New Distro…

So I happen to come into the possession of a newish computer, it’s about 3 years old, has a P4 2.8GHz Proc and all it needed was some more RAM (the reason I acquired it in the first place). So with a new computer (to me anyways) I always like to try out new Linux distros (though I seem to always come back to Ubuntu in some form or another) and decided that this time I would try an offshoot of Ubuntu to begin with. So I am using Ubuntu Ultimate Edition. Now while the website definitely needs help, the distro itself is *teh awesome*! The version that I am using is based off of the new Hardy Heron 8.04 branch and has a bunch of nifty add on software from a custom repo. I have only been using it for the past couple of days, but I am very impressed thus far, and will post a follow up sometime in the near future with my likes / dislikes.

Technorati Tags: distro, Hardy Heron 8.04, Linux, ubuntu, Ubuntu Ultimate Edition

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Those three wonderful words…

Ok a quick backstory, my wife’s hdd ate itself the other night, and I am working on getting a new one and getting it imaged to a new hard drive. So she has been using the kick around vaio that I use to install different distro’s of linux and just putz around. I found the irony the other night of her using Outlook on Linux in Firefox quite amusing, but last night she said those three words that every linux geek longs to hear, “I Like Linux”. Of course my jaw hit the floor and I thought my head was going to explode from the sheer joy of the moment (either that or a hole was going to be ripped in the fabric of this reality). I love my wife so much, she is the most wonderful, most open minded woman and I am the luckiest man in the world! I love you baby, cause I know you’re going to read this ;).

Technorati Tags: firefox, I Like Linux, Linux, luckiest man alive, vaio

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Irony

I love irony as much as the next guy, but I have to admit right now my wife is sitting next to me, futzing on my linux lappy with Ubuntu 7.10 freshly installed using Firefox to access Microsoft Outlook Webaccess for her work email. I just happen to find that really amusing.

Technorati Tags: firefox, Linux, OWA, ubuntu

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openSUSE part duex

Ok,

So yesterday I went through a 3 hour (net install) of openSUSE 10.3, and everything looked good, but when I tried rebooting after the initial install the screen went all wonky. Now mind you this was on an older vaio, but I have tried numerous linux distro’s on this particular laptop, and have only had issue with the openSUSE version (10.2 before as well). So I guess I won’t be posting my thoughts on openSUSE as I went through the reinstallation of Ubuntu 7.04 (only dvd I had on hand) and dist upgraded to 7.10 last night (well started the process before I went to bed). I am very happy with Ubuntu, but I like to give others a chance, though I might try fedora 9, I am stoked cause the new version of ubuntu 8.04 comes out in 18 days. ;)

Also my server is running Ubuntu (which hosts this and a couple of other blogs), and am happy with that as well.

Technorati Tags: fedora core, Linux, openSUSE, ubuntu

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openSUSE

So this morning I decided that I wanted to give another distro a try, I have a lappy at home that I had ubuntu running on, and figured it was time to try something different. I thought about fedora core 8, but since 9 launches at the end of this month, I thought I would try something in the mean time, so I choose openSUSE (that and it has an easy intuitive network install interface, cause I’m too lazy go and buy some dvd’s to burn). I’ll at some point post my impressions about openSUSE, just for giggles. I happen to like Ubuntu cause it’s got all the features I want and a great support community. While I have been using linux for years, I am by no means what one would consider a *guru*, though I hope to achieve that one day.

For me part of the process is in installing and learning how different distro’s work, though to be honest most of them now a days are so easy a monkey in pajamas could install them, or maybe I’m just jaded that way.

Technorati Tags: lappy, Linux, openSUSE, ubuntu

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More of my favorite things about Linux

Ok,

So here are a few more things that I really dig about linux, aside from the cute mascots. I love having the freedom to choose my particular distro, or if so inclined build my own. I like having the option to make the system as bare bones as I like or as UI intensive as I choose {though I tend to run CLI in GUI, just cause I love the irony {and firefox}}. When I started out with linux I downloaded the 28 disks from Slackware {don’t remember what version though I still have the disks somewhere}, and had my first system up with X11 and connected to the internet within 3 hours {now that is definitely not counting the dl time}. I knew at that instant that linux was the OS for me, but to be honest I have had a hard time breaking free from the “windows”, because I am also a gamer. So I have had to live a double life, as my gaming passion required that I have windows around to be able to play games. Don’t get me wrong, I abhor windows, I use it because I have too, at work, but even then it’s really only for email and news as all my real work is done in my *konsole* window{s} 12 of them to be exact {well at least 12 tabs}.

Now again, don’t get me wrong I don’t believe that linux is the end all be all, and that there are actually some functional uses for windows, it all comes down to the right tool for the right job, I just happen to prefer linux over any other operating system. I also like vi over emacs, so there ;). I prefer KDE to Gnome, but that’s just personal preference, I run Ubuntu @ home and on my VPS {provided by slicehost.com, I have a referral link in my links, it’s where my blogs/etc are hosted and they are teh awesome!!!}, and I run CentOS @ work - though I have a very strong dislike for RH based systems, again right tools right jobs and my personal prejudice.

So I have not jumped on the Mac bandwagon, and probably will not, as they really don’t appeal to me personally. I am trying to get my wife to move to the darkside, and figure that Mac is as closed to linux as I am going to get her. I like the fact that it has “bsd” underpinnings and the GUI experience she has been raised to love. I use GUI when I have to, though if I can do it on the cli I will, but again, this is just my blathering ;). Till next time…

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Now playing on Pandora: Voyager - Crystl Kleer
via FoxyTunes

Technorati Tags: cli, gnome, gui, kde, konsole, Linux, slackware, ubuntu, vi

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Some of my favorite things about linux…

Seriously the command line does it for me, gets me all hot and bothered ;). I just love having all the tools (including the shell itself) to be able to do what I need to do. Let me not even get started on awk and grep, though I think shortly I will write a *my top 5* command line tools or tools that a sysadmin should not live without (as I mainly handle backups this will differ greatly on both experience and preference so your mileage / kilomeratage may vary accordingly).

Ok so here are my top ten five {I can count really} favorite tools {right now}:

1. Bash shell - a very powerful tool with lots and lots {read metric assloads} of tools builtin.

2. vi - yes I am a vi whore, even to the point of using it on the command line, those who know what I mean either will shudder or clap, to each their own. **HINT** if you still use the arrow keys learn the j = down, k = up, h = right and l = left. Also check out shift + v and ctrl + v (visual mode). Oh and I also use vimperator with firefox, cause I just wuv it that much.

3. awk, because the nature of my job {backups/archives} and the reporting there of, I need strong text processing tools and awk happens to be one of my favs.

4. screen - one of the seniors that I worked with {he’s left since} taught me how to use screen, and it’s a tool no sysadmin should ever be without {if it can be helped}.

5. grep - this is one of the most rockingest tools ever greated, simple in design, powerful in function, can make a sysadmins job bearable. {along with regexps ;)}

I’ll write more later on, but this is a good start.

Technorati Tags: awk, command line, Linux, man, perl, python, screen, sed, vi

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