Full Circle Magazine FR

I am a very basic user and just migrated from Windows completely. My first encounter with Linux was in my office where I saw the servers were running on some other OS. When asked what it was, the reply was Red Hat Linux, and they told me it was mostly for IT and Computer people, and it had less support for multimedia – compared to Windows or Mac which support Adobe, Corel, and like programs. I am a Cinematographer who graduated from a Govt. Film school with in-depth knowledge on celluloid, chemical processing, and studying optics. When I entered industry in Odisha, India; I noted that it is slowly transforming to digital, and one part of my country (Mumbai) is almost digitized as far as multimedia creation is concerned. As a struggling cameraman, I came to Mumbai, and my surroundings were all digital, so slowly I started exploring digital things, and, after 4 to 5 years, I’ve gained extensive knowledge in handling an OS (here Windows XP), re-installing it, installing programs like Adobe, Corel, etc, and understanding cleaning an OS, and maintaining system like de-fragmentation, cleanup, etc. During my self-gained knowledge (thanks to WWW and Google), I destroyed much of my data, many times. I install and uninstall programs, even OS, but I know only the very basics of computing by the way.

Then I was gifted with a Laptop which had windows XP pre-installed, and I used it, but I was frustrated with its start up, slow processing, hanging and virus problems. These lead me to search for another OS which would be more stable, and which I could use for home computing like processing a word file, creating some presentations, viewing photos and videos, and listening to music. Truly speaking, I am unable to buy a Mac as it’s much costlier, so my Google search leads me to Ubuntu. I had also seen it previously on my sister’s PC, but never thought of it, as when I asked what it was, she replied that she was doing programming for her engineering on it. So my impression was that it is an OS for programmers and advance system engineers or computer personnel, but not for basic users. Then, after a year, when I asked a colleague, who is an IT professional, about a substitute OS, and explained my requirements, he suggested to me on an afternoon tea that Ubuntu would meet my needs as a home PC, and it does everything, and it’s free. It was December 2013, and on Windows sites, they were constantly advising to upgrade XP to 7 or 8 before April 2014. I upgraded, but to Ubuntu 12.04. I went through their website, read how to install and use the software center, etc.

Now my 10 years previous era reappeared. As an experimenting guy, I started exploring it, and as a very new user and basic user, who never used even MS DOS, you can’t imagine what happened to me. When reading different articles, I didn’t understand it when they were writing about sudo, or get apt, etc. One day, in the software center, I found Full Circle Magazine (its 80th), and then I download all from zero to 79 and read them from the start. I got an introduction to Linux, and learned many more things, and about available distros. I downloaded Bodhi Linux, Kubuntu, LXDE, Lubuntu, Pinguy OS, Crunch bang and Ubuntu studio, and explored them all. I have spent much time in learning it – at home I read your PDFs all the time, like preparing for exams. And I’ve spent much money (in India, internet is slow, and data plans are costly too and cloud computing is still a nightmare, except in big cities) – I have upgraded my XP with it, but I am happy because I now have the freedom of choice. I am installing a new Linux distro every 1 or 2 weeks for my own satisfaction, and I am now 2 months with Linux and more than a month with FCM. I am happy to choose and get programs to substitute for Windows for my home computing (I’m not yet prepared to suggest its use it in the office as I am still exploring the power of Linux), and I’m even creating home multimedia, even some level of professional multimedia creation is possible – with Ubuntu Studio.

I have also posted some suggestions to Ubuntu and Canonical on their mail, and I want to suggest them to you too, and I’m hoping for some articles considering my knowledge is 0.1% and mostly in Graphical representation as I am a very new user. 1. Can we make Ubuntu more GUI than command-line, as I think a person having zero knowledge can start using Windows even without community support, and you can consider Android also. People using smartphones even don't know it is an OS, they just use it. They download apps from the store, edit photos, share videos, etc. So, personally I think Ubuntu should be more user friendly rather than as it is today. Just install it and use it. 2. As everyone doesn't have internet, or may have only a slow internet, and as Ubuntu is only less than 1 GB (with much free space left over), you should add some additional software's like Gimp, Inkscape, VLC, to applications in the repository. Because I saw people install them and then removed them because they can't play a mp4, or some image and audio files. My suggestion is: can we add some more applications as we have space in a DVD. If there’s a problem in some countries, then we can make different distribution ISOs for USA, China, UK, India, etc. As an example, openSUSE has additional packages and languages in ISO form to be downloaded for systems which have no internet connection.

3. Many people migrated from Ubuntu to other distros when Unity was introduced. My suggestion is: can Ubuntu be installed with different desktop environments, and the user can then select one during login – like (s)he can now do with 2D & 3D Unity. 4. I understand the differences between Deb and exe. Deb has many dependencies but can we make a package and when clicked on the link, it offers to save or install. So one can save the download files and can distribute them, or install them in offline system. We should make available applications in ISO files so one can download all ISOs and write them to DVDs and make an offline repository easily. I also suggest that although there are many solutions like aptoncd, but there should be programs like application backup, super backup, etc, like in the Android sector that saves Android apps like Angry Birds, Gmail, Temple Run, etc. 5. One of my strong suggestions is that as Ubuntu is a community driven system, it should use opinion polls during its release, at least for LTS, to establish what users want, what programs to be included or removed. 6. I know many of my suggestions have answers, but I want Ubuntu to be more user friendly – even for those who migrated from another OS, or for a new one to Ubuntu or computers – without a fear of the command-line. Let the OS do most of its work through a GUI.

7. The last line I may suggest: can Ubuntu give users freedom to make one’s own OS; in a browser, ask what kernel they want, what software should be included, what desktop environment is needed. It will be then called Linux for freedom, or MY LINUX. Now, some personal problems; can you send it to the right person on my behalf, and help me please? I am still confused on which distro to use; some say Debian is best, some say it needs skill and knowledge; some say Ubuntu as it is community driven, and some say it’s now gone its own way rather than what users want and collaborated with. Some say Mint and other distros. As I told you before, I have tried many distros, Ubuntu Studio I liked (as a cameraman), Mint also I liked (now I am on Mint 16 and it’s fully loaded). Pinguy is also very feature loaded. I am now confused. When I first used Ubuntu, and when reading your previous articles and looking at my desktop, I got a different feeling, and I now think that Ubuntu has fixed itself on Unity. When I tried Mint, I got much more freedom to customize. I am confused which one to use, which is more stable. Ubuntu requires extra work after installatio, such as getting an image editor like GIMP, Raw, Darktable; a video editor like Pitivi, a software manager like Synaptic and Gdeb, or a video player like VLC, and Java, Flash, and multimedia codecs. MINT is mostly loaded and customisable. But Ubuntu is the parent on which Mint is based. I am confused, Ubuntu is less than a GB and it has much free space, then why don’t they provide other user interfaces along with Unity, or some more softwares (like Ubuntu studio)?

I am now using a Lenovo B560 laptop and I posted a question in ‘ask’ but didn’t get any reply. I have finger scanner hardware, and it worked with XP but there is nothing in any distro of Linux which detects it. I have one ‘key recovery’ button located just near to the power button, but don't know how to use it with Linux, so some of my laptop’s potential is unused. Which Linux distribution do you prescribe for my Lenovo B560. Specification- Processor: Intel Pentium CPU p6200 @ 2.13GHz x 2 Memory: 2.8 GiB I have heard many times that there are Linux viruses in the wild As I am using only Linux Mint and have completely removed Windows, what is your basic security advice? I know you may be protective in making a statement, but should I really use any antivirus or firewall for accessing the internet, and for distributing some files by flash drive which maybe came from a Windows or any other Linux system. If yes, then please advise on some home computing system protection against viruses, worms, etc. How can I backup my applications which I have downloaded, as I am thinking about a fresh installation rather than upgrading, so I have to avoid re-downloading these applications?