Issue 28: Alternatives: Discover the Worlds Beyond Ubuntu

Open Source is winning and why this is a bad thing.

*buntu distros are great and all, but, if you stick to one flavor and never dip your toes into the really vast and, admittedly, sometimes scary sea of Linux distros, you'll never really know what you're missing.

Most companies producing PCs today claim that a computer becomes outdated after four years of use. Even so, there are computers much older than four years that work just fine when they are outfitted with a lean operating system and suitable software.

MX Linux is blooming largely in secret. This distribution is best suited for older hardware, but it is also accommodating to those who want many administration tools and scripts.

BunsenLabs Linux is a community continuation of CrunchBang. Like its predecessor, BunsenLabs is based on the stable version of Debian, in this case, Debian Jessie. It is also appealing thanks to its radically modified Openbox window manager.

No two Linux distributions are alike. But, if you can't find a Linux distribution suited to your needs in spite of the large selection available, then you can put one together yourself.

Bodhi Linux 3.1 combines the advantages of Ubuntu with the advantages of the brand new fork of Enlightenment E17, the Moksha desktop. It is also an excellent system for older hardware.

GitHub advertises the Atom text editor as a combination of the best features from vi, Emacs, Sublime, and Textmate with none of the inconveniences. GitHub hopes to attract new users with an editor that is nicely integrated with its own VCS.

The Markdown mark up language provides an easy and fast way to format wikis and HTML pages. uText helps users of Ubuntu and its derivatives to create and edit these types of texts.

Dstat helps identify bottlenecks that hide in the complex interplay of CPU, hard drive and network. Thanks to an extensive number of parameters, the program is also suitable for monitoring a server.

Managing multiple computers can often be accomplished just by using SSH, etc. You don't necessarily need to have a big, complex solution like Puppet or Cfengine.

The pst-barcode package in LaTeX lets you generate a wide variety of professional-quality barcodes and QR codes for many different purposes.

Launchpad is a great way to get bleeding-edge and niche software for your Ubuntu, but it also provides a complete API, which allows you to write scripts to automate your access. We look into the Python 3 bindings for the Launchpad API.

Normal checksums are used to identify "identical" files. The ssdeep tool is used for finding files that are similar in terms of content.

Linux offers a surprisingly large number of lean web browsers that can substitute resource-hungry options like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Although austere in appearance, these Linux browsers are nonetheless remarkably convenient to use.

Although sometimes awkward to use, tiling window managers are effective. X Tile can be used to expand a standard window manager with tiling functions, combining the best of both worlds.

The open source software Syncthing synchronizes files among a wide variety of devices. It accomplishes this task with significantly more flexibility than popular online services such as Dropbox.

Qt4-fsarchiver can easily save and restore files and entire partitions plus completely write and restore hard drive images.

The program OpenSCAD makes it possible to construct 3D objects via just a few commands. STL Exporter makes the software interesting for users who have a 3D printer.

The open source DTP software Scribus is back on the stage with a much improved import capability for file formats and many more functions for use in the professional realm. The beta version discussed here promises good things for the future.

Ubuntu 15.10 offers nearly no changes to the installation process. But, just in case you are new to Ubuntu, we'll walk you through upgrading or installing the latest release.

With NetworkManager, you can access the Internet during the Ubuntu installation process. The first step is to download updates to make your system more secure.

Ubuntu's Software Center lets you install just about anything, including free software, purchased apps, and games.

You can watch movies, play music and place calls over the Internet with ease with Ubuntu. You just have to load the right software packages onto your computer. We present some of our favorite multimedia apps.