So I'm back near the windows at work again for a couple of weeks, which is nice. And I've brought an old laptop along with me to work on, so I decided that I would test drive a newish Linux distribution that I've been hearing a lot about in the past few months: Ubuntu Linux. And also partly because I like their slogan: Linux for Human Beings.
I'm coming off of being a Gentoo die-hard, since once upon a time I thought it was cool to have my entire system compiled directly from source code, which gave me certain bragging rights around the office back when there were people around who didn't glaze over at me. But nowadays it's become a bit of a pain to manage and, quite frankly, I have better things to do with my time than to watch Gnome recompile for 7 or 8 hours every time there's an update, followed with a couple of hours trying to figure out what's wrong with it when it won't start up properly and all I can get is a command prompt.
Ubuntu is, quite simply, the easiest Linux that I've ever seen. Everything is so nicely packaged and organized, with a nice little package manager that allows me to install literally thousands of applications with an internet connection and a small click of the mouse. And it looks great. (Click the image to enlarge) I've got absolutely everything I could ever need - Gnome, web stuff, programming apps, audio players (which can connect to iTunes on my Mac in my old office!), office stuff, and even a clone of MSN messenger. It totally puts Windows to shame. Seriously, if anyone out there has a computer that's sucking the life out of them right now, you can download a smallish version of Ubuntu that runs off a CD, just to play with it. Although it's infinitely cooler when you fully install it. And it's free. All of it. And it all just works!Okay, so there's my gushing about how awesome Ubuntu is. To make the experience more enjoyable, why not listen to a little music perfectly suited for a day of getting in touch with your inner geek/geekette? I recommend the following two albums:
Devo - Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo!
This one came out of the archives last night after band practice, when Sovtek and I started playing the same chord patterns and momentarily couldn't figure out what it was. (It turned out to be Gut Feeling, which was also used in the Life Aquatic soundtrack). I had forgotten how great a record this is. Amazing in it's simplicity of instrumentation, complexity of compositions and brilliant in it's sheer weirdness. The perfect compliment to an experimental computer day.They Might Be Giants - Apollo 18
Sometimes overlooked by those of us with fond childhood memories of the other TMBG classic Flood, this record is no slouch, either. The songs are totally just as catchy. And it's far geekier than it's predecessor, too. Just look at the lyrics to I Palindrome I (specifically the crazy palindrome in the middle) or Mammal. And as a nice touch, the 17 tracks that make up Fingertips, each one a little song in itself, is a great listen.So there you go. Time to let your inner geek or geekette shine.
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