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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I am what I am because of who we all are- Use Ubuntu

There are many websites where you can find information on Ubuntu and also a lot of documentation is available. In this post my aim is not to provide in depth information on Ubuntu or share anything new, but to spread awareness among friends and ordinary users about Ubuntu.

Ubuntu means humanity to others is a community based Linux distribution suitable for desktops and personal computer users. Ubuntu is free of charge and you can share Ubuntu with friends, modify or redistribute it.Ubuntu has its origins in Africa and now grown to a popular choice as a Linux distribution all over the world.

I am using the Ubuntu Linux distribution for the past few months and it meets all the requirements of a normal user. You really don't have to be a geek to start using Ubuntu.If you want to migrate from Windows to Linux, it is an ideal choice. The latest version of Ubuntu is 8.10 and you can download it free from the internet or request for shipping a CD.

You can use the following link to get Ubuntu:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu

If you want to see how it looks like you can use a live CD that allows you to load Ubuntu on a Windows machine with out installing Ubuntu.

Ubuntu also has the advantage that it supports many regional languages.I already tried enabling the support for Kannada and Malayalam. Before you login to your system, you can choose the language for that session.

Ubuntu philosophy is based on the following ideals:

1. Every computer user should have the freedom to download, run, copy, distribute, study, share, change and improve their software for any purpose, without paying licensing fees.
2. Every computer user should be able to use their software in the language of their choice.
3. Every computer user should be given every opportunity to use software, even if they work under a disability.


Another interesting thing is it helps you to easily manage installing and updating the software applications.
It comes with the synaptic package manager that helps you to easily install, remove and update software applications using a GUI.

Installing Ubuntu is very simple, but you need 4-8GB free disk space on your harddisk and 1GB RAM. In most modern laptops you can easily install Ubuntu. You can install Ubuntu as dual boot on a machine that has Windows pre-installed so that you can choose which operating system you want to use. Dual boot installation on Windows XP pre-installed seems to be non problematic compared to a dual boot installation on Windows Vista. Once I tried to install Ubuntu as dual boot on a Windows Vista machine the installation was failed. The problem was not with Ubuntu, but because the dealers installed Windows Vista on a single partition and no space is left free to install another operating system. The only option left for you is to shrink the current partition. It is sometimes problematic. So when you first install Windows you need to leave some free space or create two or three partitions that can be used later for Linux installation.

If I summarize following are the main advantages of using Ubuntu:

1. Usability for normal users
2. Ease of installation
3. Regional language support
4. Strong community support
5. Release cycle of an updated version every six months

Start using Ubuntu and enjoy the fun ...

Links:
Official Website: http://www.ubuntu.com
Ubuntu documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/
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