ubuntu: Linux for Newbies

I just spent half a day looking at different Linux options and then settling on one — the back story is that I’m trying to set up a server in my office, and I thought it’d be fun to make it an NFS server. I’m starting to have my doubts about exactly how much “fun” that is…I might just blow all this off and let people in the office log into the server using Personal File Sharing…but, it was a diverting use of a Saturday afternoon.

And, one of the definite “finds” during this quest is ubuntu, a PPC Linux distribution that couldn’t have been easier to get set up and running. You download a single CD volume, burn it (using Disk Utility so that it’s an ISO standard CD) and then start up the Mac where you’re going to install Linux with the “c” key held down. From there, you configure the installation and let it do some heavy installation and downloading.

Of course, it helps if you have the luxury of installing onto a freshly formatted hard disk, as you’d otherwise have to deal with creating partitions and restoring a great deal of Mac data from backup. For my “server,” I’d just installed a 160GB drive in a Power Mac G4 tower, so I was set for the installation.

Anyway, the ubutu installation was a snap, it loaded an attractive, well configured version of the Gnome desktop manager and even installed OpenOffice applications and Evolution, an Entourage/Outlook clone. If feels a little like running the BeOS of yore — quick, a little weird (compared to a Mac) but self-enclosed and functional, including a built-in application manager (for getting ubutu compatible apps, like the blogger.com app I’m using for this entry) and an update manager for the system.

Overall, a fun and painless entry point for Linux, including access to some great free applications. Now, if I can get the NFS sharing to work…

May 29, 2006 · Filed Under General Stuff