Another Reason I Don’t Like Apple

My first and last piece of Apple hardware was purchased a couple of years ago for me at Christmas by my lovely bride. It is a silver iPod Classic 80GB model, and it’s a wonderful gadget. What? How does that sync with the title of your post? I’m glad you asked, and by the time you finish reading this post, you will understand.

Those of you who read my blog regularly know by now my computer operating system of choice is Linux with Simply Mepis being the particular distribution. A quick look through my Computer Category will show you several posts written on the subject. Several of those posts have been published in a various internet computer magazines, for which I’m grateful.

The first time I became upset with Apple was shortly after unwrapping my iPod to populate it with music and videos. I dutifully booted into that vastly inferior OS called Windows XP, fired up iTunes, and loaded music to my heart’s content. I had to register the iPod that way and thought that would be as good a way as any to upload content. What a mistake!

It wasn’t long until I had booted back into the safe confines of Linux. I fired up one of my media applications to continue uploading music, but to my dismay, the music I had spent time uploading didn’t appear on the device. Here we go! Back to Windows again to fix the database, then back to Linux and the same thing happened. Grrrrrr! Come to find out it was the insidious nature of Apple’s proprietary ways that caused all the commotion. They purposely added some code to the database that made sure you could only use iTunes for Apple or Windows; nothing in Linux. It was iTunes or nothing at all.

It wasn’t long until the bright guys from Linux found a solution and began working on getting the fix out to whoever wanted it. I’ll tell you now, my iPod works better now using a couple of Linux apps far better than it ever did with iTunes. Apple refuses to make iTunes available for Linux, which is another reason to steer clear of them.

I would love to have a smart phone and have been looking at several models. Obviously, Apple’s iPhone is out of the question. Apple is not going to get my money; the more I read about them the more I see how much like Microsoft they are, and that’s not a good thing at all. A few phones that appeal to me are the Blackberry 8900 (T-Mobile), Blackberry Tour (Verizon/Sprint) and the Palm Pre (Sprint). Each one has features which are quite appealing.

According to an AP Hi Tech article posted today by Rachel Metz, those good ol’ boys at Apple are up to their old tricks again. Many would say they saw this coming a mile away, and it’s probably true. Apple purposefully broke the Palm Pre’s ability to sync with iTunes. Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said the update “disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre.” In another article by Jeff Bertolucci of PC World, information is given to help Pre owners work their way around Apple’s kill switch.

To sum it up nicely, I just don’t like Apple’s business model. Come to think of it, I just don’t like Microsoft’s business model, either. Perhaps they make good equipment (many argue there are far superior media players out there), but the way they are so proprietary is troubling to me. Do the words Microsoft, Internet Explorer and monopoly ring a bell with anyone?

Why Would Anyone Buy Windows 7?

Many of you know my preference for computer operating systems happens to be Linux and Simply Mepis in particular. I have written several posts about Linux and site real examples of how the OS helps me in my daily work as a pastor of a small church in central Florida.

I made the move to Linux several years ago after a horrible encounter with a virus someone sent me through an e-mail. It was probably my fault for not checking the e-mail for malicious code lurking somewhere, but it was from a friend (at least I think that’s where the virus came from) and I just clicked on the link. About a week later my computer was clean and I was on a search for something better.

Open source software was a big part of my computing needs at the time and OpenOffice was my favorite suite of tools for writing, doing spreadsheets and a host of other things. Firefox was my web browser and Thunderbird was my e-mail client. What more could you need unless you were a professional and just had to own particular software? Some people’s needs go beyond what they perceive Linux offers.

To many, Microsoft Vista was a dismal failure. It didn’t meet the need of scores of people all over the world and was slow to catch on. Unfortunately, it came pre-installed on my laptop, but I quickly installed Simply Mepis on it and have been happy ever since. I like virtually nothing about the Windows OS, no matter which flavor it is. If I had to choose one to keep, though, it would definitely be XP.

A report came out recently from ScriptLogic, which is a software developer specializing in Windows management software. Basically, their summary indicates Windows 7 will not be the success Microsoft wants it to be. Admittedly, there was no analysis provided with the report, but many professionals have already weighed in on the matter.

Microsoft has always had a business model I find irresponsible. That is, offering poorly written software you must keep upgrading to stay current. There’s really no telling how much money people have wasted by purchasing the latest and greatest Microsoft had to offer. I prefer Linux, which costs me nothing and works every bit as good, if not better, than what Microsoft has to offer. Of course, that’s just my take on the matter.

Ed Bott of ZDNet wrote an interesting article about this very subject and includes some common sense evaluation of the new Microsoft offering. He lists several recent articles regarding Windows 7; it is a good read and worth taking a look at. Basically, he concludes lots of people are not going to jump on the Windows 7 bandwagon. Personally, I think that’s a smart move.

What do you think? Will you pay good money for another Microsoft product, or will you take the plunge and switch to a superior OS – Linux? Just wondering.

This Week’s Featured Blog – My Take

Last week a thought struck me about sharing a favorite blog with my few readers. Linda Owens’ Absolute Grace blog was featured, and this week is another one of my favorites. Larry’s My Take is an exceptional blog, and you will find lots of useful information and stimulating discussions on its pages. He covers topics which range from politics to Linux, but mostly politics. Larry is a friend and one who has helped me on numerous occasions. Please drop by to see what Larry has to say.

Have You Seen the Beagle Board?

This is an incredible find. It’s a computer that can sit in your living room and run an HDTV. Of course, the thing has a Linux kernel at its heart. Watch the video and see what I mean.

Five Most Popular Posts

Just curious – what are your five most popular posts? I’m not referring to the most comments, just the top five posts hit-wise. Nothing scientific here at all; this idea comes from an observation on my own blog.

The subject matter on this blog is eclectic; there are topics that cover a variety of categories of interest to me, and, hopefully, you. They are:

• Family
• A Christian Life
• Bibles
• Computing
• Goals
• Politics
• Sermons
• Sports

This is at about 7:40 this morning. I’ll start the discussion.

1. Simply Mepis Keeps Getting Better – This post was about Mepis Linux making improvements as it moved forward in the testing cycle.
2. Simply Mepis 8 Is Looking Good – Another post about Simply Mepis in the beta testing cycle. Warren Woodford was doing a fine job.
3. Linux – Is It For You? – This post is about the concept of the Linux operating system. Is it suitable for your needs? In all likelihood, the answer is a resounding “yes”, but there are some who just don’t even want to try. Sad, but true.
4. Chocolate Brown Allan and Sons ESV1 Bible – This post is about probably one of the most well-made bibles on the planet. R. L. Allan and Sons crafts quality bibles in Glasgow, Scotland. There are a few pictures, but you have to hold one of these masterpieces to appreciate the craftsmanship.
5. Simply Mepis 8 Is Finally Here – This post is about Mepis 8 going gold and my experiences installing it on my computers. I must say, this version is rock solid and a breeze to set up. You should give it a try.

Now, lets get the fingers typing and share your most popular posts.

Simply Mepis 8 is Finally Here

Finally, after months of betas and release candidates, the wait is over. In my opinion, the finest Linux distribution a person could possibly use is ready for download and use. Simply Mepis is the superlative work of Warren Woodford, known for creating rock solid distros for beginners and more experienced users, too.

According to an announcement on Mepis.org, Simply Mepis 8 was released on Sunday, February 24, 2009 to the delight of people from all over the world.  It didn’t take me long to download both 32-bit and 64-bit iso images, burn them and begin installing them on my HP 6449US laptop. Actually, I had been testing all the way from the earliest betas through version 8 gold, but wanted to do a clean install on both partitions.

If you’d like to read my other posts on Simply Mepis Linux, follow the links: Simply Mepis 8 Is Looking Good, Simply Mepis 8 Keeps Getting Better and Mepis 8 Replaces 7 – A Good Plan. None of the posts are very technical; they are, however, my views and experiences with a wonderful product. You might find something of interest if you care to read.

Installation was simple and without any hiccups. It takes more time to add all my favorite packages than to complete the installation of the OS. Warren has done a great job with the installer; just answer a few questions and it produces the desired results. I did not have to manually partition my hard drive, as it’s already done.

As always, there is a lot of customization that goes into making each desktop a personal computing experience. It’s so easy to make Simply Mepis look just the way you want; a person is limited simply by imagination or lack thereof. Here’s what I generally do to personalize Mepis (in no particular order):

• Aptitude
• Remove Openoffice.org and replace with the one from OOo’s official site.
• StarOffice
• BibleTime
• SuperKaramba and certain dependencies for Liquid Weather
• KEdit, KGet, KGamma
• MySQL-Admin, server and everything else it takes to make OOo and MySQL play nice together
• Swiftweasel, Opera, Thunderbird, WICD
• gtkpod, gPodder
• Kaffeine, k9copy, SMplayer and themes, VLC, xine-ui, codecs, xmms from package sharing
• Acroread
• Kuickshow
• WINE
• Compiz
• Fonts
• KDMtheme – a theme manager, ksplash-engine-moodin

There is a possibility I’ve missed some packages, but you get the general idea. With a list like the one above, you can see how a person can customize the desktop quite easily for personal tastes.

With everything coming together so smoothly, it’s surprising to run into even minor problems, but this time I did. Honestly, this is unusual for me, but the great people on MEPISlovers Forums are some of the best around. They are helpful and courteous, always willing to lend a hand if you can’t figure something out.

I ran into an issue with my Maxtor 250GB USB hard drive not working properly and even flash drives not being recognized. After some experimenting, I tried changing permissions on the USB devices, and everything cleared up. Now, it’s no problem using any or all of the devices on a regular basis. I don’t know why it happened, but it did, and now it works perfectly.

One more issue I have not been able to fix up to this point is the screen saver. It only works intermittently and I have to change to another one, apply the change and then it functions properly. There is probably a fix on the Mepis forums, but I just haven’t pursued the answer yet. It’s annoying, though, to have to manually tweak the settings several times during the day. With all the positive things I have experienced with Simply Mepis 8, this is a very minor problem.

My laptop came with a web cam, and I’ve never really tried to make it work. Oh, I tried once a long time ago, but that was long before beginning with SM 8. Just for grins, I think I’ll see what it takes to get the web cam up and running; there’s some helpful information on the Mepis wiki, and that’s as good a place to start as any. Many Mepis users report success with this issue, and I might just get to add my name to the list.

In summary, I am extremely pleased with this version of Simply Mepis. It is rock solid, easy to use and easy to maintain. I must not forget to give credit to the guys from the MEPISlovers forums who worked tirelessly producing quality artwork, giving valuable input to Warren. My hat is off to everyone who had a hand in making this distribution the excellent product it is.

If you want to use an outstanding Linux distro, you could do no better than trying this one. Give it a whirl, and you will be glad you did.

Mepis 8 Replaces 7 – A Good Plan

I wasn’t planning on making the switch quite yet, but it worked out just right, anyway. Simply Mepis (SM) has been my Linux distribution of choice for a long time now, and it’s getting closer to going gold all the time. The anticipation is growing in the Mepis community, but we can wait (I think).

My HP6449US laptop was working quite nicely when I decided to do some modification to the Simply Mepis beta I had installed a couple of months ago. That beta shared the hard drive with Simply Mepis 7 and Vista, for a choice of three in my multi-boot set up. SM 7 was the first item in my grub menu, followed by Vista and then SM 7.9.95-rc2. Actually, I had been spending most of my time with the SM release candidate, and rarely ever booted into SM 7 anymore. Vista just takes up room, and I don’t know why HP even elects putting that OS on a good laptop.

For some strange reason, about a week ago, I began installing the latest Openoffice.org on the SM 7.9 partition, and it just wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. There’s a couple of posts about Openoffice in my home office here and here. I always install from the OOo site after removing the one that comes with a SM install. It’s just better for me this way; but most people are probably fine with the Debian version Warren provides. If sound would work, and I could get MySQL to play nicely with the SM version, it would just be part of my basic install.

Anyway, moving along with the story, after several attempts at installing OOo, and it not working, I decided it was time to do a fresh install, so out comes the latest Live CD. It was going to happen sooner or later, so I just installed over my SM 7 partition, keeping my home directory intact. As usual, Warren has done an outstanding job with this soon-to-be full-blown Simply Mepis 8 version; I couldn’t be happier. Well, that’s not altogether the whole picture as getting the web cam to work would be a nice touch. I digress, though.

The install went as planned and now the rc is on two partitions: the one SM 7 used to occupy, and the one that had been used for SM 8 from beta through rc. Cool! I can now boot into the rc, the rc or Vista. After setting up the older rc install just the way I wanted, it time to set up my primary Linux partition – the one where SM 7 use to be. Remember, I kept the /home directory intact, and that had me concerned just a little. As it turns out, there weren’t very many changes that had to be made even switching to SM 8-rc from SM 7. A tweak here and a tweak there got things up and running in no time at all.

I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am with this release candidate. Everything of interest to me works flawlessly. Wireless has been made quite painless, and installing 3D acceleration could not have been easier. Several of the Lenny apps work much better than their Etch counterparts, such as gtkpod and gPodder. One of my favorite apps, BibleTime is a gem to use here, too. Some of the people from the MEPISlover’s forum have created a repository of apps they’ve built for both SM 7 and SM 8 – they’ve done an outstanding job, too. One of the apps they worked on is WINE, and that’s on this install, too. I use it to run a few Windows programs, and they work very well. BTW, this version of WINE has even got sound working. Good job, guys!

Simply Mepis 9.9.95-rc2 is now my main Linux install, and there are no regrets. I’m thankful OOo was giving me a hard time installing, because that was the fuel needed to press on with the new setup. I suppose my next project will be to install SM 8 -64 on the older SM partition to see how well it works. Many of the people who frequent MEPISlovers tell me they are please with it; we’ll have to wait and see.

Lastly, I recently had an experience with a local office supply store, and wrote a post on MEPISlovers. If you would like to read about it, you would be most welcome.

Now that the Simply Mepis 8 is nearly final, do you think you will give it a try? It wouldn’t hurt downloading the Live CD and giving it a spin.

Simply Mepis Linux and My Office – Part Two

In my work as pastor of a small church, I have many tools at my disposal. The most important book in my library is the Bible, God’s eternal Word. Like most students of the holy writ, my shelf has several copies in various colors, sizes, bindings and translations. The Bible I both read, study and preach from the majority of the time is the King James Version (KJV). It is my preference; the particular Bible I use is found here.

If you have read my Linux posts, you know Simply Mepis happens to be my preference out of the hundreds available. I have been happily using Mepis for many years, and have no plans to go elsewhere. It’s easy to install, maintain and customize. That’s a great combination.

One of the things I like about Linux so much is the freedom of choice we users have. It’s easy to customize the desktop to fit individual personalities and tastes. I know this can be done to a certain extent in Windows, but not as easily as in Linux. In Mepis, customizing can be done in a matter of moments using the Control Center. You can change the appearance to your heart’s desire.

You might ask “what does that have to do with your office?” That’s a fair question. If any of you work in an office, isn’t it nice to change things around to suit you? I realize not everyone has that luxury, but this is my office, and I have the ability to change the looks to make a more pleasing computing experience.

As I mentioned before, I use several software packages to do some of my work in my home office. OpenOffice.org (OOo), BibleTime and some Internet sites are all part of the process of studying and sermon preparation. In another post, I mentioned a wonderful Windows program called e-Sword, which works quite well in Linux by using WINE.

One area that Linux excels in is multimedia. Our church records nearly all our services; we also have a CD/DVD duplicator so people can purchase copies. This year’s Mother’s Day message was well attended, and several people wanted to purchase copies of the service. Ordinarily, that would not have been a problem, but for some unknown reason, it was this time. My sound technician recorded the service just like any other time, then handed the master CD to another technician so she could make the appropriate number of copies. Didn’t happen, and several attempts were made; still no copies could be made.

My sound man then tried making a copy using the Windows computer in the sound booth. That didn’t work, either. He took the master CD home and tried making copies from his home computer; still nothing doing. It is no secret around our church the pastor is a Linux guy. After trying for several days to make copies, my sound man came to me, wearing a sheepish grin. “Can you do something with this?” he asked.

I took the master CD home, popped it into the optical drive, fired up k3b then proceeded to make a copy. The first attempt failed, so I fired up another Linux package, did some tweaking, then burned the reworked image onto a blank CD. After that little bit of work, we were able to make as many copies on our duplicator as we needed. Even though Linux is not installed on any computer in the church, Mepis was instrumental in taking care of a ministry need. Linux to the rescue again.

Communications have changed dramatically over the years; some say for the better, while others offer a different opinion. I collect and use fountain pens to do 99% of my writing with, if I use paper, that is. There is just something wonderful about putting your thoughts down on paper while using a finely crafted writing instrument. To most people, those days are long gone or have never been.

Sending and receiving e-mails is a part of our lives if we use our computers very often. This form of communication has taken the place of a vast number of letters and notes written on paper. It has become a very important part of my life, too. I communicate with members of my church, state and international headquarters, and a host of other, too. How did we ever get along without e-mail before now?

My favorite e-mail client is Thunderbird. It is easy to set up, and updates are just a couple of clicks away. I manage three accounts on my Linux desktop, and have the ability to do the same on my laptop. Just like with any other aspect of personalizing the desktop environment, Thunderbird can be changed, too. There are themes and extensions galore to choose from if you are so inclined.

Finally, printing is essential in my office. I print everything from sermon notes to revival posters. I have two HP printers, and each one works perfectly in the Linux environment. What I really like is the fact I can take the laptop anywhere in the house and print from there. There was no special wireless printer adapter to buy, just install the printers on my desktop computer. When I installed both Mepis 7.0 and 7.9.7-beta on my laptop, the two printers were automatically picked up. That was nice.

There is more to write about, but I think you get the idea of how valuable Linux is to me. Warren Woodford and Simply Mepis make the computing experience a pleasure and efficient, too. Give Linux a spin and I think you will be tempted to stay.

Simply Mepis Linux and My Office

Computers can be great sources of headaches or they can be useful tools in people’s lives. My profession, my life and calling is wrapped up in the word pastor. My wife and I have been at our current church as pastors for almost five and a half years. To some, that’s a long time; others think it’s just getting started.

I do a lot of work on my home computers; one is a desktop, and the other is a laptop. Both of them are running Simply Mepis Linux, and are working very well. The desktop has Simply Mepis 7.0 as its main operating system, while the laptop has both Mepis 7.0 and 7.9.80-beta2 running on it at full speed. Honestly, I don’t know which one I like better.

Both of my systems are set up to dual-boot, but it is a rare thing for me to ever boot into that other OS – MS Windows. I am so thankful 99.9% of my work can be done in the safe, virus-free, hassle-free Linux environment. This post is not being written to ridicule Windows as that environment is capable of doing that all by itself.

What do I use Linux for in my office? Virtually anything that’s needed. I’m not trying to be cute, but it’s still the truth. I’ll attempt detailing some things I routinely use Linux for in my duties as pastor of a small church.

SERMON PREPARATION:
My office software of choice is OpenOffice.org (OOo), though I only use a couple of its several modules. Sermon preparation is done using Writer, BibleTime and a few internet Bible study sites. It’s easy to find the scriptures in need, then copy and paste them into my sermon template. I find Writer is extremely easy to use, and meets all my word processing needs.

Several years ago, I was trying to set up a sermon template, but ran into lots of difficulties because I just didn’t know what I was doing. A couple of trips to the OOo forum had me up and running in no time at all. That’s a great group of people over there, and were willing to spend lots of time with a newbie; that’s a great help for someone who was struggling with a simple task.

The sermon template is structured for ease of use. When I fire it up, I am greeted with a nearly blank page; it only has the date and morning service showing. I type the message title, then arrow down below the date. As soon as I enter the scripture text, formatting is applied automatically. I then enter the body of the message, and when scriptures are included, I just use my pre-made style to change the text’s formatting; this is done using the Styles and Formatting module.

Beginning with page two, the header displays the message title, page count/number of pages, written by [my name]; all of this done automatically because of the template’s design. This may seem simple and insignificant, but spending time setting up this template saves a great deal of time in the long run.

Template Page 1

Sermon Page 1

Sermon Page 2

MEMBER AND VISITOR LISTS:
Several years ago, before switching to Linux, I used OpenOffice on my Windows machine, and it worked just fine. I wanted to keep track of visitors and members in my church, so I set out to learn the best way to handle the situation. Once again, I found myself at the OOo forum asking the gurus how to best take care of the task at hand. I got several good answers, but the one which appealed to me the most was to set up an external database and use OOo as the front-end. Sounded simple enough, but the plan was wrought with one headache after another. MySQL and OOo didn’t play very well in that environment, but I found an article that walked me through the details, and I soon had a complete package going.

In Linux, the task is much easier. Setting up MySQL in Mepis is easy: “apt-get install mysql mysql-server mysql-admin” does the trick. Everything that’s needed is pulled in for the install. You also need “libmysql-java”, so get that while you’re at it. One more thing that’s needed is “mysql-connector-java-3.1.12” which you can get from the MySQL site. I’m quite sure the latest connector is newer than the one I’m using, though. This is not meant to detail every step, just to give an overview.

Create your database in MySQL and create your tables in OOo. Now, you experts will probably have lots to say about my method, but this works very well for me, and it takes care of all my database needs. There are plenty of Linux programs to do what I’ve set up on my computer, but I have found this works best for me. Linux is great to offer several choices.

What I’ve described is a sample of tasks I get done using OOo and Linux. There’s much more to tell, but it will have to wait for another time. I am no expert on Linux, MySQL or OOo, but use them to take care of part of what I do in ministry. If you use Linux, you know it to be a safe and solid operating system. It’s nice to get my work done and not have to be concerned with all the headaches associated with Windows maintenance.

Simply Mepis 8 is Looking Good

As some of you know, Linux is what my computers run on, and Simply Mepis is the particular distribution. I have been using Simply Mepis for a number of years, and would not go backwards into a Windows environment for anything. There is no need to, really, as all my computing needs are met in Linux: safe, secure, virus free, and easy to use. For more on Linux, you can read my post Linux – Is It For You?

I have been using the 32-bit version since December 2007, and have been extremely pleased with it. The base install is great, but limited in a few areas. It comes with enough software to get most people up and running in about 20 minutes or so, unless you have to do some partitioning work. If I ever have to reinstall, the whole process is only about 10 minutes or so.

Warren Woodford, the creator of Mepis, has been working hard on the next version of his incredible distribution. Currently, I have version 7.9.8 beta installed on my laptop, and couldn’t be happier with what I see. Everything is working very well, with the exception of the built-in webcam, which I have never used. Sound, wireless, 3-D graphics and more are working just right. Keep in mind, this is still a beta version; when this becomes gold, it will be Mepis 8 and rock solid as usual. Warren knows how to put a Linux distribution together.

Here’s a partial list of programs included with Mepis:

• Openoffice.org – a MS Office replacement
• Firefox – Browser
• Thunderbird – e-mail client
• GIMP – Image editor
• Amarok – Music player
• digiKam – Photo management
• Kopete – Instant messeger
• Akregator – RSS feed reader
• Kontact – Personal information manager
• Kino – Video editor
• KPDF – PDF viewer
• More programs than you could possibly use

Linux is highly customizable, too. Switching desktop backgrounds couldn’t be easier. Changing the look and feel is just a matter of firing up the KDE Control Center and changing settings to your heart’s content. I must say, the guys who worked so tirelessly on the new art for the upcoming release of Mepis 8, did an outstanding job. Here’s what the desktop looks like. Don’t like that look? It’s not a problem, as I already mentioned. Change the looks to what you want.

For those of you who have one of the newer iPod Classics, Nanos, iPod Touch or iPhones, you have little recourse for their use in the Linux world. Mepis 8 works well with these devices, though, as I already know first-hand. All I had to do was install a few packages (programs), answer some questions, and now I’m happily using my iPod Classic 80GB Silver, knowing I don’t have to use iTunes or fire up Windows to get the job done. BTW, the two packages are gtkpod and gPodder, which is a media aggregator or podcast receiver/catcher.

I use a package called BibleTime, which is Bible study software. It’s extremely easy to use, and installing is a breeze. If you want to read more about it, look at my post entitled Bible Software for Linux. Admittedly, this is not my favorite software, but it works very well for my purposes. I wish Bible software makers would port some of their excellent products to Linux; that would make me a very happy camper.

This is not meant to be a complete review of Simply Mepis Linux, just a quick overview of the upcoming full release. Mepis 8 appears to working on most cylinders, but, according to the MEPISlovers Forums, there are some bugs. This is completely natural; after all, we are talking about a beta release. On my equipment, this beta is working exceptionally well, and I would not hesitate making it my main system right now. I will wait until Mepis 8 goes gold, which is not that far off anyway.

You should give Linux a try. If you are currently using MS Windows, you should download the .iso image, burn it to a CD, stick it in your optical drive and reboot the computer. You won’t have to install right away, unless you want. This way you can look at Linux and see what it’s all about. There’s more information here. Give it a shot and you’ll probably like what you see.