Freeing Your Computer from Microsoft

If you aren't sure what Linux is, I've written a brief explanation in my blog, titled "What exactly IS Linux?" - Andy

I took the time recently to test drive the Kubuntu Linux 9.04 Alpha release Live CD. Kubuntu is a branch of the Ubuntu distribution that is based on the KDE desktop. Ubuntu in turn is based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution.

Over the last few months in particular, a lot of cumulative technological efforts have really come to fruition. Just to name a few, the KDE 4.2 desktop, improved webcam and wifi support, and the EXT4 filesystem. You can read more about other recent Linux innovations in my blog post, The Rise of Linux and the Death of Microsoft.


The KDE 4.2 Desktop. Pretty slick eh? No wonder Microsoft is ripping it off for Windows 7...

I downloaded the Live CD image quite quickly from a torrent available on the Kubuntu website, and burned a CD. Upon booting from the CD, I was faced with a plethora of language options, and a menu allowing me to try Kubuntu without making any changes to my hard drive.





Looks good, let's give this a shot. I chose to try Kubuntu without modifying my computer, and Kubuntu began to boot from the CD...



KDE initialized...



...and I was planted at the KDE 4.2 Desktop. Nice!




At this point I decided to look around and see what sorts of applications are installed. Live CDs generally only include a very small subset of the vast array of software available, but it is pretty remarkable how much they were able to fit in. There is a web browser called Konqueror, an IRC chat client called Quassel, an instant messenger software called Kopete that supports many different IM standards...



...OpenOffice.org, free office productivity software...



Many great Linux applications are available as well that aren't included in the Live CD, but can be easily installed. There is free image editing software called GIMP, a Windows compatibility layer called WINE, which allows running many Windows games and applications in Linux, and many many others, literally thousands of free applications and games.

Let's take a look at some of the applications you'll be using day to day, KDE 4 has a System Settings panel, with an Advanced tab...

System Settings:


Advanced System Settings:


KDE 4 has a stylish new filemanager called Dolphin:

Icon View:


Details View:


Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sold (the price is certainly right)... Let's install it! I clicked the Install icon on the desktop and was greeted with the installation screen:

Step 1:



Step 2:


Step 3:


Step 4:


Step 5:

Now here is where it gets interesting, you have to assign space for Linux. You might be able to resize your Windows partition to make space. I chose to manually configure the partitions, deleted all partitions on the drive, created a new EXT4 partition, mounted as /, and assigned all but 2 GB of space to it, then used the remaining 2GB as a Swap partition.

If you are uncomfortable with any of this, I'd recommend having a more experienced person help you with it. Making mistakes here can leave you with a broken Windows install, or cause you to lose data. Back up anything important before messing around with this.

If you have a slightly older computer with a broken Windows install, it might be a perfect candidate to wipe clean and install Linux on. If it's already broken, what's the worst you could do. Also, Linux generally runs quite well on aging hardware.






Ubuntu and Kubuntu 9.04 are among the first distributions to support the new EXT4 filesystem, a successor to EXT3.




Step 6:

Here we create a username and password for our primary user account, as well as set the computer's name on the network.




Step 7:

This is a final summary before we begin the installation process.



Excellent, now we just let it do it's thing...



Now to shutdown and enjoy our new, Microsoft-Free computer!

The shutdown menu gives us a couple power-saving options, Suspend-to-Ram and Suspend-to-Disk power-saving modes.



Shutting down...



Upon rebooting, I noticed a few things. For one, it boots quite quickly, I estimated about 30 seconds from the boot prompt to a fully loaded desktop. Another is that Kubuntu had automatically checked for software updates, and allowed me to install them all with a few quick clicks.



If you have hardware for which proprietary drivers are available, there is a handy application which will allow you to opt-in to use them:



All in all, I've been really happy with Kubuntu 9.04. It does a lot right. All the bells and whistles of a modern desktop computer, but without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on proprietary software. The new Kubuntu is an illustration that, sometimes things that seem too good to be true, are in fact, true, and that something that might be seemingly utopian, is not necessarily impossible. I hope you've enjoyed my preview of the upcoming Kubuntu 9.04. If you decide to give it a try or have any feedback or questions, feel free to leave a comment or post in the Tech section of the forum. I'm eager to hear from you!

Download Kubuntu 9.04

Need some help setting up Flash, or RealPlayer? I've put together a small guide:
Linux Multimedia Guide

One might wonder what exactly this has to do with anarchism. In my opinion, anarchism is all about investigating freer alternatives, whether we are talking about a freer society, or simply a free alternative to the Microsoft monopoly. I think the Free Software movement is an excellent, modern example of Mutual-Aid in action.

-Andy Rink

Andy Rink is a programmer, webmaster and former computer technician with 3 years of professional experience in the field. He is also a musician and maintains the site AnarchismToday.org in his spare time.

• Posted by: personman
• Topic: Technology

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