Windows

How to Download and Install Linux (on Windows)

George Whittaker — Sat, 29 Jun 2019 00:21:01 +0000

Now that users have a general idea of what Linux is, this article will explain how it can be installed on a computer, along with the type of Distribution that should be used.

The following topics will be covered in this tutorial:

Linux Distribution
Number of Distributions
What Is the Best Linux Distribution
Using a USB Drive to Install Linux
Using a CD-ROM to Install Linux
Using a Virtual Machine to Install Linux

What are Linux Distributions?

Linux is an entirely free, open-source kernel that is used by for-profit and non-profit companies, programmers, and organizations all over the world to create operating systems to fulfill their own distinct needs and requirements.

Most organizations keep their Linux operating systems private to avoid hacking attempts, while other groups make their operating systems public for everyone to use.

By definition, these types of Linux operating systems are known as Distributions (or Distros for short). There are hundreds of different Distributions (operating systems) available. Most of the developers have a particular purpose in mind, including running web servers, or running on network switches such as modems or routers.

Android is one of the most popular smartphone-based Linux Distributions available. There are also many other Distributions that offer good, solid personal computing.

The following is a list of some popular Linux Distributions (otherwise known as Linux Distros):

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Five Trends Influencing Linux's Growth at the Endpoint

Jeff Kalberg — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000

by Jeff Kalberg

A recent IDC InfoBrief identified Linux as the only endpoint operating system growing globally. While Windows market share remains flat, at 39% in 2015 and 2017, Linux has grown from 30% in 2015 to 35% in 2017, worldwide. And the trend is accelerating.

Considering everywhere that systems built around the Linux kernel are used, we quickly realize that Linux is the most dominating operating system in the comparatively brief history of computer technology. Information systems have changed dramatically since August 1991 when Linus Torvalds announced, “I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.” With all due respect to the icons of open source, Linus is without question the Nicolas Tesla of information technology.

The influence of Linux boggles the mind—smartphones, televisions, digital video recorders, airline entertainment systems, automobile control systems, digital signage, routers, switches and, of course, the desktop operating system for the one percent, which in this case are those of us who run a Linux distro as their core OS.

Why Linux?

Although the “Which is the better operating system: Microsoft Windows or a Linux-based OS?” debate is as popular as ever these days, in truth, Linux has won the war. If there is any doubt, consider the influence of the Linux-based Android operating system (and its UNIX-based Apple brethren) to that of Microsoft Windows. Windows still has a place in our lives, but only because of the large volume of core applications that require a Windows OS. This will not always be the case, and to Microsoft’s credit, it has seen the future, and the future is Linux.

Over the past ten years, Microsoft has been enabling Linux and open-source technology. In July 2009, Microsoft quietly contributed 22,000 lines of source code to the Linux kernel under the GPLv2 license. Without a doubt, Microsoft’s motives were self-serving; it needed to ensure that Windows and Linux would interoperate well into the future. Microsoft achieved this goal when its code was accepted by the Linux kernel developers.

In more recent years, Microsoft has continued to embrace Linux. Microsoft supports Linux-based operating systems running on its Hyper-V hypervisor and Microsoft Azure, which uses Linux-based components and supports Linux OS guests. Microsoft ported SQL Server to Linux, albeit for internal use, and has made it available publicly. And by developing the Windows Subsystem for Linux, Microsoft made it possible to run Linux application workloads on Windows Server.

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How to Make Windows Better? Make It Chocolatey!

Shawn Powers — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 13:46:18 +0000

by Shawn Powers

Once again, my friend and fellow Linux Journal club member Kris Occhipinti introduced me to an awesome bit of software. This time, it's an open-source project that brings Linux-like package management to Windows! Don't get me wrong; installing software on Windows isn't difficult, but it's definitely more cumbersome than with Linux. Plus, with Chocolatey, you can keep your installed packages up to date as easily as you can with Linux.

There is an open-source version of Chocolatey and paid versions. With the open-source version, you can install and maintain all the community packages, which for me is plenty. Literally thousands of software packages are available to install with a simple command-line entry. And unlike Cygwin (a wonderful program as well), Chocolatey installs the same Windows applications you'd install if you downloaded the installers and went through the process on your own.

Installation on Windows can be done via the command prompt (cmd.exe) or via Powershell. If you open the command prompt as administrator (right-click, open as administrator, see screenshot), you can install with:


@powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command
 ↪"iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString
↪('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET
 ↪"PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

Or even better, go here for more options and a chance to look at the installation script before installing. The site actually recommends looking at the installation code before running it to make sure it's safe. That doesn't make me less confident of the code, but it makes me happy to see smart security choices.

So, thanks to making Windows a bit more like Linux and easing the process of keeping your software up to date, Chocolatey earns this month's Editors' Choice award. If you use Windows, head over to the website and check out this awesome system. It's especially useful for brand-new Windows installs, because managing all your third-party software with a single tool is wonderful. Thanks again, Kris!

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Non-Linux FOSS: File Spelunking with WinDirStat

Shawn Powers — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 17:15:39 +0000

by Shawn Powers

With Linux, it's fairy easy to find the large files on your system by doing something like this:


du -ahx / | sort -rh | head -20

Unfortunately, Windows users don't usually have equivalent tools. That's where something like WinDirStat comes into play. It's a file browser that uses incredible GUI elements to show you the files on your system with file size shown as rectangles. Big files are shown as big rectangles, and their file types are specified by color. It's a great visual way to sort your filesystem and get rid of (or at least find) extremely large files.

(Image via https://windirstat.net

If you use Windows on a regular basis, but seem to have a shrinking hard drive, I urge you to download WinDirStat to get real-time statistics on your filesystem. It's open source and, of course, free to download here.

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Non-Linux FOSS: Install Windows? Yeah, Open Source Can Do That.

Shawn Powers — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:24:09 +0000

by Shawn Powers

For my day job, I occasionally have to demonstrate concepts in a Windows environment. The most time-consuming part of the process is almost always the installation. Don't get me wrong; Linux takes a long time to install, but in order to set up a multi-system lab of Windows computers, it can take days!

Thankfully, the folks over at https://automatedlab.codeplex.com have created an open-source program that automatically will set up an entire lab of servers, including domain controllers, user accounts, trust relationships and all the other Windows things I tend to forget after going through the process manually. Because it's script-based, there are lots of pre-configured lab options ready to click and install. Whether you need a simple two-server lab or a complex farm with redundant domain controllers, Automated Lab can do the heavy lifting.

Although the tool is open source, the Microsoft licenses are not. You need to have the installation keys and ISO files in place before you can build the labs. Still, the amount of time and headaches you can save with Automated Lab makes it well worth the download and configuration, especially if you need to build test labs on a regular basis.

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Non-Linux FOSS: Don't Type All Those Words!

Shawn Powers — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 19:42:54 +0000

by Shawn Powers

We've mentioned Autokey as a great tool for text replacement in real time on Linux. Thankfully, there's an option for Windows users that actually is even more powerful than Autokey! AutoHotkey is a similarly named application that runs strictly under Windows. It's still FOSS, but there's unfortunately no version for Linux.

The premise for AutoHotkey is the same as Autokey for Linux. Type a quick short bit of text, and it will expand that shortcut into the predefined text you tell it to use. I find this useful while programming, as creating those curly braces in pairs is very useful. The program is a bit of a bear to configure, because there's no GUI to configure keys. In order to configure the program, you write a text-based script that defines your shortcuts.

AutoHotkey (AHK it's sometimes called) even allows you to pre-compile your shortcuts into an executable so you don't need to re-program them when you move to a new computer. Grab your .exe file, and run it when you visit your folks for the holidays. (But don't make a shortcut that automatically misspells your sibling's name when your parents type it...or if you do, don't blame me!)

AutoHotkey is free, and it's available at http://ahkscript.org. There's a nice quick-start tutorial as well to help you get started, because like I mentioned, it's a little rough at first. If you're stuck typing a lot of text on a Windows machine, check out AutoHotkey today!

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Non-Linux FOSS: XAMP

Shawn Powers — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 20:25:07 +0000

by Shawn Powers

One of my career iterations put me in charge of a Windows server that had Apache and PHP installed on it to serve as a Web server for the corporate intranet. Although I was happy to see Apache used as the Web server dæmon, the installation on the Windows server was the most confusing and horrifying mess I've ever seen. To this day, I'm not sure which of the three Apache instances was actually serving files, and there were at least six PHP folders in various places on the hard drive, each with a different version number.

If you're in a situation where you're required to use Windows, but don't want to worry about the nightmare of installing Apache and PHP (much less MySQL) on your machine, I urge you to check out XAMMP. It's not a new program, but that's one of its greatest features. It's basically just a single installer for Windows, OS X or Linux that installs Apache with PHP and MySQL. Its maturity means that even on a Windows system, it should install and work like you'd expect open-source software to work.

Although XAMMP can be used to serve files to the actual Internet, it was designed for individuals to install on their own workstations to test their code. And in that situation, it works really well. If you have a server connected to the Internet, I still recommend using a Linux server with a proper Apache/PHP installation, but if you're stuck using a Windows workstation, XAMMP can give you a stable, open-source Web server platform that you can rely on. Grab a copy at http://www.apachefriends.org.

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Non-Linux FOSS: AutoHotkey

Shawn Powers — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 19:12:46 +0000

by Shawn Powers

Text expansion and hotkey automation are the sort of things you don't realize you need until you try them. Those of you who ever have played with system settings in order to change the function of a keystroke on you system understand the value of custom hotkeys.

For Windows users, the customization of keystrokes is pretty limited with the system tools. Thankfully, the folks at http://www.autohotkey.com have created not only an incredible tool for creating scripted hotkeys, but they've also included automatic text expansion/replacement for speed boosts on the fly.

Programming the hotkeys and text replacements is pretty straightforward, and the Web site offers plenty of tutorials for making complex scripts for elaborate automation. Even if you just want to do a few simple hotkeys, however, AutoHotkey is a tool you really want to check out. Best of all, it's completely open source, so there's no reason not to go download it today!

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Non-Linux FOSS: Notepad++ Is Better Better

Shawn Powers — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 18:45:11 +0000

by Shawn Powers

If anyone understands the importance of a good text editor, it's a Linux user stuck on Windows. Sure, Microsoft supplies Notepad and Wordpad, but neither really feels like the powerful sort of text editor a Linux user expects. Enter Notepad++.

Notepad++ provides features like line numbering, syntax highlighting and tabbed file editing. If those seem like ordinary features that should be included in any text editor worth its salt, well, you're right. Notepad++ is fully open source, and it is the preferred simple text editor on Windows. It's certainly not a full IDE, but all the developers I know have it installed if they use Windows. Give it a try at http://notepad-plus-plus.org.

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Non-Linux FOSS: Rearrange Your Furniture, Not Your Spine

Shawn Powers — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 17:17:37 +0000

by Shawn Powers

My family is in the middle of moving from one house to another. Part of that move involves arranging furniture. I'll be honest, I can move a couch across a room only so many times before I start to think perhaps there's a better way. Thankfully, there is.

Although several 3-D house-modeling packages exist, and a couple are even on-line, nothing seems to work quite as simply as Sweet Home 3D. It's both a 3-D and 2-D layout tool, and it comes with a wide variety of pre-made furniture and window/door graphics to get you started. I was able to design a rudimentary living room in about two minutes (Figure 1), and that included installation time! Sweet Home 3D is an open-source Java application that comes with a nice Windows executable installer.

Figure 1. Living Room Design

You might be thinking, if it's Java, won't it run on other platforms too? Well, yes, of course! It might not be as simple as the Windows executable installer to use it on OS X or Linux, but it's Java, so it's cross-platform-compatible. If you need to design a layout for your house, but don't want to haul furniture around to see what it looks like, I highly recommend Sweet Home 3D (http://www.sweethome3d.com).

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