Chris Denbow.com

Why Linux Ubuntu?

Chris Denbow — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:23:02 +0000

Besides being stable and secure (no viruses or malware), there are numerous reasons. Ubuntu makes the personal computer, well…personal again. You decide everything that you want your machine to do. Customize it. Use only the software you want and need and nothing else. You don’t need Apple or Microsoft deciding for you.

Install Ubuntu on any machine you’d like as well. I am currently running mine on a laptop that was donated. This Gateway dual core AMD64 laptop was originally installed with Windows Vista and was obsolete within a month. The bloat that it suffered by having Windows at its core was killing it. I don’t know why it was donated and I don’t care. It was free to me and I am reaping the benefits of it too. Ubuntu is lean and maximizes the hardware components above and beyond what the original manufacturer intended! No BSOD or blue screens of death when you boot up. Ubuntu Linux is free and all the software is free.

Kick Apps

Ubuntu comes loaded with software utilities. When you buy a car it is assumed an engine would come with it, right? Do you have to go to the parts store instead? Yes, you can purchase those 3rd party tires but I’d rather have the manufacturers first. What are you into? If it doesn’t come installed then you can get it easily from trusted resources or repositories.

Entertainment:

Banshee media players (think iTunes or WMP)
Miro video player and internet TV
Hulu Desktop
Disc burner, AV editors, recorders and more

Office:

Open Office includes word editor, spreadsheets and presentations
Email clients such as Empathy or Thunderbird
I still use MS Office 2010 through a utility called WINE
I also have Google Docs through Prism

Image Editing: (as a photog I still use Adobe products on Windows)

GIMP, a photoshop alternative
Shotwell photo manager
Picasa
Shutter, a screenshot tool

Web Utilities & Communications:

Empathy
Skype
Facebook Chat
Tweetdeck (Twitter, FB, Buzz, LinkedIn and more)
IRC

Others:

Backup tools
Ubuntu One (cloud storage, music store)
Firewall
screenshots
WINE
Notes
games and more!

These applications and software are constantly updated by their (unpaid and fervent) developers. Ubuntu will gently let you know when you can update. When the manager is done you don’t have to stop what you are doing to reboot and enjoy the software either. Your system is up to date and you can just keep doing what you were doing.

Help!

How did your last call to Microsoft support go? What, you couldn’t get a hold of them either? How much money did you fork over to the Geniuses at Apple just to upgrade/install memory that you should have been able to do yourself if they would let you?

My daughter is enjoying her “Dora the Explorer” phase. Dora refers to the Map to help guide her adventures. “So let’s stop and think. Who do we ask when we don’t know which way to go?” The Ubuntu Forums! Think of the forums as more like a personal help desk then an extended knowledge base. These guys are learning & growing just like we are and love to help.

Conclusion

Based on what you’ve read, what are some of the reasons that would hold you back from experimenting with Ubuntu? Add them into the comments section and let us pull you over to our side. You’ll thank us later!

All Show & All Go (my customized desktop)

We Used To Wait

Chris Denbow — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:33:09 +0000

For your entertainment and enjoyment. Feed subscribers may not be able to appreciate unless you click through to listen…

We Used To Wait

Maredsous

Chris Denbow — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:30:12 +0000

There is a local liquor distributor that we visit once a month and I did so yesterday. The friendly sales guy asked what I wanted and promptly ignored it. I asked for a light Caribbean or Mexican beer. he proceeds to take me to the Belgium ales and handed me a huge, corked ale made from Benedictine monks that originally sold for $20. I bought it for $5. I popped it open and enjoyed. I’m glad he ignored my request and showed me what I really wanted instead. =)

DVD Shoots The Dog

Chris Denbow — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:06:24 +0000

DVD Shoots The Dog from Chris Denbow on Vimeo.

Ticklish

Chris Denbow — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:54:58 +0000

I just discovered this video which was probably shot back in December 2008. Daphne would have been about 1 1/2 here. Cuteness!

Ticklish from Chris Denbow on Vimeo.

Why I Reinstalled Windows 7

Chris Denbow — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:54:10 +0000

I really enjoy open source computing. For the past 2.5 months I used nothing but Linux Ubuntu 10.04 as my operating system. It is fast, reliable and bug-free. I love discovering customizable software and figuring out how things work. However, as a photographer, i really needed my tools of the trade: Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

Sure, I installed both of these inside of Ubuntu using WINE but I couldn’t quite get the images the way they needed to be or the text never rendered properly. I wish that Adobe would consider supporting Linux just as they do the Apple and Windows community of creatives.

Another reason for switching back is because I am taking computer courses this fall semester that use exclusively Windows.

I haven’t given up on Ubuntu of course. I installed it on a separate partition and can now dual-boot. This means that whatever OS I need, I can choose Windows or Linux at startup. This way I can continue learning and growing with both.

Win-win!

Fantastico Flamenco

Chris Denbow — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:09:32 +0000

Visual artist Claudia, of Phat Puppy Art surprised me with a beautiful piece of work today. She upgraded an image I shot of a flamenco dancer. I love the textures and color saturation that really make the original image pop. Check out her other works of art here Thanks for sharing, Claudia!

Sleep Deprivation

Chris Denbow — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:06:38 +0000

I mentioned earlier on Facebook on how all three members of the Denbow clan of Texas need help with our sleeping patterns. We’re experiencing a lot of odd behavior when it comes to sleep (or lack of)

Weird hours
no set schedules
waking up in the middle of the night
long naps or no naps (toddler)

We need therapy. Seriously. Any resource suggestions or home remedies?

Ubuntu Promo Video

Chris Denbow — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:09:13 +0000

I love the fact that Dell has partnered with Ubuntu to offer PCs that are not just Windows based. Also love their statement that Ubuntu is more reliable than WIndows as well. Here is a promo video from last year showing the previous Ubuntu version. Can you imagine how much more improvement went into this current version (10.04)?

RSS subscribers may have to click through to the website to view

Who Are You People Anyway?

Chris Denbow — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:18:05 +0000

I’m not one of those people hung up on numbers and it does nothing for my ego. I noticed the Twitter section of my website tonight for some reason and was kind of surprised by the number of followers. I purged almost another thousand followers previously just because I had no idea why they were following or they were spammers and fembots.

You Love Me. You Reeeeally Love Me...

I have a lot of friends on Twitter from Birmingham. I signed up way back in 2006 when it first came out and we all kind of geeked out on it. A have a ton of friends here in the Houston Texas area and other various locales from travels, etc.

But for the rest of you, I’d appreciate a “howdy” and maybe even a 140 character tweet as to why you think I have something of value to offer you. I’ll attempt to do the same because the whole point of these things are to have a conversation, yes?

Oh, and I am grateful to each one of you as well. Thanks, who ever you are!