A Linux Weekend

It’s been a Linux weekend basically. I installed SuSE Linux 10.1 and Ubuntu 6.06 RC via VMware this weekend. Why? To basically get back in touch with my geekier side of life ;-). In all honesty, I think it would be a good resource for learning. With Linux, I can play around with some Unix commands, setup my own Apache web server, and more. Out of the two distributions I installed, SuSE is a little easier to obtain software because it supports RPM packages. Since Ubuntu is Debian based, RPM packages are out of the question. Things that are done easily in Windows, and easier in Mac, are a pain in the ass with Linux. Installing an application for instance can be troublesome if you don’t have all the dependencies that are required.

I thought about setting up my home PC to dual-boot, but for some reason I couldn’t get PartitionMagic to resize my hard drive so I could install Linux on a secondary partition. I think I will try the dual-boot approach again when I re-imaging my home PC again. I’ll set fdisk to partition 80Gb for Windows and leaving 40Gb to be used for a Linux installation. For purposes for a dual-boot, I think I will go with SuSE because it’s a more robust distribution of Linux. Ubuntu is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but SuSE supports a graphical installation program and graphical boot loader. Ubuntu is more text based until you get into the GUI of the operating system.

The biggest headache I have experienced in Linux is being able to do all the functions and tasks one would do in Windows. Streaming video over the Internet seems to be reserved more for Real Player compatible formats. Forget iTunes or Windows Media Player as they are reserved for the more mainstream operating systems. I am sure most geeks will say you can do everything in Linux as you would in Windows. The main question – how?