Non Windows worlds - Linux stories part 1

6 years ago, I was already tired of viruses, blank screens, blue screens, malware, spyware, the need to reinstall the operating system from time to time and all sorts of other Windows goodies which for a user born in the Microsoft era consume a lot of his daily time.

I decided to investigate if there are other options and after a while I simply replaced my operating system with Linux. What I tried at that moment was Red Hat Linux and the subsequent versions of Fedora Core. I liked it first because I got rid of all those problems I mentioned in the first sentence and second, because I was able to continue working as usual pretty soon.

I am an average computer user, most of the time browsing the Internet and needing to use an office suite, also doing a little of photo editing and enhancing, a little of HTML and some PHP programming in my spare time. Oh, I almost forgot: I also listen a lot of music and sometimes watch some movies.

My new desktop seemed like an adventure for me. It presented an uncharted land, full of places to discover, wonderful things to enjoy and also possible dangers and trouble to get into. But the beginnings were promising: I was presented with a familiar desktop layout with icons, a start button and a lot of other elements which made me feel like home.

At first I kept a dual boot installation of Windows and Linux as a backup solution in case I needed to quickly do something and didn’t know yet how to do it under Linux. Soon after that I gave up Windows completely for a few reasons: if you want to swim you have to be fully in the water and because I saw my Linux distribution improving with each new version.

I discovered that under Linux there are applications to do whatever you dreamed of, and more than that, they are all free of charge. No licensing cost to have a fully loaded computer, ready for fun at home or for business in your office. And believe me, it feels great if you add “freedom from viruses” and “a lot more secure environment” to that.

If I still needed a windows application, there is a windows emulator under Linux called Wine which allowed me to run some of the applications I was most used with from Windows. But for the rest of it, Linux offered very good alternatives and also programs which exist for both operating systems.

About the programs which exist under both operating systems:
I was already using Mozilla Firefox browser instead of Internet Explorer simply because it is more secure and new improved versions are released faster than from Microsoft, I was using Thunderbird as Outlook replacement from the same reasons, OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Office because it does everything you need and even more like saving documents in PDF format and is totally free, I was using Gaim for instant messenging because it is a lot less bloated than the original messengers and it allowed me to be logged on on Yahoo Messenger, Hotmail and others in the same time, from the same program. For movies: getting tired of running for new codecs all the time I was already using VLC which exist also under Linux. For photo enhancing and even more complex editing I was using TheGIMP, a graphical editor which becomes a serious competitor to Photoshop, only that it is also free of charge.

About the equivalent programs:
Linux offers a very good alternative to Nero Burning ROM named K3B, a player which resembles Winamp named XMMS, lots of notepads, calculators, PDF viewers, scanning programs, and even more small games to replace Minesweeper and Solitaire installed right from the beginning. If you do not like the programs I mentioned above, there are lots of others doing the same thing in different styles which you can install or which come pre-installed with the operating system.

The equivalent programs list is what most of the people wanting to convince you to switch to Linux will tell you about. I also did it to show you that I was able to continue my work as usual right from the beginning. I will get back to it when the time comes.

But, let’s talk about the things that are different in Linux. The things that are small but will most likely be annoying to you in the beginning simply because they come from a different philosophy and which, if not carefully explained, can make you give up trying, even if they are not a big deal at all.

Some of these things I identified are:

Directory structure;
Inserting and using new disks, CDs and USB media;
The user permissions and the multi-user environment
Installing new applications
Configuring a network
Sharing files in a network
Installing the Linux operating system

NOTE: this is an initial list. If you have suggestions on extending or shortening the list please add them in a comment and will adjust accordingly. Same if you have written a good tutorial on these topics.

You probably have already noticed that I placed the How to Install Linux at the end of the list. Many tutorials I’ve seen out there start with installing Linux, which is not that spectacular.

Well, the reason I placed it at the end is that for trying out Linux in the first stages you do not need to install it. Unlike Windows which has to be installed in order to work, various Linux distributions are made so that you can start them up from a CD and you don’t need to modify your current computer’s files and disks for that. You are able to try it in a safe and efficient way in order to get a feeling about Linux.

There are numerous tutorials out there to get you started on the listed topics. Wherever possible, in the next articles I will indicate the places where you can find them. My attempt is to point out places where, in my experience, a Windows user can get stuck while trying Linux because of misunderstandings and differences in concept. I will try to guide you through these topics so that you can be more confident when evaluating alternative solutions for your daily computing. Our aim here: the small but annoying things.

ENOUGH TALK. LET’S DO SOMETHING: The KNOPPIX Live Linux CD
“Knoppix, or KNOPPIX, is a Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux designed to be run directly from a CD.” [From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix].
To get your own copy on a CD you have to download the ISO CD image and burn it on a CD using Nero or your other favourite CD burning application. The author’s website is located here http://knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html and in these pages you can find more information on KNOPPIX and download it from one of the servers available as mirrors. At the time I am writing this article the latest version of KNOPPIX is 5.1.1 and one link to the ISO file you need to download is this: ftp://ftp.knoppix.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.

After downloading it to your computer, here is a link to a visual tutorial on how to burn an ISO image to a CD using NERO: http://www.wizardskeep.org/mainhall/tutor/neroiso.html and here is an alternative tutorial.

Once you have burned the CD, restart your computer with the CD inserted and see if KNOPPIX starts. If it doesn’t, most probably you will need to change the boot order in your computer’s BIOS so that when starting up it first checks if there is a bootable CD inserted to start from. Use this small tutorial [http://www.whitecanyon.com/how-to-change-boot-order.php] as a quick how to do it, and then try restarting the computer again with the CD inserted.

If it works, you should see a welcome to Knoppix screen and you need to press the ENTER key to start it, then wait for a while until the operating system starts and you are presented with the desktop in which you can try out the different programs. Please tell me if you got your KNOPPIX CD up and running by dropping in a comment. Same if it does not work for you.

In the next articles I will guide you through testing Linux and I will start explaining the differences from Windows so that you can further evaluate this great operating system.

Have fun!!

Written by cdriga on October 17th, 2007 with 1 comment.
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