Xubuntu 13.10 - Same again please bartender

Introduction

I reviewed Xubuntu 12.10 just over a year ago and it is still one of the more popular articles on this site.

Last week I installed the latest version, Xubuntu 13.10 to see if much has changed.

In my previous review I installed Xubuntu on an older computer but this time I have gone for running Xubuntu on the Toshiba Satellite Pro L870. (Intel i5, 2.5 ghz processor, 8 gb RAM, 750 gb hard drive). Not brand new but solid enough specifications.

What was new in Xubuntu 13.04

Some of you may have already tried Xubuntu and you might just want to know what is new.

This section shows what changed between Xubuntu 12.10 and Xubuntu 13.04.

Xubuntu 13.04 was labelled a maintenance release with few extra changes but according to the website:

• Gnumeric and GIMP are reintroduced on the ISO
• New application versions: Catfish 0.6.3 and Parole 0.5.0 with many bug fixes
• Updates for the Greybird theme and a new wallpaper
• Duplicate partitions are no longer shown on desktop or Thunar
• Updated documentation

What is new in Xubuntu 13.10

Again not much appears to have changed in this release:

• A new version of xfce4-settings has been uploaded bringing amongst other things a new dialog to set up your displays
• A tool for changing your theme colors easily, gtk-theme-config, has been added to the default installation 
• New wallpaper
• New releases of our Gtk themes (with Gtk3.10 support) as well as the LightDM greeter, fixing many visual bugs
• Updated documentation 

Known problems

• indicator-sound no longer functions with xfce4-indicator-plugin (1208204)
• Gmusicbrowser's albuminfo-plugin is deactivated by default and causes the app to hang if enabled (1223808)
• Restart button fails to work in Update Manager (1232363)
• User Administration - a new User is added correctly, but Administration app crashes on close (1185396)
• Lock screen slow to appear on resume from suspend (1229486)

How to get Xubuntu 13.10

You can download Xubuntu 13.10 from the Xubuntu.org website.

If you use torrent software then you can choose either the 32-bit or 64-bit version. 64-bit is common on newer hardware but if you have a netbook it is likely to be 32-bit.

If you prefer a direct download click on the mirror closest to you.

From the download mirror you should pick the ISO for your particular configuration.

The Xubuntu-13.10-Desktop-amd64.iso works on 64-bit computers only but the Xubuntu-13.10-Desktop-i386.iso will work on 32-bit and 64-bit computers.

After you have downloaded the Xubuntu 13.10 ISO you can burn it to a DVD using DVD burning software or you can write it to a USB drive using UNetbootin.

UNetbootin is fairly intuitive to use but if you need help click here.

If all of this sounds like too much hassle or if you have a poor internet connection then you can .

Installation

If you have a DVD put it in the drive and boot into the live session. If you have a USB drive boot up to the UNetbootin menu and choose the default option to boot into the live session.

You will be given the option to try Xubuntu or install Xubuntu. It is a good idea to try Xubuntu out first to see if it is the sort of thing you are looking for but if you are sure that you want to continue installing click on the install option.

The installer is the same as the Ubuntu installer. Choose your location, keyboard layout and language.

Next, choose your username and password for your default user.

You will see an option with a choice to install alongside your existing operating system, replace your existing operating system or something else.

I have to say that since I started this blog I have discussed the dual boot option many times but in reality unless you are a distro-hopper you should either load the operating system in a virtual machine (until you are ready to take the plunge) or you should replace the current operating system with Xubuntu. (Take a backup of anything you want to keep first).

You will also be asked where you wish to install the bootloader. For most people this is /dev/SDA. Whatever you do don't choose an individual partition (i.e. /dev/SDA1, dev/SDA2). This is a common mistake.

First Impressions

When you see Xubuntu for the first time you might feel a little underwhelmed. There is a panel at the top and your drives are listed but that appears to be about it.

The bottom panel is set to autohide and so only appears when you hover over that area of the screen.

Xubuntu is like Linux Lego. It starts very minimalistic but has all the tools most average users need day to day.

The thing with Lego is that you can either build what is on the front of the box or you can build something completely different and the same can be said of Xubuntu. You can use Xubuntu as it is or customise it to be exactly what you want it to be.

The bottom panel is basically a list of icons that you are likely to use regularly (favourites). By default these are: minimise all windows, web browser, email, terminal, settings, search, software centre, word processor (Abiword), Audio (GMusicBrowser), File Search (Catfish), Home Folder.

The panel at the top of the screen has an icon on the left which pulls up the Xubuntu menu. Any applications that don't appear on the bottom panel can be located here.

Also on the top panel are icons for audio settings (which doesn't work, see known issue), network settings, power settings, clock, virtual workspaces, user settings.

It is worth removing the audio settings icon as it just doesn't work.

Connecting to the internet

Connecting to the internet is as easy as clicking on the network icon on the top panel and selecting your wireless network.

If the wireless network is secure then you will need to enter the security key.

The default web browser in Xubuntu is Firefox 24.

Flash and MP3

Ubuntu (and therefore Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu) provides a package called restricted extras which enables you to run Flash videos, play MP3 files and use certain true-type fonts.

For Xubuntu you will need to open a terminal window and type the following:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get xubuntu-restricted-extras

You will be asked for your password and then a number of packages will be installed.

At the point of installing the fonts you will be asked to accept the end license agreement. Note that to select the "OK" button you will need to press the tab button on your keyboard to highlight it and then press return.

When the restricted extras package has finished installing you will be able to play Flash videos and games.

You will also be able to play your MP3 collection in any audio application you decide to use. (The default being GMusicBrowser).

Applications

Not much has changed since my last review of Xubuntu but the applications are as follows:

Games:

• Sudoku
• Mines (Minesweeper)

Graphics:

• Document Viewer
• GIMP (Not entirely unlike Photoshop)
• gThumb (Thumbnail image viewer)
• Ristretto (Image Viewer)

Internet

• Firefox (Web browser)
• Pidgin (Messenger application)
• Thunderbird (Email client)
• Transmission (Bittorrent)
• XChat (IRC Chat)

Multimedia

• gMusicBrowser (Audio)
• Parole (Video Player)
• XFburn (DVD Burner)

 Office

• Abiword (Word Processor)
• Gnumeric (Spreadsheet)

Installing Applications

The default applications are all useable and on a netbook or older computer the stock selection is fine.

On a newer computer however there are better choices all round and I wrote an article called "20 applications to improve Xubuntu" which will make your experience of Xubuntu that much more impressive.

To install applications you can use the software centre which appears as an icon on the bottom panel and on the menu.

A notable addition to the software centre is Steam. 

One of the things that has been lacking in Linux (and didn't the Windows users whine about it) over the years is gaming.

Steam has been released for Linux (in fact there is a whole Linux based operating system for Steam) which means gaming in Linux is about to explode. 

GMusicBrowser

I don't normally single out applications but I really like this one. You can customise GMusicBrowser so that it looks like other popular audio applications but the beauty is that it has a much smaller footprint meaning that you get most of the goodness but without the bloat.

Issues

I have listed the known issues above. I haven't experienced any other issues whilst using Xubuntu so I will quickly run through the known issues so you know exactly what they mean.

• indicator-sound no longer functions with xfce4-indicator-plugin (1208204)
  
  
  The top panel has an icon that when clicked does absolutely nothing. It looks like a speaker and has a -- next to it meaning that the audio is muted but in reality it is just eye candy because there is no functionality at all.
  
  
• Gmusicbrowser's albuminfo-plugin is deactivated by default and causes the app to hang if enabled (1223808) 
  
  
  
  
  
  If you go into the options screen for gMusicBrowser and then click the albuminfo checkbox the application will hang.
  
  
  I tried it but couldn't get it to hang.
  
  
• Restart button fails to work in Update Manager (1232363)
  
  If you run update manager and a button appears asking to restart then clicking it does nothing.
• User Administration - a new User is added correctly, but Administration app crashes on close (1185396)
  
  
  
  
  
• Lock screen slow to appear on resume from suspend (1229486)

Nobody wants to see errors but as a software developer myself I know it happens.

Ideally you would never release software until it is 100% error free.

Based on the same theory Axl Rose decided that he would not release the Guns N Roses, Chinese Democracy album until it was perfect. The album was a decade overdue and ultimately became irrelevant as the whole world had moved on.

The moral is that sooner or later you have to release the software. The errors listed aren't killers by any means.

Customising the desktop

I have previously written an article that shows you how to customise the Xubuntu desktop. This article is still as relevant today as it was a year ago.

New to Xubuntu 13.10 is the theme colour dialog.

This simple dialog lets you make simple configuration changes without editing configuration files manually.

To test out the tool I changed the panel background to be yellow and the menu background to green (Which isn't easy for someone who is colourblind).

After clicking "Apply", a notification appears stating that you may have to restart the applications involved before changes take effect. (Which isn't particularly useful).

I can confirm though that my panel looks yellow and my menu background is green. (Norwich City fans would be happy with this combination).

The other change in Xubuntu 13.10 to do with configuration settings is the inclusion of the updated XFCE4 settings manager.

Summary

New users coming to Xubuntu have to appreciate the potential and not the initial impression that Xubuntu gives.

Xubuntu doesn't necessarily look like the prettiest distribution you will ever use but by following my customisation guide and by installing further applications from the Ubuntu repositories you will get an operating system that is responsive, customisable and fully featured.

Existing Xubuntu users may not see a huge amount of gain by upgrading but there is steady progress being made although not revolutionary, hence the title "Same again please bartender".

Thankyou for reading.

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To make it easier for everyone who wants to read my Ubuntu based articles and tutorials I have formatted them, rewritten them and added extra content which has resulted in the eBook "From Windows To Ubuntu".

The book isn't massive like a SAMS guide so it isn't going to take you forever to read it but there is certainly a lot of content.

14 comments

Posted at 16:23 |  by Gary Newell

16 Ways To Beat Cryptolocker and Ransomware

Introduction

Cryptolocker and Ransomware are the latest tools used by cybercriminals to part us with our hard earned cash.

Over the years we have seen a number of different methods utilised by the online scammers including phishing, fake lottery wins, fake inheritance scams, eBay scams, PayPal scams and a whole load more.

Cryptolocker and Ransomware are by far the most severe methods used thus far.

For those of you who have not heard of this type of malware the theory is as follows:

The scammers send out thousands and thousands of emails purporting to be from someone you would expect to hear from such as your bank, ISP, tax man, council or phone company.

The email claims that it contains important information. Now ordinarily we have all seen these emails before and the normal concept is that they contain a fake link to a fake website which harvests your login details.

Ransomware emails don't contain links but there will be a file attachment and the text within the email is designed to make you want to open the file attachment. The attachment itself isn't an executable so you might think you are safe from harm. Instead the attachment will be a zip file or even a PDF file.

When clicked the file will extract itself onto your computer and will start its trail of destruction.

The way Cryptolocker works is to encrypt every file on your computer and the only way of unencrypting them is to pay a ransom using bitcoins. At the moment the least you can expect to pay is £300.

What happens if you don't pay?

The ransom is time limited. If you don't pay within the time limit your files will be encrypted forever.

Previously the scammers stated that there was no way back after the time limit has passed but they are a little more forgiving now. Oh yes, their generosity is endless. As you failed to pay in time you can still get your files unencrypted but you will need to pay a lot more money in order to do so.

Realistically you don't want to ever have to deal with these people. You can't trust that the rules won't change and as the payment is in bitcoins you have no recourse for getting your money back should the scammers change their minds.

The following is a list of things you can do to beat Cryptolocker and any other Ransomware kits that undoubtedly are going to be the weapon of choice in 2014.

If you have a swimming pool in your back garden then there are 2 things you can do to stop your children from drowning.

The first thing you can do is build a wall around the swimming pool to stop your kids getting into the pool.

The second thing you can do is teach your kids to swim.

What does this have to do with Cryptolocker you might ask?

Well, you can also do 2 things to beat Cryptolocker. The first thing you can do is stop yourself ever getting Cryptolocker in the first place. The second thing you can do is make sure you have a recovery path should the first thing fail.

I am going to tackle these in reverse order, recovery first and then prevention.

Disaster Recovery

You can employ any or all of the following techniques to save yourself if Cryptolocker or any other ransomware infest your computer.

1. Create a system repair disk

The system repair disk will enable you to get Windows back in a useable state.

Of course Linux users do not have to particularly worry about this. Linux users should be able to download the operating system from the download page of their chosen distro.

Follow this guide for creating a system repair disk for Windows 7.

Follow this guide for creating a system repair disk for Windows 8.

Follow this guide for creating a system repair disk for Windows XP.

2. Create a system image

A system image creates a complete copy of disk partitions and stores them to external media such as USB drives, DVDs or external hard drives.

If Cryptolocker infects your computer you can use the system image to restore the backed up partitions to the state they were in at the point the image was taken.

Using this method obviously relies on you backing up an image regularly.

Personally I would use this in conjunction with other methods in this guide. Maybe take a system image monthly and perform normal file backups as often as required.

Everybody will have different requirements, especially for home use.

Follow this guide to create a system image using Windows 7.

Follow this guide to create a system image using Windows 8.

Follow this guide to create a system image using Windows XP.

3. Perform regular backups

If you regularly add files to your system whether it is by creating documents, software development, photography or video capture then you should set up a regular backup routine to copy your files off onto external media.

Follow this guide to backup your files using Windows 7.

Follow this guide to backup your files using Windows 8.

Follow this guide to backup your files using Windows XP.

This guide shows a list of backup tools for Linux.

4. Use Clonezilla to create a disk image

Clonezilla is a specialist Linux based operating system that enables you to create a system image of your computer.

It works in a similar way to Norton Ghost used to work and therefore if you get any nasties you should be able to recover to the point in time the last image was taken.

Here is a guide showing how to clone a drive using Clonezilla.

5. Backup your files to Dropbox

The sudden realisation that all your files have been encrypted and that your children's photos are no longer accessible, your small company accounts folder is locked or your entire music collection has been rendered useless would be a sickening feeling for most people.

Services such as Dropbox enable you to synchronise your files between your computer and an online location.

This sort of service doesn't just protect you against ransomware but it protects you against disk failures, fires and burglaries.

If you do happen to get Cryptolocker then you could use a recovery disk to restore your operating system and simply synchronise back from Dropbox to your own computer.

Dropbox is free for the first 2gb and you can increase this to 16gb by referring other people.

You can get 100, 200 and 500 gb starting at $9.99 a month.

6. Backup your files to Google Drive

Google Drive is an alternative to using Dropbox.

With Google Drive you receive 15 gb of space for free and then a further 100 gb for $4.99 a month.

7. Backup your files using Ubuntu One

Ransomware has not yet become a major issue for Linux users.

Backing up your files is still a good idea however for reasons mentioned earlier such as protecting against disk failures, fires and burglary.

If you are a Ubuntu user you can backup your files to Ubuntu One. If you aren't a Ubuntu user guess what? You can also use Ubuntu One, even if you are a Windows user.

You get 5 gb data free on Ubuntu One.

For $3.99 a month you can get 20 gb storage as well as music streaming on your mobile. There is also an annual package for $39.99 a year.

8. Backup to DVDs, USB and External Hard Drives

When you do something on your computer such as synchronising photos from your digital camera, downloading music or creating documents you should consider whether you can afford to lose those files.

Synchronising to an external service is a great idea because it can happen automatically.

You should also consider backing up the files yourself to a blank DVD, USB drive or an external hard drive.
. By backing up to different DVDs regularly you lesson the impact of ransomware.

provide more space for backing up files. They are more expensive than DVDs but can be reused again and again.

provide even more space again which is useful for backing up video files.

9. Test your recovery media

There is no point in doing any of the first 8 steps if you aren't going to check that the backup paths you have chosen work.

If you have gone to the effort to create a recovery disk, insert it into the drive and make sure you can boot to it.

If you have backed up to Dropbox or Google sites make sure the files aren't corrupted.

If you have backed up to DVD, USB or external hard drive try and view the files to make sure they work.

Prevention

Having a disaster recovery plan is great. If the worst should happen then you now know that you can get back all of your files and you will have saved yourself £300. (minus the cost of any services or disks that you buy).

Have you ever installed an operating system before? How confident are you that you know how to recover your operating system.

It is very easy for me to sit here and say "just insert the system image and hit restore" but for those of you who are technically challenged this probably makes your palms just as sweaty as the idea of handing your credit card details over to a known bad guy.

If you are technically challenged then you may need to factor in the cost of getting a local computer store to recover your operating system and files.

Therefore the best course of action is prevention.

10. Don't run with elevated privileges

If you are a Windows user make sure you have more than one user account and make sure that the account you use to access the internet is just a standard user account.

The worst that can happen to a standard user is that the files in their own area are affected. You can simply destroy that user account if you so wish.

Running as an administrator is fraught with danger.

The same advice goes to Linux users as well. Don't run as root.

11. Install Antivirus software

Most of the good antivirus service providers will have Cryptolocker in their sights and so you should be protected.

Even if you are a Linux user you should consider installing antivirus software.

Just because there have been few reports of viruses doesn't mean that it can never happen but the main reason to install antivirus software for Linux is so that you can scan any files that you plan to send to your friends, relatives and work colleagues.

That picture of a cute kitten that is harmless on your Ubuntu machine might well be riddled with viruses that destroys your company network after a dozen colleagues open it.

12. Keep antivirus software up to date

Seriously there is no point having antivirus software that has out of date virus definitions. It is like having a lock on a door and leaving the window open.

13. Have your wits about you

If your bank has anything important they need to tell you then they will never use email to do so.

If you become overdrawn you will receive a letter in the post and you can always check your online bank account.

Most banks provide information via their online bank portals.

If there is anything in that email that just doesn't look right then get rid of it.

This theory works for all major companies and government departments. They don't (or shouldn't) send out anything via email that requires you to follow links or open files.

14. Use a virtual machine

Now this may seem a little overkill but you could consider using virtual machines for opening attachments in emails or for visiting sites that may be a little off the beaten track.

Windows has a virtual machines option but I would consider using Oracle's Virtualbox software.

Windows users can use a virtual machine to get their first taste of Linux.

Read my article "5 ways to try Linux without messing up Windows" for more information.

15. Use Linux

There have been no reported cases of Ransomware taking over anyone's Linux based operating system so why not join the millions of people who have left Windows behind for a more secure way of working.

And remember.....

16. Never pay up

As tempting as it may seem when everything has gone wrong never ever pay the ransom.

By paying the ransom you are encouraging these people to do it again and again and again.

Unfortunately this advice can be hard to take when even a police force thinks it is a good idea to pay.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/21/us-police-force-pay-bitcoin-ransom-in-cryptolocker-malware-scam

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To make it easier for everyone who wants to read my Ubuntu based articles and tutorials I have formatted them, rewritten them and added extra content which has resulted in the eBook "From Windows To Ubuntu".

The book isn't massive like a SAMS guide so it isn't going to take you forever to read it but there is certainly a lot of content.

7 comments

Posted at 21:00 |  by Gary Newell

Kubuntu 13.10 - A great alternative to Ubuntu and Windows.

Introduction

In the past I have not been the biggest fan of the KDE desktop. I have found it to be clunky and overkill for my needs.

As I have written reviews for Ubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu it seems only appropriate to complete the set by reviewing Kubuntu.

The Kubuntu website has a very good section describing the features. In essence though the rotating slides at the top of the page state that Kubuntu is:

• Beautiful
• Stable
• Free
• Social

Installation

Click here to download Kubuntu 13.10.

The download link above will provide you with an ISO file for Kubuntu 13.10 which you can burn to DVD or a USB drive.

To burn the Kubuntu 13.10 ISO to a USB drive use UNetbootin.

If you would prefer to get a DVD or USB drive with Kubuntu already installed you can buy a copy by visiting .

As Kubuntu is part of the Ubuntu family you can install it on its own or alongside other operating systems, including Windows 8 with EFI enabled.

I decided to install Kubuntu 13.10 alongside Ubuntu 13.10 and Windows 8 on the same machine which is a Dell Inspiron 15.

The Kubuntu installer is probably the best I have ever seen for any operating system. The layout is crisp, completely intuitive and easy to follow.

New users might stumble when installing alongside Windows 8 but I have written a guide showing how to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 8 and most of this works for Kubuntu 13.10 as well. (Some of the screens may be different but the logic is the same).

Really though I think Kubuntu 13.10 is so good that you should just bite the bullet and wipe Windows completely and just install it on its own. Windows users will find it a lot easier getting to grips with Kubuntu than they will with Windows 8.

First Impressions

My whole view of KDE has changed because of Kubuntu 13.10. It is a fine desktop environment.

KDE looks good, performs well and is very stable.

Windows users who move over to Linux are often encouraged to use Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop because it provides an experience akin to Windows 7.

I would say that Kubuntu (and KDE) is also a great alternative for Windows users but it takes the desktop that Windows users are used to and adds real functionality and value to that experience.

Kubuntu is also a great alternative for users who want the stability, support and  Ubuntu repositories but without either the Unity interface or the built-in advertising.

The initial desktop view has a blank desktop with a single panel at the bottom and an empty shelf.

The left side of the panel has a menu icon (The K symbol) and an icon with 3 dots for switching activities.

The right side of the panel has icons for showing the desktop, a clipboard tool, audio settings, bluetooth settings, power settings, network settings, notifications and a clock.

The menu is very clean looking with a search bar at the top, a selection of favourite applications and a series of icons at the bottom.

In the search bar enter either a keyword or the name of the application and a list of results will appear.

Clicking on the Applications icon brings up a selection of categories and upon selecting a category you will see either further sub-categories or a list of applications.

You can add any item to the favourites list by right clicking on it and selecting "add to favourites".

Clicking on the computer icon lets you access folders as wells as settings and the software centre.

The icon with three dots next to the K menu icon shows the activities window. Activities builds on the concept of virtual desktops.

For instance you can have the default desktop as shown above or you can have a desktop which looks more like the Gnome desktop by creating an activity called "Homerun".

The "Homerun" activity shows favourite applications, places and recent documents.

The "Search" activity has a series of categories portrayed as icons and a search bar at the top.

You can create as many activities as you wish and you can use any of the default templates or import one from elsewhere.

On the default desktop you will notice an empty shelf. You can use shelves to group icons for your favourite applications.

Connecting to the internet

Connecting to the internet is as easy as clicking the network icon and choosing your wireless network (assuming you are connecting wirelessly).

If the network you are connecting to is secure then you will be prompted to enter the security key.

The default browser is Rekonq but under the Internet section you will find access to the Firefox installer.

I personally recommend installing Firefox and making it the default browser and add it to your favourites instead of Rekonq.

Flash and MP3

During the install you are given the option to install third party software which includes Flash. I never actually check that option. I prefer to open a terminal and install the Kubuntu Restricted Extras package.

Once the restricted extras are installed you are able to watch Flash videos in Firefox and play MP3s via Amarok.

Applications

Kubuntu has a decent set of applications.

LibreOffice is installed and for home use this is more than adequate for most people's needs.

The LibreOffice writer package has lots of features. For home use can many people say they use a word processing package for anything more than writing a letter? If you wanted to write a book, create a report or do a mail merge then you will find that Writer contains most of the features of Microsoft Word and without a dodgy ribbon bar in sight.

The LibreOffice Calc package is a really good spreadsheet package and again includes many of the features of Excel such as macros, functions etc.

The Impress package is great for creating presentations.

For email Kubuntu has KMail installed. Most of us use webmail nowadays and I tend to use the web interface for viewing my mail but I tried KMail out and it synchronises with GMail without any fuss.

For audio there is Amarok which is a really good replacement for Windows Media Player and Rhythmbox.

The Dragon Player is provided for watching movies.

Installing Applications

Kubuntu has a great software centre (Muon Discover) for installing any application that isn't installed by default.

Muon Discover provides a list of categories and a search utility. Clicking on a category pulls up an endless list of applications.

Clicking on Multimedia for instance returns VLC Media Player, Clementine, Audacity, Audacious, Banshee, OpenShot, Radio Tray, etc.

Trying to find a list of applications using Windows would require a lot of searching and a lot of patience but in Kubuntu it is all under one roof.

Trying to find a list of applications using Ubuntu would require searching through a lot of results (including non-free applications). Kubuntu is Ubuntu without the advertising.

Steam

One application that I couldn't find in the software centre was Steam.

You can however download Steam by visiting the Steam website. 

What you actually get when you download Steam from the website is the Steam Installer. You then have to run the Steam Installer from the Downloads folder.

The full Steam application will install and it will update itself without about 250 mb of data.

Issues

In general Kubuntu is stable. There have been a few times however where I have had to force an application to close due to hanging.

After installing Kubuntu I highly recommend running all the updates to get it up to date. 

Summary

My whole view of KDE has changed after using Kubuntu 13.10.

Kubuntu 13.10 ticks all of the boxes required of a great operating system:-

• Open Source
• Free
• Easy to obtain
• Easy to install
• Works with EFI enabled
• Can be dual booted with any other operating system
• Has a consistent user interface
• Has no built in advertising and/or privacy policy
• Contains all the software you could possibly need to get started
• Has a great software centre
• Has a customisable user interface
• Can run Steam
• Can run Windows games
• Has access to a wide range of applications via it's repositories

Kubuntu is excellent. I would recommend this to any person coming to Linux for the first time (especially Windows users), for anybody who has tried Ubuntu but wants a different user experience from Unity, and to anybody who wants to use a great operating system.

I would recommend Kubuntu over Linux Mint it is so good. It is amazing that Mint sits at number 1 in the Distrowatch rankings yet Kubuntu languishes in position 21.

Thankyou for reading.

And finally...

In the coming weeks as we draw close to the end of the year I am planning one more distro review and then I will be reviewing the year as a whole and looking forward to 2014.

Why not subscribe to this blog by entering your email address into the box provided on the right? Get the latest posts as they are released and if you don't fancy them ignore them, but if you do fancy them then you get first dibs.

---

To make it easier for everyone who wants to read my Ubuntu based articles and tutorials I have formatted them, rewritten them and added extra content which has resulted in the eBook "From Windows To Ubuntu".

The book isn't massive like a SAMS guide so it isn't going to take you forever to read it but there is certainly a lot of content.

22 comments

Posted at 22:33 |  by Gary Newell

Would an operating system with a political agenda put you off using it?

My review of antiX has caused a small amount of controversy.

An anonymous user left a comment stating that in a previous version of antiX the default browser had links to nazi websites.

The comment was jumped upon by a number of readers who stated that this user was ill-informed.

I opened a browser today within antiX and checked the bookmarks provided and here are the list of links that are included

• Democracy Now
• Counterpunch
• New Left Review 
• Monthly Review 
• Lenin's Tomb 
• jews sans frontieres 
• The Angry Arab News Service 
• The Vineyard of the Saker 
• The World Revolution 
• Marxists Internet Archive 
• The Noam Chomsky Website 
• Radical Philosophy

I have been asked to remove the comment but I have declined to do so. My personal view is that everybody has had a chance to have their say and it is for each person to make up their own mind with regards to the validity of the claims.

The point of this article is not to question whether antiX has fascist links but to question why there are politically motivated links in the bookmarks section at all.

The comments about nazi leanings may be factually incorrect but the developer has left the operating system open to criticism by providing the links in the first place.

The antiX operating system worked very well for me and I gave it a good review but my question to you is:

Would the inclusion of politically linked propaganda put you off using an operating system? 

15 comments

Posted at 23:05 |  by Gary Newell

Give that old computer a boost with antiX Linux

Introduction

The antiX homepage says that it is designed to be fast, lightweight and easy to install.

Based on Debian's testing branch, antiX is truly one of those distributions designed to run on older machines.

The homepage states that it will comfortably work on a Pentium PII computer with 64 megabytes of RAM.

There are 3 versions of antiX available varying in size from 690 megabytes down to a core version weighing in at just 135 megabytes. Last but not least antiX is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

I have spent the past week testing antiX. Unfortunately I don't have a PII available to really test the credentials. The oldest computer I have is a Samsung R20 with 2 gigabytes of RAM. It is about 6 or 7 years old. Whilst the test computer struggles with running Ubuntu due to its graphics capabilities it does run most other lightweight Linux operating systems without encountering any problems.

How to get antiX Linux

You can download antiX from http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Downloads.

Once antiX has been downloaded you can burn it to a CD or you can use uNetbootin to install antiX to a USB drive.

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Installation

To install antiX boot from the CD or USB drive which contains antiX and when you are in the live environment click on the "Install antiX" icon.

Before you install antiX you may wish to try a few things out such as creating a wireless internet connection.

When I tried antiX in the live environment I initially had an issue where the wiCD utility (used for setting up wireless connections) couldn't find my home network. I will explain how I resolved this problem later on in the review.

When you first start the installer you are given a choice whether to use the stable, testing or unstable repositories for installing applications.

If this is your main computer then I would consider using the stable version or at the very least the testing branch.

If you are going to use this machine as a reserve computer or for non-critical purposes then you can get away with using the unstable version.

The first installation screen basically tells you that you are going to be given the choice and the second screen lets you make that choice.

After choosing the repositories you are shown a bog standard terms of use agreement.

I always find it interesting that you have to accept terms of use to install a distribution but not when using it in live mode

The next screen lets you choose how you are going to install antiX.

The first box lets you enter the disk to use (i.e. SDA) and then you can choose to partition your drive or if you want to go for the whole disk you can just check the box provided.

If you really are installing antiX on an older machine then I find it difficult to believe that you would even consider dual booting.

At this point the operating system will be copied to the designated disk.

On my laptop it only took a few minutes.

After the files have been copied you are presented with the bootloader options.

The default options will be adequate for most people.

As antiX is designed to run on an older computer the developers have provided a useful screen which lets you choose the services that run when the computer starts up.

If you don't have a printer then there is no point starting the CUPS service.

Only a few more steps to go and antiX will be installed.

Enter a name for your computer and a domain,

Choose the keyboard, locale and timezone.

Finally create a user and enter a password and then enter a password for the root user.

First Impressions

antiX boots very quickly into the iceWM window manager. Whilst antiX won't win any awards for beauty it really is very functional and more important than that it is amazingly fast.

The desktop features a few icons in the top left corner for accessing the file manager, a text editor, the web browser, video player, audio player and terminal window.

The top right corner gives you some information about your system such as the window manager in use, the kernel version, uptime, the date, how much memory is being used, cpu usage and disk space usage.

Incidentally on the Samsung R20 running idle the memory usage is just 56 megabytes. Not bad at all. This could be trimmed down by turning off some of the services.

The panel at the bottom of the screen has a menu, an icon for showing the desktop, icons for the home folder, terminal, web browser, control centre, USB devices and quit. Also on the panel are icons to represent the 4 virtual desktops.

In the bottom right corner of the panel is an audio icon and a clock. There is also an arrow which makes the panel shrink so that it is virtually out of site. (A small arrow sits in the bottom right corner).

The antiX Control Centre

The antiX Control Centre lets you administer various aspects of your system.

There is a series of tabs down the left and when you click on a tab the options on the main pane change.

On the "Desktop" pane you can choose to change the wallpaper and change window manager settings.

Changing the wallpaper is fairly easy. Simply click the "Choose wallpaper" icon and the following screen will appear.

You can choose to have a single static wallpaper or loop through a list of wallpapers.

To select the desktop picture to use click "Select Picture".

There are a number of wallpapers to choose from but you can always go online and download one of your own.

Click "Apply" to change the wallpaper.

The other settings options on the "desktop" pane open a text editor with the configuration file loaded.

The "System" tab has options for managing packages, configuring the system, choosing the startup services, managing users, editing config files and setting the date and time.

The "Network" tab provides methods for connecting to wired and wireless networks which I will come onto shortly.

The "Session" tab lets you choose your screen resolution, keyboard layout and login options.

The "Live" tab provides a method for remastering antiX and for setting up persistence.

The "Disks" tab has options for partitioning a drive, creating an antiX USB drive, backing up your system and synchronising directories.

Finally the "Hardware" tab lets you see system information, lets you set up printers and enables you to adjust the audio settings.

Connecting to the internet

To connect to the internet open up the Control Centre and navigate to the "Network" tab.

There are a couple of methods available for connecting to a wireless network but I recommend using wiCD.

When I first used wiCD no networks could be found.

To fix this problem I had to click the arrow in the top right corner and select "Preferences".

On the "General Settings" tab I had to enter wlan0 and then click the "OK" button.

When I clicked "Refresh" on the main wiCD screen my networks suddenly appeared.

All I had to do then was click "Properties" next to the relevant network and enter the security key.

Clicking "Connect" then connected me to the required network.

Applications

antiX has a really good selection of applications available.

Accessories

• Archive Manager
• Clipit (Clipboard Manager)
• Gjots2Jotter (Manage notes)
• Leafpad (Text editor)
• luckyBackup (Backup Utility)
• SpaceFM (File Search)
• Zim (Desktop WIKI)

Games

• DosBox Emulator (Play DOS games)
• Gweled
• lBreakout2 (Breakout, Arkanoid)
• nJam
• xMahjongg (Mahjongg)

Graphics

• gColor2 (Colour picker)
• gtKam (Digital camera browser)
• LibreOffice Draw (Drawing package)
• Mirage (Image viewer)
• mtPaint (Graphic Editor)
• PhotoPrint (Photo Printing)
• Presentations (Presentation tool)
• Screenshot (Screengrabbing tool)
• XSane (Scanning tool)Internet

• Claws Mail (eMail client)
• Dillo (Web browser)
• gFTP (FTP Client)
• IceWeasel (Web browser)
• Pidgin (Messenger)
• Transmission (Bittorrent)

Office

• LibreOffice (Full office suite)
• ePDF Viewer (PDF Viewer)

Programming

• Geany (Lightweight IDE)

Sound and Video

• Asunder (CD Ripper)
• Gnome MPlayer (Music player)
• Goggles (Music player)
• GTK Youtube Viewer
• Streamtuner2 (Listen to online radio and rip the streams)
• xmms (Music Player)

IceWeasel is a decent web browser and is a great solution for a lightweight operating system.

Claws as an email client isn't as fully featured as Thunderbird but once you get it set up you can use it to view your webmail such as GMail.

The GTK Youtube viewer lets you watch youtube videos through a standard desktop application.

There is a good search facility on the right side of the screen.

When you have found what you are looking for the video loads into a new window.

My favourite application was Streamtuner.

I have come across Streamtuner on a number of occasions and it is a great tool for finding and listening to online radio stations.

Once you have found the station you want to listen to you can play the stream through the specified audio player or you can rip the streams to disk.

Installing Applications

Synaptic is provided as the default graphical package manager for antiX.

Whilst Mint fans will quite rightly speak about how good the Mint Software Manager is, I don't think there is a better tool out there than Synaptic.

Simply type the name of the application or a keyword to describe the application in the filter and a list of potential candidates appear.

Right click and mark the application to be installed and you will be notified of all the required dependencies.

Click "Apply" to install the software.

Flash and MP3

There isn't really anything to put here other than the fact that Flash is installed and so are the necessary codecs for playing MP3 audio files.

Issues

Hardly anything came up during my testing of antiX. I have already mentioned the wiCD tool not picking up the wireless networks until I edited the preferences screen.

In addition to this the audio mixer was set quite low by default but this was easily remedied.

Finally in Streamtuner when I clicked play the audio streams didn't play. I checked the preferences for Streamtuner and the default audio application for Streamtuner was Audacious. Audacious isn't installed by antiX. To remedy this I replaced Audacious in the settings with XMMS and then I was able to listen to the selected radio stations.

Summary

antiX is a great operating system. I loved every minute whilst using it.

antiX won't be for everybody and probably isn't going to be used by many people as their main operating system.

If you have an older PC lying around with Windows XP (or even Windows 98) on it then replace it with antiX and you will make your computer more secure and perform better. (You will also have a browser that is more likely to display the web pages in the way they are supposed to be displayed).

You can use antiX for recovering broken Windows systems, ripping music from online radio stations, as a jukebox or even as a web kiosk.

If you spend most of your time online then antiX keeps out of the way to let you get on with browsing the web, using Facebook etc.

antiX was easy to install, relatively easy to use and the performance was spectacularly good.

Thankyou for reading.

Alternatives to antiX

• Puppy Linux
• SLAX
• Lubuntu
• Knoppix
• SparkyLinux

17 comments

Posted at 21:00 |  by Gary Newell