Backup your music CDs with Asunder CD Ripper

Asunder CD ripper is one of best, if not the best, CD ripper available on Ubuntu. Its very easy to use and the preferences menu is fairly simple.

You can change the settings from the Preferences menu. You can rip to OGG, FLAC, WAV as well as a host of other formats.




Ripping thereafter is as simple as clicking on "Rip".




You can download it from the Ubuntu Software Center by searching for "Asunder".

Install Kubuntu

Many prefer Kubuntu to Ubuntu because of the stunning interface.

This is perhaps the most user-friendly tutorial on how to install Kubuntu afresh on your PC. To get Kubuntu, click here (as with all Cannonical releases, its totally free!) and burn the downloaded .iso file to a CD (you could also burn it to a DVD).

One more thing, the installation instructions here are for Kubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala release), currently the latest version.

Step 1: BIOS Changes - Make sure your first boot device is set to your CD/DVD ROM. Save your settings and exit BIOS.

Step 2: When you boot, this is the first screen you will get:



Step 3: Select your language and then select the "Install Kubuntu" option and press enter.



Step 4: The following images are in sequence. You will have to enter your details as per your preferences.





Select your region:



Select your keyboard layout (best keep it to the default one as shown here if you're not sure).



If you want to install Kubuntu on your hard drive as the only OS, then click on the first option "Erase and use the entire disk" as shown here. (If you want to set partitions, click on the specify partitions and set your partition size and specification) Its better to select the first option as shown here if you're not sure.



Enter your name and username, password etc. If you dont want Kubuntu to ask you for passwords everytime you boot, select the "Log in automatically"



Click on Install and get your cup of coffee coz its gonna take quite some time! :)



The installation bar which you will have to tolerate for around 10-15 mins. Did you get that coffee?



After the installation is over/the bar reaches 100%, you will get this image on your screen. As directed simply remove the CD from the tray and press Enter.



Kubuntu will now reboot and greet you with its amazing interface!



Thats it!

Can I really trust Ubuntu?

Now that I have the Ubuntu disk and have been using the "boot via CD" option, it is getting extremely tempting to go for an all out installation of Ubuntu on my hard disk, since without a proper root directory it is very difficult to install applications.

I already have Windows installed on my system, so the options I'm left with are a) format/create a partition and install Ubuntu or b) install Ubuntu on an existing partition. Obviously the second option seems the more viable one as of now since I'm in no mood to sacrifice my hard disk data. However I'm starting to have second thoughts about it, what if my hard disk gets screwed up? What if I lose data? What if my PC slows down? Is Ubuntu worth all these risks?

Well just too many worries. I'll wait till the time I'm ready to format my hard disk. Till then, I'll use the CD booting option.

My tryst with Ubuntu 9.04

Finally got my Ubuntu CD yesterday. I have to admit I was excited about this Jaunty Jackalope release ever since it was announced. On paper Ubuntu 9.04 does seem to be a serious contender for a viable OS.

Before I start, here's the contents of the package:

1. The Ubuntu CD case:

Looks seriously cool!




Here's how the case looks when on the inside:



And here's the back side of the case:



2. And the CD...beautifully designed!



3. Some stickers with the Ubuntu logo

There goes the packaging aspect. Really cool packaging for a free OS.

So next came the part of putting it to the test.

Ubuntu 9.04 came with the promise of a faster OS. Faster than all other editions of Ubuntu. Well they have delivered. The earlier edition of Ubuntu used to take around 5 mins to load, this one hardly takes 2 mins max!

As far as softwares are concerned some of them come pre packaged with the CD itself, but most of them dont. Apparently those are available on the retail DVDs of Ubuntu but as always are available for free download too. Anyway, the real dampener is the fact that Ubuntu doesnt support the more common audio and video codecs, say MP3, AAC, DIVX, XVID, MKV, etc. However it does have support for OGG and FLAC formats. So if you wanna become a Linux power user, you have to consider a conversion software. For the time being I tried FreeMP3WMAOGG converter. As the name suggests its free. But its a Windows software and I'm not exactly sure if this one has a Linux counterpart. Most probably it doesnt. Once an MP3 was converted I tried playing it on the Ubuntu default music player and it did the job quite well. Maybe it doesnt have as many options as say a Jet Audio or a Winamp, but for a bundled software, its as good as Windows Media Player (minus all those codec supports of course!).

The speed aspect has definitely been taken care of in this release and the OS is substantially faster than its predecessor, as I mentioned earlier. Most of the processes have quite a fast loading time, and the bundled Firefox works like a breeze. Its pleasantly surprising to note that Firefox has almost all the same popular add ons available for Linux as it has for Windows.

I did however face (and am still facing) a problem configuring my modem. The network settings available arent in the least user friendly, and its really a pain trying to get the entire network settings in order. In Windows setting up a network is so much easier. Tried configuring my modem for about 4 hours but then gave up. Way too confusing. I had to use the sudo pppoeconf from the Terminal for a quickfire setup, but lets say this is of course the less than ideal way of doing it. But to be frank I really cant blame Ubuntu for everything, the internet settings for BSNL via LAN is not really as straight forward as an Airtel broadband. I however gather that the WiFi settings of Ubuntu are far easier to configure; havent tried that one yet, so no comments on that.

Well thats about it really. This is quite a good release and a substantial improvement over the earlier editions. Lets hope Ubuntu keeps up the good work but as of now, its still got a long way to go before it becomes one of the major Operating Systems.