In the third day of my “Ubuntu safari” is going pretty slick. Updating my AUTOMATIX script provided me with some new and cool applications that I could install by just clicking on them. Goes to show Linux is not all that hard at all, now is it. The funny part is that I don’t “really” miss my Macbook all that much. Ok, perhaps I miss having Itunes play my music in the background, or being able to chat using Adium instead of Kopete. But in day to day work, its not all that different. Major tasks like editing the Knightwise.com website are done using Joomla ( a web based CMS system ) using.. Firefox. Reading my Gmail is done …in Firefox. Chatting with Skype only lacks Webcam support on my Ubuntu machine. But all in all, its all the same. So with the web 2.0 being so omnipresent and open source cross-platform applications the argument of what operating system to use is no longer based on “what software do you have on what system”. Well , at least for the most popular tasks like emailing, chatting and so forth.
But to give you a little insight where I do get my info let me just give you some helpful links to places where I learn what I know about my Ubuntu system.
Ubuntuguide. www.Ubuntuguide.org
The ultimate copy and paste guide to get stuff done in Ubuntu Linux. I mean , just hit control+f in this page, type in what you want to do (use a keyword) and dive into this half mile long document of pure “ubuntan goodness”. Have a command line window open right next to your browser to copy and paste the utopian solution to your problem right into reality.
Ubuntu forums. www.Ubuntuforums.com
If you don’t find what you are looking for in the Ubuntuguide, the perfect place to start looking might be here. A fantastic forum divided into several sections. From Newbie to Ubergeek and from Wireless problems to fancy wallpapers. Forget the shame of being flamed in the old usenet forums, or torpedoed down by a nuclear arsenal of information. On these forums info is u-bundant, easy to find and first-step-friendly. Be sure to use the search function before you post, because the one thing they don’t like is duplicate posting.
Fresh Ubuntu. www.freshUbuntu.org
First podcast in the series of my sources where Harlem does an excellent job explaining life as a Ubuntu user. Having only recently switched he provides us with great practical tips on how to do stuff in Ubuntu based on his own experiences. Tipped of with great musical interludes he talks about the command line command of the week, the debian package of the week and of course .. Ubuntu news. A great podcast brought by a great guy from the perspective of a Ubuntu-peer.
UbuntuGeek. http://www.Ubuntugeek.com One wicked website with more clean copy-paste oriented stuff on getting your Ubuntu to do a little more then the obvious. PPTP vpn client ? Oracle thing ? A lot of the not – so painfully obvious functionalities are explained in a cool non-geeky way. Great site.
Linux reality. http://www.Linuxreality.com Not quite just-Ubuntu, but more “Linux in general” oriented is this podcast. Chess does a great job in talking about all things Linux, going topic by topic. Although the complete verbal recitations of a command line sequence are painful to listen to, it’s a great place to find more background information about certain things Linux that recur in ALL distributions. Some episodes like Linux networking and the crontab are precious enough to burn on a CD and keep in your permanent library.
So if you want to embark on your own voyage to “avoid Vista home basic” at all costs and decide to switch to Linux , these are some great recourses to get started. Have fun !