Operating system or simply OS is essential and indivisible software in computer systems. We have been using Microsoft Windows as OS from a long ago. We are very much familiar with Windows XP and Windows 7, the recent release. After all, Windows is commercial OS. In this article, we will go through ‘Ubuntu’, a Linux-based operating system.
Ubuntu is a free and OpenSource operating system. Before we proceed towards Ubuntu, let’s have a short idea about Linux kernel. Linux kernel was written in 1991 by Linus Torwald, a Finnish software developer. Kernel is actually a heart of any operating system because it is the communication bridge between the hardware and actual data processing in the applications at runtime. Linus Torwald developed this Linux kernel in such a manner that anyone can use, modify, extend or redistribute its source code under a license called as GNU General Public License (GPL). The development of any operating system is very much complicated process because the development of kernel takes much time. The operating systems developed as extensions of a kernel are known as derivatives of that kernel. As Linux kernel is OpenSource, many operating systems have been arrived as its derivatives or redistributions. Ubuntu is also one of them. Three of the most popular Linux derivatives are Fedora, Debian and OpenSUSE. Ubuntu is a debian derivative.
The first release of Ubuntu was in 2004. Ubuntu team releases its new version after every 6 months. The recent release of Ubuntu is 11.04 that is, April 2011. The main and striking feature of Ubuntu is that it is targeted towards users rather than towards programmers. Right now, Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd in US.
Let us know about some best features of Ubuntu. Ubuntu differs from Windows in every sense. It has a well designed graphical user interface from GNOME (pronounced as g-nome), an OpenSource GUI which is also a part of GNU project. Ubuntu has a graphical desktop environment from Unity GUI, a version of GNOME interface. Ubuntu comes with many in-built daily applications such as OpenOffice.org, VLC Media Player, Mozilla Firefox as web browser. Ubuntu support UTF-8 that is, latest version of Unicode. Thus, it has support for almost all languages in the world.
OpenOffice.org provides a free word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software. Many Windows-based programs can be ran on Ubuntu using the emulator softwares or Virtual Machines such as Wine or VirtualBOX.
Ubuntu is a free and OpenSource operating system. Before we proceed towards Ubuntu, let’s have a short idea about Linux kernel. Linux kernel was written in 1991 by Linus Torwald, a Finnish software developer. Kernel is actually a heart of any operating system because it is the communication bridge between the hardware and actual data processing in the applications at runtime. Linus Torwald developed this Linux kernel in such a manner that anyone can use, modify, extend or redistribute its source code under a license called as GNU General Public License (GPL). The development of any operating system is very much complicated process because the development of kernel takes much time. The operating systems developed as extensions of a kernel are known as derivatives of that kernel. As Linux kernel is OpenSource, many operating systems have been arrived as its derivatives or redistributions. Ubuntu is also one of them. Three of the most popular Linux derivatives are Fedora, Debian and OpenSUSE. Ubuntu is a debian derivative.
The first release of Ubuntu was in 2004. Ubuntu team releases its new version after every 6 months. The recent release of Ubuntu is 11.04 that is, April 2011. The main and striking feature of Ubuntu is that it is targeted towards users rather than towards programmers. Right now, Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd in US.
Let us know about some best features of Ubuntu. Ubuntu differs from Windows in every sense. It has a well designed graphical user interface from GNOME (pronounced as g-nome), an OpenSource GUI which is also a part of GNU project. Ubuntu has a graphical desktop environment from Unity GUI, a version of GNOME interface. Ubuntu comes with many in-built daily applications such as OpenOffice.org, VLC Media Player, Mozilla Firefox as web browser. Ubuntu support UTF-8 that is, latest version of Unicode. Thus, it has support for almost all languages in the world.
OpenOffice.org provides a free word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software. Many Windows-based programs can be ran on Ubuntu using the emulator softwares or Virtual Machines such as Wine or VirtualBOX.
Here are some snapshots of Ubuntu:
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Ubuntu 11.04
The minimum hardware requirements for Ubuntu 11.04 are:
1. x86 family processors with minimum 1 GHz speed.
2. 128 MB RAM
3. Minimum 5GB of free space on hard drive
4. Minimum 1024 x 768 pixel monitor resolution
Almost every PC nowadays satisfies these requirements. Thus, Ubuntu is free to install on any desktop or laptop computer. Considering speed, Ubuntu is much fast to load as compared to Windows. As per my experience, Ubuntu starts in just 10 seconds and shuts down in just 3 seconds. It has better security against viruses and malicious softwares over Windows.
1. x86 family processors with minimum 1 GHz speed.
2. 128 MB RAM
3. Minimum 5GB of free space on hard drive
4. Minimum 1024 x 768 pixel monitor resolution
Almost every PC nowadays satisfies these requirements. Thus, Ubuntu is free to install on any desktop or laptop computer. Considering speed, Ubuntu is much fast to load as compared to Windows. As per my experience, Ubuntu starts in just 10 seconds and shuts down in just 3 seconds. It has better security against viruses and malicious softwares over Windows.
Ubuntu Workspaces:
The ‘multiple workspaces
’ is the most significant feature of Ubuntu. Workspaces are the groupings of multiple windows in Ubuntu. These workspaces make the desktop easier to browse and reduce the clutter in tasks. These are arranged in multiple rows and columns. You can use workspaces to organize your work. As an example, you can have all your communication windows, such as email, browser and chat apps on one workspace and the work you are doing on a second workspace Your music or media player could be on a third workspace.
Ubuntu has two editions namely, desktop and server. Both are available as OpenSource and free softwares.
Similar to command prompt in Windows, Ubuntu has ‘terminal’ as command line interface. This terminal is especially in the point of view of programmers.
How to get Ubuntu?
You can easily download a CD image (.iso) of Ubuntu from its official website, www.ubuntu.com . This CD image is of 700 MB. If it is not possible to you to download this heavy file because of slow internet connection, you can also ship its free CD directly to your home. This shipping is totally free and is also available in India.
After getting the CD, just start your PC and run it. You will have two options to install Ubuntu namely, “bootable operating system” and “install as application”. For installing it as a bootable operating, it needs to make free a partition of your hard drive to install the OS. After doing this, you can choice menu of OS after startup. But I will strongly recommend you to choose the second option that is, “install as application”. This option doesn’t need to dedicate a separate partition for Ubuntu. It can be installed and uninstalled just like any application. Also this doesn’t disturb your current file system.
The ‘multiple workspaces
’ is the most significant feature of Ubuntu. Workspaces are the groupings of multiple windows in Ubuntu. These workspaces make the desktop easier to browse and reduce the clutter in tasks. These are arranged in multiple rows and columns. You can use workspaces to organize your work. As an example, you can have all your communication windows, such as email, browser and chat apps on one workspace and the work you are doing on a second workspace Your music or media player could be on a third workspace.
Ubuntu has two editions namely, desktop and server. Both are available as OpenSource and free softwares.
Similar to command prompt in Windows, Ubuntu has ‘terminal’ as command line interface. This terminal is especially in the point of view of programmers.
How to get Ubuntu?
You can easily download a CD image (.iso) of Ubuntu from its official website, www.ubuntu.com . This CD image is of 700 MB. If it is not possible to you to download this heavy file because of slow internet connection, you can also ship its free CD directly to your home. This shipping is totally free and is also available in India.
After getting the CD, just start your PC and run it. You will have two options to install Ubuntu namely, “bootable operating system” and “install as application”. For installing it as a bootable operating, it needs to make free a partition of your hard drive to install the OS. After doing this, you can choice menu of OS after startup. But I will strongly recommend you to choose the second option that is, “install as application”. This option doesn’t need to dedicate a separate partition for Ubuntu. It can be installed and uninstalled just like any application. Also this doesn’t disturb your current file system.
Many third-party applications for Ubuntu are available on web on its free app store. You can easily download them. The only problem with Ubuntu is that, it needs to download ‘updates’ after installation to extend the functionality of the OS. Even common audio and video codecs are not included in the installation CD. But everything is fine excluding this drawback.
Ubuntu will bring you a hatke desktop experience which has never been on Windows. After all, Ubuntu is “Linux for Human Beings”. It doesn’t matter whether you are programmer or user. No problem to use it once!
Thanks and regards,
Nitish R. Muley
