Linux

Linux is the free, open source operating system of choice among Academy students. Various incarnations include the user-friendly Red Hat, Mandrake, Ubuntu and SuSE distributions, as well as Slackware, Debian, Gentoo, Arch, and Androgenous Mime.

For those who are currently using the Microsoft Windows Operating System but would like to the make switch to something a bit, shall we say, more fun the number of willing Linux geeks ( some more disturbingly hardcore than others ) makes the transition to Open Source much easier.

Besides, come on, all the cool kids are using Linux.

As an interesting side note, the Free Software Foundation promotes the name of GNU/Linux, as Linux is built around the GNU toolkit. However, as GNU tools can be used on any Unix based system (and most have been ported to Windows by now), many feel no need to engage in such pedantics.

Trying Linux

When people come to the Academy, they invariably come in close contact with other geeks. And when geeks come together, magical things happen. One of those things is the installation of Linux. This is just to really point you in the right direction, rather than a full-fledged guide of some sort.

Distributions

Trying Linux really is easy, but there are a ton of choices. If you just want a taste, try a Live CD, such as Knoppix. They allow you to try a fully-featured linux distribution in a matter of minutes, as you can just boot off the CD and go. If you want to take the next step and install linux, you must choose a distribution. This is one of the most confusing parts at first, since there are so many. If you try one and don't like it, try another one. This comparison of popular distros should help you choose.

LiveCD

• Knoppix - The most popular of the LiveCD sort. Choose this one if you don't know what to choose.
• Damn Small Linux - A distribution designed to fit on a 50 MB mini-cd.
• Slax - A Slackware-based LiveCD designed to fit onto a minidisc.

User-friendly

• Mandrake - The most popular distribution right now. Uses RPM packages (not necessarily Fedora ones, though).
• Fedora - The free successor to the ubiqutious Red Hat Linux. People often complain about RPM package management. It's okay though. I wouldn't recommend it.
• MEPIS - A relatively new player. People say good things about it in terms of ease of installation and use. Uses Debian package management.
• Ubuntu - Also new, and very popular distro based on Debian. A good choice in the user-friendly area, from what people say.
• SUSE - A good user-friendly distro. Uses its own RPM packages.

Do it yourself/Learning

• Debian - Uses apt-get for package management, more comprehensive than RPM or Slackware package management.
• Gentoo - Uses an imitation of the BSD ports package management. Generally, most or all packages are compiled from source. A great feature is USE flags, which let you easily select which features are to be compiled in to your packages. Also has an extensive installation guide and documentation, and a helpful troubleshooting forum.
• Slackware - Commonly cited as an ideal learning distribution and is relatively easy to install. Has a minimal packaging system.
• Arch - A minimalist distribution based on the ideas of Crux, with some attributes of RedHat. Includes the pacman package management and ABS ports system. Arch is still in beta, though it is surprisingly stable.

Choosing a Window Manager/Desktop Environment

Choosing a Desktop Enviroment and/or Window Manager is another big choice. You should try different ones to see which suits your style.

A Desktop Enviroment is program or set of programs that provide all the necisairy tools for a complete graphical user interface. A DE will often provide a default set of desktop icons, toolbars, a window manager, a toolkit, a theme manager, and features to allow program to work together more successfully. An advantage to Desktop Enviroments is that programs can often share code, for example file browsers are usually the same across different KDE or Gnome apps. Often program that are written for a particular Desktop Enviroment begin with the same letter, 'k' for KDE apps and 'g' for gnome apps. (note: KDE/Gnome does not need to be used in order to run KDE/Gnome apps)

A window manager is the program that actually controls how windows are displayed on the scree. They takes care of how windows are moved, resized, created, and destroyed. Often WMs that are not associated with a DE will provide man unique features to aid in window grouping, placement, and navgation. WMs that are associated with DE's generally tend to have fewer features, leave things up to the DE, and generally act simmilar Microsoft Windows.

While it is posible to run programs with neither a DE or a WM it is extremely inefficient and often very difficult. The choice to either run a DE or only a WM depends greately on taste. For the more adventurous users parts of different DEs and WMs can be combined. Most often this is done by combining a non-default WM such as fluxbox with a DE such as KDE, but may also be reversed to add features such as aplication theme support or desktop icons to a WM.

====Desktop Environments==== (in order of minimal-ness, least to most)

• KDE - Most popular. Has Konqueror, a very nice file manager/browser/samba client/ftp client/etc...
  • Uses the qt toolkit
  • Default WM: kwin
• GNOME - Good looking.
  • Uses the GTK toolkit
  • Default WM: Metacity
• XFCE - Fast and good.

Window Managers

• Enlightenment - The E17 version looks very promising. Posibly the window manager with the most Eye Candy. Can be confusing at first.
• Fluxbox (Blackbox and Openbox) - Fluxbox and Openbox are based off of Blackbox. Provides good support for aplications, the 'slit', and a tool/icon bar.
• IceWM
• Window Maker
• Sawfish
• FVWM - Very customizable, but takes effort.
• Ion - All windows are set up in frames that do not overlap. Very easy to use with out a mouse (good for programing) but can be annying for everyday use. Provides it's own scripting language (lua).
• TreeWM - Allows windows to be grouped in desktops, and destops to be grouped within other Desktops. Designed with function above looks.
• wmii - Tries to combine the advantages/features of many window managers all into one.

How do I Open This File?

People often have problems finding programs that are comparable to the ones they used to use in windows. I will not list them here, bu this table of equivalents is extremely helpful.

Getting Help

• [linuxquestions.org/ Linux Questions]

See Also

• Linux (Wikipedia article)
• GNU/Linux Naming Controversy

External Links

Comparision of window managers