Ubuntu Linux 9.10… Oh, who's such a cute koala!
As is apparent from my blog post a few weeks ago, I just built a new computer and it needed a new operating system installed on it. For this, I chose to install the latest, greatest, most powerful modern operating system on the planet. No, it’s not Windows 7, silly — that’s a piece of junk. I’m talking about Ubuntu Linux 9.10, Karmic Koala. And who doesn’t like koalas? Just remember folks, every time you boot-up Windows, Gandi kills a koala.
As a philosophy, “ubuntu” simply means “we are who we are through the collective community of humanity”. As an operating system, Ubuntu 9.10 is rock solid stable, is as slick and responsive as quicksilver, is virtually immune to virus and trojans, and makes it easy to manage and install new software using the new Ubuntu Software Center. It is, to put it bluntly, just plain cool.
The first thing you need to know about Ubuntu, which is true for all Linux distributions, is that it is free. That’s a huge plus. Windows 7 Home Premium current retails for $199, and Ultimate is $319. Ouch! You know what you can do with $319? You could buy a PS3, or a Blu-ray player and a few movies, or have 15 stake dinners at Outback, or… well, you get the point.
The second thing you need to know about Ubuntu is that it’s great. No, make that awesome. The only possible reason anyone could justify running Windows would be 1) it’s for business and required by the company 2) you must use MS Office for some dumb reason or 3) to play games. Because of point 3, I do keep a Windows partition on my computer to boot up Windows if I want to play a Windows only game. Other than that, there’s no reason for Windows anymore — and good riddance. If you disagree, please post and explain why — I will refute you most emphatically.
And while I’m on the subject of games, for all you nay-sayers who think Linux sucks because there are no good games, well I have news for you. There are actually quite a lot of good games for Linux these days. Just check out these links:
http://whdb.com/2008/top-25-linux-games-for-2008/
http://techgage.com/print/top_10_free_linux_games
http://www.anewmorning.com/2009/05/11/10-games-that-will-turn-your-linux-into-a-warmachine
I was going to write a full review of Ubuntu 9.10, but it turns out there are already a bunch of good reviews of Ubuntu 9.10. Thus, I’m not going to waste my time repeating exactly the same thing these reviewers say, so just take a look for yourself:
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2009/10/26/ubuntu-linux-9-10-karmic-koala
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/29/ubuntu_9_10_review
http://gadgetmix.com/index/ubuntu-9-10-karmic-koala-review
And just so no one accuses me of being bias, this is a very thorough review that includes both good and bad. Note that I had none of the multimedia problems this fellow had with PulseAudio, and I had no difficulty installing the proprietary codices from Medibuntu either.
Once you get Ubuntu installed, you will have at your fingertips a massive repository of other software you can download and install at the touch of a button. Just checkout the Ubuntu Software Center (which you will see at the bottom of the Application menu). This post talks all about it (although really it’s a piece of cake to install software–as it should be).
A list of some great Linux software, by category, can be found here.
Also, be sure to check out this guide for some “must-have” Ubuntu Linux software, as well as this guide for some productivity apps.
And of course, I should add that you can get Ubuntu 9.10 Linux operating system for free from Ubuntu.org. Enjoy!
