This is the "Read Me" file for the companion CD from a workshop I did at Opus 2003, a conference of young adult (ages 18-35) Unitarian Universalists. I have not put the software mentioned below on my web site, since I have included links to the softwares' web sites. Please get the latest versions there.
Making Your Digital Lifestyle Reflect
Your Beliefs
Companion CD
This disk contains some popular open source software for Mac OS X and
Windows. You will find that this software is as high quality or
better than most commercial software packages. Note that I don't
have a Windows computer and therefore cannot guarantee that the Windows
software installs properly.
Sites to Visit
For more information about computers and ethics, visit:
- Slashdot (slashdot.org) -- a
geeky news site. Be sure to visit the "YRO" (Your Rights Online) section.
- The Free Software Foundation (www.gnu.org)
-- the granddaddy of all open source software organizations; be
sure to read the GNU Manifesto,
written in 1985. Our very own Opus Facilitator, Jeff Bailey, has
worked for them.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org)
-- "Defending Freedom in the Digital World." I'm a member.
- Electronic Privacy Information Center (www.epic.org)
- The Center for Democracy and Technology (www.cdt.org)
- The American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org)
-- Not specific to computers, but they deal with a lot of related
issues. I'm a member.
To get more open source software, visit:
- Sourceforge (sourceforge.net).
Note that they let anyone start a project, so the quality varies from
excellent (better than commercial) to awful.
- Freshmeat (freshmeat.net) --
a huge catalog of open source software.
The Windows Software
- Open Office (www.openoffice.org)
-- a Microsoft Office compatible
office suite. Not as polished as Microsoft Office, but
roughly feature-for-feature compatible.
- Mozilla (www.mozilla.org)
-- a web browser, email program, and web
page editor. The current version is better than Internet
Explorer: it blocks pop-up advertisements, has fewer security
holes, isn't as prone to spyware,
and has lots more features. My favorite features:
- Tabbed browsing: faster and cleaner than opening new
windows. Once you start using it, you can't live without it.
- Pop-up suppression: vastly reduces the number of annoying
advertisements you have to wade through. Oh, and Mozilla doesn't
get those annoying uncloseable ads windows, nor the annoying ads which
change your default page.
- Type-ahead search: to find text in a page, just type "/"
followed by the text you are searching for. To search within links,
start with "?". No need to wait for a search window to open!
Be sure to look at the other cool projects at Mozilla.org-- they are
doing a lot of nifty stuff!
- The GIMP (www.gimp.org) -- a
very good image editing program. Similar to Photoshop.
There's a learning curve (hint: right-click for menus),
especially since it's designed for Linux, but it has more features than
most similar programs. For installation instructions, see http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/downloads.html.
The Mac Software
A lot of open source software, especially the stuff that's ported from
other Unixes, can be installed via Fink (fink.sourceforge.net),
including the GIMP. Fink keeps track of the versions and software
dependencies to keep Fink-installed software up-to-date. Mac OS
X, although commercial, is based on open source software, and Macs
include quite a few open source programs out of the box. Apple
actively contributes to many open source projects.
- Mozilla
- Camino, also from the Mozilla Foundation, is a Mac OS X native
web browser based on Mozilla. Note that Apple's web browser,
Safari, includes open source components.
What about Linux?
The software on this CD comes with all the popular Linux
distributions. If you are ready to try Linux, the easiest thing
to do is to buy a new computer with Linux pre-installed-- if you can
find it. I've heard that if you call IBM or Dell you can ask for
no Windows. (Note: you might still pay for Windows, you
just won't get it.) Another place with a good reputation is Power
Notebooks (www.powernotebooks.com).
They resell laptops from the same manufacturers that build certain
Dell, Sony, and Micron laptops-- often the identical product with
different labels and software! You can also buy Linux computers
online from Wal-Mart (www.walmart.com).
I don't like what Wal-Mart has done to rural towns, but their Linux PCs
are significantly cheaper than any other new computer you can
buy. Prices start at $200 for a 1.2 Mhz desktop. That's the
same as the price of Windows XP!
More likely, you'll want to purchase (or borrow) install disks.
It's quicker and easier than downloading the software-- which is also
an option. The following are
among the most common Linux distributions, and represent three
philosophies of how to get Linux.
Linux runs in place of Windows (or Mac OS) and a program which runs in
one won't usually run in the other. You will need to format your
computer to run one or the other, or modify your hard disk to have a
partition for each. If you aren't careful, you can loose the
contents of the hard disk.
One other solution which works well is to use VMware (www.vmware.com), commercial software
which lets you run a simulated computer (Virtual Machine, hence VM)
inside your computer. Thus you can run Windows inside Linux or
Linux inside Windows. At the last job where I had to use Windows,
I set up the computer to run Linux and only ran Windows inside a
virtual machine. It was just like having two computers, except
that one ran inside the other. It also made installing software
on Windows (often a dangerous proposition) much safer: VMware let
me undo any changes to the simulated Windows "hard disk" whenever
anything went wrong.
It was pointed out during the workshop that Mandrake Linux, a variation of Red Hat, has an install option where it uses a file on your Windows hard disk as if the file were a bootable hard disk. This is a particularly safe and easy way to run both Linux and Windows.
The most popular Linux, primarily targeted at corporate
desktops. You can find it in just about any software or office
supply store. The best funded and most polished, professional
Linux. Note that there are several versions at several price
ranges; the cheapest is likely to suit your needs if you are just
getting started. Of all the Linux companies, Red Hat is also one
of the fiercest proponents of open source software, and its install
disks may be duplicated freely-- however, if you modify it you must
remove logos and other Red Hat trademarks to make it clear that your
version is not pure Red Hat. I currently run Red Hat on a home
computer.
The desktop Linux I've found to be the easiest to work with.
Similar in philosophy to Red Hat, you can download SuSE disk images for
free off the web, or you can purchase it at most stores that have a
large software section. SuSE is not quite as purist as Red Hat,
and some boxed versions include commercial software, and therefore may
not be copied freely. The cheapest version (SuSE 8.2) works well,
whereas the more expensive versions (e.g. Office Desktop) include
commercial add-ons to let you run Windows software without
rebooting. I run SuSE on my computer at work.
Since the workshop, I switched my home computer from Red Hat to SuSE. I downloaded it for free. I can heartily recommend SuSE over Red Hat for its ability to work with low end or home-built computers.
SuSE lets you download a "Live Eval" version. You download the CD-ROM image, burn it onto a disk, and then you can boot from the CD-ROM. It can store your preferences and files in a folder on an existing Windows or Linux hard disk. This makes it easy to use Linux without risking tinkering with your hard disk. The Live Eval includes most of the popular software, including a web browser, Open Office, and The GIMP.
The disadvantage to downloading off the internet is that it takes a long time to download everything-- even with a fast Internet connection. The "Live Eval" takes up one CD-ROM (650 megabytes), while a full install takes several.
Unlike the other distributions of Linux, Debian is mantained by
volunteers rather than a company. It is therefore unencumbered by
the need to make money. Perhaps as a result, I find it to be
somewhat less polished, especially for desktop use. It's ideal
for servers and upgrading for free is easiest-- online updates never
require you to get a new version to get new features. The stable
release is less leading-edge (and therefore has fewer bugs) than most
desktop Linuxes. My company uses Debian for its web and database
servers. I used Debian on my work desktop for a while, but
switched back to SuSE since Debian had trouble handling my computer's
sound card.