Jumping into Linux is a big step for most people. Why not use any of these 10 easy ways from Download Squad to get your feet wet?
I recommend VirtualBox and the LiveCD. Those were the two easiest and most cut-and-dry methods for testing Ubuntu that I found.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
CyanogenMod vs Google
I'm trying to keep up with the really shitty Google lawsuit against CyanogenMod and feeling really awful for Cyanogen. To say he sounds pessimistic is an understatement. I'm a Google fan, and I'm an open source fan and the really innocent naive part of me just wants Google to embrace and accept the Mod for their Android phones. Unfortunately, the cynical side of me knows that above all Google is a business and they do not play nice with the "little guys."
I don't use an Android phone, but reading about the suit and reading what Android phone users have to say about it makes me feel absolutely terrible.
I don't use an Android phone, but reading about the suit and reading what Android phone users have to say about it makes me feel absolutely terrible.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Lucid Lynx
Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx coming next year.
I can't tell you how many names I came up with trying to guess the name of Ubuntu's 10.04 release. My wager was on Laughing Llama. Though I think Laughing is a better adjective than Lucid, a lynx is a decidedly better animal than a llama. After all, lynxs are cute, cuddly, and have big feet. Llamas only stand around and bray.
That being said, I can't stand the way Ubuntu names it's releases. It should just be "Ubuntu 10.04." Those names only confuse the end user. And furthermore, what happens when you get to X?
I can't tell you how many names I came up with trying to guess the name of Ubuntu's 10.04 release. My wager was on Laughing Llama. Though I think Laughing is a better adjective than Lucid, a lynx is a decidedly better animal than a llama. After all, lynxs are cute, cuddly, and have big feet. Llamas only stand around and bray.
That being said, I can't stand the way Ubuntu names it's releases. It should just be "Ubuntu 10.04." Those names only confuse the end user. And furthermore, what happens when you get to X?
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Atlanta Linux Fest
My husband and I attended this year's Atlanta Linux Fest this weekend, and I must say it was the most informative conference I've been to all year. Not only did I hear great talks, but I also got to beta test Ubuntu 10.04 -- and got some killer swag, too!
First, I sat in on Rikki Kite's talk, "Her PR Problem/Tooting the Horns of Women in Open Source." Her thesis was two-fold. She talked about "impostor syndrome," which I had experienced before but never knew there was a name for. Basically, "impostor syndrome" is a feeling of inadequacy at your job. Usually, the woman (and it happens to men too -- but this was a women-centric talk) feels as though she got her job based on luck and not knowledge, leading to her keeping silent about her accomplishments at her job in fear of being "found out." It happens to everyone -- women and men -- in any industry. To combat impostor syndrome, Ms. Kite gave positive affirmations to say each day, affirmations that I'm going to take to heart on the career path and in college. The strongest affirmation was "I know my shit." Those are four very powerful words that have already inspired me to stop feeling so inadequate and timid. I will speak up at meetings and I will be eager to make suggestions because I KNOW MY SHIT. Ms. Kite introduced us Tiffany B. Brown's blog, a woman in tech who created these affirmations.
She also brought up the difference between being aggressive and assertive. And as I've seen before, it's very difficult for women to be assertive without being labeled a "bitch." It's hard for the women in question, and it's hard to get out of that mindset.
Later that afternoon, we attended a talk called "Multi-site Drupal Management" so we could get more information on Drupal as a CMS. We've been looking for a good CMS for our business website, and we're thinking Drupal might be the one. =)
The keynote speech was called "Standing Out in the Crowd" given by Kirrily Robert. It centered around women in open source and the "leaky pipe" theory -- that from childhood to adulthood, technology is a pipe that leaks women. She spoke at length about how open source projects do not have an equal ratio of women working them as they do women using them. Her argument was straightforward: if your user base is 50% women, your project should be make up of 50% women. She also gave great examples of women-dominated open source projects. One is Dreamwidth, a web-journaling site based off Livejournal code that features no advertisements and has an open community of web developers (baby devs included!). Another is Archive of Our Own, which is a sanctuary for fan fiction writers that don't have to worry about unnecessary take downs (a la YouTube, Livejournal, etc).
(I overheard on Twitter and at the conference that a lot of people did not like the keynote because they did not find it important enough to be considered a keynote. One person at lunch boldly decreed that "it was women's [sic] fault that there weren't a lot of women in tech." That immediately sent the hairs on the back of my neck erect. Right, because all women are quiet, shy little wallflowers just waiting for men to notice them. According to this guy, that's true.)
And this brings me to my latest idea. Inspired by the women-centric atmosphere at the conference, I'm going to be expanding the focus of this blog to include all things open source, as well as women in tech. Though I will continue to blog about Ubuntu and Ubuntu-related topics, I realize that it's more important to include open source in general as well. Furthermore, the topic of women in tech is too important not to discuss and debate. =)
First, I sat in on Rikki Kite's talk, "Her PR Problem/Tooting the Horns of Women in Open Source." Her thesis was two-fold. She talked about "impostor syndrome," which I had experienced before but never knew there was a name for. Basically, "impostor syndrome" is a feeling of inadequacy at your job. Usually, the woman (and it happens to men too -- but this was a women-centric talk) feels as though she got her job based on luck and not knowledge, leading to her keeping silent about her accomplishments at her job in fear of being "found out." It happens to everyone -- women and men -- in any industry. To combat impostor syndrome, Ms. Kite gave positive affirmations to say each day, affirmations that I'm going to take to heart on the career path and in college. The strongest affirmation was "I know my shit." Those are four very powerful words that have already inspired me to stop feeling so inadequate and timid. I will speak up at meetings and I will be eager to make suggestions because I KNOW MY SHIT. Ms. Kite introduced us Tiffany B. Brown's blog, a woman in tech who created these affirmations.
She also brought up the difference between being aggressive and assertive. And as I've seen before, it's very difficult for women to be assertive without being labeled a "bitch." It's hard for the women in question, and it's hard to get out of that mindset.
Later that afternoon, we attended a talk called "Multi-site Drupal Management" so we could get more information on Drupal as a CMS. We've been looking for a good CMS for our business website, and we're thinking Drupal might be the one. =)
The keynote speech was called "Standing Out in the Crowd" given by Kirrily Robert. It centered around women in open source and the "leaky pipe" theory -- that from childhood to adulthood, technology is a pipe that leaks women. She spoke at length about how open source projects do not have an equal ratio of women working them as they do women using them. Her argument was straightforward: if your user base is 50% women, your project should be make up of 50% women. She also gave great examples of women-dominated open source projects. One is Dreamwidth, a web-journaling site based off Livejournal code that features no advertisements and has an open community of web developers (baby devs included!). Another is Archive of Our Own, which is a sanctuary for fan fiction writers that don't have to worry about unnecessary take downs (a la YouTube, Livejournal, etc).
(I overheard on Twitter and at the conference that a lot of people did not like the keynote because they did not find it important enough to be considered a keynote. One person at lunch boldly decreed that "it was women's [sic] fault that there weren't a lot of women in tech." That immediately sent the hairs on the back of my neck erect. Right, because all women are quiet, shy little wallflowers just waiting for men to notice them. According to this guy, that's true.)
And this brings me to my latest idea. Inspired by the women-centric atmosphere at the conference, I'm going to be expanding the focus of this blog to include all things open source, as well as women in tech. Though I will continue to blog about Ubuntu and Ubuntu-related topics, I realize that it's more important to include open source in general as well. Furthermore, the topic of women in tech is too important not to discuss and debate. =)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
For The Record
In interest of full disclosure, I did buy an iMac this week. And I love it and I'm not ashamed of that. =)
However, that does not mean I'm abandoning Ubuntu. I'm not. I'm going to use it all the time. It will be my OS of choice for the netbook we are setting up. That should be a really fun process and I hope to have a detailed review of what we set up and how we did it in the next few days.
Also: no I have not found a suitable compiler for Ubuntu. I have not given up!
However, that does not mean I'm abandoning Ubuntu. I'm not. I'm going to use it all the time. It will be my OS of choice for the netbook we are setting up. That should be a really fun process and I hope to have a detailed review of what we set up and how we did it in the next few days.
Also: no I have not found a suitable compiler for Ubuntu. I have not given up!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Excitedly Awaiting 9.10
So you've heard that Ubuntu 9.10 (I refuse to call it by that silly name) is due out this October. I'm excited because I think I'll FINALLY be upgrading then!! (I'm eager to try out Empathy -- I really dislike Pidgin. Sorry Pidgin fans, but it's not for me.)
Until then...I'm having a bit of an issue. I'm taking a programming class and though I have a copy of Visual C++ 6.0 (which is a pretty good program, given that it's Microsoft's), I don't want to constantly move back from my laptop to the PC to code my programs. I tried looking for one in the "app store" but I had a bit of trouble. I used KDevelop but found it to be WAY beyond my knowledge -- remember, I'm just now starting out with C++. So I'm going to try a few more programs, hoping that I find one a bit less complicated for my poor newbie brain, and see how they work.
Unless someone can point me in the direction of a good'un.
Until then...I'm having a bit of an issue. I'm taking a programming class and though I have a copy of Visual C++ 6.0 (which is a pretty good program, given that it's Microsoft's), I don't want to constantly move back from my laptop to the PC to code my programs. I tried looking for one in the "app store" but I had a bit of trouble. I used KDevelop but found it to be WAY beyond my knowledge -- remember, I'm just now starting out with C++. So I'm going to try a few more programs, hoping that I find one a bit less complicated for my poor newbie brain, and see how they work.
Unless someone can point me in the direction of a good'un.
Monday, August 31, 2009
25 Linux Tips for Windows Switchers
Ugh, I really need to find time to do another App Alert -- it's been too long!
Until then, however, enjoy these 25 Linux Tips for Windows Switchers -- it's a very fine little help list for Linux newbies. It's not Ubuntu-specific, but it's general enough that it doesn't have to be. =)
Until then, however, enjoy these 25 Linux Tips for Windows Switchers -- it's a very fine little help list for Linux newbies. It's not Ubuntu-specific, but it's general enough that it doesn't have to be. =)
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