5 stars for this Ubuntu/Linux commentor
Written by Tanner on November 11, 2008 – 10:34 pm |As a recent Ubuntu convert, I’ve spent the last couple weeks scanning the web for quality Linux-friendly blogs. A number have turned up, but one is so good that it deserves special attention.
iTWire is a great tech commentary site out of Australia. One section in particular - The Linux Distillery, by David M Williams - provides an informative, amusing commentary on general Linux (and often Ubuntu) topics. Below are quotes from (and links to) some of my favorite articles.
From “100 reasons Linux beats Windows”
…2. If you change your hardware and re-install Linux you don’t have to call someone to justify it.
…5. And they didn’t give $10m of your hard-earned cash to Jerry Seinfeld.
…17. You don’t need to defragment Linux. At all. Ever.
…22. …Over 80% of the top 500 supercomputers in the world run Linux. Windows just doesn’t have the capability for high performance computing.
…86. You won’t have your father calling you to ask why RUNDLL32.EXE is crashing and expecting a quick answer as to precisely what the problem is.
From “Top 5 Linux references in pop-culture”
#3 – The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix is my all-time favourite movie. It was brilliant. Then the little matter of two crap sequels ruined it. Nevertheless, the writers certainly did know a thing or two.You’ve all seen movies where computer hackers somehow break into a computer with ridiculous animated eye-candy scenes. Why, in Independence Day you can even upload a virus to an alien spaceship with an unplugged Macintosh laptop. Luckily they had no security on the ship’s Wi-Fi network, hey?
…Yet in The Matrix Reloaded when Trinity sits down to hack, she really does hack. Faced with the problem of breaking in to the city power grid Trinity whipped out Nmap version 2.54beta25 and probed for a vulnerable SSH server. She exploited this with the SSH1 CRC32 exploit which was publicised in 2001 (although the script used, sshnuke, is fictional.) Curse the city network for being unpatched!
From “I didn’t know you could do that in Linux!”
Here are 12 tips, tricks, tweaks and techniques to make you say “I didn’t know you could do that in Linux.” Sure, not every one may be your cup of tea but here are 12 items to help you have the most positive Linux experience you can and to show why Linux is a superior operating system to other alternatives…
From “Linux incognito part three: Windows Vista”
Here’s how to skin Linux to give a Windows Vista appearance. You can help provide a familiar look and feel to your Windows-trained friends and family as you coax them towards Linux. Or you can enjoy the satisfaction of having something looking like Vista actually run with stability.
From “5 reasons to upgrade from Windows Vista to Linux”
Most readers will no doubt have upgraded the operating system on their own computer at some point, whether from Windows ’95 to Windows ’98 or Windows XP to Windows Vista or some other step.
Yet, an operating systems upgrade doesn’t necessarily have to wend its way through the range offered by one vendor. After all, just as you can replace the software that drives your computer in the first place so too you can replace it with anything that targets the same hardware.
This gives rise to many a possibility. You might love the look of the Apple MacBook but prefer Microsoft Windows over MacOS. No problem; Apple even make available a CD of Windows drivers for their MacBook hardware. Of course, I happen to think there’s another operating system you might want to consider, and here are 5 reasons why you would benefit from upgrading your Windows Vista computer to a modern Linux distribution like Ubuntu…
From “Face off part two: Windows vs Linux real world RAM and disk tests”
Last week I put Windows Vista Ultimate and Fedora Linux 9 to a test. The article hit the front page of Digg but received a lot of criticism by those disappointed with the performance of Internet Explorer. So, let’s dig deeper and use Firefox to see if Internet Explorer’s memory footprint is actually a Windows Vista “feature” or not. It’s time for the ultimate smackdown: Internet Explorer vs Firefox on Vista.
As you can probably infer from this spattering of quotes, Distillery is a great blog for recent Ubuntu/Linux converts. Enjoy!
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