I installed Ubuntu Linux on my laptop this week on a whim.  I’ve kinda wanted to try it out and I was getting frustrated with Debian.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Debian.  My only issue was reading about new versions of applications and not being able to use them very easily because Debian is so strict with the packages that are released to the repos.

Anyway, I have it installed and I have to say it’s pretty nice.  I had some issues with drivers on Debian.  I got them working but it took a bit of work.  All of the hardware worked out of the box with ubuntu with the exception of the fingerprint recognition.  I haven’t cared to look to see how to set that up.  I don’t use it.

It has been nice to try out some of the features in software that I was running older versions.  I’ve got everything configured again and it is running smoothly.  We’ll see how it goes from here.

This is not going to be a patriotic post, sorry about that.  I’ve been listening to a couple of podcasts lately that are dedicated to Linux and Open Source Software.  It has caused me to think about the idea and philosophy behind Open Source Software and Free Software.

The idea is that Software should be free.  Not free as in no cost, but free as in the user is free to do what he or she wants with it.  A person should be able to share it, modify it, repackage it, really use it without restrictions.  It is really about learning, sharing and improving.

The Free Software Foundation has a lot of information on the subject.  Here is a quote from their website.

Free software is software that gives you the user the freedom to share, study and modify it. We call this free software because the user is free.

To use free software is to make a political and ethical choice asserting the right to learn, and share what we learn with others.  Free software has become the foundation of a learning society where we share our knowledge in a way that others can build upon and enjoy.

A really good read is this Essay on The Definition of Free Software.

I haven’t contributed a lot to the Open Source community but I have shared a few pieces of code.  I have been thinking of areas that I could contribute.  This post is my first step.  Helping people understand the philosophy.  I guess I have to start somewhere.

Other Links:

• Linux Outlaws (Podcast)
• Debian Linux Distribution
• Sourceforge (Open Source Software)