04 — Peculiarities of Linux
In general, the Linux/Unix experience holds sufficient differences from Windows that you might benefit from some explanation.
The DIY Linux/Unix culture assumes a much tighter interaction between the user and the machine. With most of your fellow Linux users, it will seem like an obsession. We’ve already noted they seem far more interested in the computer itself and exploring its capabilities than actually using it. They demand a much closer involvement in the arcane processes, but it yields to us more ordinary users a much greater control when we do want it.
Given all the recent revelations of snooping by government, corporations, advertisers and criminals happening on a level not previously understood, the value of having control over your own system has taken center stage in computer technology. It’s possible you could continue pretending it won’t matter much and simply accept what comes with default commercial provision for your computer use. If you’d rather not surrender everything just yet, Linux offers a far greater degree of control. Having that control is pointless if you have no idea how to use it.
One of the most important factors has already been hinted at above: Linux is the system underneath the GUI. With all the DIY perfectionists and highly varied artistic visions involved, you should hardly be surprised that the Linux GUI could be any one of dozens. That’s because the GUI itself is modular. The basic graphical display is called “X” and the desktop runs on top of that. We’ve mentioned that we’ll be using KDE, and that Ubuntu has their preferred Unity. KDE is all over the place and quite popular, but Unity is pretty much restricted to Ubuntu. There are others and you’ll see names like GNOME, MATE, Cinnamon, E, LXDE, XFCE, etc. Those all represent integrated desktop display systems, but there are also a host of other GUIs that don’t integrate much, just control the display. They don’t add in all sorts of matching tools and various little applications we all take for granted.
Coming from Windows, you’ll experience KDE as probably the most fully integrated GUI package. However, you can never forget that underneath is the command line interface (CLI). Depending on how you use a computer, it isn’t even necessary to have a GUI, and Linux comes with a wealth of applications that run on the CLI. Not just text editors, but web browsers, email clients, multimedia players — all of these are highly developed and fully functional without any graphical display elements. Then again, when properly configured, you can display graphics on the CLI. Frankly, Open Source developers continue their love affair with the simplicity and power of the CLI.
It’s possible to avoid the CLI on Linux, but it’s foolish. Too many of the very best things about Linux will never appear on any GUI. Even Windows and Macintosh retain their CLI tools. Indeed, Mac is Unix with a full CLI, while Linux is simply Unix-like. There are some computer tasks that simply cannot be done properly any other way. As a side note, every bit of GUI software adds complexity and vulnerability to the system. The more you can rely on the CLI, the fewer openings you offer to those who would seek to seize control of your system from you. Adaptation to this higher self-reliance is much easier with Linux because what seems initially obscure is actually just unfamiliar to you coming from the outside.
In this book, we will explore the CLI just a little bit. I’ll hold your hand it keep it as simple as possible. It’s quite easy to run a CLI terminal session from within the GUI. It’s also quite easy to transfer commands with cut-n-paste back and forth between the two. In fact, with Linux, the mouse itself has its own clipboard. If your pointer has a middle button, you can paste from the pointer without using the GUI clipboard, and it works even if there is no GUI. Linux has allowed decent mousing operations on the CLI since the days of the first mouse drivers.
One of the things most surprising to Windows refugees is that, even with your GUI running, you can still log into the CLI. When you log into your Linux desktop, running underneath are typically a half-dozen CLI sessions waiting for you. Not only is Unix inherently CLI, but it was multi-user from the start, before DOS or Windows ever existed. But these days we seldom have multiple dumb terminals plugged into a running server, so we keep all those sessions on board the same hardware in the form of virtual sessions. Very early in the game, this was extended to the GUI, but without the extra log ins. On your Linux graphical desktop, you will always have the capability of multiple virtual desktops, each with its own viewing portal. Instead of crowding multiple application windows onto one working space, you can scatter them across several. It’s like having extra desktops lined up on either side but hidden off-screen until you need them. You don’t have to use that feature, but it’s nice to know that you can.
Having that capability, both in the GUI and the CLI, has become so completely integrated into the Linux way of things that the system would hardly work without them. Any extra draw they might have on system resources has already been highly minimized. It won’t improve things by turning off all that extra capability, in part because it would break stuff. As it is, in recent years, some of the most power-hungry Linux systems still use less computer power than the current crop of Windows operating systems. With the current version of Kubuntu, you will typically use less power than Win7 or Vista, and much less than Win8. At the same time, you will likely have less trouble with drivers, stability and security. Again, it’s not perfect, but it’s quite likely better in many ways.
