(Approx. 2,216 words)

Vista Alternatives – Part II
By Brian K. Lewis, Ph.D., a member of the Sarasota PCUG, Florida
www.spcug.org
bwsail at yahoo dot com
Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

This article is being written in the Linux version of Open Office 2.0 on a computer that uses Ubuntu as the operating system (OS). Since this system is now networked with my Windows XP computers, both desktop and laptop, I can easily transfer files between the computers. I am also able to print from this Linux computer to my laser printer over the Windows network. So what did I have to do to accomplish this?

The first thing I had to do was to install a copy of Samba on this Linux computer. Ubuntu has an Add/Remove graphic interface for the Synaptic Package Manager. This has a one-click download install for new applications. The Samba package that was installed had a GsambaD graphic front end. This turned out to be very frustrating as it insisted I had to be logged in as Root to run the application. Now with most Linux versions this would be a simple change of user. Root is usually the designated Administrator and is the only user allowed to alter system files and add/remove software. There is also a user that has fewer privileges. (Sounds somewhat like Vista doesn't it?) However, in Ubuntu, the user is also the administrator. To carry out any functions that require administrator privilege, the OS asks for the password. The idea being that only one password is required for the user to remember.  Anyway, the GsambaD software refused to acknowledge that I was the administrator and didn't ask for a password, it simply shut down after presenting me with the error message.

The next step was to manually edit the samba configuration file. I did have to do some searching through the Ubuntu on-line forum in order to find some help on the lines I needed to edit. It also required some facility with the command line mode (terminal) in Ubuntu. Obviously, if you are not comfortable making these types of changes, this OS is not for you. Until Ubuntu is able to install peripherals and local networking functions as easily as does Windows, it will not attract a truly large following.

So after making the configuration changes and re-booting the system, I went to the Places-Connect to Server menu. Immediately on clicking on that line, an icon was placed on the desktop and a window opened up showing the shared folders on my WinXP computer. I had no problem pulling up data files or PDF files and reading them. On my Windows computer I also found a new icon in the “My Network Places” folder. This was the icon for the Ubuntu computer. Here I was also able to read the folders and located data files that could be opened on the Windows computer. So the file sharing was successful.

My next complication was to setup a network printer. This had not worked in any of my previous attempts. Now that I was definitely connected to the Windows network I tried again. Going to System – Administration – Printing brought up a window with an Add Printer icon. This time by following the instructions in each window I was able to install my networked laser printer. When I indicated that I wanted install a networked printer there were a series of windows to go through. I had to change the designation from a CUPS printer to a Windows (SMB) printer. Then using the drop-down list I was able to select the name of the Windows computer. The next line also had a drop down list and I was able to select the name of the laser printer. The list did show both of the networked printers. The most difficult part of the printer install was locating the device driver file. First I had to select the manufacturer and the printer model. Then I was asked to locate the PPD driver file. I had to go back to the file management search function to find the folder where the driver files are located. Search is located at the bottom of the Places menu. The folder turned out to be at the end of this path: File system-usr - share – ppd. Yes, the folders in Linux have names that are not always straightforward. It takes some getting used to the differences. Once that was done, the last window asked for a description and a location. For the location I typed in the name of the Windows computer. Once back at the Add Printer window the laser printer icon appeared. Then I right-clicked, opened Properties and did a test print. The test print came through much faster than it did when I had tried printing from Windows Vista. So at least I had one printer that I could use with the Ubuntu OS.

The next thing I wanted to test was using a dual boot setup. I had Windows Vista installed on this computer but the changes to the boot menu to allow a choice of booting Vista didn't work. So I tried another tactic. I installed the latest version of Linspire. After its installation I rebooted the system and ended up back in Ubuntu. So after using the Linspire CD to force the boot from the Linspire partition I printed out the Linspire loader file. Then I used that information to edit the Ubuntu loader. I added five lines of code that I had copied from the Linspire loader file. After saving the file I rebooted the computer and brought up the boot menu. Linspire was listed as the first application in the list. Pressing return selected this item and Linspire loaded. So now I had a dual boot system with Linspire and Ubuntu.

One of the first things I accomplished in Linspire was installing the network printer. Linspire automatically installed Samba so I didn't have that to do. In the graphic printer installation I was able to select a network printer as the type. Next I provided the network name; the server name and the application found my networked printers. After that it was simply a process of letting the installer find and install the printer driver and run a test print. I still don't have my inkjet connected to either Linspire or Ubuntu. That will be another project.

Finally, I checked on the networking ability of Linspire. It found my Windows XP computer with no problems. Then I had to figure out how to list the Windows folders I wanted to show in the Linspire file manager. Every time I tried to bring up the Windows “My Document” folder, it would appear to be empty. Since I knew that wasn't correct I went back into the Linspire Network Share Manager and tried to figure out the problem. When I would put in the folder name I would get a bad share name error. So then I made the entire Windows C drive shareable. That worked but I still couldn't get any files or folders listed under my user name. I tried using the Windows user name and password but that didn't work either. Finally I used the Admin user name and password and that worked! Now I can browse all of the folders and files in the Windows “My Documents” folder. The Linspire “My Documents” folder also shows in the “My Network Places” on the Windows computer. So, I can now move files and folders either direction on my local network. The final network setup was to connect my laptop to the wireless network and see if it was visible in Linspire. The laptop immediately found the Linspire computer and I was able to transfer a number of files with no difficulty. However, I did have to first provide the Administrator name and password.

After playing with Linspire for a time I went back to Ubuntu. Most Linux distributions don't come with any anti-virus software. Both Linspire and Ubuntu do include a built-in firewall. So I wanted to add an anti-virus. Since my Windows anti-virus of choice is Avast I checked their web page first. They do have a Linux version of their free home edition and it was a Debian package. Both Linspire and Ubuntu are Debian based versions of Linux. This, again, is one of my preferences as I find it easier to obtain and install software packages based on Debian. So I downloaded the Debian version of Avast. Clicking the install package Ubuntu brought up a menu asking if I wanted to install the package using “Gdebi Package Installer” and I clicked on OK. The installation took no time at all, but I couldn't find Avast on any of the menus. So I went to the Avast forum on the web and looked through some of the Linux questions. Not surprisingly there were a number of questions related to installation on Ubuntu systems. I found a command line entry fairly quickly. So I copied it and pasted it into a Terminal window. That put an Avast icon in the Applications – Accessories menu. The next problem was when I clicked the icon it immediately asked me for a license key. I had found a comment in the forum that you could use a Windows Avast key for the Linux installation. Since I had a license key that I obtained for Vista that I was no longer using, I typed it in, pressed Enter and Avast came up in the graphic interface. With one click I did an update on the virus database. Then with another I started a full system scan. So Avast is now protecting my Ubuntu installation. 

There was another application that I wanted to install on the Linux systems. This is Picasa, a photo editing and organizing application. It is produced by Google and is another example of quality freeware. I use it for downloads from my digital camera, for photo editing and for e-mailing photos. Picasa automatically compresses photos for e-mailing. For Linspire I was able to find Picasa in the Click-n-Run (CNR) warehouse. So that was a single click to have it downloaded and installed on the hard drive. In Ubuntu I had to go to the Picasa web site and find the download page and select a Debian version. Once it was downloaded I double-clicked it and Gdebi installed it just as had been the Avast. In both OS's I found that Picasa worked just as cleanly as it did under Windows. Incidently, both Linux OS’s identified and installed my USB card reader as soon as I plugged it into a USB port. That will make downloading photos from my camera as easy as it is in Windows.

So why have I spent so much time playing with these Linux systems? It is mainly because I see them as viable competition for Windows. Granted there is a learning curve to getting these systems running on a computer. But that is true whenever you install any new software application. However I believe that Linspire and Ubuntu have come a long way toward meeting the needs of Windows users. There is a wide variety of software available for these Debian versions of Linux and the download-install functions have been quite simplified. In some respects adding software to either Linspire or Ubuntu is simpler that installing software under Windows. It is only in rare instances that you have to reboot your Linux system after installing a new application. The graphic interface of both of these Linux versions has improved to the point that most Windows users would have no difficulty in making the transition. The major problem is finding drivers for peripherals. I think this is a real stumbling block for some users who might like to change from Windows. Because of this problem I can't recommend either OS for novice users, only for those willing to do some web searching when they can't find drivers for their printers, scanners or other devices directly through the OS software.

I do have several remaining questions on my use of Linspire and Ubuntu. The first is solving my problem with a driver for my Canon printer, possibly replacing it. The second is seeing if some of my Windows software can be run on either system. There are several applications that allow Windows software to be run under a Linux OS. One is called WINE and the other is CrossOver Linux sold by CodeWeavers (www.codeweavers.com). WINE is a free application (winehq.org) and CrossOver Linux sells for either $39.95 or $69.95. So in the next few months I will continue my adventures with both Linspire and Ubuntu. You will see an occasional Linux article whenever I come across something that I think might be of interest to Windows users looking for alternatives. As for me, I intend to gradually transition all of my rk to Linux. 

Dr. Lewis is a former university & medical school professor. He has been working with personal computers for more than thirty years.  He can be reached via e-mail: bwsail at yahoo dot com.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).