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An update from Linux-land

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  • S Simon P Stevens

    Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra

    D Offline
    D Offline
    Dy
    wrote on last edited by
    #8

    Keep posting the updates here - it's interesting to me at least.

    Simon Stevens wrote:

    Image editing

    F Spot[^] is pretty good. And available via the repositories.

    Simon Stevens wrote:

    Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks

    Take a look at what's offered to you in the repositories via synaptic (is that what it's called? I'm away from my Ubuntu boxes at the moment) - there's loads there. And the GCC[^] is cracking. One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.

    - Dy

    S 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • R Rajesh R Subramanian

      I suggest you keep a copy at your cp blog page and keep us posted through the lounge. Your posts are making me wonder if I should wipe windows off a pc and install ubuntu on it permanently (although I've completely stopped writing apps for UNIX/Linux these days). I'll give it a try. :)

      Please leave us our small pleasures, they are small, but they are ours! - Mycroft Holmes ^ .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. [Microsoft MVP - Visual C++]

      S Offline
      S Offline
      Simon P Stevens
      wrote on last edited by
      #9

      Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:

      I suggest you keep a copy at your cp blog page and keep us posted through the lounge

      That's a good idea.

      Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:

      Your posts are making me wonder if I should wipe windows off a pc and install ubuntu on it permanently

      Yeah..do it.... ;) My motivation is because I don't like being tied to windows. I would prefer to have enough knowledge to use multiple systems comfortably. Ultimately I'd prefer to be able to write software that is more portable between systems.

      Simon

      R 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • S Simon P Stevens

        Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:

        I suggest you keep a copy at your cp blog page and keep us posted through the lounge

        That's a good idea.

        Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:

        Your posts are making me wonder if I should wipe windows off a pc and install ubuntu on it permanently

        Yeah..do it.... ;) My motivation is because I don't like being tied to windows. I would prefer to have enough knowledge to use multiple systems comfortably. Ultimately I'd prefer to be able to write software that is more portable between systems.

        Simon

        R Offline
        R Offline
        Rajesh R Subramanian
        wrote on last edited by
        #10

        I've done some cross-platform programming; but I somehow feel that Windows development is the one for me. If I do install Ubuntu on a PC, I'll do it only for fun. :)

        Please leave us our small pleasures, they are small, but they are ours! - Mycroft Holmes ^ .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. [Microsoft MVP - Visual C++]

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • S Simon P Stevens

          Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra

          S Offline
          S Offline
          Stuart Dootson
          wrote on last edited by
          #11

          Simon Stevens wrote:

          VMWare or similar - running Windows

          VirtualBox[^]? It has an Ubuntu binary distribution and, although it's not quite as easy to setup as VMWare (I've used both on Windows), it does the job quite satisfactorily.

          Simon Stevens wrote:

          Audio editing

          Audacity[^] - although it's source only for Linux.

          Simon Stevens wrote:

          Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks (Maybe MONO, or I might try Python)

          For Python, I'd just use an editor and the Python interpreter at the command-line. That's my Python development environment under Windows and OS X, anyway! I've used PythonWin a bit, but mostly I find I don't need an idea with Python :-) Alternatively, try Eclipse + PyDev[^, I guess?

          S 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • D Dy

            Keep posting the updates here - it's interesting to me at least.

            Simon Stevens wrote:

            Image editing

            F Spot[^] is pretty good. And available via the repositories.

            Simon Stevens wrote:

            Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks

            Take a look at what's offered to you in the repositories via synaptic (is that what it's called? I'm away from my Ubuntu boxes at the moment) - there's loads there. And the GCC[^] is cracking. One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.

            - Dy

            S Offline
            S Offline
            Simon P Stevens
            wrote on last edited by
            #12

            -Dy wrote:

            F Spot[^]

            Thanks for the tips. I'll try it out.

            -Dy wrote:

            One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.

            :laugh: This is one of my pet annoyances[^] about .net too.

            Simon

            H 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • S Stuart Dootson

              Simon Stevens wrote:

              VMWare or similar - running Windows

              VirtualBox[^]? It has an Ubuntu binary distribution and, although it's not quite as easy to setup as VMWare (I've used both on Windows), it does the job quite satisfactorily.

              Simon Stevens wrote:

              Audio editing

              Audacity[^] - although it's source only for Linux.

              Simon Stevens wrote:

              Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks (Maybe MONO, or I might try Python)

              For Python, I'd just use an editor and the Python interpreter at the command-line. That's my Python development environment under Windows and OS X, anyway! I've used PythonWin a bit, but mostly I find I don't need an idea with Python :-) Alternatively, try Eclipse + PyDev[^, I guess?

              S Offline
              S Offline
              Simon P Stevens
              wrote on last edited by
              #13

              Stuart Dootson wrote:

              VirtualBox

              Stuart Dootson wrote:

              Audacity

              Cheers. I'll try them out.

              Simon

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • S Simon P Stevens

                Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra

                B Offline
                B Offline
                blackjack2150
                wrote on last edited by
                #14

                For audio playback i use Audacious. Installed it from the repo. It's very similar to classic Winamp and it even supports Winamp 2 skins. For video, the default Totem player seemed to do the task properly, though the UI is not modern, like most media players of our time. BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)It's always a jaw dropper for a 'stranger' or newcomer.

                S 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • S Simon P Stevens

                  Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra

                  N Offline
                  N Offline
                  Nougat H
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #15

                  music - Amarok(KDE) or Xmms pdf - kPDF, okular (both KDE) image editing - gimp I guess, for vector images inkscape IDE - eclipse, anjuta, kdevelop(KDE), monodevelop As for installations, I recomend synaptic for gui or apt-get for console.

                  Simon Stevens wrote:

                  It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support.

                  Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. :)

                  ____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.

                  S 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • S Simon P Stevens

                    -Dy wrote:

                    F Spot[^]

                    Thanks for the tips. I'll try it out.

                    -Dy wrote:

                    One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.

                    :laugh: This is one of my pet annoyances[^] about .net too.

                    Simon

                    H Offline
                    H Offline
                    hairy_hats
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #16

                    Likewise. I used to have a massive header file with #defined replacements spelled properly but gave up the struggle in the end.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • B blackjack2150

                      For audio playback i use Audacious. Installed it from the repo. It's very similar to classic Winamp and it even supports Winamp 2 skins. For video, the default Totem player seemed to do the task properly, though the UI is not modern, like most media players of our time. BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)It's always a jaw dropper for a 'stranger' or newcomer.

                      S Offline
                      S Offline
                      Simon P Stevens
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #17

                      Thanks for the tips. I used to like Winamp, so I'll defiantly give that a try.

                      blackjack2150 wrote:

                      BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)

                      Well, I noticed the wobbly windows when I set the graphics settings to max, but I never saw any of the 3d cube stuff. I've seen videos though. It's looks cool, but I tend to turn things like that off after 5 minutes.

                      Simon

                      B 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • N Nougat H

                        music - Amarok(KDE) or Xmms pdf - kPDF, okular (both KDE) image editing - gimp I guess, for vector images inkscape IDE - eclipse, anjuta, kdevelop(KDE), monodevelop As for installations, I recomend synaptic for gui or apt-get for console.

                        Simon Stevens wrote:

                        It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support.

                        Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. :)

                        ____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.

                        S Offline
                        S Offline
                        Simon P Stevens
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #18

                        Thanks for the suggestions.

                        Adis H. wrote:

                        Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. [Smile]

                        Oh, cool. It's just the first time I've seen anything this well utilised. I think Windows could really benefit from something like this. It would obviously need an approval program from MS, you couldn't just have any old joe sticking stuff in it. Yeah, isn't Ubuntu based on debian. I choose Ubuntu as probably the best option for a relative Linux newbie, but may try others once I get to grips with the basics.

                        Simon

                        N 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • S Simon P Stevens

                          Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra

                          D Offline
                          D Offline
                          DaveyM69
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #19

                          Av isn't really necessary in linux but if you want one there are a few around. AVG[^] do it (not free but cheap). I've never used it on my Linux machines so not a recommendation - just information!

                          Dave
                          BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
                          Expect everything to be hard and then enjoy the things that come easy. (code-frog)

                          S 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • S Simon P Stevens

                            Thanks for the suggestions.

                            Adis H. wrote:

                            Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. [Smile]

                            Oh, cool. It's just the first time I've seen anything this well utilised. I think Windows could really benefit from something like this. It would obviously need an approval program from MS, you couldn't just have any old joe sticking stuff in it. Yeah, isn't Ubuntu based on debian. I choose Ubuntu as probably the best option for a relative Linux newbie, but may try others once I get to grips with the basics.

                            Simon

                            N Offline
                            N Offline
                            Nougat H
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #20

                            Well there were a few projects that tried to bring the concept to windows but none really took off. Even google had one, but it only had some 3-4 applications in the repositories. The most prominent one is win-get[^] I think. They all try to work like apt-get[^] which is the main installation tool for most debian based distributions like ubuntu. The gui installation tools are just a front end for it. Red Hat and SUSE distributions and their derivatives use RPM.

                            ____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.

                            S 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • S Simon P Stevens

                              Thanks for the tips. I used to like Winamp, so I'll defiantly give that a try.

                              blackjack2150 wrote:

                              BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)

                              Well, I noticed the wobbly windows when I set the graphics settings to max, but I never saw any of the 3d cube stuff. I've seen videos though. It's looks cool, but I tend to turn things like that off after 5 minutes.

                              Simon

                              B Offline
                              B Offline
                              blackjack2150
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #21

                              If Compiz is installed and the 3d cube effect is enabled, it works when you click & hold the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel). Also, If the focus is on the desktop, scrolling the wheel will rotate the cube by 90 degrees. Other nice features in Compiz are transparent windows, live preview in task bar (even of video), cool task switchers (like the ring one) and many, many more.

                              Simon Stevens wrote:

                              It's looks cool, but I tend to turn things like that off after 5 minutes.

                              Yeah, I keep it installed just to show off. :-D

                              S 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • N Nougat H

                                Well there were a few projects that tried to bring the concept to windows but none really took off. Even google had one, but it only had some 3-4 applications in the repositories. The most prominent one is win-get[^] I think. They all try to work like apt-get[^] which is the main installation tool for most debian based distributions like ubuntu. The gui installation tools are just a front end for it. Red Hat and SUSE distributions and their derivatives use RPM.

                                ____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.

                                S Offline
                                S Offline
                                Simon P Stevens
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #22

                                It would have to be run and managed by Microsoft to take off I think. If MS supported it, and made it the standard for all their apps, then made it a requirement for the "designed for windows" logo program it could work. There would have to be 2 routes to get into it: 1 for commercial/paid for apps, the app would be fully validated by MS, the software company could pay a fee for validation and inclusion in the repository as a commercial app. Users would be able to pay for the app through the repository software, and have it auto download, install and update. The second route would be for free/open source apps. It would still require some level of MS approval to prevent virus writers and so on, but would be free to get into. These apps could appear below the commercial ones to provide extra intensive to the commercial apps to take the paid for route into the repository. The justification for MS: Improved control over the software general users install. They could highlight their products as recommended. If all categories were well covered it would reduce the number of general users downloading and installing dodgy spyware/virus ridden software.

                                Simon

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • D DaveyM69

                                  Av isn't really necessary in linux but if you want one there are a few around. AVG[^] do it (not free but cheap). I've never used it on my Linux machines so not a recommendation - just information!

                                  Dave
                                  BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
                                  Expect everything to be hard and then enjoy the things that come easy. (code-frog)

                                  S Offline
                                  S Offline
                                  Simon P Stevens
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #23

                                  DaveyM69 wrote:

                                  AVG[^] do it (not free but cheap)

                                  That would just be the ultimate irony. Switch to a free OS and starting paying for software I previously got for free. :laugh: :laugh: So many people have said it's not necessary I'll probably just follow that advice now.

                                  Simon

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • B blackjack2150

                                    If Compiz is installed and the 3d cube effect is enabled, it works when you click & hold the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel). Also, If the focus is on the desktop, scrolling the wheel will rotate the cube by 90 degrees. Other nice features in Compiz are transparent windows, live preview in task bar (even of video), cool task switchers (like the ring one) and many, many more.

                                    Simon Stevens wrote:

                                    It's looks cool, but I tend to turn things like that off after 5 minutes.

                                    Yeah, I keep it installed just to show off. :-D

                                    S Offline
                                    S Offline
                                    Simon P Stevens
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #24

                                    blackjack2150 wrote:

                                    If Compiz is installed and the 3d cube effect is enabled, it works when you click & hold the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel). Also, If the focus is on the desktop, scrolling the wheel will rotate the cube by 90 degrees.

                                    Ahh, it's probably just a case of not knowing about it. I'll try it out tonight.

                                    Simon

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • S Simon P Stevens

                                      Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra

                                      J Offline
                                      J Offline
                                      J a a n s
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #25

                                      I am using the following (for my Feroda8) Virus checker - clamav or klamav Playing music - MP3/WMA/CDs - mplayer Playing videos - MPG/AVI/DivX etc - Xine Playing DVDs - Xine Image editing - Gimp Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks (Maybe MONO, or I might try Python) - Monodevelop, Kdevelop, Anjuta PDF viewing - Xpdf

                                      *jaans

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • S Simon P Stevens

                                        Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra

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                                        Lost User
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #26

                                        CD/DVD - K3B Playing videos - Mplayer or VLC Playing DVDs - as above + dvdread and dvdcss PDF viewing - search in Synaptic for PDF, there are a couple of viewers VMware - err.. VirtualBox but USB support is tricky Elaine :rose:

                                        Visit http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/[^] and do something special today.

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                                        • S Simon P Stevens

                                          DaveyM69 wrote:

                                          AVG[^] do it (not free but cheap)

                                          That would just be the ultimate irony. Switch to a free OS and starting paying for software I previously got for free. :laugh: :laugh: So many people have said it's not necessary I'll probably just follow that advice now.

                                          Simon

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                                          John M Drescher
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #27

                                          Simon Stevens wrote:

                                          So many people have said it's not necessary I'll probably just follow that advice now.

                                          It is not necessary if you do 2 things: 1) DO NOT RUN applications as root unless absolutely necessary 2) AVOID installing anything if it is not from your distribution or not a trusted web site

                                          John

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