Learning to Love Linux

My entire family has been converted to Linux.  While I drove the adoption as the tech support in residence, the conversion wasn't always met with open arms by all.  In the end the the fear of the unknown was overcome and everyone did learn to (mostly) love Linux.

This post is a summary of the applications that have helped in that adoption.  There are many Windows to Linux application equivalence charts.  This won't be another one.  Nor is this a detailed analysis of the merits of various alternative applications.  Instead, like most posts on this site, is more statement of what worked for us, with minimal explanation.

User Interface

This is the area where adoption begins - initial navigation.  Being able to find, start and stop programs is crucial.  Like it or not, the 800 pound gorilla is Windows and it's navigation paradigm.  Following it has benefits both in home adoption and in transferring skills to systems outside the home, such as at school.  Based primarily on that plus overall out-of-the box functionality, Linux Mint is our main choice, however we have at least one of each below.

• Linux Mint - best Windows equivalent:  start menu, taskbar, min/max/close buttons
• Ubuntu - the foundation for the other two distributions:  inverted UI for Windows users, a lot of "the same only different"
• UNE (was UNR) - Screen optimized for netbooks:  nothing the same here, launcher very unique

Identical - Linux

These applications comprise most of the home computer usage in our family.  Either originally on Windows or once converted to Linux, these are identical.  It should probably be noted that no one is a PC gamer.  Those that enjoy those use dedicated consoles.

• Firefox - customizable web browsing
• Office - word processing, spreadsheet and presentations
• Picasa - photo management
• Google Desktop - desktop, email and web searching
• KeePassX - password manager 

 Office above refers to Open Office, which is cross platform.  Since most home users don't use 3% of the installed function of Office applications, switch the default file type to the Microsoft format (for sharing) and you'll never know the difference.

Alternatives - Linux

These are the native Linux applications that round out the functions wanted by the family.  Note that these links are given for information only.  Applications are installed via the package manager within a Linux system, not via web downloads.

• Banshee - music manager and mp3 sync.  Syncs perfectly to multiple mp3 players and Android.
• Songbird - music manager and iPod sync.  We have only one iPod owner and this works well for him.
• Totem movie player - DVD playback.  VLC has more options and may be use less CPU though.
• apcupsd - software control for APC UPS.  Battery operation options for UPS.
• gnuCash - accounting software.  Amazing software, gave it 14 months of usage, but switched back to Quicken.
• simplescan - multi sheet scanning to PDF.  The 300Mb+ of HP Solution Center is gone.
• Tomboy - cross platform - sticky notes, useful with DropBox. 

Productivity - Linux

Many people create written content either to send (email), print (documents) or remember (sticky notes).  Those that make a discipline out of creating content, in the hope they'll be more productive, might be interested in these.

• Nevernote - an open source, cross platform (near) clone of Evernote, focused on creating the "missing" Linux client
• Rednotebook - an open source, cross platform (including Windows portable version) journal and calendar application

Alternatives - Cloud

A switch in operating systems might also be a good time to look at cloud, or web based services.  Consider your access, storage and security needs.  You may find this is a good time to move to a computer anywhere model.

• Springpad - cross platform, web and mobile. Social and email linkage.  If I ever switched from Evernote, this would be it.  Maybe when I upgrade to Android 2.1, hmmm.
• Mint - Owned by Intuit, "Quicken Lite" - limited to pulling 3 months history when starting, relatively inflexible categories, very coarse grained tax designations.  But, like GnuCash, great for a free application.
• Google Docs - All office type applications and data are web based.  The performance lag, plus existing critical mass keep me from this, but there is a lot of positives if starting fresh.
• Dropbox - cross platform, web and mobile.  Synchronized file access for all your computers via the web.  Allows access from any web browser.

Identical - Wine

This section gives me a deja vu from my time as a OS/2 Version 3 (aka Warp) support engineer.  The Win 3.x compatibility and IBM's inability to market small systems led to OS/2s downfall, but I digress.  In any event, while trying alternatives I did test the following two 32bit Windows applications, which worked perfectly for everything I tested under Wine 1.2 (Windows emulator):

• Quicken 2009 - personal finance management
• Evernote 3.1 - tagged note taking, cross platform (except Linux), web and mobile

Don't Need

A short list of some of the things you'll no longer need to have bogging down your system, keeping updated or having to spend.

• Anti-Virus
• Anti-Spyware
• Disk Defrag
• Adobe Reader
• PDF Writer
• Proprietary Scanner
• Validation
• Upgrade $$$

Problems

Linux is not Utopian computing.  At the end of the day there are still some computer "they're all like that" issues - see the "mostly" comment at the start.  This is our short list of items that I haven't solved due to time, expertise or interest.  One of our Linux Mint systems loses X-Windows only occasionally when two users are logged in.  The UNE system uses a launcher that removed Places which makes local file sharing more inconvenient than it should be.  Our lowest end system (1.8Ghz/512Mb) runs movies better on WinXP, although everything else runs better under Linux Mint.  If none of these situations apply (or make sense to you), have no worries.

Still not sure?  Try one of the Live CD distributions.  While the actual boot is about 20 times slower than off a hard drive, you'll have full functionality once its up and running.  It will even allow installations (for that session) of additional software.

Hopefully this can be a small additional resource to those considering the move to Linux or just starting out.  Net:  the benefits far outweigh the small learning curve to be climbed.  You just might end up loving it.

Enjoy.

Computer Donation

How do you safely donate a computer to a person or organization when you've moved on in your technology needs?  How can you do so without putting your own digital information or identity at risk?  The difficulty in answering these questions keep many old computers sitting unused in closets.

While better than going to a landfill, there are uses that are better yet.  Job retraining facilities can use older machines for teaching purposes, running local applications for courses such as typing and basic computer skills.  Non profits can also use downlevel machines as dedicated kiosks they might otherwise not afford.  Whatever the use might be, something is better than nothing.  Let's get started with some how-to considerations.

The key is to remove personal information from the machine and any licensed software that you are not including in the donation (including original media, documentation and license).  Personal information not only includes information in email and files, also browser cache, cookies, history.

The easiest way to insure nothing is disclosed is to wipe the entire drive.  There are several utilities that will do this, including the popular Darik's Boot and Nuke.  Download the .iso, burn it to a CD (not as a file, as an image).  Insert the CD into the old machine and (you guessed it) - boot and nuke.

The downside to this is that the machine is now unusable without a reload of an operating system.  To reinstall on an older machine, find all necessary drivers, configure preferences, etc. can take some time.  The staff at your chosen ministry or nonprofit might not have the necessary skills or tools either.  It might be faster to do some selective deletion.  The suggestions below will provide some steps to get you started.

• Open the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs then create a new user with administrative rights.
• Write the userid and password on a piece of tape and put it on the side of the machine.
• Logoff then logon with the new id
• Delete all other ids
• Open C:\Documents and Settings, delete all folders except All Users, Default User and the one you just created
• Open the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs then delete as necessary
• Browse the Start menu for applications that may need to be deleted
• Open C:\Program Files, then look for any remaining applications for deletion
• Look for files off the root of C:\ such as \Temp, \Tmp etc that could be candidates for deletion
• Install CCleaner being sure to add the menu to the Recycle Bin
• Empty the Recycle Bin using secure delete
• Use CCleaner to wipe free space

I wrote this from memory as a precursor to helping a friend out this weekend.  I've been away from Windows support for a long time and wrote this as much to collect my thoughts as anything.  Suggestions on better or more current techniques are welcome.

In the meantime, it should help me and maybe some others.  Enjoy.

Some People

While updating a Windows computer on a family member's machine recently I received the unexpected pop up (captured below) when attempting to install Microsoft Security Essentials:

It seems that the copy of McAfee SiteAdvisor I'd just installed on the system was warning me that Microsoft's site had unsafe downloads - as identified by "some people".  The McAfee sales force perhaps?

Too classic not to share.  More geek humor.  Enjoy.