Software

Choose whatever version of Linux you want at Distrowatch.com. It's a great site that has ratings based on the number of people who view the distro page on thier site.

For General Ubuntu Help, go to Ubuntuforums.org. A GREAT resource for Ubuntu help; you can also try the #Ubuntu channel on IRC.

An awesome program to to get all the normal stuff you want for Ubuntu - Automatix. They have lots of new features and are really good at it now.

I am still trying to find a way to do a good VPN in Ubuntu that works with my schools service. For some reason, I tried to install the Cisco VPN they give us and it didn't work. I had no problems last time so I'm not sure what the difference is this time. I'm trying various open source versions and hopefully will soon be able to confirm the best choice.

Until then have fun in Linux!

I am amazed at the new functionality in automatix. And that they have a new site! I went to the Ubuntu Forums Page and was confused that it didn't have the directions anymore. Well they've made it much easier to install and use and they have their own site now at getautomatix.com.

I was pleasantly suprised this time at the new program choices, as well at the bug fixes. It used to be that I would install and run automatix and then have to go clean up it's work. Like, it would install Mplayer and the firefox plugin, but it wouldn't install any of the needed codecs. So I would have to go to mplayers home page and download them and put them in the right folder myself.

Thought I might post some tricks and hacks that I found in my searching on teh interweb. You can copy paste any of the commands into your browser.

Read on for some good tips.