Oh Hai!
So I'm a Linux convert. And how. It isn't just that it's free (yes, the mallu in me is in bliss) it's insanely functional, and the mods you can make happen are just plain awesome. Check out what I've done with my Desktop!
^That was old. This is new! =D
So before you skeptics start off with the typical "Oh you need a jang computer for that, and you have to be a computer geek" non sense, stop. Anyone can do this stuff. All you have to do is look. In fact, this blog post is quite unnecessary cuz there's so much more on the net! I've been getting a lot of "How?!"s so I just thought I'll put everything on one page so all my n00b friends can see how its done faster. -_- Also, I'm running on a 5 year old HP Pavillion, with some 2GB RAM and the old Xeon processor, so no jangness there.
There was a point of time I had to spend days to clean Windows, with all those viruses. Sigh. That is a fading memory. Linux has almost nil threat from viruses!
So, for starters, install Linux.D'oh.
You won't lose your old files, so don't freak out. Now You can run Linux comfortably with 10 GB of free hard disk space, but preferably keep 20GB so you won't be in a spot later.
There are some umpteen flavors, but Ubuntu is most widely used I'm guessing. Version 10.10 christened Maverick Meerkat was released just a while back and is stable, so go for it. Download here. Just follow the instructions to install. Preferable create a pen drive installer as shown on the site. Do that, and restart computer with pen drive plugged in. You'll have to press F2(for most systems) when its starting up to choose to boot from pen drive. When you do that, the installer loads, just follow the instructions. Use the partition manager which is part of the installer to create an ext4 partition of 10-20GB, and keep maybe 5GB of swap space. When I first installed Ubuntu, our awesome power ministry decided to shut down electricity for a while. I freaked out, thought I would've lost all my data. But nothing! The installer even resumed from where it left off!
So once your done with that, you can basically run all usual computer tasks, as in word documents and other office tasks through open office, music and the internet. Your machine is quite pimped out already! The default installed wallpapers are quite insane themselves!
Now to push it further.
Installing a package on Ubuntu can be done in three ways. Ubuntu Software Center on your menu is for the super n00bs. For the slightly more initiated, use Synaptic Package Manger on your Administration Menu. Both these work however. The best method is through the terminal. Open a terminal and type "sudo apt-get install <packagename>
Password is requested for and after that you can actually see how the package is installed step by step.
Use any of the above three methods to install a package called CompizConfig Settings Manager. Once done, start this settings manager from your preferences menu. You have a whole truckload of options and effects to chose from. On my system, I have Desktop Cube(in picture), Water and Fire effects, and some other random ones. Install whatever you like! Remember to make a mental note of the keyboard controls of these effects. For example, to rotate the cube shown in the picture above, hold down ctrl+alt and click and drag mouse. The effects are no use if you don't know how to trigger them.
Next for a dock. There are quite a few different dock packages, but from what I know, Docky is the best. Again, sudo apt-get install docky, or through Synaptic or Software Center. You can create how many ever docks you want, and configure them easily.
Like MacOS? I do! There's a package[theme] that mimics OSX exactly! Download and install from sourceforge. The mouse gesture actions of the Mac System are insane. Even the minimize effect is ditto! But remember there are other cool minimize effects through Compiz as well! Once you've installed macubuntu, I think your System will be quite awesome already.
I am a tech freak. I like my desktop all bling bling. XD So, to push it further like shown in the first picture, install the package called Screenlets through one of the three methods. It lets you have these cool non-intrusive gadgets on your desktop which I find super cool. Once you've installed it, go to accesories, and start the screenlets manager. You'll already have a few default screenlets to choose from.
As you can see from my desktop screenshots, I have Clock Ring, SysMonitor, Clock, NowPlaying, Places and KeyRing Sensors enabled in the first and Lyrics, Folders, etc in the second one. I also have a few others like the visualization screenlet(Impulse), Gmail screenlet and the Binary Clock(bottom right). To get new and different widgets, find them on sites like Gnome Look and the Screenlets page. Deviantart has a few killer ones too! After you download them, you have to unzip/untar the file, and extract the folder to some place temporary, say your home folder. Enable viewing hidden files and open your home folder, go to the .screenlets directory and cut and paste the screenlet's folder into it. Now open Screenlets manager to start and configure. [Using terminal, just do this. cp -R <screenletfolder> $HOME/.screenlets]
Generally, on each screenlet, enable the stay below, lock, sticky, and widget options so they don't irritate. =P
I think that's about it. Rather, this is all I've done to my computer so far and it is so freaking cool! Looking forward to more! XD
OpenSource FTFW!
P.S. : If you engineers are wondering how to run MASM and other small exe files like old games, check out this link on a website of a friend of mine!
Leave a comment if you think this was helpful, or if you've come across something cool I'v missed! Cheers!
Credits:
So I'm a Linux convert. And how. It isn't just that it's free (yes, the mallu in me is in bliss) it's insanely functional, and the mods you can make happen are just plain awesome. Check out what I've done with my Desktop!
^That was old. This is new! =D
So before you skeptics start off with the typical "Oh you need a jang computer for that, and you have to be a computer geek" non sense, stop. Anyone can do this stuff. All you have to do is look. In fact, this blog post is quite unnecessary cuz there's so much more on the net! I've been getting a lot of "How?!"s so I just thought I'll put everything on one page so all my n00b friends can see how its done faster. -_- Also, I'm running on a 5 year old HP Pavillion, with some 2GB RAM and the old Xeon processor, so no jangness there.
There was a point of time I had to spend days to clean Windows, with all those viruses. Sigh. That is a fading memory. Linux has almost nil threat from viruses!
So, for starters, install Linux.D'oh.
You won't lose your old files, so don't freak out. Now You can run Linux comfortably with 10 GB of free hard disk space, but preferably keep 20GB so you won't be in a spot later.
There are some umpteen flavors, but Ubuntu is most widely used I'm guessing. Version 10.10 christened Maverick Meerkat was released just a while back and is stable, so go for it. Download here. Just follow the instructions to install. Preferable create a pen drive installer as shown on the site. Do that, and restart computer with pen drive plugged in. You'll have to press F2(for most systems) when its starting up to choose to boot from pen drive. When you do that, the installer loads, just follow the instructions. Use the partition manager which is part of the installer to create an ext4 partition of 10-20GB, and keep maybe 5GB of swap space. When I first installed Ubuntu, our awesome power ministry decided to shut down electricity for a while. I freaked out, thought I would've lost all my data. But nothing! The installer even resumed from where it left off!
So once your done with that, you can basically run all usual computer tasks, as in word documents and other office tasks through open office, music and the internet. Your machine is quite pimped out already! The default installed wallpapers are quite insane themselves!
Now to push it further.
Installing a package on Ubuntu can be done in three ways. Ubuntu Software Center on your menu is for the super n00bs. For the slightly more initiated, use Synaptic Package Manger on your Administration Menu. Both these work however. The best method is through the terminal. Open a terminal and type "sudo apt-get install <packagename>
Password is requested for and after that you can actually see how the package is installed step by step.
Use any of the above three methods to install a package called CompizConfig Settings Manager. Once done, start this settings manager from your preferences menu. You have a whole truckload of options and effects to chose from. On my system, I have Desktop Cube(in picture), Water and Fire effects, and some other random ones. Install whatever you like! Remember to make a mental note of the keyboard controls of these effects. For example, to rotate the cube shown in the picture above, hold down ctrl+alt and click and drag mouse. The effects are no use if you don't know how to trigger them.
Next for a dock. There are quite a few different dock packages, but from what I know, Docky is the best. Again, sudo apt-get install docky, or through Synaptic or Software Center. You can create how many ever docks you want, and configure them easily.
Like MacOS? I do! There's a package[theme] that mimics OSX exactly! Download and install from sourceforge. The mouse gesture actions of the Mac System are insane. Even the minimize effect is ditto! But remember there are other cool minimize effects through Compiz as well! Once you've installed macubuntu, I think your System will be quite awesome already.
I am a tech freak. I like my desktop all bling bling. XD So, to push it further like shown in the first picture, install the package called Screenlets through one of the three methods. It lets you have these cool non-intrusive gadgets on your desktop which I find super cool. Once you've installed it, go to accesories, and start the screenlets manager. You'll already have a few default screenlets to choose from.
As you can see from my desktop screenshots, I have Clock Ring, SysMonitor, Clock, NowPlaying, Places and KeyRing Sensors enabled in the first and Lyrics, Folders, etc in the second one. I also have a few others like the visualization screenlet(Impulse), Gmail screenlet and the Binary Clock(bottom right). To get new and different widgets, find them on sites like Gnome Look and the Screenlets page. Deviantart has a few killer ones too! After you download them, you have to unzip/untar the file, and extract the folder to some place temporary, say your home folder. Enable viewing hidden files and open your home folder, go to the .screenlets directory and cut and paste the screenlet's folder into it. Now open Screenlets manager to start and configure. [Using terminal, just do this. cp -R <screenletfolder> $HOME/.screenlets]
Generally, on each screenlet, enable the stay below, lock, sticky, and widget options so they don't irritate. =P
I think that's about it. Rather, this is all I've done to my computer so far and it is so freaking cool! Looking forward to more! XD
OpenSource FTFW!
P.S. : If you engineers are wondering how to run MASM and other small exe files like old games, check out this link on a website of a friend of mine!
Leave a comment if you think this was helpful, or if you've come across something cool I'v missed! Cheers!
Credits:
- VikramKamath for showing me Linux
- ShankarNarayan for showing me Macubuntu
- Prashanth Pai for the DOSBOX article (http://www.prashanthpai.com/blog/
- gnome-look.org
- deviantart.com
- sourceforge.net
- ubuntu.com
Something cool you've missed:
ReplyDeletehttp://crow202.org/wordpress/wp-content/images/cat-batcountry.jpg
:D
Good post ra!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, for the ubuntu first timers, dont be freaked if your music or video files dont play the first time. You need to download codecs for rythmbox before you can play media files.
Advertisement only xD
ReplyDelete