The Great Linux Experiment continues....

[poltr1]

I've been doing a fair amount of Linux work in the past few days, both at home and at a volunteer organization I belong to.

As some of you may already know, version 9.10 of Ubuntu Linux -- codenamed "Karmic Koala" -- was released to the public last week. I installed it on my desktop. This system can now dual-boot Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu Linux, just like my laptop.


What apps run under Linux? Many. Here's what I currently have installed.
- Mozilla Firefox (included with Ubuntu)
- Mozilla Thunderbird (email)
- Mozilla Sunbird (calendar manager)
- OpenOffice (office suite, mostly compatible with Microsoft Office)
- Adobe Reader
- VLC Media Player
- FileZilla (ftp client)
- PuTTY (SSH client)
- Pidgin (instant messenger)
- Eclipse (software development environment)
- Skype (VoIP telephony)
- Wine (Windows emulation)
- Meld (file difference viewer)

With a few notable exceptions, it's easy to install apps. Just go to "Synaptic Package Manager", select your package by name, click, and go.


I would say a good 75% of what I regularly do can be done using Ubuntu Linux and a few apps: Firefox, Thunderbird, a text editor, and OpenOffice.