What do you know about ubuntu linux?
Hi. I’m planning on opening up an internet cafe in another country and really don’t want to pay to license 20 computers with microsoft. I recently found Ubuntu Linux and saw they distribute their operating system for free. How good is it compared to windows? How long does it take to learn? Does it run normal internet applications such as like Yahoo Chat, You Tube and Limewire? What kind of programs can you get that’s similar to Microsoft Office, etc. Basically anything and everything you can tell me about it. The most info. gets the 10 points. Thanks. 
Tagged with: internet applications • internet cafe • limewire • Linux • Microsoft • microsoft office • operating system • yahoo
Filed under: Linux Applications
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Ubuntu is now the most popular Linux distro, and comes with a lot of software out of the box. You can try it out for free just by downloading VMWare and then running it in a virtual machine. You can also download a LiveCD of Ubuntu which will let you run it straight from your CD drive without having to permanently install anything. Definitely give the LiveCD or VIrtual Machine a try, once you can break away from Windows, you can use your computer any way you want, not just as Microsoft allows you.
Well, I have one computer that I use with Ubuntu Linux. It is great because it is easy to learn, and there is virtually nothing to set up. I think that it is much better than windows, and it is without a doubt more secure. I use the linux machine for use on the internet because it is practically (though not totally) immune to viruses and internet malware. You can learn it in about an hour. THe start menu is called applications and appears in the top right corner of the screen. It runs mozilla firefox, and its own instant messanging program and mail program. However, a cool feature is that in the application menu, there is an add/remove program. It has a repository of hundreds of free and open source programs that are designed for linux. There are tons of internet browsers, email programs, and instant messangers, and all you need to do is find it in the list, and it downloads and installs automatically. Ubuntu linux comes with openoffice, which is available for windows as well. this is a great open source, free program which reads and writes to the microsoft office format, as well as its own format, and writes directly to pdf. The only thing about linux is that is has limited support for network and wireless cards. I tried putting it on my laptop, and it didn’t detect my network or wireless card. However, on the desktop that i have, it instantly detected it, and i was on the internet with no configuration necessary. Also, you can either download ubuntu for free, or if you go to their site, they will ship you cds for free. You can even order a custom number of cds, if you want. Just tell them that you are opening an internet cafe, and let them know how many cds you want. I definatley recommend linux because it it headache free compared to windows, and you definatley can’t beat the price!
lol how about internet explore
The user interface that Ubuntu uses is really simple. New users find it easy to use. I am a new user of Ubuntu and it is easy to use if you come from a Windows environment. I think it would be great for an internet cafe because it runs all the applications that your users would need. You can get OpenOffice to use for the Microsoft office functions. OpenOffice looks like MS Office and it’s easy to use too, as well as being open-source. You can view any webpage that you want with a web browser in Ubuntu, so you should be able to use YouTube on it. I don’t know if Yahoo Chat can be installed on it, sorry. I think if you don’t want to pay for licenses and contribute to Microsoft’s revenue, you should definitely use Ubuntu linux. It is supposed to be Linux for human beings, so I think it’s the easiest Linux environment for your users to jump into. It doesn’t take long at all to learn to use, it looks and acts the same as windows (well, it’s not as ugly, but the GUI works the same way). I bet some people won’t even realize it’s Linux. I don’t think you can get IE for it since Microsoft has stopped releasing IE for free as of IE 7. So you will be stuck with the insecure, buggy IE 6 of you want to use IE. Definitely get Firefox for it. It’s more secure and it doesn’t leak memory like IE. I have used Ubuntu only a few times on other people’s computers, so I would say the learning curve is really short. I could use it right away and it looked and felt familiar. It’s cool that you can boot off of the Ubuntu CD too if you want. Anyway, as an average user who’s not familiar with other types of Linux but does know Mac OS X and Windows XP, I found it easy to use and straightforward.