Ubuntu, LinuxMint, Sabayon.
Kung Fu Robots (kungfurobots.com) has posted some beneficial experiences particularly the brief synopsis of Ubuntu, LinuxMint and Sabayon. One thing that I note is the greater amount of applications available. Prior to using Ubuntu, I was a Fedora Core user, who found that the Debian track (out of which Ubuntu is borne) has a far greater and arguably superior amount of applications. Here is what Kung Fu Robots has to say…
So I have been gaining nerd points as of late. I have been toying with a few differentCD distros of Linux. For those of you on the non-nerd side, Linux is an operating system similar and not similar to Windows. It comes with great software, it has tons of functionality and customization options and it’s free. yep…free.
You can download an .iso file of the different distributions, burn them to CD, then restart your computer with the CD in the drive. It will boot up into Linux without touching your hard drive. You can take it for a test drive then.
So I have Ubuntu installed on my hard drive. I really like it. I will be switching my webserver over to it soon. It’s like the “welcome to linux” version of the OS. It uses the “gnome” GUI.
Next on the list is LinuxMint , which is Ubuntu with some extras that the dev liked added in. You also get the parrot puke green color scheme. Mint is a little different than Ubuntu due to the interface.
You see, with Linux, unlike Windows, you can install many different GUI’s. This means the menu systems, dialogs, etc are different and can be used in different ways and configured and customized to suite your workflow. Mint uses “cassandra” which is not very intuitive to me…. I’m just not used to it. Some people swear by it.
Then there’s Sabayon, which is the “heres a ton of software and stuff for linux” version. This has to be burned to DVD. Its almost 3gig! It has a ton of applications and goodies included.It also comes with Beryl, or Coral or Compviz or whatever the hell they are calling it today already installed. This lets you do insane things with the GUI. Things like having a window or folder burn up in flames when you close it, or getting “beamed” window (ala Star Trek effect) when you open it.
With all of these you get multiple desktops. This means you can have a desktop with your email on it, then one with your Office apps, one with your web browser. You can switch between them, or you can have all of them open on one desktop the way Windows does it. Stuff that Windows Vista cant touch. All for free. You can even install all of the GUIs you want and pick which one you want to use when you boot up.
Linux sounds confusing with all the distros available. However, you just need to remember that for the most part, its all the same Linux under the eye-candy. Its just using different GUI’s and apllications. unlike Windows you are not restricted to one type of file manager (explorer). there are multiple apps of almost everything to choose from. Its a tweakers/uber-geeks dream.
You can “build” any of the versions above from any of the versions above…If that makes any sense. The .iso file just gives you a headstart. If you want you can have it look like XP, Vista or even osX.
And you can do all this cool stuff with a low end PC.
I have barley scratched the surface of the good points about this free OS. Ubuntu alone comes with Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office right off the bat.
So here’s my challenge. Download one or all of these and give them a spin. Burn a few CDs, then pass them on.
If Linux makes a dent in the OS market, that will benefit all of us. Linux and the Linux community reminds me of the old PC days when stuff was free and information was exchanged to benefit everyone. You know…before Big Bill came along and ganked it for everyone.
Just download it
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This site is intended for users, looking for solutions, fixes, tweaks to get things working just they way they should. User experiences are all here along with other helpful information for the new and experienced Linux (Ubuntu) user. 
My first post on this site… Very interesting site you have. My apologies for the long, long post ^^
I think you should know that the shell on Windows can be changed. It’s not even that hard and there are actually several replacement shells available. (for anyone that doesn’t know what the shell is, it is the graphical interface that Windows uses)
There are indeed many desktop environments available for linux distributions but, maybe to your surprise, there might be even more available for Windows. I can list about 6 desktop environments for linux, a quick search will come up with many more (15+) but for Windows there are easily over 25 desktop environments available (see link to wikipedia below).
Have a look at these pages, it will immediately be clear that there are many alternatives for the default Windows graphical user interface:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_shell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_shell_replacement
The second page lists more then 15 open source and more then 10 proprietary shell replacements. One of the open source replacements is called GreenGnome and, yes, it looks just like a linux Gnome desktop.
Do I advise anyone to actually replace their Windows shell ? No, I do not. Microsoft does not support shell replacements and if you find yourself with problems after you replaced the shell you might also find that a complete Windows re-install is the best way to solve those problems.
I like Gnome, and have completely fallen in love with Ubuntu 10.10′s looks.
Anyone who liked what was written in the last paragraph: “when stuff was free and information was exchanged to benefit everyone.” should watch the documentary ‘Revolution OS’.
You will get informed about the history of GNU/Linux, what open source is and why we need it, how Micro-Soft started out and immediately started to poison the software world. They will even read a letter written by Bill Gates (trying to make a case for proprietary software). That man actually had the nerve to say that users deserve quality software and that they should expect to pay for that software. I still wonder why we have been paying Microsoft so much for so long while they never kept their promise and kept (or keep) delivering crappy software. All this will be explained by the guru’s of open source: Richard Stallman, Michael Tiemann and Linus Torvalds to name just a few. You can watch this documentary for free at:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/revolution-os/
Unrelated remark: I ended up here when I was searching for anti-virus software for linux. I have not yet decided that I need an anti-virus for my desktop machine but it’s very likely that I’ll install an anti-virus on my homeserver. Chances that I’ll get a virus on my linux machines are very slim but I am no fool and do not believe that any system is impervious to viruses or, worse, spyware.
Since I have been using AVG for years on my Windows machines and have always been very happy with the results I would also use AVG on linux.
Keep up the good work on this blog. Your articles are clear, interesting and will provide great information for users new to the linux world.