Posts tagged linux

Linux

By on June 22, 2009

Here’s how you can try all of the desktop environments on Linux without reinstalling versions. First, you open terminal.

(You follow these commands to install the ones you want–if you already have one there is no ned to reinstall it under normal circumstances)

Type: sudo su and give your admin password.
To get:

  • GNOME: apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
  • KDE: apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
  • xfce: apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Type: exit to get out of superuser mode.

Now when you get to hte login screen you have the option to pick an environment and can chose a default. (That is found under the ‘Session’ menu).

Linux is just a kernel, the underpinnings of the operating system and doesn’t specify the desktop environment. When it comes to desktop environments you have a few conventional choices: KDE, and GNOME, xfce.

These all have grown alike in that they have the conventions of a “desktop” with folders and icons, an area that minimized windows go to, and a “tray” of service-type application status icons. However they also have vast differences; take how GNOME has a Mac-like menu bar at the top of the screen and KDE has a more Windows-like metaphor with a panel resembling the Start Menu, which is triggered to appear when a Start Button-type button is pressed.

Ubuntu is a very common and in most cases the recommended distro of Linux recommended, especially to beginners (to Linux). Ubuntu in it’s default package comes with the GNOME desktop environment, however from the same project you can also chose from: Kubuntu (as I did) or Xubuntu. (The former being packaged with KDE and the latter being packaged with xfce.) However, just because your copy of Linux ships with one desktop environment doesn’t mean you can’t change over and test the others–and the best part is that (if your computer is capable of running the environments and has enough disk space) you can chose between them from the login screen and try them all!

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Adventures in Linux: Day 12

By on June 2, 2009

I know these posts for documenting my adventures in Linux (Kubuntu, to be exact) and it’s because I’m not encountering as many questions in operation as I did almost two weeks ago. Today I have something to add for those with iPhone/iPod Touch, specifically those who have applications such as Discover or other remote file access applications that are accessible via FTP or WebDAV. In Kubuntu I don’t have any FTP programs installed and therefore could only use a built-in tool… like cURL! cURL is an *amazing* open-source internet-download/upload-do-anything-you-need-to-do tool which is command line only (unless you use a GUI implementation, but that’s not as powerful).

The basic cURL syntax is curl and then the arguments. For example to download the TWiT Video using curl you would use curl http://bglive-a.bitgravity.com/twit/live/high -ooutput.flv (note that the -o or output tag doesn’t have a space between it and the output file name.) However for uploading the command I used was the -T, or upload. This is what I used curl -T ~/Desktop/SN-039.mp3 http://192.168.1.113:8888/sn39.mp3 this incorporates the source filename (and path) and the destination path (and destination file name, this is required).

This post is mostly for my future reference, if it’s useful then I’m happy, if you’re new to this whole idea of putting files on your iPhone/Pod Touch then I welcome you to this new world. If you’re curious why I would put an MP3 file on my iPod without going to through iTunes, consider the times that you don’t have time to update your iPod, specifically if it’s an MP3 file that you can’t get through the iTunes podcast store (I do not encourage music piracy, even if this could be used very effectively for it).

Remember, if you’re using Mac OS X then you have cURL already. (It’s shipped with OS X since version 10.2, if I recall, otherwise you will have to download it using the command apt-get install curl, but that’s for another day.)

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Adventures in Linux: Day 6

By on May 27, 2009

Wow, I’ve been busy and I’ve continued to use Linux and continue to marvel at its overall stability and amazing uptime. Today I did all of my typed work on my laptop, it was a chore to use a laptop keyboard, but OpenOffice is so much more wonderful on Linux than any other platform I’ve tried it on, and of course I have the typical stand-by, Google Docs. A far I’ve only but this laptop in the name equivalent to ‘sleep’ in Mac terminology or ‘stand-by’ in Windows terminology for the past three days without a single issue, I haven’t done that with Windows since… ever.

I’ve discovered that there is a lot of scripting possibility in Linux, but I still can’t wrap my brain around Python, however Perl scripting should be more than adequate for me. Last time I wrote I mentioned that it doesn’t remember my wireless network password, I discovered why. I had to set up my KDE password wallet (similar to the Mac keychain). It now works fine and can transition from wired to wireless with ease, and contrary to what I originally thought, the wireless on/off switch works fine.

I suppose I should move on to my daily complaints about Linux that I will eventually find a fix for: first, there are no good twitter clients. Second, network printing is less than intuitive and I haven’t got it working yet. Third, Google Docs in Firefox doesn’t display the same font as on Windows. Forth, Flash player sucks. Fifth, flash player REALLY sucks. Sixth, It’s depressingly like Windows.
**You can ignore the sixth reason, it’s not really a legitimate argument.**

You can ignore most of the reasons that I’m hating on Linux as they aren’t that real, Flash Player is a bit slow, but nothing worse than using flash on a Pentium 4, and the font issue is just a slight variance that comes with a different operating system. I can’t encourage readers to give Linux a try, I l-o-v-e Kubuntu. It works well in a virtualization platform like Virtualbox, Parallels, or VMWare (Microsoft VirtualPC is on the fence and not-so good, if you need free, go Virtualbox), but there is nothing like running it actually. Remember that PCs catch viruses, the Macs marketshare is climbing and will soon have viruses, whereas Linux is purely for people in the know and probably won’t have all of the issues, but is at the same time great for just about anyone to use.

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