How to Convince Your Friends to Use Linux Without Being a Jerk
03 months ago
Linux is one of the most secure and stable operating systems around, and yet, its user base hasn’t really grown as everyone expected it to. There are many reasons for this, and we won’t go into those right now. However, if you, like any other Linux user, are disappointed by the current market share stats, we can tell you some simple tips that will help you convince your Windows or Mac-crazy friends into using Linux.Now, many Linux users have already tried to coax their friends and family members to try out this popular and newbie-friendly distro called Ubuntu. A select few have succeeded and many have failed. So here, we will give you some important tips to help you spread the word about Linux without sounding like that arrogant nerd who has nothing but contempt for Windows or Mac.
Show, don’t tell
Yes, this is the first and the most important thing you need to do if you have to convince a Windows or a Mac user into using Linux. Ubuntu, Linux Mint and many other distros look extremely beautiful, and honestly, the latest version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu 11.10) looks just as good as a Mac. But hey, if you’re just going to just tell that to them do you think they’ll believe you? Even if they do believe you, they’ll still have no idea what Ubuntu or whatever you’re talking about looks like. My suggestion is, you take your own Linux laptop, hand it over to them and let them play around with it. If you’re on Ubuntu I’d recommend opening a new Guest session and handing over the laptop to them. That way, they’ll have a better idea as to how beautiful even an uncustomized desktop looks like. If, at all, it is impossible to show the desktop to your friend, send him or her a YouTube video of the desktop.
The Show Don’t Tell policy also applies to feature comparisons. Let’s say you want to outline the salient features of Linux. Instead of giving a huge lecture about how virus-free, how fragmentation-free, how fast the desktop is, just show it to them. Take their Windows/Mac laptop and put it beside your own desktop. Start a timer and show your friend how fast it boots. I hate to repeat, but just show it, don’t talk about it.
Stop telling them Windows is bad, they already know it
For a Linux user trying to convince a Windows user into the light side, there’s always the Windows-bashing that comes in handy. At least that’s what many Linux users think. Windows-bashing is great, everyone curses that dreaded operating system, but there’s no point telling a Windows user about it. I’m pretty sure he or she already knows about it. There must at least be a thousand Windows users cursing Microsoft even as you’re reading this article. But no way are they going to switch to something different.
In short, don’t tell them that Windows is bad, don’t even talk about Windows. Just keep telling them: “Hey, I have this amazing desktop on my computer, you gotta try it out”. Hand over the laptop to them and let them do the Windows-bashing. When I converted my friend into a Linux user, all I did was showed him my laptop. I never mentioned a word about Windows or Mac. The moment he saw it, he started ranting about Windows like a pissed-off sports fan.
If they get stuck
Rather than helping them, show them how to get help and support on Linux. Don’t let them rely on you to fix every problem on their desktop. Just give them a short tour of Ubuntu forums, IRC, and manuals and let them figure out for themselves.
Don’t emphasize on the “free” part
Don’t, and I say it again; don’t ever start your pitch with the “free” part. In fact, it would be better if you drop the whole thing out of the conversation. Sometimes, they’re so impressed by Linux that they eventually end up asking you about its cost. Just look at them casually and say “it’s free” and wait for their reaction.
Written by: Abhishek, a regular TechSource contributor and a long-time FOSS advocate. <source>
Unity Issues following upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10 Oneric
0Since I upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10, I have had issues with Unity crashes. Specially when trying to configure Unity with (CCSM) CompizConfig Settings Manager. Last night, for ease of use I enabled Cube Desktop in CCSM and Unity crashed. I was studying for my exams and I couldn’t even open a browser on my desktop.
This in-depth article from TuxGarage saved the night and I want to share this with all of you that might have the same issue. Many thanks to Sikander Hayat Khan who wrote this comprehensive fix.
Missing top and side panels in Unity: Troubleshooting, Ubuntu Natty / Oneiric
Those who have managed to break Unity somehow (by playing with some plugins in CCSM or using Emerald or whatever) can follow this guide and also those who have upgraded from 10.10 and don’t have the Unity interface running.
For some who have upgraded from 10.10, the Unity interface isn’t working properly. All they get is just a desktop with the wallpaper and nothing else. No top panel or Launcher, so they don’t see many options to repair it.
That can be caused by multiple reasons, so there is no one-fits-all fix. But we have put together fixes for some of the most common issues here. And we will update this post when additional issues/fixes are turning up.
Oneiric 11.10
Preliminary note for Oneiric users (as we haven’t fully tested this yet, but it may already help you): In Oneiric, you can’t easily create launchers on your desktop! So, when following this guide, where-ever you really need to run something in the GUI, run commands like these from the CLI/tty instead:
DISPLAY=:0.0 ccsm
DISPLAY=:0.0 gnome-terminal
See the section right-below how to get to the CLI/tty.
But, as opposed to Natty 11.04, pressing Ctrl + Alt + T – occasionally – works to bring up a Terminal. So, just try this first.
Get to the tty or a Terminal
On your messed-up desktop, press Ctrl + Alt + F1 to switch to the tty1. Here you can carry on with running commands and then restart GDM or press Ctrl + Alt + F7 to get back to the GUI.
Or right-click your desktop > Create Launcher… > set Name to ‘Terminal’ > and Command to ‘gnome-terminal’ without quotes. Close this window and then double-click the newly created launcher to get a terminal.
Make sure the ‘unity’ package is installed
For those who were missing the ‘ubuntu-desktop’ meta-package in 10.10 for some reason, the ‘unity’ package didn’t get installed during the upgrade to 11.04. So, we need to check if it’s installed:
dpkg -l | grep unity
If ‘unity’ is listed, proceed to the next step. If not, install it (and its dependencies):
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity
Also, if you don’t have a sound reason against not having the ‘ubuntu-desktop’ meta-package install, you may want install it as well to prevent this kind of situation in the future:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
Now restart GDM and see if that fixed your issue:
sudo service gdm restart
If it still doesn’t work, proceed with the next steps.
Make sure the ‘compiz’ package is installed
Check if the required Compiz packages are installed:
dpkg -l | grep compiz
If ‘compiz’ is listed in the output, proceed to the next step. If not, install it (and its dependencies):
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install compiz
Once installed, you might need to enable the ‘Ubuntu Unity Plugin’ as described below.
Install CCSM and enable ‘Ubuntu Unity Plugin’
If ‘CompizConfig Settings Manager’ isn’t installed already, at your messed-up desktop, press Ctrl + Alt + F1 and login to the tty1 using your credentials. Then type:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
Once completed, press Ctrl + Alt + F7 to get back to the GUI and right-click your desktop > Create Launcher… Type ‘Compiz’ in name field and for the command type this:
ccsm
Close the window and now double-click the newly created shortcut. It would open up CCSM. At the lower left of CCSM, click ‘Preferences’ and make sure ‘Unity’ is selected under ‘Profile’.
If you want to use the default “Desktop Wall”, proceed here.
Now make sure that the ‘Ubuntu Unity Plugin’ enabled.
Also make sure that these essential plugins are enabled as well:
Desktop Wall
Window Decorations
Place Windows
Move Window
Resize Window
Scale
Expo
Gnome Compatibility
Then quit CCSM and restart GDM to reload your desktop. Switch to tty1 once again and run:
sudo service gdm restart
If the previous steps didn’t fix the issue, you may have an issue with the video driver, which should have prevented you to run the Unity session in the first place. To try to fix a possible driver issue, proceed to the lower section of this guide.
Window Title Bars Missing
For those who are unable to see the window title bars, launch CCSM as explained in the above section and first make sure the ‘Window Decoration’ plugin is enabled.
Now click ‘Window Decoration’ and make sure that ‘Command’ is set either to ‘/usr/bin/compiz-decorator’ or ‘gtk-window-decorator –replace’ (without quotes). The first one is the default for Compiz in Natty Narwhal and works for the most. The other one works for the other users, so you might try your luck with both of them.
You can test if ‘gtk-window-decorator’ is generally working by pressing Alt + F2 and entering:
gtk-window-decorator –replace
For those who were using Emerald before upgrading to Natty (or Emerald is somehow set as the window decorator), the version currently provided by the official repos is not working with the current version of Compiz. You can either to switch to the default window decorator or upgrade Emerald through a PPA as per instructions here:
http://www.tuxgarage.com/2011/07/upgrade-install-emerald-through-ppa.html
Install / Re-install proprietary drivers and remove old xorg.conf
At the messed-up desktop, right-click > Create Launcher…, set Name to ‘GDM’ > and Command to ‘gdmsetup’.
Double-click the newly created launcher and select ‘Ubuntu Classic’ as the default session option. Then restart GDM to get logged in to classic Gnome, switch to tty1 by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1 and enter:
sudo service gdm restart
Logged in to classic Gnome now, go to Applications > Accessories > Terminal and rename your current xorg.conf in order to disable its use:
sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
Note the capital ‘X’ for X11. The file might not be present in some systems. No problem if it gives an error like ‘file not found’.
Now go to System > Administration > Additional Driver and if any drivers are enabled, remove them, reboot, re-install the drivers, reboot once more. Now logout from the classic Gnome session, at the login screen, click your username and Sessions menu should appear at the bottom of your screen. Choose ‘Ubuntu’ and login. Glad if the issue was sorted, if not, proceed with the next step.
Update: For some older Nvidia cards, the ‘nvidia-current’ driver doesn’t seem capable of running Unity while ‘nvidia-173′ can run Unity on the same cards. Test both if you are having problems with the current one.
Reset Compiz
The following commands will reset all the settings for Compiz. You can run them in a terminal if available, or a tty:
gconftool-2 –recursive-unset /apps/compiz-1
gconftool-2 –recursive-unset /apps/compizconfig-1
rm ~/.compiz-1/session/*
rm ~/.config/compiz-1/compizconfig/config
Reset Unity
Reset all the configuration for Unity by running this command in a terminal, or a tty1:
unity –reset
This command won’t work if GDM is not running. Don’t stop GDM before the completion of this command.
Sometimes, the command hangs and you get no feedback what is going on. Normally it takes less than a minute to complete. To be safe, you can give it 2-3 minutes and then press Ctrl + C to terminate it. Then restart GDM to reload your desktop, switch to tty1 by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1 and enter:
sudo service gdm restart
If it still doesn’t work, run these commands one by one and post the complete outputs here or at Ubuntu Forums as it would tell us about your graphics card/drivers in use and also if your system is actually capable of running Unity:
/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
lshw -c video
Check failed?
The reasons for a failing Unity support check include:
insufficient video card/chip
insufficient video driver
blacklisted video card/chip
it is delivering incorrect results
HP to Put Linux in Printers and PC’s: It’s the End of an Era for Windows
0Zemlin’s Blog :
I attended HP’s press conference this morning and Linux again took center stage as a major technology leader revealed the details of its mobile device strategy. HP announced two new WebOS phones and more importantly an impressive new tablet that is a clear contender against the iPad. While I don’t for one second underestimate Apple, that was not the most interesting part of the event for me.
The most interesting part of the event came near the end when HP announced that it is going to ship WebOS not only in phones, tablets and printers, but in PC’s as well. In doing so, the worlds largest PC supplier is indicating that they are going to ship PC’s without Windows. For Microsoft – who was nowhere at this event – that has got to hurt. Perhaps this really IS the year of the Linux desktop.
For investors and developers alike, this is your canary in the coal mine in case you haven’t been paying attention lately. There are very few things in computing that are not made with Linux these days. Linux is the underpinning technology for nearly every sector of the market in every form of computing.
HP is among a number of leading companies who understand that when consumers expect sophisticated devices and innovation is happening super fast, they can’t go it alone. HP could not have untethered itself from Microsoft and created the devices it revealed today or come to market this fast, if it had started from scratch. And, WebOS would not be what it is today without all of the technologies that is provided with Linux and the myriad of projects that make up a typical Linux platform. All the work that goes into these Linux-based mobile devices helps other solutions succeed.
By using Linux to capture what analysts predict will be a $30B market for tablets by 2012, HP is further validating Linux as the foundation from which next-generation mobile devices will run. Companies are choosing Linux because it supports more architectures and more devices than any other OS and is freely available and is able to be custom-branded. No other OS on the market can deliver on all of this.
HP’s decision to build its next-generation of devices on Linux and WebOS is good for HP, good for other Linux-based OSes, and good for the platform. The more companies who are building on Linux, the stronger the platform becomes. We’re looking forward to bringing HP and other community stakeholders together on future Linux and WebOS innovations.
Canonical today announces complete database of certified components for Ubuntu and Linux
011 months ago
LONDON, February 10, 2011 — Canonical today announced that for the first time it was making publicly available its complete database of certified components for Ubuntu and Linux — rapidly reducing the the time-to-market for Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) working on Ubuntu or Linux machines.
The catalogue gives ODMs a selection of over 1300 certified components from 161 manufacturers, making it the largest list of Linux-compatible components available. It takes advantage of Canonical’s position at the heart of the server and PC industry, which enables the company to get components first as it deals globally with a huge range of manufacturers.
“There has not been a comprehensive, up-to-date freely available catalog like this for a long time,” said Victor Palau, Platform Services Manager at Canonical. “By making this open and easily searchable we want to speed the component selection for Ubuntu machines, and allow us and our partner manufacturers to focus on the value-added user experience.”
With this database, corporate buyers can specify the design of their Ubuntu desktops or servers from manufacturers much more efficiently. Individuals can be sure that the key components of the machine they are considering will work with their preferred Ubuntu or Linux distribution. The PC and server industry will also have a simple single source to publicize the work that they do in certifying Linux components and making that knowledge freely available.
The database is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/catalog.
It builds on the work that the Ubuntu project has already done to list certified machines across the range of active releases of Ubuntu.
Certified complete machines can be found at http://www.ubuntu.com/certification
About Canonical Ltd.
Canonical provides engineering, online and professional services to Ubuntu partners and customers worldwide. As the company behind the Ubuntu project, Canonical is committed to the production and support of Ubuntu – an ever-popular and fast-growing open-source operating system. It aims to ensure that Ubuntu is available to every organization and individual on servers, desktops, laptops and netbooks.
Canonical partners with computer hardware manufacturers to certify Ubuntu, provides migration, deployment, support and training services to businesses, and offers online services direct to end users. Canonical also builds and maintains collaborative, open-source development tools to ensure that organizations and individuals can participate fully in innovations within the open-source community. For more information, please visit www.canonical.com.
How To Install LTSP in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal
0
Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) is a free and open source software for Linux that allows many people to simultaneously use the same computer. Applications run on the server with a terminal known as a thin client (also known as an X terminal) handling input and output. Generally, terminals are low-powered, lack a hard disk and are quieter than desktop computers because they do not have any moving parts.
In case of the newer MueKow (LTSP 5) setup, the client first builds an SSH tunnel to the LTSP server’s X environment, through which it will start the LDM login manager (on the LTSP server). From this point forward, all programs are started on the LTSP server, but displayed and operated from the client.
See How to install LTSP in Ubuntu with few simple steps.
First You have to set a Static IP address in Your Machine to 192.168.0.1
Now
Open a terminal in your existing Ubuntu Machine ad type the following Commands
$ sudo apt-get install ltsp-server-standalone openssh-server
$ sudo ltsp-build-client
$ sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
$ sudo /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart
Now Your LTSP Server is ready. Set PXE boot in client system ( This means you have to select Network card as your Boot Device).
If you change your IP Address You have to do the following
* Configure DHCP Server (/etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf)
* Run command “sudo ltsp-update-sshkeys”