Open Source Software / Linux / Etc

[Deverill]

Hey folks.

 

I just wanted to take a few minutes to share some of my recent experiences with anyone who may be interested.

 

(Before I get into the long story, this is ultimately about Linux and Open Source software and how it has changed my views/computing life.)

 

I have had a wide background in computers - everything from the Radio Shack TRS-80 to Kaypro to Commodore Amiga (what a sweet machine!) to PC varieties and others. In 1977 I started with the TRS-80 and it soon became brutally obvious that computers would become my life. I studied them in high school then went to college to get a BA in comp sci. I have worked for the government, the largest community college in Kentucky, a private gaming company, a tourism-industry business and many side-jobs. I have used PC's, Vax Clusters, DEC mini computers, IBM mini's, AT&T Unix, Free-BSD Unix and Windows/Dos. I programmed at the operating system/system tools level on Free BSD as recently as 7 years ago, but it's been strictly Windows ever since. Now with that out of the way we can talk about what I found out...

 

Recently I was talking with my best friend and former boss about job opportunities. He said he may have some freelance Linux programming available shortly. Well, being the computer geek I am I instantly moved everything off my second hard drive on my Windows desktop at home and turned it into a lean-mean-dual-booting Win/Linux machine. Well, at least the Linux is lean and mean.

 

I first started with the TCH Family Forums (of course) and saw a recent discussion about which distribution to use. Several suggested Ubuntu and having never heard of it (been out of the loop) I thought I'd give it a go. (Please, don't follow this post up with "my distro's better than yours." The point is that Linux is free and cool, not which flavor-of-the-day is best. )I dug out an old PC and tried the install and it didn't work. I thought about buying a new computer but my new house is deciding my purchases for the next, oh, 30 years or so and it wasn't in the cards. Then I had the brainstorm to dual-boot. Suddenly I was washed out because I have no good backup facility for so much data and a re-partition would wipe my hard drive. Then I said to myself, "Self, let's find out if we can now dual-boot from separate hard drives because this 2nd drive isn't really being used much." Well, we (me and myself) went online and found that yes, it's possible and the claims were it's easy. Yeah right, I thought.

 

I got the Live-CD of Ubuntu just to see if it liked my hardware. A Live-CD is a CD that will boot into the operating system you choose without messing up your data on the hard drive. My new computer loved it so I thought, again to myself, "Self, let's do this!" Keep in mind, I had an old PC laying around because it wouldn't play nice with an HP printer and it was an HP computer so I replaced it with a Dell. It's not the OS's fault the computer is junk.

 

So, here I am, blank 2nd drive and an install CD. I put it in, answer a few simple questions (remember I'm a computer geek so they may or may not be simple for you... sorry) and in under 1.5 hours I have a beautiful, dual-booting system.

 

Why dual-boot? I bought into MicroSoft's idea that you can't live without Windows. (duh!)

 

Anyway, I've started doing my websites on Linux and I'm booted into it now in fact. Everything I wanted to do I found that I could do except one thing. (I'll tell ya later) If I see something online that says "Audacity is a great audio program" I just go into the package manager, search for Audacity, click install/apply and poof, there it is! Awesome! Way better than "the old days".

 

I have also found some wonderful software I never knew existed!

. Audacity - sound editing software.

. Gimp - image editing ("Photoshop for free")

. OpenOffice - MS Office replacement (I used this before but not much.)

. Gftp - Gnu FTP program - nice, easy, what else is there to say.

. Screem - HTML Editor

 

Now:

Audacity - I didn't have an audio program on Windows so this was a big win...and it's free!

Gimp - I used Macromedia Fireworks but this program is more powerful...and it's free!

OpenOffice - not used it much since I've been focusing on other projects... but it's free!

Gftp - I used SmartFTP and liked it but this is just as good or better... and it's free!

Screem - I had Macromedia Dreamweaver but I think I like this better too... and it's free!

(notice the pattern?)

 

I don't know if anyone has any interest whatsoever in any of this rambling (I warned you in the title!) but I thought I should at least let my TCH brothers and sisters know that open source rules! These packages are awesome, they are free, and many of them are available in Win format. What amazes me is that I was into the gee-whizleness of computer geekhood and never heard of many of these awesome packages. Is there some kind of Windows Blinders that make us not see the good stuff when we're in the Win-world?

 

Anyway, if you can use Linux then I suggest you consider it. It's not been a second's problem for me but I also realize that not everyone wants to get into the guts of a machine -- if you just want to turn it on and get email then it may be a little more than you need but check it out anyway.

 

If you use any Windows programs and can't leave MS's world then see if there is an Open Source program for you. The Gimp, for instance, has a Windows section on their site and it is an uber-extensive program.

 

Oh yeah, the only reason I'm still dual-booting? I just found a new game in February called City of Heroes which I think is an awesome game and don't want to give it up. I'm a true geek and can't give up my games! Other than that there is nothing in Windows that I have missed so far.

 

Well, hope it helps someone somehow and it makes me feel better to just have said "thanks" to the open-source folks for making great stuff. Now when my house lets me I'll see if I can donate to them as well.

[Deverill]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention.

 

I spent about an hour yesterday trying to get my USB Jump Drive to work in Linux. When I couldn't I took it to my laptop and found out it was dead. What great luck.

 

I bought a new one today, plugged it in and *Poof* the thing just worked. Whodathunk Linux would be plug and play!

 

I went into the forums and took about 2 minutes to find the patch to make my 5 button-wheel-mouse work just like I like it too.

[curtis]

Very nice write Jim.

I also have Ubuntu on my main computer. I still use Win, but not very much anymore. I haven't moved my working copy of my websites over to my Linux box yet so thats all I really use Win for.

I use Open Office daily in my business. I haven't found anything I can't do with Open Office that can be done with MS.

I'm still getting to know The Gimp but it is a very powerful program.

I do have gftp installed, just haven't used it but a couple of times.

 

Open source software has come a long way in the last couple of years and linux installs are almost as easy as Win, in some cases easier.

[Deverill]

Well, at least I didn't have to call Microsoft for activation codes! Your last sentence was the real shocker for me - I hadn't realized how far open source had come until I started messing with this install and boy, what an exciting eye-opener it was!

[borfast]

Great post, Jim!

 

And I'm also glad that you found out what many other people still don't believe: linux is more than ready for the desktop - unless, of course, you want to play games but then again, that's not Linux's fault either, game makers are the ones that are too lazy and so blinded by the bloated DirectX stuff (which they think is great and easy to use... go figure...) to make their games work under Linux. Linux is more than ready to have games played on it, as dozens of available games prove. It's the companies who make games that still live in 1995.

 

Jim, a couple of tips: if some day you find out that you need a program that is only available for Windows, give Wine a try.

Also, you may want to activate the Universe repository in the package manager, which will give you hundreds of new packages.

 

Good luck for your future with Linux! If you need any help, you know how to contact me

[Deverill]

I think using Wine to emulate Windows would be a step backwards I'm planning to move everything else over that I can and keeping Win just for laughs.

 

I already enabled Universe I appreciate the offer for help and can think of no one else I'd rather ask first.