distro. It was like 14 cd's of programs. You don't have to do that. You can just download one of the two above and go to the software download section and download the programs you want. There is almost everything you can think of available to download.
Education, Games, Graphics, Programming, Video, Sound, Internet, Office and Science thats not counting the system tools and accessories. Thousands of programs.
Another feature of Linux is the different Desktop programs. The two powerhouses are Gnome and KDE. Gnome is going through an identity crisis at the moment. But there are many more desktop programs to choose from.
Not only that then you have virtual desktops most of the distros give you 2 to 4 but if you download Debian you can have up to 32 different desktops. That is if you have enough memory.
Once you get started with Mint or PCLinuxOS and you feel comfortable you can move to Ubuntu. I have Ubuntu on one desktop computer and it found my web cam, camera and printer with no disk required. My printer is one of those multifunction printers and it made sure I had scanner software and printer software for MY printer.
If you are wanting to just surf the web, play simple games and chat with your friends Linux is the best.
Another benefit of Linux I don't have to purchase a anti-virus,
Best of all it cost nothing.
Okay I had to purchase a cd to burn the distro to.
Now if you don't want to burn a cd you can purchase a magazine with a cd/dvd in the back or a book with a cd/dvd.
Now I mention cd/dvd because some older systems don't have dvd drives. So if you purchase this make sure you can use it.
Another feature of the cd/dvd is that you can run most of these distros right from the cd/dvd drive. Nothing is written to your disk. Another option is getting a flash USB thumb drive that is 2 gigs or higher and install Linux on the flash drive and you will also have the ability to save any work on the same flash drive.
Now can you do that with Windows? 95/98/2000/ME/XP/VISTA/and / or 7? Or how about Apple?
By the way the newest Apple OS is actually a crippled version of Linux. That way you can't do everything Linux can and Linux can't do what you are doing on Apple.
I hope this gives you some insight as to where Linux is, and is going. I like Linux for many reasons. Games, Office programs, Internet, Programming and the price. When the word free is used its free as it doesn't cost you any money but also free because you can change and modify it for your own personal needs. You are not stuck with an out of box this is all you get and paid huge bucks for program you need to install and hope it runs on Windows. Not saying that Linux is bug free. But any bug you find and submit will get you a fix in a few weeks to days or even hours. With Windows you have to wait until enough bugs will fill up an update for you to download and wait, wait, wait.
You will see some sites charge for Linux. Actually they are charging for the disk that they are going to ship to you if you ordered it that way. Some are pretty pricey. But if you have Linux installed you can download distros and burn disks. You can even Virtually install it and run it from memory. Again that requires that you have plenty of memory. Once you are feeling very comfy with Linux you can download almost any source code and modify it, recompile it and run it on your computer. That includes Linux itself. But that is a long way away.
I think I am rambling on so if you haven't tried Linux, give it a shot.
By the way, if you are going to be using this on a laptop, right now most Red Hat Distros will read and run your software wifi. If you have a wifi that you can turn on or off only after the operating system is installed then, that I call a software wifi. If your wifi can be turned on even when the operating system is not installed then you have what I call a hardware wifi and you can use Debian or Slackware based distros. But that I will save for another day. For right now just look up on the internet what distros are Red Hat/Fedora based. You may have problems playing music or watching movies because the programs needed to run music and movies are not usually installed on these versions of Linux.
Have fun.... I know I covered alot. Just play and it will fall into place. Next will be the several branches of Linux and Unix.
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