Why South Africa Remains The Final Frontier

Hello I'm a Mac, and non-windows computers are what i know and love. So when I heard about another UNIX operating system that wasn't Mac OS I was intrigued. Probably because I don't even know what UNIX is but if you say that it's what makes Max OS superior to Windows, you'll seldom get a fight. So for the purposes of this post let UNIX represent a cure-all operating system steroid and the Windos/Mac argument trump card. 

Of course Linux has been in the background for a long time. I had actually heard about it before. It was my girlfriend's French Cousin from Biarritz that used it to make a website and download anime. There was also this guy who worked for a tire store. I knew him because he also worked and a coffee shop that I frequented. He worked on computers in his spare time and thought the Linux Penguin was the cutest thing ever. Having collected some preliminary data I decided that if Linux was something that both the French and Discount Tire employees could agree upon then it was only a matter of time before they combine their forces to hack the internet and rule the world. So learning Linux is like an international business student learning English not because it's the best but because it's simply the way of the future. I called up my computer buddy David and asked "What's linux?" Here's what I learned . . . mostly

Linux isn't a consistent and complete system. Instead it's open source. What does it mean to be "open source"? Well, as far as I can tell it means that you make something very half-assed yet functional and then you let your fan bois fix it for you and make them right reports on how good their fixes are. When they're done you take your favorites and make them your new half-assed-yet-functional and start the process over again. Eventually you get something close enough to awesome that people start paying attention. Thus Linux begot Ubuntu.

Ubuntu (pronounced "ooboontoo" not "oobuhntoo", David) is apparently the newest, and  most popular distribution (distro) of  the open source linux operating system. In that sentence alone is the greater part of my knowledge about linux. Even learning the correct pronunciation was a feat in itself. [Last semester I made gaming acronyms my side learning project. This semester my endeavors are similar. I now know the correct usage of the word "distro"). And since I've explained what "open source" means let's get down to the nitty gritty.

First things first I downloaded the disk image for 64 bit Ubuntu 8.10 Let it be known that I don't know yet what "64 bit" means. It's bigger than 32(bit) so I assume it's "better" it's also 2^6, which is like 26 which is 2 times 13. and 2+1+3 is 6 so as you can clearly see 64 bit is better Q.E.D. I followed the instructions on the Ubuntu website for making a Live CD, popped in the disk, booted up the ol' Mac (my Mac is named Jezzel) and started running Ubuntu.

First impressions: It looks nice and the start up jingle is very exotic. There's the fire fox logo.

Let the record show that I tried running Ubuntu two different ways. 1 Live from a CD and 2 emulated from VMWare fusion. At this point I very much prefer running it live. I spent almost the whole week trying to figure out how to install tools for my emulator from a "virtual dvd-rom". don't ask me because I don't know. I spent the other part of the week trying to find programs to run. Skype and Adobe Flash player were the two I picked. one so that I could skype help from david and the other to watch youtube videos. For some reason they don't work. I get an error that read "wrong architecture i386". So here's actually where this week's learning curve approaches 0. I know how to install packages but only on 32 bit. I do know a little bit more about Terminal for Mac. But pretty much everything I did with Ubunut's terminal was copy and past commands from google. . . now i must finish this post more coherently at a later date. to be continued .