Five tips for choosing the right Linux distribution

I have, on a number of occasions, stressed to new Linux users how crucial the right distribution is. Choosing the distribution that suits your needs is the single most important key to success when attempting to migrate from another operating system. But how do you know which one to choose out of the hundreds of variations? Believe it or not, there are some key questions to ask yourself when making this decision. It has been my goal for more than a decade to help prospective Linux users make the plunge with ease and success. Let’s see if I can do the same for you with these five tips.

1: Decide what you need Linux to do

This is essential to your initial success. There are Linux distributions geared for specific needs. Do you need Linux to act as a server OS? A desktop OS? A router? A firewall? Once you have answered the question of what you need Linux to do, you’re more than halfway home. But if you don’t ask this question, you might very well install a distribution (such as CentOS) geared for a server environment and wonder why it makes a lousy desktop environment. Choosing the Ubuntu Desktop distribution and using it as a server will find you in the same state — constantly frustrated.

2: Choose between stable and cutting edge

This should be a black-and-white area and all new users should pay close attention to it. New-to-Linux users who choose a distribution like Fedora will be frustrated. No matter how polished and stable Fedora might seem, it is geared toward the bleeding edge. Fedora is used as a test bed distribution for its bigger brother Red Hat Enterprise Linux, so it’s constantly updating to the latest releases. This leads to users having to fix problems. Even out of the box, you might find Fedora broken in one respect or another.

3: Consider your desktop preferences

Although this issue is about to be tipped on its head (when distributions start migrating to GNOME 3 or Unity), it is still a big factor in the success of a new Linux user. You have to remember that Linux is all about choice, and you have what might seem like an infinite number of choices when it comes to the desktop. There’s GNOME, KDE, Enlightenment, CDE, XFCE, Afterstep, Fluxbox, etc. Each desktop has its pros and cons. If you like the OS X desktop, you’ll like GNOME. If you like the Windows desktop, you might prefer KDE. If you want something different, the world of the Linux desktop is wide open to you. But you have to choose your distribution carefully in this respect. Make sure you are downloading the ISO that includes the desktop you prefer. If you are looking at Ubuntu as a distribution, know that it will soon switch to Unity (an altogether different desktop), but you can opt for Kubuntu (which has KDE as the desktop environment) or Xubuntu (XFCE).

4: Determine what type of package manager you want

This might seem like a question better left for the expert. It’s not. Each distribution deals with the management of applications differently. You have PackageKit, Zypper, Synaptic, apt-get, yum, Portage, Ubuntu Software Center, and more. If you are looking for the easiest application manager on the planet, you want the distribution that uses the Ubuntu Software Center. (I’ll give you one guess which distribution uses that manager.) If you want something more challenging, you could look at Portage, which is used by Gentoo. Synaptic is used by Debian-based distributions, is a front-end for apt, and is an easy package manager (NOTE: Synaptic will be phased out of Ubuntu in favor of Ubuntu Software Center). PackageKit is preferred by Fedora (with yum being the command-line tool), and Zypper is used on SUSE. Each package manager has its pros and cons, but one fundamental similarity is that you can search for and install thousands upon thousands of applications from that one tool.

5: Note the release cycle

This one is a touchy subject among Linux diehards. Most Linux distributions have a regular release cycle (when they release the next version). Some distributions release often, which keeps their distribution as up to date as possible. Other distributions prefer to release less frequently, which keeps their distribution more stable. The question you really need to ask here is how often do you want to update? For instance, take Ubuntu. Ubuntu has one of the most confusing update cycles in the land of Linux. It’s regular but sometimes hard to grasp for new users.

Here’s the Ubuntu update cycle. Every six months, a new release is distributed. Every other distribution (6, 8, 10, 12, etc) is considered a long-term support (LTS) release. This means that support for that release will last for up to three years. Support means new package updates and security updates. All other releases enjoy only a year of support. You can count on Ubuntu releases like clockwork: Every April and every October (hence the .04 and .10).

Fedora releases a new version every six months but doesn’t have an LTS-like version. Maintenance for Fedora releases lasts 13 months. What is crucial here is that you do not want to be using an outdated version of ANY distribution. This is especially true for a server or production desktop, as security and bug fixes are no longer available for a release after a certain point.

Bonus tip: Consider the community

If you can go through the above tips and answer the necessary questions, you should be able to pinpoint the precise Linux distribution you need. These tips don’t include one other factor — community. Each distribution is associated with a community. Which community do you feel most strongly drawn to? Some of those communities are friendlier to new users. Some offer more help than others. But regardless of which you choose, know that you are about to dive into something exciting that will bring you much stability, security, and peace of mind. Whatever your decision, congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of Linux.

ESET NOD antivirus solution comes to Linux

That’s right, one of the long-time providers of Windows anti-virus solutions has finally ported to Linux.

Desktop Linux distributions have surged in popularity on netbooks and low-cost office terminals. Linux has won for its fast startup time, low systems requirements and cost efficiency relative to popular platforms like Windows and Mac OS X.

And so they have decided it was time to join the few proprietary antivirus solutions for the Linux desktop. Personally, I was quite pleased with this news. But then I am of the mindset that you can never be too careful. And, although Linux machines are not susceptible to the multitude of viruses that Windows suffers from, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be protected. For those that scoff, I ask this simple question: Do you ever forward files or emails to users you KNOW are on Windows? If so, then why are you not protecting those users?

And that’s what it ultimately boils down to when it comes to Linux antivirus solutions - protecting those who choose to go a less secure, more vulnerable route. It’s shocking to find out, however, that this stance is in the vast minority among Linux users. Because Linux does not suffer the same fate that Windows suffers (in that it does not require an antivirus solution to be safe) most users don’t bother.

What spurred me on to write this was the majority of reactions on the email list this was announced to. The over-riding opinion was, “Screw everyone not using Linux” and “Why should I protect everyone else?” One reader even pointed the list to an article, published in 2007, titled, “Note to new Linux users: No antivirus needed.” Naturally that sentiment is fine if:

• You do not forward files or emails to other users.
• You forward/send files to users who ONLY use Linux.

But the moment you forward/send a file or an email (especially an HTML email or email with an attachment) to a Windows user, you make them vulnerable.

I find that stance to be irresponsible. And so do the makers of ESET NOD. So I decided to download, install, and try out the product. I have to say, I’m impressed. Installing the solution on a CentOS machine was a no-brainer and, surprisingly enough, when the scan was running full-bore the machine took no noticeable hit in performance. I was working as if nothing was going on in the background.

The product (currently in Beta testing) offers the following features:

• Real time scanner.
• Proactive detection of Linux, Mac, and Windows viruses, spyware, and other threats.
• Small and non-invasive updates.
• Convenient “check for updates” functionality.
• Intuitive and elegant look-and-feel.

The Beta test program for ESET NOD for Linux will continue until the makers have determined the product ready for shipping. At that point the beta versions of the software will cease to work and, I would imagine, anyone wanting to continue on with protection will have to purchase a license. As we have concluded recently, this is going to be a challenge for the creators as the majority of Linux users do not seem to want to lay down coin for software. From my perspective, if you are using Linux in a production environment where there are computers that are more susceptible to viruses, do yourself and everyone around you a favor and purchase a license for this product or a product like it.

Canonical releases complete component list for Ubuntu and Linux

Canonical has released handy links to its full certified components and hardware lists for Ubuntu and Linux.

For the first time Canonical has made their complete database of certified components for Ubuntu and Linux available to the public. According to the announcement:

The catalogue gives ODMs a selection of over 1300 certified components from 161 manufacturers, making it the largest list of Linux-compatible components available. It takes advantage of Canonical’s position at the heart of the server and PC industry, which enables the company to get components first as it deals globally with a huge range of manufacturers.

Here is the link to the component database:

http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/catalog

Here is the link to the Ubuntu-certified hardware list:

http://www.ubuntu.com/certification

Banshee's Amazon MP3 store support hits a snag

“I must have been asleep for days…” because out of nowhere the Banshee music player allows you to shop and purchase music downloads from the Amazon MP3 store. You might be thinking, “Ah, big deal”, but you might want to rethink that. Let’s look at it this way:

What other music player allows you to purchase music from two major distribution sites as well as connect to Last.fm, Internet archives, and miro? None that I know of. This makes the recent migration from Rhythmbox to Banshee (for the Ubuntu distribution) an understandable choice.

Since the Ubuntu One Music Store was integrated into Rhythmbox, I have been using that tool for all of my music purchases. It’s been seamless, but not perfect. For example: There are times when music synchronization was quite slow. There was one occasion where  not all of the tracks from an album downloaded. Those problems have all been resolved as of today. The file syncing is much faster and my missing tracks magically appeared one day. But there is one thing that Ubuntu One does not have that Amazon does - the massive amounts of recordings. Yes Ubuntu One does have a wide variety of selections to choose from. The average user would be happy with what they have to offer. But for people with more eclectic (or wide-ranging tastes), very few can beat the selection offered by Amazon. And of course Amazon does do a better job with their categories (Ubuntu One is missing the Soundtrack category - how did that get by the designers at 7Digital?).

Amazon also has a few other tricks up its sleeve that Ubuntu One does not:

• Free music giveaways.
• Aggressive pricing.
• Major marketing.
• The Amazon brand.

This is all great news. But all is not perfectly rosy. Yes, Banshee has become the default music player in Ubuntu (which will be seen in release 11.04). But Canonical looks to be making a grab for the cash with this venture. From all Amazon sales, Canonical stated they wanted 75% of all revenue generated by the built-in connection to the Amazon MP3 store. This revenue was already being donated (from Banshee) to the GNOME Foundation. Although it’s not a ton of money (just over $3,000 dollars was raised as of February 2011), from the perspective of the open source community, it’s the principle that really matters.

Ubuntu seems to be making this cash grab out of fear that Amazon integration will cut into the Ubuntu One revenue - and with good reason. People are familiar with Amazon. Not so much Ubuntu One. If average users are given the choice between an integration with Amazon or Ubuntu One - they are going to choose Amazon. Not so average users will either go with what’s cheapest, available, or lead with their conscience. As for myself…I will most likely start with Ubuntu One and, if I “still haven’t found what I’m looking for” I’ll move over to Amazon (who will most likely have what I want).

Android 3.0 Honeycomb sweetens the pot for business users

Android has taken the smartphone market by storm. In fact, ComScore reported this month that Android’s market share is up to 26 percent in the United States, relegating Apple to number 3 at 25 percent (RIM/Blackberry is still in the top spot).

But if there is one market segment that’s gearing up to be even hotter than smartphones, it’s tablets. This year’s CES was overflowing with tablets, and most of the devices were running Android. The upcoming version 3.0 of Android (dubbed Honeycomb) is designed specifically for the tablet form factor. Honeycomb is expected to be released sometime in the first half of 2011.

Smartphone vs. tablet

The line between phone and tablet is becoming blurred. Most of the new LTE phones Verizon announced at CES have 4.3 inch screens, and the Samsung Infuse (a new “4G” phone from AT&T) bumps it up another notch to 4.5 inches. Is the Dell 5 inch Streak a tablet or a phone? The U.K. version has voice calling capability. The so-called international version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab also functions as a phone; it’s the U.S. carriers that have crippled the devices to limit them to tablet functionality only.

The business world is just beginning to accept the proliferation of Android-based smartphones on company networks, because there have been issues with security and compatibility. Will the soon-to-be-released tablets that run the next version of Android be better for business users, or will these devices be confined to the consumer space? Given the ongoing consumerization of IT, it’s safe to say that regardless of how the devices are marketed, many users who buy Android 3.0 tablets will want to connect them to their work networks.

Honeycomb sweetens the pot

Android 3.0 promises to make the user experience sweeter. For a brief summary of some of Honeycomb’s new features and a sneak peek at a video that highlights those features, take a look at this Google Mobile Blog post and read Jason Hiner’s article, Google unveils Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ as tablet-only OS.

Content creation

Business users need to be able to create content as well as consume it. To get work done, you often need to type a report or other document, or compose a lengthy email.

The ideal business tablet would allow connection of an external keyboard via both Bluetooth and USB; however, the main advantage of a tablet over a laptop is portability, so carrying around an extra peripheral often isn’t a good solution. That means the soft keyboard should be as good as possible. The keyboard shown in the official Honeycomb preview looks to have large, spacious keys.

But will the tablets also support Swype, which currently comes with the Galaxy Tab and many Android phones? No matter how good an on-screen keyboard is, touch typing on one is a big challenge. I’ve found text entry to be much easier, more accurate, and faster with Swype on the Galaxy Tab than on the large iPad soft keyboard. Lack of support for Swype would make Android 3.0 a step backward for me.

Better multitasking

Microsoft stirred up a lot of controversy by not supporting third-party multitasking on Windows Phone 7. The original version of the iPad didn’t support multitasking for third-party apps, although this was added with iOS 4.2.

Android has the ability to multitask, but with both the iPad’s and Android 2.x’s brands of multitasking, all apps still run full-screen. This means that even though two apps might be running simultaneously, you can’t view both of them on your screen at the same time. On a small phone display, this may not be desirable, but on the 7 to 10 inch screen of a tablet, it is.

For business users who are accustomed to working with multiple program windows on their PCs or Macs, not being able to do meaningful multitasking can be frustrating. Even on a small screen, you sometimes want to be able to see a couple of apps side-by-side. For me, the most exciting development with Android 3.0 is the progress in this direction: You’re able to have multiple smartphone-sized apps displayed next to one another on the tablet screen and interact with them, creating a windows-like environment.

The biggest issue with multitasking (and the reason for Apple’s and Microsoft’s reticence about supporting it) is the effect on performance. Running too many apps at a time slows everything down and uses up the portable device’s battery power quickly. Every Android fan I know manages this problem by downloading and installing a third-party app such as Advanced Task Killer. I’m hoping Honeycomb will come with such a feature built in and that will also include a way to pick and choose which apps you want to allow to run in the background and which you want to kill when you switch away from them.

Better email

There has been a great deal of hype about the death of email, and how it has been replaced as a communications medium by social networking tools such as Facebook. For consumers, this may be true to an extent; for most business users, email is still a vitally important means of interacting with colleagues, clients, vendors, customers, and others.

The Android 3.0 Preview shows a redesigned email client that’s optimized for the tablet form factor, and that’s something business users will appreciate. Something I want to see on the email client is a way to more easily select multiple messages in my Exchange account for deletion. I could do this on my old Windows Mobile phone by simply swyping my finger down the list of messages to highlight them, but it takes far more steps on my Android devices (and on the iPad). You have to go to the menu, select Delete, then touch the checkbox for each individual message, and then select Delete again. This might seem like a small thing, but when you get a lot of mail and need to be able to process it quickly, it matters.

Better web browsing

Business users often need to have multiple web pages open. Although you can do this with current tablets, it generally requires going to another page where the open pages are displayed in a stack to select the one you want to view. The browser in Android 3.0, which (not surprisingly) resembles Chrome, was demonstrated on the Motorola XOOM (which is likely to be the first Honeycomb-based tablet to hit the market). The new browser brings the type of tabbed browsing that we’re all familiar with from Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome to the tablet. This should speed up web research for business users and make it easier to keep track of which web pages you have open.

Better video calling

Some Android tablets, such as the Galaxy Tab, come with front facing cameras for video calling; however, getting it to work can be an exercise in frustration. You can’t do video calling over the versions of MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger that are available for Android. Qik reportedly comes on the Sprint version of the Galaxy Tab, but I’ve had no luck with it on the Verizon version. The only way I’ve been able to do video calling is with Fring, and that works only with someone who also has a Fring account. There is no Fring application for Windows, so I can’t make a video call from my Galaxy Tab to someone using a PC or vice versa.

Video calling is becoming more of a standard on smartphones, especially after the release of the iPhone 4 with FaceTime (although currently on the AT&T network, that only works over Wi-Fi, not 3G). It’s fun for teenagers and handy for grandparents, but it’s also useful for business communications — particularly when you need to communicate something visual (for example, showing someone back at the office how busy a street is when you’re out in the field) or in cases where you need to gauge a business colleague’s reactions more closely than you can with voice alone (for example, when negotiating a contract).

The Honeycomb Preview shows Android 3.0 running Google Talk with full screen video calling; this could serve as a cost-effective way to conduct one-on-one meetings without travel.

More improvements

Other improvements that are coming in Honeycomb, such as the friendlier user interface and the “holographic” pseudo 3D look, will make Android 3.0 a slicker, more attractive OS for business users. Google Maps 5 will allow you to access maps in 3D, which may make it easier to get to those business appointments. And Google’s new ebook app will give you another option, both for reading business-related books and for finishing that novel during your lunch break.

The bad news

Current Android tablets, such as the Galaxy Tab, won’t be upgradeable to Android 3.0. This is because, to support all those cool new features, Honeycomb requires a dual core processor such as the NVIDIA Tegra 2, as well as a display with at least 720p resolution. The Galaxy Tab has a 1 GHz single core Cortex A8 processor and a WSVGA 1024 x 600 resolution display. The last update for these tablets will be Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which is expected to be released during the first quarter of this year. This is definitely a disappointment to users like me, who recently spent $600 for the Galaxy Tab. (Find out what Gingerbread is expected to bring to the table for Galaxy Tab users.)

Summary

Overall, Honeycomb is good news for users who want to incorporate Android tablets into their work lives. The improvements that I’ve seen are compelling enough to make me want to buy a Honeycomb-based tablet when the devices are available.