St. Charles County Technology Committee

Most of us have been talking about Linux for years. It is usually shrouded with an aura of mystique as though it is both unattainable by mortals and simultaneously as promising as the fountain of youth. If only I had Linux on my desktop, my computer would never crash. If only I had Linux on my desktop, I could write memos which would compel instantaneous action by the management team. If only I had Linux on my desktop, my kids would get their homework done on time. If only I had Linux on my desktop, my hair would no longer be grey and all my youthful vigor would return. Well, maybe not all of those things.

Until recently, Linux was largely unattainable by mere mortals. You did have to be somewhat of a computer geek to select a flavor of Linux (it comes in many "distributions" or "distros," as the geeks call them), get the distribution you selected, install the distro, and then learn to use Linux. Now, or should I say "Finally!", pretty much anyone can successfully use Linux.

Dell brought Linux squarely into the public eye a couple of months ago when it started selling laptops pre-configured with Ubuntu Linux. All of a sudden, Linux is as available as Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X; just plunk down your money and take delivery.

The great thing about Linux is that you don't even have to plunk down your money; you can take delivery for free. Ubuntu is a great choice, though certainly not the only one. You can

1. Download a free copy of Ubuntu Linux live CD.
2. Come to the September TechComm meeting and pick up your Ubuntu Live CD.

The cool thing about this live CD is that you can try it without messing anything up on your computer. You put the disk into your CDROM drive and reboot. Your computer will come up running Linux without changing anything on the hard drive. Play around all you like. Experiment. When you are done, just remove the CD from the drive and reboot; you will be running Windows again.

The big questions are: "Does it work?" and "Why would I want to use Linux?"

The answer to "Does it work?" is unequivocally, "Yes!" I bought a new laptop in June and installed Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows. I can do everything that I want to: email, web surfing, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, printing, sharing documents and printers with other Windows computers at the office, etc.

Answering, "Why would I want to use Linux?" is more personal. Maybe you need another computer, say for your kids to use for homework, and you don't want to pay for an upgrade from Windows 98. Maybe your grandmother needs a computer just to send email and see the birthday party photos that you posted on the web. Maybe you just want to see what all the fuss is about. Or maybe something completely different.

Regardless, Linux is readily accessible and well worth the time to look it over.