Linux? Isn’t that for programmers and computer geeks?

Well, sure it is.  But so is Pepsi, Television, and water-balloon fights.

Simple fact of the matter is that everyone has a computer now-a-days.  We all use our computers for different things.  And we all want our computer to WORK!  Specifically, we all want our computers to be FAST!  It amazes me to this day the amount of frustration that people are willing to put up with in a computer.  Slow boots, lag, viruses, crashes, the infamous “blue-screen-of-death”, etc.  Think about it.  How many times have you heard something to the effect of…  “I just bought this $1500.00 laptop, and it takes over 5 minutes to boot up and allow me to use it!”

If your car functioned this way, you’d drive it off a cliff.  Fortunately there is a solution for “Average Joe Computer User”.

I’m not as “techno-savvy” as some, and not as “computer-illiterate” (to coin a phrase) as others.  But I do know when something isn’t working right.  Windows XP, or Vista always seem to just run …slow…  So I started complaining about it, one night, to my friend Tyler.  Well, Tyler is something of a Techno-Buff, and he told me to try Linux.  And to be perfectly honest, it took about three months to muster up the courage to try it.

After I bought that MSI-Wind (Netbook), and it came with a copy of XP on it, this itching feeling in the back of my head (It’s a different itch… I’ll explain that itch to my doctor thank you very much.) just kept saying that this computer “SHOULD” be able to run faster.

Enter Linux…  There are many different “flavors” or “Distributions” of Linux.  So, my friend Tyler told me to try “Saybayon” Linux (the one that comes with its very own rubber mallet shaped just like the dent in my skull) “It’s the best distribution for performance!” …he says.  Well, he may be right, but it’s about as easy to get running as your bowels after a pizza party.  Then I enter the arena of openSuSE.  It works… but it takes up about 25GB of my 80GB HD.

Finally I was looking into distributions and I found Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.  Ubuntu advertises itself as “Linux for Humans”  After a lot of deliberation, I came to the conclusion that I was, in fact, human.  So, I fired it up, had it installed in about 40 minutes, I had some Wi-Fi driver problems, but got those worked out fairly quick with the help of the incredibly friendly people at ubuntuforms.org.

Then… About a two weeks ago, I downloaded the latest distro of Ubuntu.  9.04 Jaunty Jackalope (Net-Book Remix).  Loaded it onto my MSI-Wind in about 20 minutes, and EVERYTHING worked perfectly on first boot.  The Net-Book Remix of 9.04 has a kernel made for the Intel Atom Processor that is in my MSI-Wind.  Now, this computer not only functions, but like driving a Ferrari, you can FEEL the performance.

Now… here’s the best part.  When I first used Linux in college, it looked like this:

$

And that was confusing to me, and the other 99% of the world.  Now, it looks like this…

Graphical user interface, file browser, web-browser, backgrounds, etc.  Everything you want from an operating system.  Along with functionality.

Besides performance, what else would you want to run Ubuntu for?  Well, Ubuntu has a constantly updated repository of maintained applications from Canonical (people who maintain and update Ubuntu), and third party or open source (community) based applications.  All available right in Ubuntu.

Well, doesn’t Windows have all of this?  Certainly.  And Viruses.  Did I mention that Ubuntu doesn’t have viruses?  Don’t believe me?  Google it yourself, or check out this link…

http://lovehateubuntu.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-windows-has-viruses-and-ubuntu-or.html

One thing that Windows can do, that Ubuntu doesn’t, is charge…

Windows XP – $99.95
Windows Vista – $249.95
Microsoft Office Home and Student – $149.95
Adobe Photoshop – $599.95 (No wonder only professionals buy it.)
For a grand total of… $849.85 XP, $999.85 Vista.

Ubuntu 9.04 – Free
Open Office 3.0 (100% MS Office compatible) – Free, Included in Ubuntu
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) – Free, Included in Ubuntu
For a grand total of – Jack Jiminy Squat! Without being a software pirate!

Yes, the prices on the Windows software is full retail, and you can probably get a better price than that, but still, if you have to pay $5.00 for any of it, you’re still not getting it for free.

So I shall summarize…

Windows XP or Vista comes with a web browser, media player, notepad, and solitaire.

Ubuntu comes with a full set of productivity software (Open Office 3.0), Graphic Editing (GIMP), Internet Software (Mozilla Firefox, Evolution Mail, Pidgin Instant Messenger), and Games.

So… Isn’t that for programmers and computer geeks?
The answer is a resounding No.

Ubuntu 9.04 is made for the average computer user.  You and me.  Linux for Humans.   It makes your computer run faster, be virus free, added functionality, and has access to FREE software to download at any time.

Why am I so “Pro-Ubuntu” ?
I don’t work for Canonical, or even write code for Linux.  I’m just your average white suburbanite-slob. (Thanks Dennis Leary) I think people  just like to get what they paid for.  Think about it…  We all have HDTV’s, but no HD content.  We all have nice cars, and have to drive 55mph.  We all listen to music, but can’t crank it up because we’ll wake up Mrs. Nesbitt.  We all have computers, and have to suffer with Windows…  Not anymore.

Give it a whirl…  Go to www.ubuntu.com, and dowload Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope LiveCD.  It even allows you to try it without any change to your windows system.

Debian installation

Cheap Computer

One of the nice things about LINUX (whatever flavor you desire) is that it does not need the latest and greatest top of the line overclocked hardware to operate.   In fact, for my next project, the server I plan on setting up in VLAN 2 will not have a GUI installed, since it will not have a monitor (nor a need for one, as I will do everything I need to it by logging in via another computer on my network or from the internet).  Without having to display graphics and such, this is alot of overhead the Operating System does not have to deal with, leaving it’s processing power to what it needs to do, in this case, pretty much serve up web pages, and monkey with a database perhaps.

Craigslist

Ahhhhh, Craigslist.  The thing I like about Craigslist is that if what I see is not quite adequate, I can look again a few hours later and possibly find what I need.  I found something nice and simple for my needs.   It’s a 100Mhz P3 processor with 512MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive and a CD-ROM reader.  It has USB ports and a working ethernet port.  Perfect!

To install Debian, the minimum requirements are

Now these are the minimums to run Debian without the GUI.  If I wanted to install the GUI and use it as a server, this still surpasses the minimum requirements.  So we’ll be just fine.

Of course to do the install, we do need a monitor, so I  will use what I have.  After the install, the monitor will be removed and re-connected to its original PC.

Debian

Now of ALL the different distros of Linux out there, why did I chose Debian?  First, it came highly recommended by someone who is quite knowledgeable in the area of Linux and is one of my greatest sources of all Linux knowledge these days.  But also because of it’s ease of use.

The more popular Ubuntu is based on Debian.  One of its great features is its ease of installation of programs.  We’ll get into that later.

The most recent release of Debian is 5.0.1, codename Lenny.  Lenny is named after “Lenny the binoculars” from Toy Story.  In fact all of Debians releases are named after Toy Story characters.  Being a fan of Pixar, I can only say they chose a good theme.

Installation

Now for the installation.  It went very well.  A nice guide with some screen shots of what to expect can be found here.  Keep in mind, that’s just a guide.  For the full manual, you might want to consult this page.

During installation, you are asked a slew of questions, don’t get intimidated, just plod along.  Probably the biggest hurdle is partitioning the hard drive.  Debian has recommended partition sizes, but this is for the Potato release which is quite a few releases back.  The average memory is larger in todays PCs and larger hard drives.   Everyone has  different suggestions, some of which are due to differing systems, but following the guideline at debian.com can help guide you.

It took me about 4 tries before I had all my partitions setup the way I wanted.  The nice thing is that the installer gives you a chance to review your partition setup before proceeding.

An important thing to consider is from where you want to get your updates and other apps you intend to install.  If you don’t plan on connecting your PC to the internet, CD-ROM is fine, but you will be limited.  Otherwise make sure you chose HTTP.

Tweaking

In order to make changes and tweaks, you’ll need to make sure you can edit/copy/move/delete files as superuser.  Hopefully you remember your ROOT password, you’ll need it.  Log in as root and edit /etc/sudoers with the visudo command (very important) .    Look for this section:

# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL) ALL

Underneath the root user, add your username and copy the line above above it.   Now when you are logged in, you’ll have superuser privileges when you preface each command with SUDO.  You’ll need to enter your password alot.  That’s okay, it’s worth the security.

Make sure you get an update as well.  The copy you have, may be a tad bit old and newer updates are likely available.  So issue the command sudo aptitude update.  Of course, make sure you’ve got a good connection to the internet.

If you’re having trouble getting your updates, or if you’re trying to install an app that you know should exist, you may need to edit your /etc/apt/sources.list to the following.

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian lenny main
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian lenny main

deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib

deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main
deb-src http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main

Now if you have a different release other than lenny, make sure you replace lenny in the file with your particular release name.

Networking

During installation, I opted out of the DHCP setup for my network interface and setup static IP address because I plan on using static IP addresses for my whole network.  If after installation, you find that your network interface is misconfigured edit it with:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

If all goes well, your Linux Box should be up and running.  If you can’t connect to your box remotely, using SSH (I recommend Putty if you’re using a windows machine) to log in, make sure you install OpenSSH server.  You can sudo aptitude install ssh to get both the server and client installed.

Prior to doing any installation, I recommend reading up on the software as much as you can.  You will definitely have some foreknowledge of what to expect and what information you may need to provide.  Be sure to read the installation guide before installing Debian.

Extras

During installation, you will also be asked what packages you want.  I opted out of the GNOME ones since they are for installing the GUI that I did not want.   I did however choose the Web Server.  I can’t remember if it was listed as HTTP, Apache or Web Server.  Nevertheless, that was included and works just fine.  I’ll make another post some day on installing Apache.  Fun.  I might have to uninstall what I’ve got first.  Not fun.