New
#70
Maybe I just like clicking more then typing. I tried that whole.. terminal thing. Half of the time the guides were not updated with the distro's so it didn't work right and the rest of the time it just wouldn't work! (even with sudo).Well, I guess I don't want to pay for that much licensing and I like to switch it up run a few different operating systems for learning experiences. If everything were the same, it'd be a bit boring.
Well, distributions like RedHat have rpm files (which are installed when double clicked) and Ubuntu/Debian have deb files (which are installed when double clicked). Other distros have similar functionality. Here is a 2 minute YouTube clip showing just how easy it is to install skype on a Ubuntu box after downloading the .deb package: YouTube - Installing Software on Ubuntu 9
And once you get used to the shell, not only is it "not bad", it becomes "preferred" for many us us. The reason that you see so many tutorials on installing software using the shell, is simply because you can cut and paste in the command and you get it right 100% of the time.
For example, let's say that you want to use Ubuntu to play back MP3 files and commercial DVD's. Now, I could write a guide saying, Go Here, click this, click that, choose this tab at the top, scroll down, find the box which says X, click on that, hit apply. Click on Ok 2 times. Then, right click My Computer, go to Properties, etc. Or, I could say, open a terminal and type the following 2 commands;
That's it, it's done. Everything is installed and movies and MP3's will playback. So, now you just store those two commands in a text file for future reference and you are set. If you ever set another box up again, or get a new box, you simply cut and paste this lines and "viola"....you are all set. SIMPLE.Code:sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
For this reason, there are package managers installed on RedHat/Ubuntu/Debian...where it's extremely easy to load software. It's like going to Add/Remove programs in Windows and seeing thousands of applications that you can install. You simply search for what you want (say, OpenOffice), then you click on the box and choose Install. Here is a short You Tube clip showing how absolutely simple it is to install Apache, mySQL and PHP on a Ubuntu box using the Synaptic Package Manager. YouTube - Install Apache 2.2, MySQL 5, PHP 5, phpMyAdmin for Linux Ubuntu 8.10
Seriously, you don't even need to go to the web and download the files first. You just tell this tool what you want and it gets it and installs it for you...as well as all the dependencies. This really is simple stuff.
People always make Linux out to be this horrid system with cryptic and arcane command lines that require a 4 year degree in computer science to use. However, with a little bit of time, you find out that it's really not all that hard to do the majority of stuff that you would actually want to do. Sure, there is a learning curve...but there is a learning curve with everything. None of us were 100% proficient with Microsoft software when we first started using it. It took time. After having used Linux for a number of years, I actually find it just as easy to use, if not simpler to use in some areas.
Any my intended purpose is not to persuade others to come to the dark side and start using Linux, but rather to show the masses that things aren't as difficult as some people make them out to be. Like you said, you dabbled a bit and did a dual boot for awhile. Take it from somebody doing it for years and getting paid for it, sometimes it's not too hard at all.
])...
