Tech | Web
Why Linux Ubuntu?
Sep 7th
Besides being stable and secure (no viruses or malware), there are numerous reasons. Ubuntu makes the personal computer, well…personal again. You decide everything that you want your machine to do. Customize it. Use only the software you want and need and nothing else. You don’t need Apple or Microsoft deciding for you.
Install Ubuntu on any machine you’d like as well. I am currently running mine on a laptop that was donated. This Gateway dual core AMD64 laptop was originally installed with Windows Vista and was obsolete within a month. The bloat that it suffered by having Windows at its core was killing it. I don’t know why it was donated and I don’t care. It was free to me and I am reaping the benefits of it too. Ubuntu is lean and maximizes the hardware components above and beyond what the original manufacturer intended! No BSOD or blue screens of death when you boot up. Ubuntu Linux is free and all the software is free.
Kick Apps
Ubuntu comes loaded with software utilities. When you buy a car it is assumed an engine would come with it, right? Do you have to go to the parts store instead? Yes, you can purchase those 3rd party tires but I’d rather have the manufacturers first. What are you into? If it doesn’t come installed then you can get it easily from trusted resources or repositories.
Entertainment:
- Banshee media players (think iTunes or WMP)
- Miro video player and internet TV
- Hulu Desktop
- Disc burner, AV editors, recorders and more
Office:
- Open Office includes word editor, spreadsheets and presentations
- Email clients such as Empathy or Thunderbird
- I still use MS Office 2010 through a utility called WINE
- I also have Google Docs through Prism
Image Editing: (as a photog I still use Adobe products on Windows)
- GIMP, a photoshop alternative
- Shotwell photo manager
- Picasa
- Shutter, a screenshot tool
Web Utilities & Communications:
- Empathy
- Skype
- Facebook Chat
- Tweetdeck (Twitter, FB, Buzz, LinkedIn and more)
- IRC
Others:
- Backup tools
- Ubuntu One (cloud storage, music store)
- Firewall
- screenshots
- WINE
- Notes
- games and more!
These applications and software are constantly updated by their (unpaid and fervent) developers. Ubuntu will gently let you know when you can update. When the manager is done you don’t have to stop what you are doing to reboot and enjoy the software either. Your system is up to date and you can just keep doing what you were doing.
Help!
How did your last call to Microsoft support go? What, you couldn’t get a hold of them either? How much money did you fork over to the Geniuses at Apple just to upgrade/install memory that you should have been able to do yourself if they would let you?
My daughter is enjoying her “Dora the Explorer” phase. Dora refers to the Map to help guide her adventures. “So let’s stop and think. Who do we ask when we don’t know which way to go?” The Ubuntu Forums! Think of the forums as more like a personal help desk then an extended knowledge base. These guys are learning & growing just like we are and love to help.
Conclusion
Based on what you’ve read, what are some of the reasons that would hold you back from experimenting with Ubuntu? Add them into the comments section and let us pull you over to our side. You’ll thank us later!
All Show & All Go (my customized desktop)
Why I Reinstalled Windows 7
Aug 11th
I really enjoy open source computing. For the past 2.5 months I used nothing but Linux Ubuntu 10.04 as my operating system. It is fast, reliable and bug-free. I love discovering customizable software and figuring out how things work. However, as a photographer, i really needed my tools of the trade: Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.
Sure, I installed both of these inside of Ubuntu using WINE but I couldn’t quite get the images the way they needed to be or the text never rendered properly. I wish that Adobe would consider supporting Linux just as they do the Apple and Windows community of creatives.
Another reason for switching back is because I am taking computer courses this fall semester that use exclusively Windows.
I haven’t given up on Ubuntu of course. I installed it on a separate partition and can now dual-boot. This means that whatever OS I need, I can choose Windows or Linux at startup. This way I can continue learning and growing with both.
Win-win!
Ubuntu Promo Video
Jul 23rd
I love the fact that Dell has partnered with Ubuntu to offer PCs that are not just Windows based. Also love their statement that Ubuntu is more reliable than WIndows as well. Here is a promo video from last year showing the previous Ubuntu version. Can you imagine how much more improvement went into this current version (10.04)?
RSS subscribers may have to click through to the website to view
Who Are You People Anyway?
Jul 21st
I’m not one of those people hung up on numbers and it does nothing for my ego. I noticed the Twitter section of my website tonight for some reason and was kind of surprised by the number of followers. I purged almost another thousand followers previously just because I had no idea why they were following or they were spammers and fembots.
You Love Me. You Reeeeally Love Me...
I have a lot of friends on Twitter from Birmingham. I signed up way back in 2006 when it first came out and we all kind of geeked out on it. A have a ton of friends here in the Houston Texas area and other various locales from travels, etc.
But for the rest of you, I’d appreciate a “howdy” and maybe even a 140 character tweet as to why you think I have something of value to offer you. I’ll attempt to do the same because the whole point of these things are to have a conversation, yes?
Oh, and I am grateful to each one of you as well. Thanks, who ever you are!
Success?
Jul 21st
One of the great pleasures of running on Linux is how the open source community sees a need and then builds a solution. Thank goodness for Virtualbox for allowing me to create virtual environments that allows me to run Windows and eventually Mac OS X operating systems on my Linux machine.
Not sure how the Mac software will run because after a successful(?) install and reboot I cannot run Mac yet. Looking over my shoulder and suggestions are appreciated.
Apple OS X On Linux Ubuntu 10.04? Yes please!
Images Editors In Ubuntu
Jun 30th
One of my major concerns about making the switch from Windows 7 to Ubuntu 10 was my post processing image work. As a photographer, I rely on Adobe Lightroom to help organize, tag and add metadata and geotagging to my images. Then I will port them over to Adobe Photoshop and make some minor adjustments in color corrections, etc. As always, there are open source alternatives that compare to the big name software utilities.
After installing Ubuntu on my laptop and erasing Windows 7, I discovered a utility called WINE that emulates Windows. I am currently running MS Office 2007 and wanted to install Lightroom as well. It worked great, however, the images don’t render very well and would occasionally go black. NOT USEFUL.
In the next few weeks I will use and review these alternatives. I’ll have to discover a new workflow with importing, tagging, correcting and exporting and am really looking forward to it. My first attempt is a massive piece of software called DigiKam. More on that soon.
Of course I haven’t given up on my beloved Adobe products. I installed Windows XP on a virtual machine that is running inside Ubuntu (I love this stuff)
Photoshop and Lightroom are reliable as ever, regardless of where they are located. It is too bad that Adobe won’t support Linux directly and we have to come up with these workarounds.
My New Workout Buddy
Jun 25th
I´ve mentioned my desire to lose between 15-20 pounds and get back in shape and wanted to update my progress. So far I suck at this running thing. I have one excuse for every pound I want to drop. My goal now is to drop every excuse with those pounds.
Special thanks to my friend Brandon over at FitHacks I am the proud owner of the Sony Walkman headset. This little guy is a much better workout buddy than my iPod Touch. I don´t have to worry anymore about an earphone cord getting tangled up with my arms or legs while I workout. The earbuds fit more snug and secure while I am running as opposed to the iPodś buds flopping out with every other step. Another great feature is the water resistance. Just in case I break a sweat I won´t have my ears fried.
The player syncs up well with Windows Media Player, Banshee or Rhythmbox and I can drag-n-drop up to 2GB worth of songs into it. Yes, the iPod can carry 30GB of music but I don´t plan on working out that long to be honest with you. =)
I´ve had this for almost a month now and am very pleased with it. Thanks again, Brandon for one more excuse I get to drop and get to my goal.
Push Yourself Over The Edge
Jun 25th
I am having a blast with one of the best operating systems I have ever seen. I love the speed, the price (free) and the support community. I enjoy discovering new tools that makes this experience even better. If I could, I would suggest to all my friends and family to drop their Windows programs and make the easy switch to Ubuntu.
For the average user, Ubuntu has more of what you need right after installing than what Windows offers. Email, office programs,instant messengers, utilities, etc. you don´t need an anti-virus or a firewall. You can install if you´d like of course. Most of the software you want/need can be downloaded easily off of their servers so you know it will be safe and compatible.
If you would like to just try Ubuntu, you can do so for free and right inside of your existing Windows PC. How cool is that?
Just click this link to go to Ubuntu.com
I mentioned before how I plan on blogging about Ubuntu frequently as I come across some tools that we can all use. Whaddya think?
As always, leave a comment or a question. You can reach me here, or Skype and GTalk as ¨chrisdenbow¨.
Why I Switched from Windows 7 To Linux Ubuntu 10.04
Jun 22nd
My history with Microsoft Windows goes all the way back to version 3.1 and that was in the mid 90ś (eternity in PC worlds). I watched the development both grow and stagnate. Sometime around 2004 a co-worker introduced me to something called Linux, an alternative operating system. Linux is created by software developers from all over the world. Each one volunteers their time and energy on a task and when the project has completed it is released. There are different software platforms (distributions) for different purposes. The best part about this? There is no charge for this operating system or the software utilities. This is a huge benefit over Microsoftś charge of $150-300 for each new release.
My intent was to slowly transition to Ubuntu fully but my laptop had other plans. The integrated graphics card would heat up way too fast and way too hot. This caused the screen unusable, grainy . I could get by with an external monitor only but that tied me down to a desk again. Laptops are made to roam, baby.
After backing up all of my files I just went ahead and formatted the Windows hard drive and installed a fresh copy of Linux Ubuntu 10.04, their latest release. Whoa nelly, it was the perfect timing too. This release is one of the best yet! I’ll be blogging periodically about the process. I have to admit that these posts will not be technical because I am still learning myself but it will be a blast trying to work all of this out.
I have to say ¨Thank You¨ to all of the developers out there who are dedicated to this idea of non-proprietary software systems. You guys and gals deserve some recognition for the work you do. If you are working on a project, let me know if I can help make it better by testing it. If you need promos, well then shoot me an email chris AT chrisdenbow DOT com.
Screenshots below:
