Linux Fever

Hello Again!
Well my latest project on PIC microcontrollers is talking longer than expected so i thought i would share one of my favorite operating systems with you.

Some of you might already be familiar with it ,but i know that a lot of people just don't know a thing about Linux.So i want to introduce you to Linux.

First of all lets go over a few things .A lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about Linux,Some see it as being a command line operating system,some see it as being incredibly hard and tough to learn .Most of the people who use windows and are told about linux see it as one of the above mentioned things.

Well its true that linux is command line but there are distributions that come with a desktop environment and it's true that Linux does has a bit of a learning curve if you want to perform advanced functions or anything involving the shell but the everyday stuff you do is extremely easy to do and sometimes a better experience than windows.

First let me tell you where you can get a distribution of linux.There are a lot of options you can choose from .Some of the popular ones being:
Ubuntu
Linux Mint
Fedora
Open suse
Arch


The downloads of ISO's are available on the websites,you can download via ftp or torrent.There are also USB versions,available for downloads.You can choose from the available options.


For first time users i would recommend Ubuntu .Its easy to install and operate,but you can choose any,although i would discourage you from choosing Arch first,as it requires a lot of set up and you are not greeted with a GUI but a command line interface after the installation.It is for those who require a custom selection of packages installed and for advanced users.

There's also some more things you need to decide before you choose a distro .You need to choose a desktop environment.Most distros offer a choice of different desktop environments most popular of which are Gnome.KDE,XFCE and LXDE .I would recommend Gnome.

I would also recommend using Ubuntu 10.10(Maverick Meerkat) instead of the latest version.The torrent file for Intel pc's can be downloaded here if you have a different pc you can find a suitable download here.

Now let me tell you whats the best thing about Linux distributions,they are FREE!!

Yeah you heard that right ,free,but how can that be? well you can read all about it here.

Another great advantage of using linux is that you have a great community to help you with anything that you would want to know about linux or may need help with.

Now there are many ways to get started with,but i would suggest you first try out the Live CD.Most of the linux distributions let you try out the distribution without affecting your computer in any way.You just change your boot order to make the DVD rom primary ,insert the CD and follow the on screen instructions.

If you are satisfied with the experience and decide to install the distribution on you pc,i would recommend using a virtual machine and installing the distro on it first rather than trying your hand on the actual pc and accidentally end up losing any data.If you have chosen Ubuntu you can  use the windows installer.

Both the above mentioned methods let you try out the distro,keeping the host operating system safe while you familiarize with the distro.

If you do decide to install your hard disks,you should check out the forums for the chosen distro first.It has a lot of guides on how to install,how to dual boot etc.

You can take a look at the following for Ubuntu(Ubuntu install guide)

Most distributions come with a number of pre installed applications .Some of them are Open office or Libre office that is a office suite which acts as an alternative for Microsoft Office in Windows, Evolution (E-mail client),Empathy(IM client), Gwibber(Social networking client),Banshee or Rythmbox(music management and playback),Mozilla Firefox(Internet Browser),Transmission(a bit torrent client),some games and other stuff.

But your disto may or may not have these exact applications necessarily as they vary from distro to distro and also with change in desktop environments but they may have some applications that perform similar functions.

And don't worry all these are free and won't cost you a dime.

You can install new software from Ubuntu Software Center under the Applications menu in ubuntu or thorough the terminal (found under Applications>Accessories)

Another great thing is that your hardware just works out of the box.Although of you have an Nvidia or Ati graphics card you may want to install a propriety driver .You should get a notification about the same and if you don't you can find it under System>Administration>Additional drivers and activate the current driver from there.

Now let's assume you have installed the distro and you want to set it up,though most of the stuff works out of the box I recommend that you install the following:-

Ubuntu restricted extras(in ubuntu only)-
This is a collection of restricted softwares(flash,java,codecs etc.)
Terminal code:-

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

*note:-
-This will prompt you for a password,the one you entered during the installation
-You can copy and paste the above code

Sun Java runtime environment(jre)

This is the jre by Sun,some of the softwares work better with the sun version rather than the openjdk version

Terminal code:-

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sun-java-community-team/sun-java6

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre

Mplayer/Smplayer-
Mplayer is a free and open source media player.MPlayer supports a wide variety of media formats and can also save all streamed content to a file.
Smplayer is a frontend for Mplayer
Terminal code:-

sudo apt-get install mplayer smplayer

Deluge-
A bit torrent client
Terminal code:-

sudo apt-get update deluge

Compiz-
Cool effects for your desktop
Terminal code:-

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-fusion-plugins-extra

Tip:-If you want to go into advanced stuff you might want to learn to use the terminal,its a powerful and fun tool in your arsenal.You should take a look here or here for the same.

Before i end this post,take a look at this video showing off cool compiz effects in ubuntu 10.10.

Please feel free to leave a comment if you'd like to share anything or have a question about anything.

That's it for now!
See you next time!