I switched to Linux! I didn't die!

Nov 10, 2009 23:05

So. On account of being bored, avoidant of real world things I needed to deal with, and currently without a vidding project, I randomly decided to switch operating systems on account of how the latest Ubuntu system got released and, hell, it was free.

So that's the first thing that's cool about Linux; open source. The operating system and all the programs. FREE AND LEGAL, which is pretty awesome, especially since, so far, these programs are totally comparable to unfree Windows stuff (can't comment on Macland).

There are a number of Linux-based open source Operating Systems out there. I've opted for Ubuntu. It's the biggest one and also has the nicely reassuring slogan, "Linux for human beings" which I think is apt. Linux has this reputation for being horrifyingly techie and...honestly it is techier than Windows but nowhere near as weirdly scary as I was afraid of.

Also, it's nice for me as a Windows user because the default shortcut keys are the same as Windows shortcut keys, and since it's installed on my PC, a lot of it's still essentially instinctively similar to that OS - right-clicking, etc. (Though a) you can easily change the shortcut keys and b) I'm pretty sure you can install it on a Mac too).

It's supereasy to install if you have Windows because you can use the Windows installer from the official site which is 1.5megs in size, and then you run it, and it downloads and installs all the files for you to give you a dual-boot system (meaning that when you start up your computer, you get a choice of starting Windows or Ubuntu). So you don't lose any of your Windows set up or anything. There are two things to be aware of when choosing this option -

1) when it asks you how much space you want to set aside for the installation, it's actually asking how much space you want on the fake-partition it's going to set up for Ubuntu, so bigger is better. Although for some reason there's a maximum space of 30gb. (The actual installation is about 4gb, though, so you can make a much smaller partition if you just want and don't plan on keeping ginormous files in that part of your HD. It's also worth noting at this point that Ubuntu can read NTFS or FAT32 formatted drives so you can still access all your Windows files from Ubuntu - I mean, not the programs, obvs, but video files or text files, or what have you - but the reverse is not true. Ubuntu uses ext4 as its formatting thingy and Windows can't read that at all.)

2) If you install it this way it'll be ever so slightly slower as it's not really running on its own partition, it's like, running inside of Windows. Or something. I barely speak tech. ;) But anyways, you really probably won't ever notice is the point. I ended up downloading and burning myself an installation disc and installing it that way (it comes with a very easy partition-maker during the install process - I managed to use it and I've never used on before). But mostly I did that because I wanted to devote more than 30GB to my installation.

So, yeah. Installing is easy. And when I did, my external DVD burner, my external harddrive, everything still worked without having to download drivers or anything. In addition a lot of the basic pre-installed software is more versatile than windows counterparts. For example its native archive manager will handle .rar files whilst WinZip will have a cow at the very thought. Similarly, I think that you can mount .iso files in virtual drives without having to download any new software - though I did get a prettier program to do this.

When you install the desktop is pretty simple and I had no trouble finding my way around. The niftiest bit is that under Applications there's you can open the "Software Library". This will bring up a list of all the installed programs you have (if you wanted to uninstall them) and more importantly, it's like this insanely huge repository of FREE SOFTWARE. It's not installed already, it's just...there to be searched and then you press a button and the computer magically downloads all the files and installs them for you.

Also, I found really easy instructions to turn on crazy desktop effects, so you know that crazy desktop cube effect? Where you have multiple desktops and then you spin a cube around with one on each side? And it looks all pointlessly flashy because really, who needs FOUR desktops? Yeah, I have that now. :D Also weird wobbly windows. It's hard to explain but kind of fun.

Plus I also set up a dock like on a Mac, and I think you can add widgets too, but I haven't really experimented with that yet, but a google search yields a bajillion how-tos and hits.

So, that's the fun awesome, but it's LINUX, right? It's gotta be horrifyingly techy?

Well...yeah, okay, it sort of is. Not mostly, as I said, Ubuntu really does have a very high degree of "human beings can use this". But if you do want to do anything outside the beaten track, then yeah, it's harder than Windows.

Honestly, all the programs I wanted except VLC and Cinelerra (a video editing program) were in the free repositories in the software library. Those two weren't and I had to manually add them by going into System-->Administration-->Synaptic Package Manager and then going to Settings-->Repositories and adding one. I had to add a line of code (easily found on the websites of the programs in question), then hit refresh (actually for Cinelerra I had to do that twice, idk, it showed up eventually), then search for cinelerra/vlc in the Synaptic Package Manager and install from there. (Which was again as simple as clicking and choosing "Mark for installation" and then hitting "Apply").

So it's not like it's uberhard, but it's also less easy than just double-clicking and .exe file.

(I should also note that some programs which aren't specifically geared at Ubuntu, you have to download actual files and then type in actual code into actual command lines to do things like "compile" the software before installing it and all kinds of arcane programmer shit. I would also note that Ubuntu is ubiquitous among Linux-compatible programs and while there are a few nifty programs not in the Easy-As-Piss Software Library, I haven't found any yet that I've had to do this to instead of just install via the still-pretty-easy backdoor route described above. But just...in case you see people talking about this, that's what it is. And if I did ever have to compile a program, I bet I'd find some reasonably follow-able instructions to help me do it.)

Sometimes you will actually have to enter commands in the Terminal - like actual code to tell it to do stuff. And yes, I've had a few hiccups (as you do with any new operating system when trying to do anything that isn't supereasy), and yeah, they were a bit tricky. But honestly, it was mostly just because I'm not familiar with Ubuntu while I am familiar with Windows.

And in each instance, if I had to enter code into the Terminal, I found the code handily pasted on one of the many Ubuntu help forums, so it wasn't like I had to learn anything about programming. And I think I resolved all my issues with like...twenty minutes of googling, so it's not like it's terrifying.

Honestly the three things I did find out that it would have been helpful to be told straightoff is one embarrassingly simple thing: the Terminal (the place where you put the codeses) is under Applications-->Accessories. (I was totally looking under the system menu!)

The second, less obvious thing is that when you're in Ubuntu as your "username", unlike in Windows, "username" doesn't actually have all the administrative privileges, so there are files you can't delete, for instance. This is actually helpful in some ways cus it means I'm not gonna accidentally delete really important shit. But also frustrating when, for instance, one of the difficult fixes referenced above meant I had to manually install the adobe flash plugin for Firefox, which required dropping a file into the Mozilla Plugins folder and deleting the existing one. Simple, except when "Becka" doesn't have privileges to do so.

The user that does have these privileged is "root". The way you make sure you do something as "root" is to use either the "sudo" or "gksudo" or...something else-sudo commands in the Terminal (you know, in the unusual circumstances when you have to do things that aren't catered for with the fairly user-friendly interface).

Also the Ubuntu equivalent of "Windows Explorer" is "Nautilus". So if I open a Terminal and type in "gksudo nautilus" it will prompt me to give my password and then it will open up a file browser with me logged in as "root" and able to delete ALL the important irreplaceable files I choose! :D

FINALLY, when the Terminal prompts for a password, do not be like me and spent 10 minutes freaking out because OMG IT'S NOT WORKING!! It is working, it's just when you're typing, the cursor doesn't move or make any other sign that you're typing. Do not panic, just type in your password and hit enter. It'll do fine.

So...that's that.

Ultimately I've found it really quite easy. Yeah, sometimes stuff gets a bit more complicated than Windows due to a combination of lack of familiarity and Ubuntu being an open-source slightly less user-friendly (on occasions) interface, but I very quickly got used to the idea that if I had a problem, instead of following instructions about what windows to open and what tabs to go through, I'd have to follow instructions about what lines of code to paste into the Terminal, and...me and Ubuntu have been getting on quite well.

I mean, there's no real need to change if your OS is working fine for you, but Ubuntu is so much more secure against viruses and spyware and needing the registry cleaned and defragging, etc., just because it's set up differently and is more secure and no one is writing viruses to target an OS which as like...less than 1% market share or something.

Plus, dudes, COMPLETELY FREE AND LEGAL. That's pretty nifty, no?

So the only potential stumbling block for me is going to be how well I get on with Cinelerra, the video editing program I have. Initial signs point to me liking it, actually. But until I start properly editing a vid I'm not going to know how often it'll crash horribly on me, what playback and rendering'll be like, etc. Which could end up being a dealbreaker. There are a fair number of other video editing suites for Linux, but most are pretty simple; better than WMM, but...not by much. Cinelerra, on the other hand, apparently rivals pretty much most other high end editing suites, though it's ugly as hell. So I may still have to go running back to Windows for vidding. But I hope not.

I MAY YET BECOME A LINUX SNOB! NOES!

root trumps you, ubuntu, linux, not as techy as you'd think!, becoming a linux snob

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