“The time has come…to talk of many [technologies].” –Lewis Carroll(‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’)
GNU/Linux
Which is my favourite OS?
4Suddenly people have started to publish their favourite operating systems in their blogs and I thought I too should have some fun by doing the same. Currently I have these operating systems installed on my computer:
- Ubuntu (Debian based)
- Zenwalk (Slackware based)
- Fedora
- Microsoft Windows XP
My favourite, as must be evident from the above list, is Debian. Because I use Debian OS as the main server for my network, I thought I should install a different flavour of it on my pc. I may try Mepis os the next time, but currently I have Ubuntu.
The best thing I like about Debian based distros is its package manager called ‘apt’. also there is a huge repository of packages ready to be downloaded and installed for debian. Two dvd full of software can be kept handy by those who need to install them on multiple systems or have a slow internet connection. Two step installation process of debian, where you can install only the base system in the first tier and then continue with the additional packages once the first part is successfully installed, gives a lot of flexibility to the user. Debian is also very secure and stable, more than any other gnu/linux distribution. This is also the reason why latest versions of many softwares are not included in debian, but the tradeoff has been utilised by ubuntu and you get the latest, cutting-edge versions of all the software by sacrificing a bit on security and stability in it. Because ubuntu is generally meant to be used on desktop only(all kinds of server applications can be installed on it, but I can’t convince myself to use it as a public server machine), the security issue is not critical. But ubuntu comes with a single dvd worth of software and any additional packages have to be installed from the Internet. For KDE users, there is Kubuntu.
Slackware is another interesting distribution that is best known for its simpilicity and efficiency. The operating system, as well as its packages, get installed in real quick time. Its package manager is also extremely simple to use but the repository of packages for slackware is not as big as that of debian. Because I use it for development purposes it suits me perfectly well and I have found it as the fastest of all the popular gnu/linux distros. Zenwalk is a flavour of Slackware and installs only one software per every category – i.e. one browser, one word processor, one email client only – saving a lot of disk space. Its default desktop XFCE is also sleek and stylish. Though the first thing that I had installed on Zenwalk was the KDE package, which took less than one minute, I still spend most of my time in XFCE.
I had installed Fedora to check out the Core 4 version of it, but i am already thinking about installing PCLinuxOS or some thing else over it.
I use Windows XP primarily for development on .NET platform and for heavy printing jobs. I also keep most of my partitions meant for storing data under windows file system and manage them from windows xp because its easy to access windows partitions from gnu/linux than the other way round. My testbed machine contains 6-8 operating systems on it and the list keeps changing every 3-4 days. My brother is very fond of Gentoo OS.
Final word? Debian as a server, Ubuntu for most of the desktop jobs(multimedia, internet etc), Zenwalk for development work and Windows XP for .NET and data storage.
Burning a CD/DVD in GNU/Linux
0One thing that prevented me from completely switching over from Microsoft Windows to GNU/Linux was the relatively difficult way to burn a CD/DVD media in GNU/Linux OS. Printing came a close second. Hardware support and Games were also way better supported in Windows than in GNU/Linux. Now, atleast burning media has become extremely easy in GNU/Linux, arguably easier than burning it in Nero under Windows(infact, there is a version of Nero for GNU/Linux too, but who cares to use propriety software when there is so much of choice with the Free burning tools?).
If you have an ISO file(files ending in .iso extension), which is the most popular file format for making and sharing images of CDs and DVDs, then this simple command will burn it on an empty disc:
sh# cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc file.iso [1]
That’s it! ofcourse, there are tons of options that you can pass to ‘cdrecord’ if you want more control over the burning process, like specifying the speed of burning(as in 4x):
sh# cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc file.iso speed=4
For more information regarding the options of cdrecord, see its man pages[2].
If you want to rather burn a directory which contains your data files, first make an ISO file:
sh# mkisofs -o file.iso -RJ /home/user/directory/
and then burn ‘file.iso’ using the above procedure. You can also first mount an ISO file on a directory to check its contents before burning it:
sh# mount -o loop file.iso /home/user/mountdir
sh# ls /home/user/mountdir
sh# ls /home/user/mountdir
To erase a CD-RW, use:
sh# cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc blank=fast (‘blank=all’ will do a complete erase)
If you are not a command-line guy, then K3B is an excellent graphical tool to burn a CD/DVD under GNU/Linux and should get the job done with equal ease[3]. You won’t need more than a few clicks to burn a CD!! It is the best CD/DVD writer of all IMHO.
Notes:
[1] Where hdc is your cd-rom drive. If you don’t know what is the the name of your cd-rom drive, then try:
sh# cat /etc/fstab | grep /mnt/cdrom
OR
sh# cat /etc/fstab | grep /media/cdrom
OR
sh# dmesg | grep ‘^hd.:’
OR
sh# cat /etc/fstab | grep /media/cdrom
OR
sh# dmesg | grep ‘^hd.:’
Or use this guide:
hda->primary master
hdb->primary slave
hdc->secondary master
hdd->secondary slave
If you use an older kernel:
sh# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 file.iso
or better, upgrade the kernel!!
[2] use man or info command to get more help:
sh# man cdrecord
[3] you can also try X-CD Roast which boasts of more features and better stability, but I strongly suggest K3B for its user-friendliness and simplicity.
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