Reader Requested Review: Elementary OS Luna

With my first reader requested review of Crunchbang being a success I decided to do another.  This time I took on Elementary OS: Luna. I am currently on a 6 year old HP ProBook with core i5 processor and 4GB ram and do all distribution reviews on VirtualBox.

In my research I read a few random reviews of Elementary OS and found that many people are claiming that this is a good alternative to Mac OS.  Elementary OS is based on Ubuntu and it runs Pantheon for a desktop environment which is based on Gnome 3.  

If you are downloading Elementary OS directly from the website you may see a dollar amount of $10.00 above the download button but paying is an option. This is how they cleverly ask that you pay for their product if you like it. As with most Linux distributions, donations are always accepted as this work is offered for free, however that is a post for another day.

Install

The install for Elementary OS was fast and similar to an Ubuntu install.  It ran through all the basic questions regarding location and language.  After the reboot, I noticed that the system was running a tad slow.  To speed it up I installed preload and zram-config as well as ran all updates and upgrades to the system.

Take Control of the Command Line

An intriguing thing the Linux command line is.  For the past two weeks I have been studying Bash and the command line trying to harness this superpower. I searched and read everything I could find, at one point I thought I reached the end of the internet. Tutorial after tutorial would try to explain the Linux command line, some did it better than others, while I do not feel like an expert I have learned quite a bit over the past two weeks and feel like it would be a good time to touch on command line.

I have thought of several different ways that I could approach this subject.  Every time I started to write a post I would stop half way through and erase the entire thing.  I felt like I was just going to end up confusing those looking to learn the command line.  So in order to give you the opportunity to learn the command line without leaving you with a headache, I am going to share the resources that I have been using. After searching through endless amounts of data these resources are the ones that have taught me the most.

First and probably the best resource I found was through Programming Motherfucker.  Not only is this site amazeballs but it gives some of the best information when it comes to learning any type of language.  For Bash they link to Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide.  This guide may say advanced but the goal of it is to take you from beginner to advanced.  There is a ton of information in this guide so you may want to take it slow and not overload yourself. I know I sometimes forget and overload on data myself.  I found reading it in 15 minute snippets throughout the day and then reviewing the information in bulk at the end of the day was the best way for the information to sink in, however whatever your usual study routine is may work better for you.

For a how to guide and shortcut list I highly recommend Dave Child's Linux Command Line Cheat Sheet.  This cheat sheet is comprehensive; showing you how to correctly use commands, shortcuts, and other special functions.  I highly recommend bookmarking this cheat sheet just to keep it handy in case you need a quick reference guide.

A good one for commands is An A-Z Index of the Bash Command Line for Linux.  If there is a command you need this index has it.  Read through it a few times and before you know it you will start remembering the most useful commands that you would use.

There are times that we sit at the terminal pondering the next step, it is helpful to see what others have done that you can try.  CommandFU is the place to go, it will break that stuck feeling and show you some pretty awesome things to try on your own.  Plus there are a lot of tips and tricks that you may find useful.

Finally, you can always just go to your terminal.  If you need to know the options and functions of a certain command you can simply type man (command here) to see a list of what that command does and what arguments can be made with the command. Once done just hit q to quit the man command.

I will tell you the same thing I have told you before.  In order to learn the command line you will have to get into it and just start working.  I hope these websites will be as helpful to you as they are to me.  If you know of any great websites for bash scripting please feel free to leave a comment below.

This Code is Rated PG-13

Notice: If swearing offends you please avoid this post!

Have you ever had that day where the program you are working with is just not working. You've gone through restarts and trouble shooting, trying everything you can to get it to work and it just won't. Sometimes it's not the program and it's a coworker. They're asking questions you already answered. They are calling you about an email they sent just one minute ago to verify you got it instead of setting up a read request.  As frustration builds sometimes we lash out quietly by typing or writing a quick note telling the program, co-worker, or boss exactly what we think of them before erasing it and completing our work.

This type of frustration happens often in the workplace and no one is immune to it.  Even programmers, the fun thing for programmers is they get to write out their complaints in the code.  Any programming language offers a way for the programmer to comment on the code they are writing.  I'm sure as you can imagine from your own experience, there are days when the project a programmer is working on will just not work right.  Sometimes something was done to the code to mess it up; or they forgot a piece of the code to make it work.  A programmer might leave a snarky comment to let the program know exactly what they think of it at that point in time.  

This is where the fun comes in, my research for a future post lead me to a neat little trick.  If you go into your command line and type grep (insert swear word here) -R /usr/; you will see all of that specified swear word in the code of your programs.  You can add on other files after /usr/ going through each individual file but I found this was the most effective way. Here is a screen shot of the command and some of the results that I found by switching up the swear word.

Go ahead and try this command yourself, feel free to post your favorites in the comment section below.

How to Linux

When I first started the Linux journey I loaded Mint 16 XFCE onto my laptop, it was a wonderful transitioning distribution from Windows.  I believe this is due to the user friendly desktop environment in that with Mint everything just works.  What I didn't like was that it wasn't offering any sort of real challenge forcing me to learn "How to Linux."

As I continued down the path to learning the command line and all the neat tips and tricks I kept reading the same lines repeatedly.

Try this in your terminal.

Play in this application.

Get your hands dirty.

I decided to take the advice I was reading and get dirty. 

Getting Dirty

Step 1: Ditch the user friendly environment for something more basic.  

After running through install after install of a few major distributions, seeing the environments and testing out the interfaces, I knew it was time to switch from Mint.  For your average computer user who just needs to access the internet and the ability to write a couple of documents it is perfect.  For the masochists, i.e. me, who want to get to the basics of Linux and learn from mostly the ground up, it's not so great. 

Arch Linux and the New User

It was bright and early on a Sunday morning.  After taking a break from going through the endless array of Linux distributions I decided it was time to sit down and try another.  There were a few major distributions that I have yet to tackle and it was time to finish them.  I pull up my VM (Virtual Machine), go to my ISO file and browse through what I haven't yet tackled.  There in front of me was Arch Linux.  "Alright, easy peasy, kick this one out Crystal, write up the review and get it posted." I load and click start on the VM. The normal virtual machine start screen appears and then before me was a command line. After sitting for a second it suddenly dawns on me, it's waiting for my command. "Oh god, oh god, oh god, what do I do?"

Manjaro: Enlightenment

Over the weekend I decided that Arch Linux was the next Linux distribution I was going to play with. I'll give my advanced Linux readers a moment to laugh.  Are you done? Ok, for a newbie Arch is a distribution I will never recommend, but it was fun and it definitely struck an interest for me.  I will play, get used to and eventually post a blog about it.

So to give my fellow n00bs something similar I decided to do a review of Manjaro with Enlightenment. Based off Arch Linux, Manjaro works to give a user friendly environment while keeping up with the cutting edge of software.  

Work, Study, Sleep and repeat.

I obviously have taken a little break from posting.  I have a few more distributions that I am looking into doing reviews on; Fedora, Suse, and Arch Linux.  However as my mind quickly changes track I keep looking at other Linux and computer related topics as well.  I don't seem to have enough time in the day to really put a lot of my focus where I want to.

For the past week during my downtime I have been putting a lot of time reading up on Bash.  Bash is the command processor that is used in most Linux terminals.  Learning this helps to better understand and utilize Linux further.  As I become more familiar with Bash I will probably start posting up tutorials about it.  I don't want to do that though until I have a good understanding of it.  Just something for you all to look forward to.

I've also started the process of going through some of the more common programs to start working up tutorials and reviews to explain how to get around the programs.  As always I recommend that people just get into the program and start playing; but it is helpful to at least have a few good starting points.

I'm looking into getting a tablet so that I can do my studying at the gym, as it stands right now I am doing my body good without doing my mind any good.  I will get this worked out soon and my schedule on track to handle the workload I have placed on myself.  I believe I need my own personal Sudo, any volunteers? Anyone? Bueller?

Crunchbang #! Reader Request

I recently went on Twitter and asked my followers which Linux distribution they use.  One reader mentioned how they use crunchbang and love it.  I downloaded and installed crunchbang on my virtual machine, this overview will be more complex than my last couple because the desktop has quite a few major differences.

As usual you will choose install, your date and time settings, username and password.