Unsightful.com

4 Painless Ways to Play With Linux!

It seems like everyone and their mother wants to find out what “this Linux thing” is all about. Well, it’s time they found out. There are so many ways to try it out (are you listening Windows and OSX?) that there’s no reason not to have a go at it. I’ll be your tour guide on this journey, as we descend from the heights of user friendliness and comfort into the depths of the unfamiliar OS.

Here we go!

Level 1 : Run Linux in Windows

Ulteo is a virtual Linux desktop that you install and launch in Windows, just like any other program. Like most of the other methods, you can learn plenty about Linux while you wait for the download to complete – let’s not forget, you’re downloading an entire OS, so 500mb isn’t all that bad. There’s a torrent available which will speed the process, but

What Ulteo provides that other methods don’t is the comfort and ease of never actually leaving Windows. You’re running Linux applications and getting to know KDE, but active programs still show up in the Windows taskbar (see screenshot). That’s pretty slick, and it’s a tremendous way to ease anyone’s transition to Linux.

Ulteo springs into action, delivering Linux to your Windows like so much pizza to your door…

Popular applications are included: OpenOffice, Firefox with Flash and Java support, Skype, Gimp, Kopete Messenger, KPDF, and many more.

Level 2 : Run Linux in a Virtual Machine

Many Linux distros now offer downloads of pre-made virtual machines – ready to run in an application like VMWare Player or Sun’s VirtualBox.  For the sake of time, I’ll stick with VMWare Player since there are a ton of great virtual machines available for download from a single site – VMWare’s marketplace (don’t worry, the ones I’m listing are free.

To use a VMWare Player machine, first download the player itself and install it, then grab a virtual machine appliance or two, launch the player, and then open the appliance.  It’s just like opening a PDF or Word doc you download, really.

Popular options include Ubuntu, OpenSuse 11, Fedora 9, and Damn Small.

Level 3 : Run Linux From a LiveCD

Just about any Linux distribution that’s worth a damn is available as a LiveCD. What’s that? It’s a CD that can boot into a fully functional desktop with loads of programs all set up for you to tinker with. The great part about LiveCD Linux is that you don’t have to install anything to your hard drive, you don’t have to format your hard drive, and you’re not going to screw up your Windows installation.

They’re usually dead simple to get going. Download an ISO image, burn it with a program like IsoBurner, and reboot your computer with the disc in the drive. As long as your DVD or CD is the first boot device, it’ll kick in automatically and start to boot. If your computer doesn’t boot to the disc, reboot and watch your power-on screen for an option that says “Press F8 (or another number) For Boot Menu.” Press whatever key that is, then choose your disc drive from the list, and off you go! Unlike Ulteo, you will not have any access to your beloved Windows environment, but a quick reboot will fix that (just don’t forget to eject the disc first).

My recommendations would include the widely known and extremely brown Ubuntu, Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu, but prettier), Linux Live Gamers (comes with some nice Open Source FPS action), and OpenSuse. For people looking for a minimalist experience, give Damn Small a shot.

…and now we come to the more permanent methods. All of these will require dumping Linux onto your hard drive – with varying degrees of ease!

Level 4 : Install Linux While in Windows

Ubuntu’s development team came up with a great idea: why not make an application that can download and install their OS without leaving Windows? Introducing Wubi, the fabulous installed with the funny name. Wubi makes installing Ubuntu a snap: just download the 1.1MB program in Windows, make your selections from a graphical menu, and watch it run! It’ll automatically download an ISO image and begin installing.

I can hear Steve Ballmer cringing…Ubuntu in the add/remove programs?!?!

When it’s done, your Windows boot menu will be modified (in XP or Vista) and you’ll have the choice to boot to Ubuntu instead so you can try it out. And since Ubuntu supports NTFS, you’ll even be able to access your images, documents, and multimedia to see how Linux handles them. Wubi is probably the most uncomplicated way to get a full-blown Linux install on your hard drive.

There you have it! Four mostly painless ways to experiement with Linux with hardly any detrimental side effects, apart from the free time you’ll lose and the people that may call you a weiner because you now know how to use Linux a little bit.

Posted in Linux, LiveCD, Windows