Linux the OS of your future?

How many of you remember DOS and Windows 3.1 for the 80's? It was rival to GEOS. GEOS was actually a better OS than Windows 3.1. Then Came Windows 95. You had to lose all your programs for Windows 3.1 and purchase new for Windows 95. Then came Windows 98. The fix for Windows 95. How many systems were destroyed by upgrading to Windows 98? It was all you saw on Television for weeks. Then there was Windows 98SE. Yes a fix for Windows 98. Then there was Windows 2000, and Windows ME. Windows ME was a huge flop. Windows 2000 was a little better. At least you could run 98 software on 2000. Then came Windows XP. You had to throw all your software out and purchase new again. Then came Windows Vista. Again some software that worked on XP would not work on Vista. Then came Windows 7 the fix for Windows Vista. I wonder if Windows 7SE will come out next year? A fix for Windows 7?

Whew! What a list. Now let's look at Linux. Let's first start with Unix. That is the Father of Linux. It was created back in the 60's and the first Unix that left the lab for use was 1970. By 1972 Unix was becoming a hot item. A lot of people who worked on Unix took a copy with them when they left AT&T and continued to work on the Unix they created. Several version of Unix eventually developed and that is when AT&T found out they had control of Unix and Demanded huge sums of money to use Unix. By 1991 a computer science student wanted a language like Unix to work at home. There was nothing available and it was way too costly to get a copy of Unix. So this student started to create his own Unix like OS. He got help from FSF, in no time he had Linux. After making it open source and allowing all people access to the code to modify and improve it and send it back into the community Linux 1.0 was out. At that time Linux was unreliable. But, the PEOPLE had the code and continued to work on it.

Let's fast forward to Linux today. It is still the same Linux from 20 years ago but with most of the bugs gone. I won't say it's bug free. But it's less buggy then Windows. Where you have a problem with Windows you make a report and sometime next year or two years from now a solution will be available for your error. Where in Linux you report your error and the community will explore the error and usually within a few days there is a fix for your error. Let's see if Windows can do that? Of course they can't.

Now you have to purchase programs to use on Windows. As you know some go as much as thousands of dollars but the average big ticket software are 250 to 600 dollars. The Games and cheap software are from 20 to 120 dollars. Let's look at Microsoft's Office, Adobe Photoshop, and many more software programs like this. Couple of hundred dollars a pop. At the end of the day you have to purchase Windows and if you are putting it on your computer and not purchasing a new one you most likely have to purchase a larger hard drive and more memory. Then the Windows and the software you want to put on your computer that Windows Controls.

Yes, I forgot to tell you that if you put Windows on your computer, Windows has control of your computer. Yes you heard me right. Read the License. If Microsoft thinks you owe them money they can go via the internet and shut down your computer. Will be nothing more than a Anchor.
But with Linux you have control of your computer. That's right, You have control.

The software that comes with Linux is part of Linux. So if you want a Photoshop like program you can use the Gimp. If you want an office suite you can use Open Office Org or Libre Office (an off shoot of Open Office) KDE Office and what is called Gnome Office. The software that is available for Linux is just thousands of packages. Games, to education, graphics, sound, internet, programming, science and wine. Wine is a program that allows you to use Microsoft Windows programs on Linux. There is also a Dos Emulator and Apple, Commodore emulators.

Linux brings back the fun in computing. A Live CD will allow you to do the most basic of everything, including surfing the internet. There may be some codexes that need to be installed so you can watch flash video, or a movie, listen to a mp3 or wav sound file. View graphic files. Yes, now you are starting to see the power of Linux.

Best of all little to no finical cost to you.

Moving to Linux knowledge

Have you ever heard of Linux?

Know what Linux is?

What it does for your computer?

Interested?

If you are interested in Linux or move to Linux, I have some help for you.

I have been listening to different Linux podcasts and they can help you with your Linux problem. Such as which Distro is best for me? Well, that is a preference that you have to make, but you don't know enough to make that choice? That is where the podcasts make a difference.

Linux Reality,
Going Linux,
TLLTS - The Learning Linux Tech Show
Linux Install, (thelip) and
BSDTalk.

These podcasts give the new user a wealth of information. How to do different things. How to get Linux working, how to keep Linux working, how to enjoy Linux.


Example: I want to install a Linux Distro on my computer and don't really know what I am doing?
Thelip will help you. They install a Linux distro every month, and the following weeks they install programs, tweak the distro and you are there as they do it. If you don't like that distro wait until next month.


Want to get info for a certain aspect of Linux? Going Linux and Linux Reality will help you there. They help at a newbie level and in most cases move to a more advanced level.


If you want to learn UNIX which is what Linux is created from. Try BSDTalk. Not all Linux will work with Unix and not all Unix will work with Linux. This is where BSDTalk helps.


If you are interested in checking out Linux or moving to Linux listen to these podcasts. You might find a lot more than just moving to Linux.

Better computing thru Linux open source and podcasts

I have been playing around with Linux for almost a year now. The things I learned, are one slow item at a time. Reading here and there. Picking up cool little gems from this page and that.

I started to listen to Linux podcasts. TLLTS - The Linux Link Tech Show. They just shoot the breeze about Linux and then they have special guests on and lets you sit in on their chats. They discuss all the trends in Linux.

I came across Linux Reality Podcast. One word - Awesome!

Chess covers different things month after month. All based one the previous month so the deeper you go the more lost you are unless you listened to the earlier casts. He guides his casts on very basic parts of Linux. How to download a distro. Burn a distro to disk.

It is geared to Windows and Mac users who what something better than what they forked out good money for. Linux is an operating system that puts the power of the computer in YOUR hands and not Microsoft or Apple. If you ever read the agreement that comes with Windows, it allows you to use their software at their pleasure. You pay Microsoft to use their software as is and Linux you can get for free and have it to explore or just use as is just like Microsoft's as is.

With Linux you get a better Operating System (OS) than Windows. May not be as polished as Windows or Mac but there are not tens of thousands being paid from a billion dollar company to create a sub standard product and fleece the public to force it on every computer made. If it saves you $20 to $5000 per computer, it is well worth it. There may only be a few people working on a piece of software for no money, just for the joy of giving the community a product that can challenge Windows at almost no cost to you.

You may have to do some learning. Spend a night or two a week learning the new OS. When you are done you have a better computer system than you could buy for very big money from Windows and it cost you little to nothing. No Windows problems.

I am about a quarter of the way through his podcasts and realized very quickly that I know nothing about Linux.

I found another podcast that is for newbies or someone wanting to move to Linux. Going Linux podcasts.

Learning Linux

It is just like when you were in School. Baby steps learning the basics but it is still usable while you are learning the basics. Yes you can surf the internet, but you might need help installing some codecs, java, etc. you can also write a letter, balance a checkbook, download pictures, modify pictures and play games. All without learning how to use Linux sort of, You do have to try to figure out what programs do the above, You will need help getting codecs, java and other programs, so you can watch movies, listen to music. If you are using a Debian based Distro you can download and run a shell program called exoodles. This shell program will help you install java, codecs and browsers. You just have to figure out how to do shell programming. If you can find the site to install the exoodles it will give you step by step instructions to install and run the shell. If you use a Distro other than Debian - Sorry I have no experience there. You have to remember I am newish to Linux. I have learned all this over 6 months that I have had Linux installed. I have played with live distros on cd/dvd's and found out a lot of what I needed to move to get Linux up and running.

Good luck on your Linux quest.

Ubuntu Install

I was just asked last week to put Ubuntu Linux on a laptop. I did it in one evening including all the java, flash and codecs to make sure all your internet surfing would happen flawlessly.

Now I was able to do Ubuntu because of the script that installed the java, flash and codecs. This script works will all Debian based distros.

I have been enjoying Linux for the last 4 months without any problems. My wife's laptop with windows has nothing but problems. I have offered to put Linux on her laptop but she is still not frustrated enough with windows yet.

Computer fun again

It is so much fun to have computer again. I was so bored with Microsoft and Having to get an Anti Virus, and Spam Killers and who knows what else in order to get Windows to work.

I got so fed up with Windows when my XP Pro slowed down to a crawl and nothing was wrong with the computer. It actually took 4 hours to boot up and once I was there I could do nothing. I went this routine for two weeks. After which the computer only took 4 mins to boot up and I could do almost anything I wanted but it was slower than normal. Usually 5 yo 7 mins to close down. I finally gave up and on a whim and because I wanted a Linux machine I put a CD in it and moved on.

In one hour I had removed Windows and installed Linux. I had Debian on a system but could not get Debian to read my graphic card. I had web pages and info pages and no way to close them.

So Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS and OpenSUsE were the distros I was going to move to. On the live cd's they did read my hardware. I finally decided to move to Ubuntu in the end.

I made the move and have not looked back. I do need to find a web cam that will work with Linux. The printer works fine the speakers are fine everything works but the web cam. There is a huge list of web cams from which to choose from. But a $10 web cam will not work with Linux but a $75 web cam will. So free only goes so far.

If that is my only problem is having to fork over extra cash for an expensive web cam so be it. I was able to save about $300 just on the Operating System and thousands more on other software.

Best of all, it was alot of fun. The way computers used to be.

Linux Breakthru

I finally got Adobe Flashplayer to run on Debian.

For those of us who are new to Linux, I have used Ubuntu and it loads and installs Abobe Flashplayer on its own. I have installed Mandriva and its like Ubuntu. Same with Mint Linux. (Mint Linux is built on Ubuntu which is built on Debian)

I just installed the latest Debian and for the last two weeks I have had a problem getting Abobe Flashplayer to run. Anything that used Flashplayer would not work.

I have downloaded Abobe Flashplayer from Adobe. and could not get it to run. It would not install and came up with the message to MANUAL INSTALL.

That is where I got into a problem. I just tried to install it manually and it would not go.

I was just about to remove Debian to install Ubuntu or Mint Linux in its place. At least I know it will work from there.

But that is not how to work in Linux. If you never figure it out you will never get anywhere. Always asking someone else for help instead of figuring it out for yourself.

So I checked the web and it said use the dpkg program. I was using the .;/program

So dpkg came our with an error that said that a few libs were missing. So I tried to apt-get install the libs and that did not work. You enter one lib and it said that the other had to be installed for this one to work... So tried the other and same message. I just kept playing and it said to -f install the apt-get so I did. It automatically installed the libs and adobe. Cool.

Will just keep plugging away.

I do love this operating system. So much like DOS only so much better.


Still working on Shells and Scripts. But just keep plugging away at the examples and see how typing this does that. The things I like so much about Linux is all the variety available to you. Unlike Windows you have to buy new everytime Windows updates and you wind up spending thousands to upgrade to the next best Windows. Not only do you spend several hunderd to upgrade to the new Windows, then most of the software you have will not work on the new Windows. So you have to up grade those. This is where the thousands come in.

With Linux the Operating System is free unlike Windows. Then 90+ percent of the programs are free. Yes you heard me right FREE....

You have photo programs, movie programs, audio program, Office programs, Banking programs, cad programs, game programs and so much more. FREE.... There are some programs that cost money but for the most part the majority like I said 90+ percent is FREE.


So if you are tired of Windows Screwing you every few years move to linux. Even when the upgrade you can upgrade without rebooting. So I am told. You can Install programs without rebooting.

Linux fun

Keep using Linux.

I have found some more short cuts in terminal (Shell mode).

I just used Brasero to make a Music CD. It was one of the easiest that I have ever used.

I like Open Office. I like using Linux. There are a few things that I have not figured out how to fix yet. But as time goes by I will learn. There are plenty of things to learn. Shell scripts, programming, so many different languages. I like it because I got tired of DOS. I love the Shell Scripts. It is like Batch on steroids. So much fun learning scripts.

I just keep plugging along. One step at a time.

You know it takes a little longer for old folks to learn items. But I am learning.

Free college courses online. Learning things daily.

Ebooks on Linux. Read your favorite classics on the computer. I love it cause I can increase the font size so it is easy on my eyes. About three screens to one page of text. But it is fast.

The list of free software is extensive. There are many flavors of Linux and many programs for Linux. So if you are interested in TV you and download mythtv and if you have a computer with a TV card that Linux knows you now have a DVR. Sweet.

So is there fun with Linux? You bet.

Games is another fun stop at Linux. There still are some sites that will not allow you to run their sites They still require Windows with Internet Explorer. Those sites will not run on Firefox. Or under Linux. If these are Java programs then it is some kind of restrictions for non Internet Explorer Window users. Cause Java works on all computers. Most desktops no matter what Operating System they use are the same computer.

But Linux has plenty of programs that would cost a fortune to get the same programs in Windows. Why?