As a programmer, I found that I needed to make myself familiar with Linux OS at some point. A year passed since I got exposed to Linux (mainly using it to publish web sites on Apache tomcat) and decided that the time has come to try it on my desktop.
Last time I encountered Linux was during my faculty days. Curiosity and general interest in something new, made me to install it as a second operating system besides Windows XP. However, intensive studies allowed very little to none time to experiment. Back in those days, Linux distributions were not very user friendly to the absolute beginner. Not to mention cruel and depressing...
Few months ago, serious 'infection' of bad sectors on my hard drive made me to replace it with newer, better and much much larger (talking in TBs :D). It was a perfect time to reserve some space for Linux.
Choosing right Linux distribution might be tricky for the new user. In fact: most people are confused with terms like Linux and Linux Distribution. When someone says Linux he/she usually mean Linux kernel. Kernel is the core component of every operating system and it contains basic tools for working with the hardware (reading filesystems, drivers, running programs, process/thread management etc...). Linux kernel was engineered by Linus Torvalds, the man who finally made idea of open source operating systems possible (I might write something about this in future posts). However, kernel itself is not enough. You need drivers, software applications and other stuff around kernel to make it practically work. Linux Distribution (called distro for short) is the set of applications that make use of kernel and, therefore, actually form the operating system. There are many distros around the world. Site distrowatch contains a pretty large list of Linux ditros, so you can check it out.
In my case, I decided to use ubuntu, version 10.10. It is the most popular Linux distro these days and I used it during my faculty days. At the time of writing this post, newer version 11.04 was available. However, it reception by the community was not very good due to radical changes in desktop management and some performance issues that accompany it.
Ubuntu 10.10 is quite intuitive and it is perfect for the people who are migrating from Windows systems. It is based on Debian distribution. Distro comes with tons of software applications and even installs some multimedia codecs to make your computer multimedia ready (installing codecs proved to be harder on older versions).
Ubuntu comes with Gnome desktop manager which is nice, smooth and contains variety of effects. If you prefer even more fancier effects, try Kubuntu that is essentially the same as Ubuntu but has KDE as its desktop manager. Believe me, both Gnome and KDE contains much better effects than Windows' 7 Aero. Wnat something even fancier? Try Apple's MacOS, but that is totally different OS, and it is not free... Not to mention that it is not meant for REAL programmers. :D
You probably wondered what Ubuntu word means. Quote from ubuntu's site says that
If you are interested in the etymology of Linux distros then try this site. Take good care of debian etymology :). What is the etymology of Linux menas? Well Linux is developed by Linus Torvalds and whole Linux idea is based on Unix systems. Hence the name: Linus + Unix = Linux.Choosing right Linux distribution might be tricky for the new user. In fact: most people are confused with terms like Linux and Linux Distribution. When someone says Linux he/she usually mean Linux kernel. Kernel is the core component of every operating system and it contains basic tools for working with the hardware (reading filesystems, drivers, running programs, process/thread management etc...). Linux kernel was engineered by Linus Torvalds, the man who finally made idea of open source operating systems possible (I might write something about this in future posts). However, kernel itself is not enough. You need drivers, software applications and other stuff around kernel to make it practically work. Linux Distribution (called distro for short) is the set of applications that make use of kernel and, therefore, actually form the operating system. There are many distros around the world. Site distrowatch contains a pretty large list of Linux ditros, so you can check it out.
In my case, I decided to use ubuntu, version 10.10. It is the most popular Linux distro these days and I used it during my faculty days. At the time of writing this post, newer version 11.04 was available. However, it reception by the community was not very good due to radical changes in desktop management and some performance issues that accompany it.
Ubuntu 10.10 is quite intuitive and it is perfect for the people who are migrating from Windows systems. It is based on Debian distribution. Distro comes with tons of software applications and even installs some multimedia codecs to make your computer multimedia ready (installing codecs proved to be harder on older versions).
Ubuntu comes with Gnome desktop manager which is nice, smooth and contains variety of effects. If you prefer even more fancier effects, try Kubuntu that is essentially the same as Ubuntu but has KDE as its desktop manager. Believe me, both Gnome and KDE contains much better effects than Windows' 7 Aero. Wnat something even fancier? Try Apple's MacOS, but that is totally different OS, and it is not free... Not to mention that it is not meant for REAL programmers. :D
You probably wondered what Ubuntu word means. Quote from ubuntu's site says that
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'.
In the posts that follows I will summarize the migration process...
Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity 2D is acceptable for performance ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Мирослав,
ReplyDeleteYes, Ubuntu 11.04 does have acceptable performances in 2D. However, my opinion is that Unity is not well suited for desktop computer in the terms of easier usage. Perhaps, some future version will make a difference.
Until then, I stick with 10.10 :)