Day 9: Live.linuX-gamers.net

     Live.linuX-gamers.net is a Linux distro based off of Arch Linux (Arch Linux is a very customizable distro).  Live.linuX-gamers.net is a live Linux (doesn't need to be installed, it can be used without installation).  Anyway it's a Linux with basically only games for software.  I tried a few of the games out and they're not very good.  What does this mean for Linux gamers?  It means that they should find themselves a better distro.  It's hard to be a good Linux distro for gamers since most of the good video games are made for either consoles or Windows.  If you want a good gaming distro try out Ubuntu.  Ubuntu has Steam (if you don't know what this is it's gaming software where you can buy and play games) and it has Wine (it's not the regular wine it's a program that emulates Windows software like games for example).  A lot of Linux users also have Windows installed alongside a Linux distro.  Though that is often necessary it's getting less and less so.  People are finally starting to make gaming software available to Linux Gamers.  So Linux Gamers don't despair, Steam is on the way!   

Day 8: Debian

        Debian is an interesting Gnome 3 distro.  It's very typical and not that much different from other Linux distros.  This kind of typical feel makes it very universal and easy to master.  My opinion on Debian is that they should put more into it, try to make it stand out, but it really doesn't.  Debian's great for people who want a system that they can master in seconds or people who are switching over from a different distro.  Fun fact about Debian, Ubuntu was based off of it.  In my opinion Ubuntu is far better.  I don't really have much to say about Debian it's (no offense to Debian fans) in my opinion kind of boring, but that's for you to decide.

Day 7: Edubuntu

     Edubuntu is an educational distro made by Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu).  Though it is similar to Ubuntu it has so many more features so I thought I'd talk about Ubuntu's twin brother,  his fat twin brother. As you might notice, instead of Canonical's traditional 700MB live CD file, this is a monster at 2.7GB.  It's worth the extra wait for download though because it has so much more than Ubuntu.  Even if you are not into education this is still a way cool distro. The thing that really caught my eye is Orca.  Orca is a program that reads what's on your screen (ok you caught me I'm not blind).  But there is so much more.  The other thing that looked good was Pencil I didn't try it out yet but I might later (the thing is I'm not good at computer drawing).  Anyway this is a distro if you, one: are still in school, two: if you are bored of Ubuntu but don't want to try Arch Linux, or three: if you want a random voice to read what's on your screen.

Day 6: Open Suse

       Open Suse is a mediocre distro.  I'm not the biggest fan of it because it uses Yast and I don't really like it.  The reason I don't like Yast is I tried installing Open Suse on an old computer but Yast would not install it right (it was a live CD), it just froze.  The second time I tried out Open Suse I couldn't get the internet running but I didn't spend very much time on it.  If you want a nice Gnome distro just go with Fedora.  Open Suse is just not the best choice.  I'm not quite sure why but I prefer Fedora over Open Suse in every way especially trying to get the internet working.

Making A User Manualy Open Xange

     In my post about Open Xange I talked about how you had to add a user manually, well this is how you do it.  Fist you type the command EDITOR=Kwrite visudo.  Then the sudoers file will open up in Kwrite.  Navigate down to the part that says %wheel    ALL=(ALL)        ALL and uncomment it (delete the # sign in front of it).  Save Your changes.  Next you will type the command
useradd -m -g users -G power,wheel -s /bin/bash (username).  If you want a password than type passwd (the username you chose before).  That's it. I don't know if that's the easiest way to add a user in Open Xange but that's the only way I know.

Day 5: Open Xange

     At first I really liked Open Xange for it's beauty and clean look then I looked at the control panel.  There is no clear way to do anything, The horror the horror !   Then I tried to add a new user because in the install you only make a root.  So I looked in user details - nothing.  Finally I did it the manual way and went in and edited the sudoers file.  It's a nice Linux but I was surprised to find out you need to edit the sudoers file to add a user.  Most Linux just have an option in settings now.  Well it's not too hard to do it that way.  For instructions on how to do it on Open Xange (it's a little different than doing it on Arch Linux) see my post on it here

Day 4: Linux Mint

       Linux Mint is a distro I found very similar to Ubuntu.  It has the same kind of look and feel except with a different desktop environment.  When you install mint you'll probably notice that the installer is nice and also very similar to Ubuntu.  When it's done it's not as similar to Ubuntu but it is somewhat.  The best thing about this distro is it comes with Open JDK already installed which makes it very easy to run Minecraft and many other programs.  In the long run I don't know that much about Linux Mint because quite frankly I always avoided it before.  Ubuntu in my opinion is a better Linux and you can install java quite easily on it (though it takes some command line but that's a thing to get used to because a lot of Linux is command line).  I like the nice Unity desktop environment and that's what makes me favor Ubuntu.  Though I haven't tried the Linux Mint out much it just doesn't have that nice beauty of Unity, Gnome or KDE.  I also found it runs kind of slow in Virtualbox and I have a pretty nice PC.

Day 3: Arch Linux

         Arch Linux is a distro that you have to install by command line.  Every install turns out a little different because there are thousands of ways to install it.  It is definitely for advanced Linux users because you have to edit so many config files while installing it.  Anyway the beauty of Arch Linux is that you can choose every thing that goes into it.  If you want gnome install gnome, if you want KDE install that or any other desktop environment.  Another great thing about Arch Linux is that if you install a graphical login manager capable you can have multiple desktop environments.  But make sure you have .xinitrc configured right before installing a graphical login manager or you could get stuck in a login loop.

This video is by a Youtuber called midfingr.  Even though he has an offensive name he's a good Youtuber and much of my Linux knowledge is from him.

Day Two: Ubuntu 13.04

     Ubuntu is one of the most well known Linux distros.  It is good for beginner Linux users.  It's good for advanced too but not because it's very customizable or very advanced it's just a good every day Linux.  It's probably the Linux with the most software because it has grown vastly popular over the versions.  It has a very nice software center where you can get things without having to install by command line.  You still have to install by command line for a few things but for other things you won't.  Ubuntu also has a very nice wiki and ask page.  I have often found the ask page helpful when I used it every day.  Ubuntu also has an OS for android now that can be plugged into a monitor and used with a mouse and keyboard like a computer.  Canonical has done a good job with their phone (from what I heard about it) and a good job with their OS too.

Introduction

      My goal is to try out a Linux distribution (distro) every day for a year and post about it on this blog.  I will have a review to most of them telling you what I think.  Linux is an open source OS that you can find for download on the internet.  Some of them are pretty well known, for example Ubuntu.  I will be going through ones that are popular to ones that only 3 people have heard of.

Day 1: Fedora Linux

              Fedora is a pretty popular Linux distribution (distro).  It's kinda funky yet productive Linux that has a beautiful look to it.  It  has a DVD and a live CD version.  The live CD has a few programs already installed whereas the DVD you can choose which programs to install and which desktop environment to install in a nice GUI environment.  It's a great distro for beginners but to long time Linux users it gets kind of boring.  But there is something to say about Fedora.  It's the first Gnome distro I ever installed which made me fall in love with Gnomes beautiful menu.  Also it is the easiest distro to partition your HDD while installing.  It has easy ways to shrink partitions to make room and the install is easy.  If you accidentally do something wrong then just go back to the menu  and fix it and more likely than not (depending what you're working on)  when you go back to what you were working on it will still be there.  Overall this Linux gets 5 stars for "good beginner Linux" and "easy to use" where it only gets 2 stars for "good for advanced users" and "very customizable".  Over all if you're a Linux beginner this is one of the distros for you.