Sale

So, just another quick note, Digital Fruit is doing installations of Ubuntu for $20 a forty dollar discount off of our usual OS installation price.  Contact us any time if you are interested.

Ubuntu 14.04

Just a quick note for those who didn't catch it, Ubuntu 14.04, the next Long Term Service release is out.  We hear at Digital Fruit highly suggest upgrading your Ubuntu systems soon if you haven't already.

This Might Be An Inflamatory Post

So, I just had another wonderful experience in Ubuntu today.  I just installed a new update to my powerhouse 13.10 machine today, and when the system reset, something somewhere deep in the bowls of Linux crashed.  My system threw me an error message, very politely informing me that it was sorry it had crashed.  And I went about the rest of my business on my computer, none the worse for wear that a major crash had happened.

When was the last time you could say that about Windows?  A major system failure tends to be just that, a major failure.  You spend countless hours trying to get things to work, or on the phone with tech support, and meanwhile you are losing precious business up hours.  But with Ubuntu, a system error tends to amount to about as much as a sneeze.  You say bless you and move on.

So why haven't more people, and more businesses, adopted Ubuntu as the preferred OS?  Marketing, that's why.  Windows became the dominant OS not because it was the better choice, or it was the most consumer friendly, it got there because of patent rights and marketing, and since this post is about marketing, we'll ignore the part about patents (not necessarily Linux's strong point).

So, I'm posting this rant to tell people that I'm supporting Ubuntu now, and that we will be offering budget PCs to people cheap if they are willing to try the new OS.  Depending on our parts supply line, the should run from about $190-$250, and connect directly to an HDTV or standard monitor.  If you have any questions, just give us a call or drop by the shop.  We will gladly show a demo of Ubuntu to anyone interested.

Till then catch you on the flip side.

Working On Publications

So, I'm working for the moment on coming up with essentially a proof of concept for a Linux gaming magazine, and I've even contacted several of the game studios that have produced the games I'm writing about, and reaction to the idea seems positive.  There's a new blog for the project, linuxgamermonthly.blogspot.com, and its already getting views.  I hope to have the writing and things done by the early part of October, pitch the idea to potential advertisers then, and hopefully be online by the second week of November.

Anybody interested in this publication, let me know by email at andrew@digitalfruit.biz and send all questions and letters-to-the-editor there, too.  Well, I hope to see you there, and till next time, catch you on the flip side.

Discount OS Install

Digital Fruit will be doing discount OS installs for Ubuntu 64 bit and 32 bit installations if you mention this post and would like to switch over to Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu 12.10

Fast becoming one of my favorite things to go online each October, the latest update to my favorite operating system is here.  While not the long term support release, I find that the best new features for Ubuntu come out in the fall.

So as I sit here in front of my computer, waiting for it to download some 2056 new files, which seems like it will take a couple of hours, I'm excited to see what updates will be there.  Some will seem cool, but almost never get used, like the ability to shop from Amazon.com right from the dash.  Others will probably get used every day with out even being noticed, like some of the UI upgrades I've read about.

So, to finish off this little blurb today, I would like to prompt people, if they haven't tried out Ubuntu yet, head to Ubuntu.com and download 12.10, and give the LiveCD a chance.  Who knows, you might just enjoy it too.

Problems for Linux Numbers (But Not Really)

I was checking the statistics of this very blog yesterday through blogger, and I noticed something strange.  The number of Linux users that visits the blog has gone down.  Now, this only perplexed me for a moment, as the answer to the puzzle was also right in front of my eyes, but what do think was the cause?

Well, the cause is that Blogger's statistics are now counting Ubuntu as a seperate and distinct operating system.  And as I see it, this can only benefit the Linux community as a whole.  Yes, it does mean there might be some naming confusion, like how people think Android is different from Linux, but all in all, it means enough people are using a Linux product to set it apart from the nearly thousands of Linux distributions floating around out there.

Now mind you, this is mostly an opinion piece, but it is the opinion of someone who isn't a Linux user on principal, but because it actually does what I need it to better than the competition.  And Ubuntu is something that the more attention it gets, the better it gets.  So, as I said, I think this is a good sign for the Linux community that Ubuntu is getting recognized as a separate system.  Maybe it will get people over the stigma of "using Linux".

Ubuntu Software List

     Its been almost a year now, and I've essentially converted completely over to Ubuntu.  One of the major factors that has assisted in this transition has been the abundance of software I have found that is cross compatible between Linux and Windows, and that happen to be open source.  So, I figured I'd help out those searching to make the switch from Windows to Ubuntu by providing a list of these softwares and where to download them.
     So, to start of this list, I've got a list of programs developed by Google, and we'll move on from there:

Picasa 3
http://picasa.google.com/linux/

Google Earth
http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

Google Chrome
https://tools.google.com/chrome

Google Voice
https://www.google.com/chat/video

Filezilla
http://filezilla-project.org/
(I suggest using Ubuntu's repository to download)

HP Linux Driver
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/index.html

Blender
http://www.blender.org/

The Gimp
http://www.gimp.org/

Skype
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/linux/

Scribus
http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Download
(I suggest using the Ubuntu repository)

Inkscape
http://inkscape.org/
(I suggest using the Ubuntu repository)

Thunderbird
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/
(Once again I suggest using the Ubuntu repository)

Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/
(Ubuntu repository suggested)

Vuze
http://www.vuze.com/download
(Ubuntu repository suggested)

IBM Lotus Symphony
http://www-03.ibm.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home

Adobe Reader
http://get.adobe.com/reader/
(Not actually open source, but preferred for reading PDF)

Eclipse
http://www.eclipse.org/

Update 09-22-2011

Here are a couple of other programs you can enjoy both on Ubuntu or Windows, and even Mac for some of them:

XBMC
http://xbmc.org
(difficult to install on the latest Ubuntu if you don't know what you're doing, but so worth it if you're setting up an HTPC.)

Miro Internet TV
http://www.getmiro.com
(use the repo!)

VLC Media Player
http://videolan.org/vlc/
(use the repo)

I hope that this list of cross-platform softwares has helped any of you trying to make the switch over to Linux, but are left pining for the familiarity of windows.  If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail me at andrew@digitalfruit.biz.  I'll be glad to share some pointers.

Alternative Operating Systems

In my constant search for the best of computing, and the best computer experience, today I have been searching through alternative operating systems to Windows, just to see what's out there. Its an impressive venture, and I'm awed by the array of choices out there. So far I have copies of at least five versions of Linux to try out, OpenSolaris 10, and a windows compatibility project called ReactOS. All of these alternate systems are free, and most of them have a live CD image that you can use to test-run the operating system without actually installing it. This makes choosing one easier, because there is a lot less risk of damaging your system if you don't actually install.
My favorites so far are Ubuntu 9.04(which is now up to 9.10, but I haven't installed that one yet), and OpenSolaris 10. These two operating systems are designed on the Unix platform, and for the most part are compatible with each other and with Mac systems(at least in theory, I'm not having so much luck with that). OpenSolaris seems to run better, but Ubuntu has a larger assortment of programs designed for it.
But for most of the other systems I've been trying to test, I have met with disastrous results. Most of these other alternate systems have little compatibility with my hardware, and they seem to have major problems with graphics modes. ReactOS seemed to work fine on my Compaq, but because I have a KVM(Keyboard Video Mouse) Switch on, the mouse and keyboard weren't detected. So I'll just have to re-try this one on another system.
Expect more updates as I have more fun and frustration with alternative operating systems, and we'll find out if any of these will hold a candle to Windows in terms of casual computing use.

Thank You!

     I've just been looking at some site stats, and I have found that a large portion of you viewing this blog are using Linux.  That's wonderful!!  Digital Fruit, being mainly a support company, is thrilled in the interest people have in a community driven operating system.  We support Linux as well as Windows and Mac operating systems, though most of our support focuses on Red Hat and Ubuntu, as these are more commercially supported and we have the ability to get more professional levels of information on their operation.  We are also looking to start supporting OpenSolaris, and Digital Fruit is looking to have our certification in OpenOffice and several other Solaris products.
    If you are looking for some helpful guides to OpenOffice, since we are on the subject, here is a link to amazon for a book from APress, one of my favorite open source publishers.  Also there is a lot of knowledge on the actually OpenOffice website.  This is the office suite that Top Foods has recently switched over to for use on their computers, and I also know that C & C marketing uses OpenOffice for their office productivity needs.  It's beginning to grow as a less expensive alternative to Microsoft Office®, and has a wide user-base already.  Digital Fruit is even planning to put in some time helping to develop better graph and presentation code for Writer and Calc.  So look out for news on that on the horizon.