[OT] A couple of links about Gnome and usability

[Richard Gaskin]

Pete wrote:

 > Hi Richard,
 > This thread has been very interesting to me as I'm considering
 > getting a computer to run Linux.
...
 > But where do I buy a computer that runs Linux and what version of
 > Linux (if that's the right term) I need?

Every distro has its fans, some quite passionate.  There's a running gag 
in the Ubuntu forums that whenever someone encounters an issue that's 
hard to solve, the answer is "use Arch". :)

Personally I like Ubuntu, and as a developer it's important to me that 
I'm working with the most popular distro (an estimated one-third of 
Linus desktops are running Ubuntu).  With its mandate of "Linux for 
Human Beings", it's provided a good experience for me.

Mark Weider uses Fedora, and I've enjoyed that one as well.   Linux Mint 
is another good choice.

Whichever you choose, be sure to post all over the Internet that users 
of other distros or OSes are stupid fanbois who just don't get what 
Linux is all about!  That'll help keep the myth of the Linux community 
alive for those who have no familiarity with it. :)


If you were in the market for a computer with Ubuntu pre-installed, 
these companies are good options:

<http://www.system76.com/>
<http://zareason.com>
<http://linucity.com>

While all three are very reputable vendors, the last there, LinuCity, is 
owned by my friend Aviv and I can personally vouch for the quality of 
service he provides.

For more options, Canonical maintains a list of computers from major 
vendors they've worked with that have undergone their certification process:
<http://www.ubuntu.com/certification>

Note that that's only a subset of computers Ubuntu is compatible with. 
There are only so many hours in the day, and even a billionaire like 
Mark Shuttleworth can't afford to certify everything it runs on.


One upside to Linux being mostly installed on computers designed for 
some other OS is that it expects that challenge and usually meets it 
pretty well.   In my own experience, every machine I've installed it on 
has worked great out of the box.  The only time I needed a special 
driver was for the NVideo card on my Dell Vostro, and Ubuntu identified 
that and prompted me to install it with one click on first boot.


 > I already have a Windows laptop that I only use for testing out the
 > LC apps I develop on my Mac.  I don't really want another computer.
 > It seems like Apple has just about shut the door on running anything
 > but OS X on their computers.  Can I install Linux on my Windows
 > computer a dual boot it somehow?

And even on your Mac.  Apple's OS X EULA only prevents you from legally 
installing it on anything other than "an Apple branded computer", but 
their computers are frequently used by members of the Ubuntu forum for 
running Linux.  Boot camp is a natural fit for that sort of thing.

Because Apple tends to get specialized components, it can sometimes be 
trickier to get a solid install on a Mac than on popular PCs where the 
components are in such wide use that there are plenty of good drivers 
for them.

Dual-booting with Windows is a popular option, esp. among gamers because 
Windows still rules the roost with the games market.  I've set up 
dual-boot systems before and it's not hard (the Ubuntu installer 
includes options for that), but personally I found I was booting into 
Windows so rarely that I ditched that partition and put Windows into a 
VM within Ubuntu.

In general, the sweet spot for Linux is computers between two and six 
years old.  It can often run on newer systems, and even most older ones 
(Puppy Linux can run on darn near anything), but if a computer's too old 
it won't have the horsepower to deliver a great experience with the 
latest Linux distros, and if it's too new there's a chance of needing a 
driver that hasn't been made available yet.  Even then there's almost 
always a way to get things to work, but for a simple first-time 
experience the two-to-six years guideline may be helpful for systems 
that haven't been certified.

Most of the popular distros allow an option to run the OS from CD or USB 
drive, so you can try it out on a machine without having to install 
anything.

If you grab the Ubuntu ISO disk image here and burn it do CD, you can 
boot from that CD and see what works and what doesn't on your machine:
<http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download>

If you decide to install, the lovely Nixie Pixel teaches you how in her 
five-minute video:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhnLk3gviWY>

:)

Nixie's fun, but really the Ubuntu installer is so simple you probably 
won't need any help with that.  I find it very similar to the OS X 
installer, and much simpler than installing Windows.

Another way to explore Linux is in a VM.  I use VirtualBox on all my 
systems (thanks to Mark Weider for the recommendaton), and here it 
outperforms Parallels in restoring sessions, taking less than half the 
time.  Doesn't hurt that it's also free (in both senses of the word):
<https://www.virtualbox.org/>


If you run into any snags feel free to drop me an email, or you can find 
me in the Ubuntu forums under the screen name rg4w.

Have fun!  Let us know how it goes.

The LiveCode engine for Linux isn't quite on par with their engines for 
Mac and Win, but it's been much improved in recent years and in most 
areas runs like a champ.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com
  LiveCode Journal blog: http://LiveCodejournal.com/blog.irv