"The unexpected becomes expected."
Linux, Applications, Webdesign and Open-Source.
I am going to take a moment to give you some brief little shoutouts to the apps that I use on an everyday basis to accomplish various tasks. These are meant to kind of let anyone interested know what I use, but also demonstrates that most of key uses for computing are covered here. I am not saying that Linux does everything just like Windows, because it doesn't. There are things that Windows can do that Linux cannot, and vice versa. But there is more usability in Linux than I think the average non-user realizes.
First off, we will look at desktop stuff. Kubuntu I mention below, and that's all about I can say about it except that best bit about any of the Ubuntu desktop distros is the excellent support and the huge volume of actually quite stable programs. [Forthcoming to this section: KDE, Blackbox]
Secondly, I will mention those programs I use for editing of text and documents. The first of which is Vim, the ubiquitous Linux text editor, and my primary editor for both home and work. Then there is my favorite office suite, Openoffice.org (for a Linux user dealing with a lot of Windows friends, it is almost a duh). [Forthcoming to this section: Scribus].
My third main category is media playing. I'll start with XMMS (w/ Madman) which I use to play my many music files. [Forthcoming to this category: Mplayer.]
And here is an MP3 file of how Linus Torvalds pronounces it which I got from this site. I am not trying to be snarky, I just thought it was neat.
The flavor of linux (i.e. distro) that I use is Kubuntu. Its a good, stable distro in that its small enough to not be overwhelming, allows for a good number of apps, has excellent support communities and excellent release schedules. It might not be the best for you, but I recommend trying it out.
If you want to try out any of several free (yes, really free, not like some of that "freeware" that you have to pay to use succesfully) distros of Linux, then head over to LinuxISO.org. The choices can be overwhelming, but try out a few, it won't cost you a dime.
This website, I wanted to point out, runs on Linux. I used Quantu Plus to do the initial edits, and now primarily use vim to do the insertion of text. I use Mozilla Firefox to preview it (apologies to MS-IE people, but I do try and get to work well on both). Apache is the webserver I use and what few graphics I have tend to be edited by the Gimp.
For those wishing to get in touch, you can contact me in a number of ways
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
The only request is that you let me know if you are using something from this page (mostly for my own curiosity). This license only applies to original works by W. Doug Bolden (i.e. me). All quoted and referenced works, be they movies or books or other websites or whatever, are subject to their original license or copyright and are the property of their owners. I have made a strong effort to properly attribute them, so please respect me and them by doing the same.
"The hidden is greater than the seen."