Ubuntu

[Cubedout]

What is Ubuntu?

"Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more." -Ubuntu.com

That was a quote from Ubuntu's website. So lets take a look at the features it mentions and more.

Web Browser
Ubuntu comes standard with Mozilla Firefox 3. This has become one of the most popular Web Browser's because of its great security, and its many features.
“Firefox – the faster, safer, smarter way to browse the Web. “ -Mozilla

Presentation, Document and Spreadsheet Software
I've put these three together because I feel they all bring one thing to mind, Microsoft Office. Your thinking, “Office wont be on Linux what will I do?” Well don't threat, Open Office is here.

Open Office is a Pc Suite which has equal qualities to Microsoft Office. It comes standard with Ubuntu including the following applications: Word Processor, Spreadsheet and Presentation. You may count only three things there, but if you go to the Open Office website you can upgrade to the latest version which adds many more great Office Applications.

Instant Messaging
Ubuntu comes default with Pidgin Internet Messenger. It supports more than one type of messenger network. The following are supported: Aim, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, GroupWise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILK, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo and Zephyr.
It gives you your basic screens that you are used to with the likes of MSN, and can provide connections to more than 1 account at a time.

For MSN users I personally recommend downloading Amsn. It is a brilliant instant messenger with most of the basic features of Windows Live Messenger.

Accessories
When you look in your Windows Accessories you find your basics: Paint, Notepad, Ect... With Ubuntu you have all the kind of applications you would expect to find in here.

But what's great is that Ubuntu also shows off some nice Graphics applications including Gimp Image Editor, Open Office Drawing, F-Spot Photo Manager and Xsane Image scanning program.

Multimedia
Ubuntu comes with a Music player named Rhythmbox Music Player. This program comes with a Media library to help keep your Music organised and easy to find. It also comes with a application named Movie Player, the title is self explanatory and its a basic easy to use application.

For movies I personally recommend VLC media player. It has basic usage but can play most types of video with no problem.

User Interface
Now the main question asked is “I've been using Windows since, ever... how different will it be to using Windows?”
Well, when we first take a look at our Desktop on Windows we are presented with a Start bar and some Desktop Icons.
In Ubuntu we aren't presented with much different. Except this time we have 2 bars, at the top we have our Applications, Places and System menus as well as our Quick Launch Icons, Date and Time.
At the bottom we will see our current open windows.


(Click Image for a Preview of the Ubuntu Desktop)

The Menus are easy to navigate and most things are easy to find, which makes this a nice operating system for people starting out on Linux.

Finishing note
Ubuntu is a great operating system and after a small amount of time you will find it simple to use. The best thing of all about Ubuntu and nearly all Linux Distros is that they are Free. That's right not a penny spent which makes this a good operating system for our current economical climate. Don't be underestimated by its freeness, it doesn't undercut as the majority of Ubuntu is user submitted, meaning there is no big company putting out costly software.

Please let me know if you need any questions answered, ill be glad to help.

-Cubedout

[Illusion]

Wow thanks for that Cubedout, this gives a really nice insight into the Ubuntu distribution of Linux.

In my opinion Linux is a very nice operating system to use, and Ubuntu is one of the easier distributions to use so is a very good starting point. The user interface is nicely styled and very intuitive.

The one thing that a lot of new users get scared off by is that a lot of the more advanced options and commands have to be done through a command line interface, which can be complicated and confusing to start with.

If anyone feels like writing a basic tutorial on some of the basic commands to get started with or has any links to some good sites with tutorials on them it would be great if they could post them.