So, not too long ago, I upgraded from Ubuntu 09.10 to 10.04 – and I’m glad I did.

Quick Overview

From the very start, 10.04 looked sleeker, worked faster, and the basic package installed several useful applications to make the user experience exciting. Lucid Lynx (10.04) improved several features from Jaunty Jackalope (09.10) – the software center is simpler, it installed the upgraded version of OpenOffice, and overall the system seems more balanced.

Improving 10.04

One website you need to visit after you install the operating system is www.ubuntuguide.org; it provides an extensive list of programs/add-ons for Ubuntu with easy to follow instructions to install them. I personally installed the following applications:

• Banshee Music Player

• GIMP Image Editor

• Inkscape Vector Graphic Editor

• Filezilla

• Thunderbird Email Client

• VirtualBox

Everything installed without any issues and run beautifully…

A Big Pleasant Surprise

So, another computer in the office has been riddled with Spyware, Malware, and Viruses for awhile – we’ll clean them up and a short time later they would sprout back up. I’ve threatened for a year to put Linux on the machine but I wasn’t sure how the user would take it… Well, she was going to be out of the office for a couple day so I thought that it would be the PERFECT time to do it…

I backed everything up (which took a day in itself!) and before going to bed, I started to install process… Everything installed perfectly find – copied back all her files/photos/music – installed some extra applications I figured she would appreciate and then my big pleasant surprise… If you remember, there was no direct tool available to migrate OUTLOOK into a non-windows email client. PST files are dependent on some proprietary windows libraries… So, when I opened Evolution, I was fully prepared to do my work around, when all of a sudden I noticed an open in Evolution 2.28 that would allow import from a PST file…

Now, I thought at the time, “right, this must be a button for future integration…” But, I tried it, and waited a long, long, long time – the PST file I was importing was 11GB… and wow was I surprised when it did in fact import all her email… I’m still a little disappointed that I haven’t found a way to import CONTACT data out of OUTLOOK, but that is more of an OUTLOOK issue than anything else. OUTLOOK 2007 doesn’t have an export contact option.

The strange thing is I wanted to read more about this wonderful import feature the smart people working on the Evolution project implemented – there is nothing! In fact, they discuss workaround options just like I discovered! It’s almost like the development team doesn’t even know they’ve solved this riddle…

Issues

After I installed 10.04 my Rhythmbox Music Player would open then immediately close – this was an issue on several installations I made around the office – I tried working it out, but once I discovered Banshee Music Player I fell in love with it and uninstalled Rhythmbox and just went with Banshee…

Another issue I had, which actually started with 09.10 was ‘CONNECT TO SERVER’ downloaded extremely slow to my web servers. I installed Filezilla a real FTP client and it solved the issue. I’ve read numerous places it has something to do with PASSIVE connection versus ACTIVE – I never really tried to fix it so I don’t know how difficult it would be to turn PASSIVE mode off…

The installation itself proved to be an issue on two installs. The grub installer wouldn’t install properly causing the computer to hang indefinitely. During the installation process it wanted to install grub in front of the partitions (SDA) – once I specified a partition (SDA1) everything was fine… I’m not sure why this is, and why it was a problem on two of four installations. It may actually be a hard drive issue and not a GRUB issue.

Overall Impressions

Again, I have no regrets going from Microsoft Windows to Ubuntu Linux. I don’t pretend to be a Linux purist, someone who is in love with the small footprint of working with the terminal prompt. I have certainly become more and more comfortable with the terminal, but the GNOME GUI is nice and easy to work with – much more intuitive than Windows. Plus, with processor speed these days and the fact my machine has 4gigs of Ram, I never run into resource issues. Besides that, if your machine is used to running Windows, the biggest install of Ubuntu, with every bell and whistle you can think of will still run leaner than the standard Windows install.

And just FYI: I’ll probably be building myself another computer here in a couple months just to upgrade everything – what kind of computer geek would I be if I didn’t!  And I’m happy to report that the Windows to Ubuntu Linux transition has been met with much happiness and satisfaction from the computer I upgraded that had the Malware issues…

• Follow the install directions




• When install is finished open Thunderbird.




• From the Main Menu, Select Tools




• Select Import




• Select Mail




• Select Outlook (or Eudora, Communicator, Outlook Express)




• Wait for the import to complete…

Now, you’ll need to find where Thunderbird moved the emails…

• From the Main Menu, Select Tools




• Select Account Settings




• Write down the Local Directory information (You’ll need this info when you boot back into Linux).

In Evolution Email Client (Setup Evolution if you haven’t done so already)

• Select File
• Select Import
• Find the mbox file you want to transfer in –Be sure to create Folders if you want emails in different folders.

The fact this is such a drawn out process is a bit ridiculous — Yet, I’m happy there is a solution that is relatively easy, even if it is drawn out…

I discovered a SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE way to connect to our web servers the other day and I almost feel a little dumb for not discovering it earlier. Perhaps this is even available in Windows and I’ve never noticed…

Sometime ago when I upgraded to the BETA version of Ubuntu 9.10 my FTP client stopped working. For whatever reason it would transfer a few files then suddenly freeze up. I would close my FTP client and try it again only to experience the same result. I deduced this issue was a Ubuntu 9.10 issue as I would have similar results with several different FTP clients.

Then one day, when I needed to connect to a different file server in the office I noticed in the “Connect to Server” screen the option to connect to a private FTP… Well, I used it to connect to one of our web servers and it connected flawlessly.

Best of all, it mounts the FTP server as if it was a local folder, opening the same type of window you would normally use to drag and drop files across windows. You can open files directly from the server and save them directly to the server.

If you’re connecting to an FTP server you regularly use you can bookmark the server allowing the ftp address, user name, and password to be saved so that it can mount the server with a single click.

However, being new to Adobe Creative Suite 4 I was really happy how it functioned. I also couldn’t tell if my issues were Adobe CS4 issues or virtualization issues. The more I used Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and Photoshop the more and more displeased I was becoming… ESPECIALLY ILLUSTRATOR!

Anyway, I was reading an article regarding virtualization and they mentioned VirtualBox - A product I knew little about. I read more about it and wondered how would it stack up against VMware Workstation 6.5. I googled and searched for an answer, every professional review of the VirtualBox was dated, not evaluating VirtualBox 3. So, I decided to install it and give it a whirl of my own.

At first, I installed via the Add/Remove Application interface. This installed the OPEN SOURCE VERSION of VirtualBox which did NOT have some of the utilities described in the user guide I was following. I removed the application and visited the VirtualBox website to download their Ubuntu Linux release. It downloaded and I installed it.

It installed easily and quickly. Something I’ve become accustomed to with Ubuntu Linux. I then added a NEW VIRTUAL MACHINE, installed Windows and INSTALLED GUEST ADDITIONS which installs special drivers and seems to optimize the guest OS. After it installed, I updated via the Microsoft Update and so far, all is good.

I then installed Adobe Creative Suite 3 — updated it, and all is good.

Now, I can’t compare CS4 to CS3 performace — although for the record CS3 in VirtualBox is faster and more stable than CS4 in VMware 6.5. Windows XP PRO SP3 is faster and feels more stable in VirtualBox than VMware 6.5 — although the performance difference is negligible and stability is subjective since Windows was never unresponsive in either install.

The one feature I do find missing in VirtualBox 3 is the fact I am UNABLE to drag and drop files into my GUEST OS. Although even in VMware this wasn’t without bugs. Often in VMware I would drag a file over, it would show a copy progress bar, be done, and no file would be in my Guest OS.

I got around this limitation by just SHARING FOLDERS with the Guest OS so I could just natively find and use files from the HOST system (Ubuntu Linux).

I’ll share more details as I use this application more…

The evolution of Linux has inspired people like myself to give it a try – and perhaps like a strong narcotic – now I’m hooked. Discussing Linux is far more complicated than many in the computing world want to recognize and the reason for this complexity stem from Linux’s heritage as a secure and stable enterprise server operating system. The truth is most people don’t need an enterprise server operating system and they certainly don’t need the traditional complexities associated with them. So, when I talk about Linux’ evolution I’m talking about it from a general user standpoint, not a server administrator wanting to play with it on my everyday workstation.

More on Linux History (for those of you who really want to know).

At the very core of Linux development sits two extraordinary characteristics that truly separate it the more popularly used systems available from Microsoft and Apple. One, is Linux itself a system inspired by UNIX, and the second characteristic is based on the open-source development philosophy that continues to drive Linux development. The reason I cite 2 primary characteristics is because the Mac OS X operating system is also a Unix-based operating system, but they are based on a “closed source” development philosophy, not open source.

The benefits of open-source are quickly evident in Linux. Let’s start with the look and feel of Linux.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

The GUI is the eye candy and primary user interface to computer. It’s the icon you click with your mouse to get a file to open… the menu you navigate to find your music player to listen to music… and in a world dominated by Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X most people can’t imagine there’s another choice, but in reality, open source GUIs inspired Windows and Mac, and Linux offers a multitude of graphical interfaces to create a comfortable user experience.

The three most popular desktop environments are GNOME, KDE, and Xfce.

For Linux purists, or people who rather work in a terminal instead of a graphical interface, at the very core of every Linux distribution sits the terminal. As users become more comfortable using Linux, even the most newbie user will find using the terminal to do certain things faster and easier than clicking windows – but for 99% of users, everything they’ll need will be available in the GUI.

Live CD

The Live CD is an interesting and fabulous concept. It allows a user (that’s you) to download a Linux Distribution, Burn it on a CD or DVD, restart your computer and using the disk use Linux. It’s a fantastic way to try a Linux distribution without the hassle of actually installing it. From my experience you’ll lose some of the pretty features like window wiggles when you move windows around, but outside the lose of occasional eye-candy, you get the chance to see how the operating system works.

Software Repositories

Linux being open-source has an enormous library of FREE software that allows you to do pretty much anything and everything you can imagine. Best of all, you don’t need to search for it, it’s all available in ONE place using the repository. In Ubuntu 9.10 they’ve added a menu button that makes FINDING IT and INSTALLING IT as easy as two clicks.

Viruses and Spyware

A lot of people claim that the reason you don’t find Viruses and Spyware on Linux (or Mac) is because of a lack of popularity. However, the REAL reason is how Unix-like operating systems (Linux and Mac) manage file permissions and access thereby creating a near natural barrier from the damage of a virus or the intrusion of spyware. They can exist within Linux but neither both are harmless to a Unix-like operating system.

Memory & Resource Usage

Windows is a memory and resource hog – and always has been. It’s as if Microsoft creates their operating system to work on the technology of tomorrow and not so much for today. Linux is efficient from the start. For one, when it installs, it creates a swap drive for operating system write/read operations.

Creating a swap drive instead of just using a page file as Windows does eliminates hard drive fragmentation, a real problem with Windows (I believe this may be solved in Windows 7, although I’m not sure). Memory allocation in windows is a problem too. Memory allocation and usage has always been a primary strength of the Mac line of operating systems since day one and this did not change when they upgraded to a Unix-like system. What does this translate into as a user. Faster system responses; programs open faster, close faster, operate multiple programs faster, less memory induced errors (the BSOD), and all this adds to high system stability.

It Just Works

To be honest, this is a recent occurrence. I remember trying out OpenSuse a years back and I couldn’t get my wireless card to work on my laptop… I spent a week looking for a driver to no-avail. I finally had to just give up. I now have Linux installed on 3 computers in my house and I’m planning on installing Linux on a friends computer here soon because she’s been having a lot of virus issues and let’s be honest, Virus protection software is A LOT of resource overhead and really slows down older computers.

These days, you put that LIVE CD in your computer… restart and right from the get go it’ll recognize everything. In one install I did on my primary workstation it found a RAID card I DID NOT want to use, getting it to NOT use it actually proved to be a big hassle, but I’ll discuss that one at a later time.

In Closing

I use Linux for 80% of my computing needs. I works faster, better, and I like the way it looks and feels. However, I still need to use Adobe Illustrator and Dreamweaver for a lot of projects. Linux may have an alternative, but I just like the way Illustrator and Dreamweaver work so I don’t change. This means, I still need Windows – So I virtualize it. Meaning, I have Windows XP installed in a program called VirtualBox inside Linux and open Windows like a program. And surprisingly, Windows actually works just as fast virutalized on my computer as it did natively.

And because Linux is FREE, why wouldn’t you try it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how far Linux has evolved.