Comments on: The Ubuntu Project: Is Linux Right For Word Workers?

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:39:03 +0000

I’m now running Ubuntu on all three machines, and the only time I think about Windows is when I’m forced to boot it on my laptop, and I’m reminded how much stands between me and my work when using that infernal operating system.

It wasn’t true five years ago, but today’s writer can run their business entirely atop Linux/open source solutions, and never really feel cheated.

By: John

John — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:12:48 +0000

I’ve been using Ubuntu off and on since 2005. Since Fall 2008, my laptop has been either open source or as it is now and will stay, Xubuntu. Works better and has kick bum battery life on my 4yo dell inspiron laptop. Trust me anyone with an old machine who wants to run linux go with ubuntu. Even if you have a top of the line machine, xubuntu is a good choice still.

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:02:06 +0000

Hey, that’s cool. I just installed, and plant to compare it to PyRoom (my current Linux cleanscreen editor).

Thanks!

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:35:11 +0000

Realise this is an old post, but thought you’d be interested in this. I was after a linux version of Q10 as well and found one called textroom. You can download it at http://code.google.com/p/textroom/

(direct link to download is http://textroom.googlecode.com/files/textroom_0.5.3-0ubuntu1.deb

I’ve linked the second newest version because the newest has a bug that means you don’t get the typewriter sound effects.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:40:35 +0000

I figured I’d make mention of the “indecipherable” commands you mentioned. Just as a little more information about the commands listed on the page:
Ex. sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

The way to understand this command is that sudo makes you root user (administrator) which will allow you to modify files outside your home directory. apt-get is simply the program you are running, the same thing as if you had typed firefox at the command line, it would run the application entered. install is an option that can be used by apt-get to install software, pretty straightforward. Following install the packages that you wish to install are listed, in this case libdvdread4. So for instance if you wanted to install firefox and thunderbird you could use the command

sudo apt-get install firefox thunderbird

In my opinion it is much faster to do it this way than with the package manager GUI but I mainly posted this just to say that if you ever see the command apt-get, you can simply use synaptic package manager and skip the command line. Also, the only reason you see the command line versions of this is that the developers and forum members find this a much simpler way to give help than to navigate you through the GUI, one command versus click here, then here.

I just figured I’d give you a reason why you can still find commands listed as help even on a user-friendly distro like Ubuntu

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:01:20 +0000

I really haven’t looked back either, though I can’t quite bring myself to entirely zorch Vista off my laptop. One client sells Windows software, and backwards compatibility with all my Canvas graphics files remains an issue.

By: On the Money

On the Money — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:30:48 +0000

I stripped XP off my machine a few months ago and loaded Linux. I have never, never, never looked back.

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:35:03 +0000

Thanks. With my new desktop zooming, I may try Mint on my laptop, which was the subject of so much experiementation with Ubuntu that a clean install is in order anyway. Thanks for weighing in.

By: Abhilash

Abhilash — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:05:00 +0000

I have tried various flavors of Linux over the last few years. for almost the whole of last year I was using Ubuntu on my Acer 4520. Last month however I tried Linux Mint.

Mint is based on Ubuntu, however I found it easier to use than Ubuntu. With Ubuntu I always had little little things that I had fun fixing but were a irritant anyway. The wifi being the most often problem.

Mint was a breeze in this regard. Everything except wifi worked out of the box and wifi was on in about 4 minutes of tinkering. It used to take me a few hours in Ubuntu.

Theres more here http://hitchedhiker.com/2009/01/24/minty-freshness-with-linux-mint/ if you wish to read.

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:56:22 +0000

Paul: Thanks for weighing in. My wife just received a new laptop with Vista, and trying to get it set up reminded me just how much Vista gets in the user’s way. I still retain Vista on my laptop (a pair of clients need me to access Windows software), but do appreciate the simple, streamlined approach to computing.

And yes, it’s probably time for another Linux update post.