Lessfeet » OS

Ubuntu Precise Pangolin

Mark — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:42:49 +0000

Ubuntu 12.04 (code name Precise Pangolin) is the latest version of the OS. I installed it on my laptop this morning. I haven’t been using it long enough so I really don’t know about its bugs yet. So far I haven’t found any. What I can tell you is that it’s very fast. Maybe much faster than previous versions. I fill that the user interface is very intuitive, at least for me.

Ubuntu still has all of you old favorite applications like…

Firefox – Web-Browser
Thunderbird – Email Client
LibreOffice – Office Suite
Empathy – Messaging Client
Transmission – Bittorent Client
Shotwell – Photo Manager

…and many more.

experience it yourself in this online simulation.

More Windows 8 Features

Mark — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:11:29 +0000

Features of the new Windows 8

Windows 8 Preview

Mark — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:43:25 +0000

Windows 8 will be the latest Windows OS (operating system) when it is released, probably in September or October. For now we have the Consumer Preview to play with. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview seem like a release candidate to me. It is very polished, very fast and not buggy at all.

Windows 8 is an OS for desktops and laptops of course but it is also going to be used on tablets similar to the iPad. I do not have a Windows tablet to try it out on so this review is just about using it on a standard computer.

Fast

Windows 8 is very fast and will run on very slow hardware because it’s developed to run on very slow ARM processors (processors used in phones and tablets).

Metro

Windows 8 is mostly like Windows 7 except for a few changes. The first and most obvious is the new user interface (UI). When you login to Win8 for the first time what you will notice immediately is a dark blue background with a lot of rectangle and square icons called tiles. These tiles represent your applications. Don’t panic! This is the new start menu, not the desktop. Click the “Desktop Tile” and you will see the good old Windows desktop environment. To return to the start menu press the Windows Key.

Metro Apps

All of your programs and applications exist in the Metro start menu but some of these Tiles will display information without opening them. Most of these apps are cloud applications that pull information from the Internet. One of the apps that come with Windows 8 is the beautiful Bing Weather app. I also like the Mail app and Calender app. Mail and calender imports

It’s just getting going and the Windows 8 App Store only has an additional 66 apps in it. Soon I’m sure we will there will be apps from all of the big players, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Gowalla and many more.

The Cloud

Windows 8 has made a huge commitment to cloud computing. You have the option to login using your Live ID then you can seamlessly switch from Live apps to desktop apps. Most notable of these is Skydrive which was pretty much useless until now unless you use MS Office 10.

Ribbon

For few years there has been what is called the “Ribbon” at the top of MS Office. It replaces the old menu bar. Now they’ve brought the “Ribbon” to Windows Exploer.

Defender

You may remember the name Defender or Windows Defender. It was an anti-spyware program that Microsoft purchased. Now it is what they are calling Microsoft Security Essentials a really good anti-malware program that I’ve been using for years. Defender will come with Windows 8 so there is no need to buy and anti-virus.

Should I Upgrade?

The general rule is use the OS that comes on your computer and do not upgrade. That said if you have a computer that came with Windows 7 and you really want to upgrade Windows 8 will run fine on it, maybe better than 7.

Learn More About Windows 8

For a lot more information on Windows 8 see Windows Weekly 250.

Also See

Paul Thurrott’s Supersite For Windows

Simpler Is Better

Mark — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:56:32 +0000

I’ve try the new Ubuntu 11.04 and I think it is an OK OS but for me and my purposes I am going to stick with Linux Mint 10. Linux Mint is like the Energizer bunny, it keeps goin and goin. Ubuntu 11.04 is terrific if you like a flashy user interface.I just need my OS to run my apps and always work, that why I’m sticking with mint. I’ve checked out the Mint 11 RC and when it’s released I will upgrade to 11. If they adopted the new Unity user interface I would have stuck with Linux Mint 10.

Ubuntu 11.04 First Impressions

Mark — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:43:42 +0000

Yesterday I downloaded Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal and I installed it on my desktop first. I did not have any time to play with it because I had to go to work. Today I installed it on my laptop. The install is very easy. You might say effortless. Once installed it is very fast. The new Unity interface is very intuitive. It is a great addition to a great operating system. Unity makes Ubuntu very Mac like in that the toolbar changes with the applications. Also the new launcher bar is very much like OS 10. Mac fans will like this a lot.

Unlike previous versions I had to manually install the Broadcom wireless driver instead of Ubuntu finding it for me. This was not a problem for me because I’ve been installing Linux on this laptop for five years but it might be a problem for a beginner.

I’ll know more about it later. The was only my first impressions. There will be more.

The Winner Mint 10

Mark — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 06:32:30 +0000

I’ve been using Linux Mint 10 on my laptop for a while now and found it to be completely reliable. I’ve been using some form of Linux on it for about 4 years. I have now installed Mint 10 on my desktop. I don’t find Windows reliable. There is always some issue. Lately there is always some process hogging the CPU, RAM or Internet bandwidth. I never have this sort of problem with Linux. Linux Mint 10 is so easy to install and use. It will be my primary OS. I still use PhotoShop and Lightroom on Windows and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Also I have to support Windows users which requires me to use GoToAssist for Windows and GoToMeeting for Window so I have made my desktop a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Linux Mint 10.

Ubuntu Beta

Mark — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:44:12 +0000

The new Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerka is in Beta now and will be released October 10, 2010. I have not tried it (because I hardly do Betas anymore) but it is said to have many great features. Besides the usual updates, there’s a new photo manager, improved multimedia controls, better Ubuntu One syncing, and more.

Get the Beta!

Ubuntu Installer for Windows

Mark — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:40:06 +0000

You can setup a dual boot Windows-Ubuntu Linux system no muss, no fuss. You hardly need any technical skills at all to this with WUBI (Windows Ubuntu Installer). There is a WUBI installer on all Ubuntu Disk but you have to have some skill to create the disk or boot to the disk but you can just download the WUBI directly. Once you have downloaded the executable file just double click on the file inside of Windows and follow the prompts. WUBI will prompt you to restart your computer and take out the disk then you’ll see the computer will ask you what operating system you want to boot. Choose Ubuntu and hit enter. Login and there you have it, Linux. No repartitioning required! It’s very easy!

Karmic Koala Pretty Kool

Mark — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:40:52 +0000

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala is here and I’ve only been using it for a few days even though its been out since September. Sorry I’ve been busy with Windows 7. Ubuntu 9.10 is a fantastic operating system. There is everything you could want here. Easy install, nice looking and friendly user interface. It is very easy to install new software from the Ubuntu Software Center. It has a lot of the most popular open source software like Firefox, GIMP and Open Office pre-installed. After install and a brief update I enabled the wireless driver and put in the security key and it worked with no other configuration. This OS makes me wish this was not a Microsoft world.

Linux Mint

Mark — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:30:14 +0000

I need a Linux that is lightweight. One that can run on old machines. I can install it and not spend a lot of time configuring. I think I have found it in Linux Mint. The one CD install loads most of the common applications like: Firefox, GIMP, Open Office, media players and CODECs. The wireless on my laptop worked right out of the box. This is very unusual for Linux. I am going to send a donation to these guys to keep this distro going.