Ubuntu 10.04 [A new beginning]

Here is my first approach at installing Ubuntu. Let me be frank, I have little or no experience with Linux. There are many Linux Distributions out there, but this one stand out due to its large community base support . After reading many reviews about the Lucid Lynx , I finally decided to retire XP from my old Laptop.

About Ubuntu:

Ubuntu is a Debian based community developed Free Open Source O.S. Canonical, is the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu. It is and always will be free of charge, free to use and free to distribute. Whats more It comes with bundled apps right out of the box ranging from Office tools to Video editor to social network clients etc etc etc.  Sure you will find many apps for Windows, Do you wish to know the cost. The kind of feature set and support you get in Ubuntu or any other Linux distro is incomparable with the paid products. Software can be easy to downloaded via torrent and installed usb cd/usb boot. Version 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) is based  on Linux kernel 2.6.32-21and uses Gnome desktop env version 2.30.0. This is an LTS (long term support release) which will be supported for 3 years.

Pre-install:

Before I could proceed any further I decided to run on virtual PC. Yes, I could have run the Live Cd version, but wouldn’t be able to utilize it complete feature sets. You can try it via WUBI installer  which will install Ubuntu inside Windows (can you imagine that), however I was little skeptical & didn’t want it to mess with my system, so I installed it on Virtual PC. The installation was a breeze, everything was working fine, and to my surprise very quick. I have tested Xp on Virtual PC and in comparison the speed was noticeable. After testing for a few days I decided to say farewell to XP.

Installing Ubuntu:

.My Old Laptop had two partitions in NTFS. There’s data in the second partition which I didn’t wish to format so I decided to keep it. With little trial and error I was able to partition properly. I deleted the primary partition and created / (primary) & SWAP (logical) partitions. Advanced users can create /home logical partition separately (/home is similar to users folder in vista or documents & settings in xp).  For the NTFS partition I selected the option to mount as /windows. Know more about Linux file system. After partitioning Ubuntu continues the installation, where is will downloads appearance, language packs.  You can skip them if you do not wish to install. They will be downloaded automatically if required.

After the Installation the system reboots and prompts me the user-name and password like a regular windows system. I was able to login and view gnome desktop. Windows users will be confused with the gnome desktop, starting with the  start button located at the bottom as opposed to Applications in gnome at the top. There are two panels by default. The top one is used for menus whereas the bottom one for the running applications. Also It has 4 desktops which can be seen by the 4 rectangles at  the bottom right corner so that you can switch between them and avoid the clutter, Nice.

Whats included in the Box?

You will be amazed by the driver support and  applications installed with the system. If you are a default windows user the first thing you will do after installing windows is install a good anti-virus software followed by drivers / office / multimedia / web-browser / and all kinds of weird stuff. But with Ubuntu Lucid it comes bundled with office, Internet, multimedia, graphics app making it usable right out of the box. I was able to open word excel power-point files in Open office instantly from first install.

Office Apps:

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Lucid comes bundled with Open Office, Evolution mail & Calender and Dictionary (online). Open Office is a Freeware office replacement from SUN Microsystems (creators  of Java) which will allow you to edit office documents, spreadsheets and Presentations, like Microsoft office but for free, what more can you ask. Also You can save them to other  File types. Evolutions mail is an Email client Just like Microsoft outlook which lets you configure mail accounts with IMAP, POP3/SMTP , Microsoft exchange for Free.

Internet, Social networking & File-sharing:

People who do Social Networking will like The Ubuntu 10.04 a lot. With Twitter, Facebook and the like being hugely successful at keeping friends and family in touch. Corporations and business use social networking to promote their products and services to users in a manner which is so relevant that they tend not to annoy as is generally the case with more corporate advertising. With the currently in development, Ubuntu 10.04, codenamed Lucid Lynx, the development road map is set to take huge advantage of the major social networks. Common social networking actions, such as updating your Facebook status, or sending a Tweet to your friends are set to be integrated directly into the operating system allowing users to keep their friends up-to-date and share information without the need to even open a web browser.

Ubuntu 10.04 uses two Softwares viz Empathy IM client and Gwibber micro blogger. Empathy is a Multi Instant Messaging client for GNOME. It lets you add yahoo, google, msn, Facebook chat, Irc, jabber, aim, irq, myspace, sip and many more IM’s, send status messages and chat with everyone at the same time, w00t. Gwibber on the other hand is a microblogging client for GNOME that supports Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook, Pownce, Identi.ca and other popular social web services. It lets you send status messages, twitter updates all at the same time. The best things about them is they can remember you password so you dont need to login every time.

Along with the social networking apps, Ubuntu comes bundled with Firefox web browser and Transmission bittorrent client. Compared to the Windows version, firefox on Linux is very fast. Transmission, an inbuilt bittorrent client allows you to download your linux ISO imagess without having to rely on third party software.

Ubuntu Software Center (best feature):

One of the best features which I have come across  which you wont find in any other operating system till now. Ubuntu Software Center is a utility for installing and removing software in Ubuntu. All you have to do is search for the app name or simply the function you want to perform. the software center searches its database for the match and displays the search result from its Repositories from which you can download and install the app directly. No need to use synaptic package manager  or terminal commands. It displays the type of app based on its catagory, and also which apps are currently installed on your system. Installing new softwares with software center is a breeze.

Multimedia:

Lucid Lynx comes bundled with Brasero Burner, Totem Media player, Rythmbox music player, Pitivi video editor and Sound recorder. Brasero Burner is a Replacement for Nero Burn Rom software, it supports more formats and is easy on the system. Totem Media player Lets you play all kinds of video files. If a codec is not available it will simply search its Repository and download the respective code without any issues. It was able to play all kinds of file types put at it.Rythmbox is an integrated music management application, originally inspired by Apple’s iTunes. It is free software, designed to work well under the GNOME Desktop, and based on the powerful GStreamer media framework. It integrates Ubuntu One (freeware alternative to Itunes Store) to buy music from latest artists. Pitivi Video is a replacement for Windows movie maker and supports variety of codec formats.

Other Apps:

The remaining apps include calculator, games, Photo editor, notes, etc which you will find similar to windows. When using Ubuntu although being new I have noticed much more freedom and usability right out of the box than using windows, A windows system is bloated, virus prone and less secure. Linux features a different outlook and is more secure and reliable, there are more linux servers than windows. All this for free and is supported by Open source community from around the world.

Short comings.. few to count:

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Power Management:

Compared to Windows 7 Ubuntu consumes more power (Source). Also the drivers are not much optimized. Although this is true, you can reduce the power consumption bu changing the default power management settings. Reduce the standby/hibernate time, dim system when not in use. Download Ubuntu tweak with Software Center  and tweak brightness when on battery. When compared with XP the power management is same, even better. There is no reason to freak-out.

Windows menu buttons:

For some reason the menu buttons are on the top left corner instead of the top right (just like Mac OS). Windows users will find it confusing at first. However if it is annoying simply change the theme or download Ubuntu tweak and change to Right hand Menu, simple as that. I have been using the Left side of menu and after getting used to it I find it much effective on the Laptop rather than scroll all the way to the right of the track-pad to minimize/close.

Games:

Games are mostly developed for windows. If games are your primary source, best bet is to stick with Windows or dual install. However there are applications like WINE which let you play around with windows apps including games with directX9. Search for forums related to WINE. There  are a few Manufactures (Nvidia) who actually develop good drivers for Linux. Some games report good performance (even better than windows) than others.

I have been using Ubuntu for a while and I find it much more productive  and compared to windows, I have written this entire post on Ubuntu Using only the default applications. Where as if it was Windows I had to Download and install lot of third party apps leading to bloating of the system. I would recommend it to any one who wishes to run a free desktop without having to worry.

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