Nowadays, one reads a lot about open source equivalents of proprietary software. Often these are described as poor substitutes for the real thing. However, some open source apps are starting seriously to outperform their proprietary counterparts. Mozilla Firefox is a classic example of this phenomenon. GNUCash is another. 

Gnucash Splash Screen

Then you can either use the Synaptic package manager or in this instance it is probably quicker to install from a Terminal window. First we make sure the system is fully up to date. Simply type one line at a time followed by the return key...

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Usually the camera manufacturer will  provide software that handles raw files from your camera. However, several problems can arise:-

• You change computer and loose the original software.
• You have several cameras made by different manufacturers but want to use the same application to deal with their raw files.
• You don't use Micro$oft Windows.

So what can you do?

Before you stump up any hard-earned cash, I would suggest you download and try GIMP image editor c/w either UFRaw or DCRaw plugin:-

• http://www.gimp.org
• http://ufraw.sourceforge.net
  

• http://cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw

• People who think 7.5 lbs is the same as 7 lb 5 oz.
• People who think of 0 as freezing 0 as boiling and yet think room temperature as 70.
• Local authorities such as Southampton City Council that insists building plans be submitted in metres but continue to rent allotments in rods!
• People who weigh themselves in stone or weigh cement etc. in hundredweight but have no idea of the value of either in pounds, let alone kilograms.
  
• We buy petrol in litres but our road signs are still in miles - thus making fuel economy calculations almost impossible for the majority of the population. And this is a time when we are told we need to reduce our carbon footprint!
  

The new gOS operating system certainly would appear to up the ante in the ongoing war between the mighty Micro$haft and that pesky upstart Google. But  is it any good and is it really Google? To find out, I just booted from the gOS liveCD I just downloaded.

First impression is that it looks very nice, it's very Mac OSX-like and very green. That is, green in the sense that the wallpaper, scrollbars and most of the icons are all green!

Screengrab of entire gOS screen Click to enlarge

...and Windows Media, Adobe Acrobat, Skype and GoogleEarth

One of the problems with (K)Ubuntu (and many other Linux distributions) is that it will not play commercial, copy-protected DVD's and a number of other proprietary file formats, out-of-the-box. There are complex legal and ethical reasons for this. However, many users just want to play their files and watch their DVD's. So what is the easiest way to make (K)Ubuntu do these things?

In principle, you need to add a couple of extra repositories to your system, namely...

• deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ gutsy free non-free
• deb-src http://packages.medibuntu.org/ gutsy free non-free

and then you have to download some packages that contain the software and libraries you need. If all goes to plan, then the instructions below will add the following additional features to your system...

• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Google Earth 
• MPEG Encoder
  
• Play copy-protected DVD's 
• Play proprietary Windows Media file formats 
• Skype 

There are several ways to do this but probably the simplest and most comprehensive is to open a terminal window and type in each of the following four commands, followed by the "return" key. Please note that all four of these commands are single lines - though your browser may have caused them to "line-wrap". 

1. Add repositories. The repository you use depends on the version of Ubuntu you are using:-

Version 7.xx (Gutsy):-
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Version 8.xx (Hardy):-
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

2. If this generates a "No such file or directory" error it might be necessary to...

sudo mkdir /etc/apt/sources.list.d

3. Install GPG key - this is needed verify the repository when your machne does routine updates...

wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

4. Upgrade the distribution...

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

5. Install applications and libraries...

sudo apt-get install skype googleearth googleearth-data ffmpeg mplayer mencoder libdv-bin libggi-target-emu libggi-target-monotext libggimisc2 w32codecs libdvdcss2 mplayer-doc non-free-codecs acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins mozilla-acroread

[Reproduced from DEOSS ]

Seems that Micro$haft's corporate enslavement permeates far beyond the English-speaking world. A long and complex legal battle is currently raging in the former Eastern Bloc state of Hungary. APEH (the Hungarian Tax Office) has decided that all Hungarian businesses now have to submit their tax returns on-line.

This would not be a problem in itself. However in an act of inexplicable ignorance, APEH has assumed that all computer users use Microsoft Windows. To complete their tax returns, Hungarian business people have to download two Windows executable programs, run them on their Windows based PC's and then submit these back to APEH, duly completed, using Windoze of course!

Charles Barcza

APEH's tax return files simply do not work on any other platform, not even using WINE or CrossoverLinux. So if you are a Macintosh or Linux user, then tough luck mate! This has infuriated Hungarian businessman and software developer, Charles Barcza. He develops and runs blackPanther, one of the biggest home-grown, Hungarian-language Linux distribution. 

Despite smiling for our photo, Charles is not a happy Hungarian at all because APEH's decision renders his blackPanther OS and all other non-Microsoft operating systems useless for submission of tax returns in Hungary.

We bought a couple of IBM Lenovo 3000C200 laptop PCs in 2007 May. These are fairly average 1700MHz laptops purchased from a UK supplier called eBuyer for around 300 quid a throw. These came preloaded with the basic version of Windows Vista. To describe Vista's performance as dismal would be understatement of the year.

Problems included...

1. Waiting over an hour to get the OS from pre installed state to being actually usable (and I use the word "usable" lightly).
2. MS outlook 2002 crashed on start - seems the pre-installed Office 2007 conflicted with it.
3. Painfully slow start up, over five minutes
4. Painfully slow to do anything at all.
5. Stupid user interface with lots of unnecessary clutter that needed switching off in order to get any speed from the machine.
   

So I took the "brave" step of reformatting the drive on one machine and installing Ubuntu Linux instead. Now, I have flirted with Linux on desktop PC's for some time, though not in any serious way. Until recently Linux was not user-friendly enough for desktop use and besides, it lacked decent applications. However I have used Linux much more successfully on web servers for many years. Garfnet and our sister site DEOSS both run Debian Linux c/w Apache webserver.

But things change very quickly in the IT Industry and Linux in particular has come a very long way.  Besides Vista made me so angry that I thought it was time to try one of the "new" Linuxes as a Windows replacement on a real, working desktop. So I undertook quite a lot of research to try to establish which Linux best suited to day-to-day, desktop use in a harsh business environment. There are many choices but in the end I opted for a Debian-based distribution called Ubuntu.

This is what I discovered...

1. It took less than 15 minutes to install a working Ubuntu, c/w a fully working OpenOffice.
2. I then decided to Outlook with the far superior (and free) Mozilla Thunderbird. This has never crashed and handles my huge archive of old emails far better than MS Outlook. FYI MS Outlook goes decidedly wibbly as its *.PST file approaches 2GB.
3. Ubuntu's start up averages less than 1/3 of the time that Vista takes.
4. Applications load at a speed that I have never experienced with any Windows machine.
5. I have no problems with virus, spyware, trojans, adware etc. Remember that on many Windows PC's half your system reources can be taken up running anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall and other "protective" software.
6. Ubuntu, and almost all the software for iUbuntu is FREE! No strings, no spies, no adware. In fact there are none of the "nasties" that one has come to expect with Windows.

Three months and countless installed applications later, these Ubuntu-based machines still deliver the same performance that they did when they were new. Compare that with any version of Windoze, where machines get slower and slower the more applications you install.

I subsequently upgraded from Ubuntu to the (IMHO) much more stylish and functional Kubuntu - featuring the KDE desktop. KDE is one of many free desktop systems available for Ubuntu. Which one you use is purely a matter of personal choice - something else greatly lacking in the Windows arena.

Since 2007 May, we have purchased 3 Lenovos and dumped Vista on all 3 machines in favour of Kubuntu. In addition we are gradually migrating all our Windows PC's to Kubuntu as well. I am at my wits end with constant upgrading, security patching of Windows operating systems. I am sorry to say that Vista is one seriously-flawed operating system too many for us and I am utterly sick of all the broken promises from Microsoft.

(K)ubuntu has made migrating to Linux really easy for us. So easy that my non-techy girlfriend was able to install a complete Hungarian language version of Ubuntu for her sister in Hungary, including Skype and all the other doodads, whistles & bells in just over half an hour.

There are still issues with drivers for scanners etc, but these are gradually being resolved. Our few "must have" Windows applications, such as ThumbsPlus, Adobe PageMaker and Microsoft Access will all run adequately on Linux by using CrossoverOffice from Codeweavers (costs around 25 quid). Infact MS Access on Linux is actually faster than on Windows! Seriously!

All our other data can be handled perfectly adequately using the fantastic array of free, open source applications available for Linux - such as OpenOffice (opens and saves M$ Word, Excel & Powerpoint files), Gwenview (for managing photos), Amorok (for MP3's) Kaffiene (for playing DVD's and other movie files).

There is also a fantastic array of free, open source educational software that is unrivalled on Windows. The support one gets from the Ubuntu community is far superior to anything you can expect from Micro$oft.

My final comment is that anyone struggling with Vista should seriously consider one of the Ubuntu family of Linuxes instead. My view is that if one has the hassle of learning something new then why not make this intellectual effort really worthwhile?

My remaining niggle is that presumably I must have paid for all these unwanted Vista OEM licences? Clearly Vista is not of merchantable quality. So I wonder how I can get my money back? I feel a letter to the Office of Fair Trading coming on!

This is a whistle-stop tour of the rapidly changing world of open source software. It is intended to give you an idea  of some of the arguments in favour of open source software. Obviously open source has its critics too. However this article does not cover these criticisms. If you are interested in the counter arguments then please visit the Microsoft FUD (fear uncertainty & doubt) site, amusingly entitled "Get the Facts". 

• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/facts/