I recently watched a news clip about a college student who purchases a Dell laptop so that she can register for her next semester’s classes.  When she got the laptop, she was surprised to find out that it didn’t have Windows.  Nope nope nope, it had Ubuntu.

What? Ubuntu? What the heck is that?

Ubuntu is a free, open-source Linux distributed operating system derived from Debian Linux.

Now you lost me…

Ubuntu is another operating system like Windows XP/Vista.

Anyway, after she got Ubuntu, everything went downhill:  She couldn’t access the internet, install .exe programs, get Microsoft Office on it, etc.  Hey don’t take my word for it, watch the news clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI

That sucks for the lady and all, but who cares?

Well anyone, that uses a computer, should care a little bit.  You may not be aware of this but Linux is slowly taking over the operating system throne by storm and already competing against Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS. However, in order for this revolution to grow, people need to be aware of it’s existence and to understand the basics to avoid the same scenario with the college student.  Trust me, you don’t want thousands of hard-core Linux geeks harassing you on FaceBook for not knowing how to use Linux…

See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQekFkgpFJs

So are you one of those psycho Linux evangelist trying to convert me?

No no no, hear me out:  While others are trying to convert Windows and Mac users to Linux, I’m saying stick with whatever operating system (a.k.a OS) you have.  If you’re comfortable using Windows, then continue to use Windows.  I’m not going threaten you or harass you if you don’t want to convert.  I’ll let the other Linux evangelists do that for me…haha I’m kidding.  What I’m trying to say is give Linux a try and play around with it without changing your OS.  It’ll give you a neat experience plus gives you the advantage in the future where you might need to use Linux in your career (you’ll never know).

Isn’t linux this black screen that only hard core geeks can understand?

Yes and no.  That black screen is Linux’s terminal or command box, what some people call it, that you use to input certain commands.  But Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora have a Graphical User Interface (as you’ve seen in the news clip) that makes it easier, for those who’ve been using Windows or Macs for a long time, to understand.  Linux is no longer something that geeks use.  Anyone who knows how to use the mouse, type, and surf web can use it with ease.

So assume that you convinced me. How the heck do I get it?

Well linux comes in a variety of distribution and since there’s sooo flavors of linux, it’s difficult to name them all here in this article.  However I can give you a link that can give you the info you need:

http://www.linux.org/dist/download_info.html

From my experience and observation.  Ubuntu is considered the easiest Linux distro that you can use.  So if you’re new to linux, I strongly recommend Ubuntu:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Dude…that college woman from the news had Ubuntu and she was struggling with it like there’s no tomorrow.  How is it easy?!

Ubuntu is easy but one needs to understand some important key info:

1) Ubuntu is not Windows:  It will not run Windows programs (.exe, etc).  Ubuntu has a powerful lists of software that you need or want so that you don’t need to download software from other websites.  To find and download software from the list.  Click Applications->Add/Remove type whatever you’re looking for in the search box and hit Enter.  If you can’t find whatever you’re looking for.  You may visit the website to see if you can download and install it from there.  Please note that the program that you want to download is the one with the .DEB extension (not .exe).  .DEB works for any Debian based linux distros (Ubuntu).  .RPM  extension is for RPM based linux (Fedora, OpenSUSE, etc).  There is a neat program that allows you to run Windows software on Linux called WINE, which you can read here:

http://www.winehq.org/

2)You can connect to the internet with ease:  I use Verizon and Ubuntu and I can connect to the internet with no problems as well as several other thousand users.  I didn’t install any software to use the internet.  I just plug in the Ethernet cord and go.

3)Microsoft Office will never work with Linux.  Ubuntu has a free alternative to Microsoft Office called Open Office.  Just click Applications->Office and you’ll see several office programs.

Open Office Writer is same as Microsoft Word

Open Office Impress is same as Microsoft Power Point

Open Offie calc is same as Microsoft Excel

You can also get Open Office for WIndows and Mac for free here:

http://www.openoffice.org/

Note:  By default, Open Office saves every document as an .odt file.  That means Microsoft Office stuff will not be able to read it (and it’ll explain why your teacher didn’t give you a grade on your last essay).  Don’t worry, to save a file so that microsoft can read it: (In Open Office), click File->Save As->In “File Type” just click on Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP and hit save.

Hey it says that to get Ubuntu (or any other Linux distro) I need to burn this file onto a CD?  What gives? I thought you said this was easy?!

To get Linux, you’ll need to burn an iso image onto a CD or DVD (not drag and drop the iso onto the CD, I really mean burn the image onto it with a cd burning software).  There’s a lot of tutorial on google that can help you on that.  However if you don’t feel comfortable burning an iso image.  You can request a free CD.

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

Note:  You’ll need to register an account but everything is free (heck even shipping is free).  But it’ll take at least a month or so for the CD to arrive depending on where you live. Also you want to request the Desktop Edition not the Server Edition.

Once you got the CD, please refer to this page to learn how to use it without deleting your Windows or Mac OS :

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GraphicalInstall

Dude this article is getting too long and boring.  The set up is too difficult to do. Why are you wasting your energy on this article?  Why am I wasting my time reading this garbage?

The article is getting a bit lengthy, no argument there and I’m not expecting each and everyone of you to do this right away.  But all I’m asking is that you take a look at Linux and see for yourself the other side of the computing world.  Don’t just depend only on one operating system.. Try using more and I recommend Linux becauseit gives you the freedom to do whatever you want (legally).

The set up and installation is not difficult, but it is time taking.  I’ll understand if you have other things to do.  But when you have free time.  Try looking at the tutorials and start test driving it.  Remember to Boot from CD.  Don’t install it if you don’t want to lose Windows and all your other stuff in the process. Booting from CD lets you use Linux without touching your Windows files and such but it’ll be a lot slower (it’s not your computer’s fault, it’s normal).

Again, I’m not trying to convert you.  I just want you to start using Linux and get a feel for it. 

So are you done?

Almost, I want to leave you all with this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

Enjoy!

If you need any help with Ubuntu or Linux in general, I recommend visiting the Ubuntu forum for excellent support or you can send me a message:

http://ubuntuforums.org/

UPDATED: Wow this is probably my most viewed blog so far and I really appreciate all the comments that you’ve inputted:

Hi David,

I tried to send a comment reply to you twice but they never showed up so I apologise in advance for the duplicate responses:

I’ve mentioned a linux application called WINE that allows you to run Window software on Linux.  However not all Window softwares will be compatible with WINE so you’ll need to do a little research on which programs that you want to run on Linux to avoid any conflicts.  You can research them here:

http://appdb.winehq.org/index.php

Platinum rated software are good to go on WINE while gold, silver and bronze rated software have a few bugs that need to be ironed out or you’ll have to tweak WINE a bit to use them.

Here’s a page for Adobe Photoshop:
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=2631

To learn how to install or use WINE go here:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/wine