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Chrome OSのブート画面ではchromium osになっているが、これは開発用ビルドの名前だ。正しいGoogleアカウント情報を入力する。安全のためには、上で述べたように使い捨てのアカウントを作るといい。本誌でも、下の図でお分かりのように、そうしている。アカウントは、ここで作れる。

もうイメージできてたのか。

I've been using virtualbox for a while, but had no idea that virtualbox had started to support vmdk files natively. I found that out today in the above episode. Downloading the haiku vmdk which is the first thing I'm going to try out.

Linux. What is it? You may have heard the term before, but you don’t know quite what it is. No doubt, you know what Microsoft Windows or Apple’s Mac OS X are. Chances are good you’re already using one of them right now. Roughly 87% of end users on Earth use either Windows or the Mac OS X operating systems.
Linux is the other guy. It’s the other, other white meat.

Still unclear? Let’s break it down.

Linux is Open Source, meaning that the source code is open to anyone to modify, configure, retool, tweak, and recombobulate however they like. Windows and OS X are proprietary, meaning privately owned and modified. We don’t get to touch the source code as end users. Why is it cool that Linux is open source? You as the end user get to customize it if you feel so inclined. You may also write programs, plugins, APIs, or any other bit of coding you might know.

It’s freely distributable. You’re not supposed to copy Windows or OS X install discs and start sharing them with your friends or putting them on bit torrents. You’ve paid for the discs but that money goes towards the licensing. You’re essentially purchasing a license to use the software contained on that disc. This is not so with Linux. You can make as many copies as you like, distribute them however you like, and give them to as many people as you like. There are no limits.

Need to use Photoshop or Microsoft Word? Linux has you covered. There are thousands of free and open source software (FOSS) titles available to every Linux user. To replace Photoshop, there’s the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). For Word, Excel and Powerpoint, there’s an OpenOffice.org suite of office applications. Need something to help you draw vector illustrations? Give Inkscapea try. There are just too many mainstream application equivalents to mention here.

Here’s another gem. If you really have your heart set on using that Windows only software, chances are, you still can. WINE is software that emulates a Windows layer right in your Linux desktop, giving you the opportunity to install and use actual Windows only software. Cool.

For those really niche software titles that don’t have a counterpart in Linux, you could try using virtualization software such as VMware, or Virtualbox. Basically, it’s like installing another OS on your computer, but as an application. It is what is referred to as a guest operating system. Just install your guest operating system using one of the aforementioned programs, install your niche software inside that guest OS, and you’re off to the races.

Don’t like virtualization? Try dual-booting. This option allows you to install Linux on a separate partition on your computer. When you turn the computer on, just choose which operating system you want to use. If you’re feeling really frisky, try triple-booting!

Linux is a modification of a UNIX architecture, much like Macintosh computers. The UNIX system is used as a backbone for thousands of security and database servers all over the world. If it weren’t secure and robust, it wouldn’t be used to reliably hold important information. Inherently, Linux is a more reliable OS. Typically, it rarely crashes. I heard a story once about a campus computer running Linux as a server and it had an uptime of 20 years. This may be a slight exaggeration, but it’s a testament to the reliability of the coding.

Linux is nearly virus free. And by nearly I mean 99.999% free of viruses. Why? No doubt is has, in part, to do with the fact that Linux is only used on about 2-3% of the world’s home computers and laptops as the main operating system. Who would waste their time coding a virus for such a small minority? The answer is 00.001%. Awesome. The only thing to be mindful about viruses is passing them on to Windows users. Though the virus doesn’t affect Linux due to its architecture, if sent as an attachment in an email it can still infect a Windows user’s computer. Be mindful.

If the above isn’t enough incentive to install Linux on your favorite, or only, computer, try a liveCD. A liveCD or liveDVD is the whole Linux operating system on a single CD or DVD. They range in size from a couple of Megabytes (yes, a couple) to a few Gigabytes, depending on what software is included. Insert the disc into your computer, reboot, and run Linux from the disc and RAM without harming or changing a single file on your computer. It’s a dip-your-toes-in-the-water-before-you-jump-in-and-get-all-wet approach. It lets you test drive the whole operating system, and software, before deciding what you wan to do. If you like what you see, just click on the Install icon on the desktop.

In Linux, there’s only one easy repository for all your software needs. No more searching the internet looking for different .exe files. Just open up your package application and click on the software you want to install. Installation takes just a few moments. Any time there is an update or upgrade to the software, the OS will let you know. Click to upgrade, and voila! Sweet, new features. Windows has something similar, but it will not update all your products, only security updates and Windows software. Same with OS X. Linux updates everything. Boom! Done and done.

For a list of available distributions, shortened to distros, I recommend finding your way on over to DistroWatch. They have a compiled list of the top Linux distributions available, most of which are available as liveCDs. Below is a list of the top 5 recommended distros based on Distrowatch statistics.

+Ubuntu
-#1 Linux distribution in the world and gaining popularity daily.
-Highly user friendly and great for new Linux users.
-Commercially backed by Canonical.

+Fedora
-#2 Linux distribution as of this writing.
-User friendly. More bleeding edge software and updates make this a little less useful for new users.
-Commercially backed by Red Hat.

+Linux Mint
-#3 Linux distribution, and continually in the top 5.
-Highly user friendly and great for new Linux users.
-A modified version of Ubuntu, including codecs for media playback and extra software specific to the distribution.
-Backed by dedicated individuals in Ireland, with programmers and editors from around the world.

+OpenSUSE
-#4 Linux distribution
-User friendly. Very customizable editions now available with the use of SUSEstudio.
-Based in Germany
-Commercially backed by Novell.

+Mandriva
-#5 Linux distribution
-Highly user friendly. Feels as much like windows as any Linux distro can. Great for new Linux users.
-Based in France.
-3 million worldwide users, according to their site.

My personal recommendation? Choose Linux Mint. It’s based on the most widely used Ubuntu, but it includes many more codecs and features. It’s been said that it’s Ubuntu done right. I agree. Don’t let the fact that it’s based in Ireland scare you. Nearly every Linux distro have translators that allow them to distribute their OS in many different languages, all at the same time. I use Linux every day and look at me now!

Posted by Matthew M. Zeller at 06:00 PM | Permalink

This was my first blog post ever. It was completed as an assignment for the Center for Information and Communication Sciences.

Sun’s VirtualBox is ideal for testing different desktop environments (for example, browser testing), but I’ve discovered it’s also great for running a test server environment. Instead of setting up Apache, PHP, and MySQL right on your desktop machine, you can place them in a virtual Linux server. That way there’s no interference with your desktop, and you can ensure that your development environment is as close as possible to your eventual deployment environment.

With a virtual Linux server running inside your desktop operating system, you can SSH into it, upload files to it, load web pages from it–whatever you’d do with a real live server. And all the software you need is free and simple to configure. Let’s make a start!

I'm using virtualbox to run windows on my ubuntu system. I'm running a local server on my ubuntu configuration. I installed also some FTP server to access my webserver from the client. This article is a great example to do this upside down. I like this Virtualbox a lot :)