Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

Tonight I installed Ubuntu 9.10. The process was wicked simple. I burned the image to a disk and rebooted my machine. I verified the language and location and told it to use the entire hard disk and in a few minutes it was installed.

Configuring the wireless card was a breeze. It automatically recognized Kirsten’s Windows XP box so I could access her files. I got all the updates downloaded and installed. I’m currently listening to mp3s in Rythmbox and editing a screenshot in GIMP. Bliss.

Tomorrow I’ll set up the LAMP web server stack and configure dual-monitor support.

My new Ubuntu 9.10 computer

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adobe air · lamp · linux · tweetdeck · twitter · ubuntu · windows

Everybody knows what a lamp is, but how many have ever heard of a wamp?

For years I used one distribution of Linux or another as my primary operating system and mostly loved it. But Gimp isn’t Photoshop and I was tired of using my laptop to manage and edit my photo library. Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom are the programs I use most after Firefox. So I’m back to Windows XP on the desktop. *sigh*

I’ve been developing in Notepad++ lately and love it! The syntax highlighting and FTP functionality make it a wonderful environment. All I have to do is connect to the server, double-click the file to edit, make the modifications and save. The file is automatically uploaded back to the server and immediately available. It is wonderful.

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apache · development · environment · linux · mysql · php · programming · web · webdev · windows

When we first got high-speed internet we connected Kirsten’s computer to the Linksys router under her desk. Mine and the girls’ computers connected wirelessly, which was fine for the girls but my reception stunk! The wireless connection to my computer was slow and would intermittently drop off-line. That was not an acceptable situation. After much research I decided to switch to Buffalo routers, install DD-WRT firmware in each, and establish a commander/repeater configuration. The new setup works brilliantly!

The Linksys router we had was a WRT54G V8. This device has a Broadcom chip and runs the Linux operating system. The firmware did not allow the device to be configured as a repeater and third-party firmware was not yet available. I removed the Linksys router and replaced it with two Buffalo Technologies’ WHR-G125 high speed routers. These routers are cheaper than the Linksys, have better range, and are supported by the DD-WRT firmware.

Installing the firmware was a breeze. It was as simple as downloading a file from the website onto my laptop, plugging in the router, and running a batch file in the terminal. After about a dozen timeouts the firmware was flashed to the router and voila! The new firmware allows much greater flexibility and configuration options. The best part–and reason for the entire project–was the ability this firmware allowed me to use one router as a repeater.

Kirsten now has one of the routers under her desk transceiving in commander mode connected to the modem and to her computer. I have the other router under my desk operating in repeater mode. It has a wired connection to my desktop computer and two 500 gigabyte Western Digital hard disk drives. It also connects wirelessly to my laptop.

Older Linksys WRT54G routers are supported by the DD-WRT firmware. Check the list of compatible devices on the website before you go shopping. I strongly recommend this open source firmware and the Buffalo products. I have no more dropped signals, no cords running down the hallway, and a super fast reliable connection. And all for less than $100.

buffalo · dd-wrt · ip · linux · mybookworld · networking · open source · repeater · router · western digital

Lately my Windows XP SP2 machine has been having hiccups. In fact, I think it’s developed a degenerative form of cancer. Now, I’m not one of the hardcore open source guys who despises Bill and hates winblow$. Windows has it’s good points; it’s fairly simple to use, has great hardware support, and it’s ubiquitous so there are few compatibility issues when sharing files between friends and coworkers. But it has it’s downsides too. Windows is loathed by the hacker community and is therefore a target for malicious software, customization is extremely limited since Microsoft won’t make the source available to developers who could make it better, and it’s expensive.

I read a lot of technical publications and have lately been seeing more articles praising the Linux distrubution Ubuntu. I’ve had Linux installed on at least one computer of mine for the past five years or so. I’ve never switched to Linux full-time because, well, I haven’t needed to. With the problems I’ve been having with Windows recently I thought it was probably time to jump into the deep end and give Linux a go full-time. I’m glad I did!

brentdanley

I chose Ubuntu because it seems to be the one most people are excited about and because I haven’t been wowed with previous versions of Red Hat’s Fedora. The installation .iso ran from the CD in a trial mode. How cool is that?! I clicked the “install” icon in the browser, answered about four questions about time zone and language, then was on my way. The install took about ten minutes (I didn’t time it; that’s just how long it seemed) and was ready to go. I connected to an ethernet cable to get the updates which took only a few minutes and was TOTALLY automatic. I didn’t have to install any malicious software detection tools, security updates, or geniune software advantage programs. It was a dream.

So now I had a computer I could use. No problems. Seriously, a caveman really could have done it and would have had a tremendous sense of satisfaction. Sound, wireless internet, and video all worked…kind of. But then the dream was over and I suddenly woke up! I had to enter the terminal and type on the command line to download and configure the video driver to expand the desktop across both 19″ monitors. Then I had to configure Bluetooth to recognize my keyboard and mouse from the terminal. It took a LONG time trying to figure out how to configure my two Linux network file servers.

There are still minor things I have to fix when I get time, like configuring the mouse so I can use more than two buttons and getting DVD codecs working. But my system works and I haven’t used Windows since. It feels good. The more I struggle the more I learn. The learning curve is sharp but the ascents to small summits are rewarding.

Linux is definitely ready for the desktop, sort of. I love it and am certainly a fan. It’s powerful, customizable, and totally free. I have games, educational tools for the girls, graphics programs, web development programs, office programs, and I can SSH to my 100 gigabyte web server in the UK from the local terminal! But it’s not ready for the novice user who has a complicated plethora of unsupported hardware. The average user who doesn’t care what operating system is on their machine and who doesn’t think they have a choice isn’t going to be able to configure their own system. Linux has come a long way toward this goal and with every new distribution I install it comes a whole lot closer. The average user, however, only needs a web browser, email client, and text editor. For these people Linux is perfect!

One criticism of Linux that needs to be put to bed is that of support. Because Linux is developed by a group of disparate developers people claim that support isn’t available for when things go wrong. This couldn’t be more untrue. Ubuntu Forums has well-written solutions for just about every problem anyone has ever had. When I needed help I turned to the forum and was provided the solution complete with the exact commands I needed to enter to get my system up and running. My experience with the forum has been better than any of the times I’ve used the Microsoft Knowledgebase.

So, if you’re more than a casual user and you’re up for a tiny challenge I’d absolutly recommend at least creating a dual-boot system. That way, when you boot up you can choose Windows or Linux. What’s better than that (I know what you’re thinking: Windows, Linux, and OS X)?

installation · linux · open source · operating system · ubuntu · windows