Linux. You Can Do It!

Linux. That's a word that will evoke all kinds of emotions in people. The fact is, Linux is the cheap geek's best friend.

Ok, so what is it?

Linux is an operating system just like Microsoft Windows or like OS X on a Mac. The major difference is that Linux is an open source project that has been developed by many different people. If you are completely lost at this point check out this link to learn what Linux is in detail according to Wikipedia.

What does this mean to me?

To the person with the lean wallet it means this, a total computing experience that is completely free (in more ways than one). In other words, your email, word processing, some gaming (I'll explain later), music, movies, internet browsing, social networking, voip, just about anything that you need to do can be done on Linux.
When I say free, I mean it in more ways than "I don't got to spend a dime on it" type free. I mean like freedom. No need for antivirus or antispyware. No need to type in long strands of random characters and signing your life away every time you install your latest piece of over priced software. No need for a "Genuine Advantage". No need to own a brand new computer just to make it start up. That's the kind of free I mean.

What's the catch? If it's so great why doesn't everyone use it?

I have just one long word to answer that: familiarity. Nearly everyone who uses computers got their start on Windows. People are used to it and don't like change. My wife, who I love dearly, hates Linux. When I ask her why she usually tells me "I like Windows". She told me the other day "It's kinda ugly and looks little kidish" which at the time I agreed. (I fixed it that same night) If you use Windows and it works for you or you have a hard drive with everything on it that makes you happy then you don't need to worry about this. But if you are sick of spyware, viruses, expensive programs, and intrusive end user agreements, then consider at least trying Linux. I am still suck with somethings that I need Windows for (such as instant viewing Netfix movies) so I dual boot my computer with both Linux and Windows. All you need is an old hard drive laying around and some room in your computer. Just install Linux on the old hard drive after Windows has been installed and Linux will do the rest.

What flavor of Linux should I use?

I struggled with this question for a very long time. There are literally hundreds of flavors of Linux to try. I suggest using Ubuntu 7.10 to start with. That is what I am using now. It is very user friendly and will make it a pleasure to use.

I recently came across another blog about converting over to Ubuntu that I think will help the not so convinced. Check it out here

Heart Stopping Cheap Geek Action!

There are times that being a cheap geek makes me more nervous than it is healthy to be. A few weeks ago while I was at work I was drinking a healthy drink (Dr. Pepper) then as I had done a thousand times before, I set it down next to my MacBook Pro. After about ten minutes of hard work on a different computer I forgot about the Dr. Pepper entirely. As I reached for a ringing phone my hand gracefully bumped the top of it and sent it spilling onto the uber expensive Mac. I manged to prevent most of it from bricking my laptop but enough of it got onto my keyboard to make the space bar stick... Needless to say, the space bar is a very important part of my typing experience, if I didn't have it allofmyblogswouldlooklikethis. I didn't think that my warranty would cover retards spilling soda on the keyboard, but I had to do something, and I did. I waited for about two months hoping that it would correct itself. Strange how hardware doesn't desticky itself. (Maybe Apple should look into developing that.) I looked online to see if were possible to rip keys off the keyboard and have any hope of using them again. I found this great website that shows how to completely tear apart every aspect (almost) of a 17" MacBook Pro. After reading it and then turning my Mac off, I proceeded to do the delicate surgery. I ripped the space bar off and found that this space bar was a bit of a pack-rat. Hair, wirey stuff, and yes Dr. Pepper had found its way into my space bar. Using great care and precision I removed the awful irritants. Then I smashed the key back into place. Strangely enough, it still worked!

In my long and wisdom filled life, I have found that being a Cheap Geek is more than buying junky hardware and putting up with disappointing software, its knowing how to make everything work together like a symphony of middle schoolers. Could have I called up Apple support and tell them that I was using my Mac for a rain gutter of soda? Yeah. Could I have forked out the money to have them fix my Mac? Possibly. But I say why not try to do it yourself and see if you can destroy it better than you have already! But seriously, many of the things that we need done can be done by ourselves for substantially less than someone else would charge us. Being a Geek is not as hard as some would think. The internet has everything that you could possibly need to find a solution to your problem. If you can't figure it out then you can always find someone else who knows how to in a forum or at least find others who have the same problem as you have.

Today's blog has been a little different but sometimes we poor geeks need a little encouragement and a bit of a pep-talk. Next blog I hope to talk about that much loved and too often feared word... Linux!