Virtually Speaking (IRLS672-Unit 2)

This week, I got myself all set up with the remote desktop ("virtual machine") and also got Ubuntu loaded using VMware. There were several tutorials to help us get acquainted with the linux environment on our remote desktops. I appreciated them all in their own way. The video tutorials through UACBT were very helpful because we got to see visually how it's done and hear someone talk us through it. It engaged more of the senses so it sunk in to my brain. It got a little complicated at some points, but it's just more things to look forward to figuring out.

The text-based tutorials from Linuxcommand were also helpful and I found them to be a good way to build on the video tutorials. The text-based tutorials focused more on beginning to memorize the actual commands. I can see these being a good "cheat sheet" when we are doing assignments and I can't remember how to do something.

Overall, I found the combination of these two learning types to be most beneficial as I try to sort out this new system of operation.

Ubuntu for Absolute Beginners (IRLS672-Unit 1)

While waiting for permission to install and play with Ubuntu, we were assigned to check out the UbuntuForums, and specifically the Absolute Beginner Talk forum. While there, I first checked out a "sticky," which I guess is one of the more important threads with info from the forum admins and such. This thread caught my eye since it was titled "New to Ubuntu? Start Here." This forum provided many many resources for beginner "how-to" books, articles, and websites. It also included tips on how to use the forums to get the answer needed. Apparently even tech communities have trouble with people fighting, so there are lots of references to being "drama-free" and not started "flame wars."

While this was all well and good, I wanted to see what types of things people are having trouble with (and what might be a typical problem I may encounter one day). One thread that I noticed was titled "Seeking advice in regards to Ubuntu installation on a netbook." This is of interest to me since I own a netbook as my personal computer, and yet made the choice to use my partner's older laptop as my primary computer for this course since I wasn't sure how the programs would hold up on my tiny comp. It turns out from this post that it was probably a good move on my part. Apparently, there is a specific Ubuntu version for netbooks and it doesn't always work well on a computer that already has Windows installed. I know that this is part of the reason why we are using a slightly older version of Ubuntu on virtual machines for this course, but it would be nice to be able to work with this program on my netbook eventually (if it turns out I like it!). I'm thinking that another problem with my netbook is that it already has a linux-based OS (called "ExpressGate" or something), so it would essentially be 3 operating systems fighting each other on a tiny computer? Luckily, it seems that there are several ways to install Ubuntu (courtesy of the thread commentors) and I won't have to worry about this issue right now. Just something to think about for the future...