| February 2007 |
| Nothing screams “geek cred” like Linux knowledge on one’s resume. Haven’t had the time, help, or inclination to learn Linux? Then consider Ubuntu, perhaps the preeminent Linux distribution written for absolute beginners. |
| By Mathew Schwartz |
Nothing screams “geek cred” quite like Linux knowledge on one’s resume. Furthermore, the Linux operating system (OS) offers excellent uptime, is largely free of the barrage of viruses and worms laying daily waste to many Windows system, and lets people highly customize and tweak their computing experience.
So, haven’t had the time, help, or inclination to learn Linux? Then consider Ubuntu, perhaps the preeminent Linux distribution available for absolute beginners. Ubuntu, of course, is still Linux, meaning you’ll channel your geek street smarts to really tune it to your liking. Better still, it’s free.
Open Source Mojo
Ubuntu runs on desktops and enterprise servers, features easy installation and regular updates, and installs with a variety of basic applications and productivity tools by default. Because Ubuntu is based on the Debian GNU/Linux family of distributions (which also include Knoppix and Linspire), Ubuntu users can also access the world’s largest selection of free (aka open source) software.
All this is no accident, says Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu Project, which maintains the OS. “Ubuntu is designed for end-users and developers, so it’s easy to install and makes an excellent platform for learning Linux as well as building solutions and applications.” Furthermore, the Ubuntu Project promises to support each new version with security updates for 18 months after it’s released.
Get Linux Experienced
With its many features and capabilities, Ubuntu has already attracted a hardcore following of devoted users. Yet Ubuntu also makes an ideal starting point for Linux beginners. “The nice thing about Ubuntu for the future geek is that it allows one to grow as you go. You can start out with the desktop-ish stuff that one can easily get used to, and then, via the handy package download and installation software that comes with Ubuntu, geek things up to your heart’s content,” says Rickford Grant, whose Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks: A Pain-Free, Project-Based, Get-Things-Done Guidebook (No Starch Press, 2006) details everything from “becoming a penguinista,” to synchronizing your iPod in Ubuntu.
To start exploring Ubuntu, simply download and install it. (Free CDs are also available by mail from the Ubuntu site.) Or, as with many other Linux distributions, you can instead utilize a LiveCD version of Ubuntu: a basic version which boots from a CD, meaning you don’t even need to install Ubuntu to a hard drive to test it. Next, take the desktop and file manager for a spin. Then get familiar with the included applications, editing documents in OpenOffice.org, tweaking images with the GIMP, and surfing the Web with Firefox.
Beyond Linux Basics
After these initial efforts, Grant suggests three specific steps for becoming more familiar with Ubuntu. First, use Synaptic, a program which helps you download and install packages (to get applications) from online repositories. This is easy, he says, and also “allows users to get a feel for how Linux can be so different from what they’ve come to know before, by letting them see the various dependencies and whatnot that are installed in the process of getting one thing to work right.” Cruising the online repositories will also point you toward the applications you can later download to really “geek it up” with Ubuntu, he says.
Next, he recommends tackling music and DVD applications. “This is where Linux’s avoidance of licensing conflicts creates an environment that differs from the world of proprietary operating systems,” he notes. For example, “there is no MP3 encoding or playback built into any by-the-book Linux distro. Same for playback of encrypted DVDs.” In other words, you get the pleasure of installing the software necessary to make these capabilities work, and at the same time will get a feel for how Linux fits together.
Finally, learn to make Linux love your peripheral devices. “Printers, thumb drives, digital cameras, iPods, and all sorts of other things,” he says, are fairly easy to work with, “as long as you have some guidance in case you get stuck.” For help, look to the many books, mailing lists, and online communities devoted to Ubuntu.
Having followed these steps, you’ll now know your way around Ubuntu. Of course, Ubuntu is far from the only possible way to learn Linux. “Linux is all about choice, so it’s worth checking out some of the other versions if you have time,” says Shuttleworth, who founded Ubuntu. That said, “if you just want to get cracking then Ubuntu is a great starting point.”
Quick Start: Four Steps to Linux Enlightenment
Want to jump into Linux? Download, then install or run the Ubuntu LiveCD on your computer, and follow these four steps, recommends Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu Project:
- Explore the desktop. “The browser is Firefox, so it looks and feels very slick and easy to use. The various primary applications will be pretty familiar to anyone who has used Windows or a Mac.”
- Look “under the hood.” “Fire up a command line, run ‘ps ax’ and see what’s running on your system, then look through the included documentation to start learning how a Linux system is put together — essentially, what all these individual pieces of software that are running are doing.”
- Check out the package manager. “There are nearly 20,000 packages of software accessible, so if you have a hobby or interest, start exploring the free software that’s out there.”
- Meet the community. “Go to the Ubuntu Forums, or our IRC community or mailing lists, to see what the community is all about. You’ll find tens of thousands of super-smart people who are passionate about Linux — both for business and as a social movement. Not only are they a great source of knowledge and information, they are a real community that helps to shape Ubuntu from release to release.”
Mathew Schwartz is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Cambridge, Mass.
|
|
|
