Semantic Computing

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Linux. I may not be the Wizard of Linux, but I hope to bring those interested down the Yellow Brick Road safely. Linux is an operating system that is open source. You can download it for free. Most of the work that goes in to Linux is donated by individuals or companies around the world.

If you missed the recent BUG presentation of the history of Linux, you can listen to the hour-long presentation on the link provided on the BUG website. Email your questions to me at shawn@semanticcomputing.ca and I will try to get answers.

Choosing a Linux Distribution

A distribution is a collection of programs included with Linux. For example, some Linux distributions come with Firefox browser, others with Konqueror.

The easiest to use most feature complete Linux distribution, the one I recommend to new visitors who enter the land of Linux, is Mint Linux. Trust me, it is minty fresh. Mint Linux comes in several flavours. The ‘main’ flavour, or edition, is the GNOME edition (pronounced GUH-nome). There are others, like the KDE distribution. It’s a matter of preference, really.

For those that have old hardware and want a stripped down version of Linux, you can download the Linux Mint XFCE Edition. Although it’s user friendly, the interface does not feel like a modern interface: it’s not as feature complete, but that’s the whole point. It does the bare minimum, to keep the operating system (Linux) out of the way to give more room for the programs.

No matter what distribution or edition you choose, you can run the same programs on it. But for a new user who doesn’t care about the choice just yet, I recommend the plain old regular Linux Mint.

Available Software

You can use open source software on Windows. Some software is the same in Linux as Windows, and if you use it now in Windows you can lessen the shock when you switch to Linux. Here are some examples of Linux-compatible software that you can use in Windows:
Internet Explorer can be replaced with Firefox,
Microsoft Office can be replaced by openoffice.org,
Adobe Photoshop can be replaced by The GIMP (and Illustrator by Inkscape),
Microsoft Outlook can be replaced by Thunderbird to read your email.

Installing

Linux is an entire operating system. In general, computers don’t usually have more than one operating system on them. For this reason, many operating systems don’t play well with each other. Linux, of course, is different. You can install Linux on ‘part’ of your computer and Windows on the other part. Windows will make it so you can no longer access the Linux part but Linux plays nicely with Windows.

You must decide if you want your computer to be able to boot both Linux and Windows or only Linux. If you want to run only Linux then this job is very easy. Just select ‘use entire hard disk’ guided option. It will set up everything just for you.

To install Linux along side with Windows you need to resize (partition) your Windows C-drive. A hard disk can be divided into several ‘virtual drives’ or ‘partitions’. Each partition can be used for something different. The Linux install program can do this for you, automatically. As long as you have the required free space on the drive, it can partition your C drive and make an empty partition for Linux.

However, the good folks at Linux Mint and Ubuntu have added something new, the WUBI install method. If you pop the CD in your disc drive it can start the install program in Windows! It can install inside your Windows C partition. This recently developed technology is included in new Linux distributions. With this you can install Linux without having to repartition your hard disk or make any substantial changes to your computer. There is, however, a drawback. Your Linux system will run slower using the Windows file system.

Once you have made up your mind as to which you want, you can go ahead and install Linux. Download the ISO file from the Linux Mint website and burn it to a DVD as a disc image, not as a plain old file. The installation of Linux is really simple. Linux takes care of all the configurations and drivers for you.

Successful installing!