Pre-order Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu 15.10 - all flavours

Yes, you guessed it right!

With a release of a new version of Ubuntu 15.10 less than a month away, many of you already looking for downloading of your own ISO image of the system. Yes, that's the next version, codenamed Wily Werewolf.

But many of you are not so lucky, and will need to wait longer, because you can not or do not want to create their own DVDs with operating system images.
We can help!

You can pre-order your own copy of Ubuntu 15.10 (or Xubuntu, or Lubuntu, or Kubuntu), including Ubuntu 15.10 GNOME and Ubuntu 15.10 MATE right now. It means that a DVD with your favourite OS will be burnt to you as early as possible, and dispatched on the 22nd of October 2015, or soon after. Dispatched to anywhere in the world.

How you can get the DVD? Go to http://buylinuxcds.co.uk site, purchase the Ubuntu DVD from there, and in the PayPal comments state that you want version 15.10. If you want K-, L- or Xubuntu, state it also in the same comment. That's easy.

To help you even further, here is a mini-shop which you can use straight away. It supports PayPal checkout, similar to Buy Linux CDs site. And you even don't need a PayPal account to pay - you can do this with your credit a debit card!

UK (2.00 GBP): Ubuntu 15.10 pre-order (UK) Variation  Ubuntu  Kubuntu  Xubuntu  Lubuntu Ubuntu GNOMEUbuntu MATE

USA (5.50 USD):

Ubuntu 15.10 pre-order (USA)
Variation  Ubuntu  Kubuntu  Xubuntu  LubuntuUbuntu GNOMEUbuntu MATE

Other countries (3.50 GBP):

Ubuntu 15.10 pre-order (Other countries)
Variation  Ubuntu  Kubuntu  Xubuntu  LubuntuUbuntu GNOMEUbuntu MATE

And yet another alternative: you can purchase the same disks via eBay.

Get prizes from Linux Notes from DarkDuck

You may not believe this, but Linux notes from DarkDuck blog will be 5 years old soon!

It is the reason to run yet another contest with some nice prices, isn't it?

Let's do this!

What you need to do? 

Write an article that is about Linux. This may be a short how-to, an inspirational about "why I love Linux", life story "how I switched to Linux", review of your favourite operating system, or anything you like. Just let it be interesting and more than 100 words long. Closing date is 15.10.2015.

Once ready, email it to linuxblog-contest@darkduck.com.

The best articles will be published on this blog.

What are the prizes?

1. Winner will get one 15 GBP voucher for Amazon.co.uk.

2. One runner-up will get one 16 Gb USB stick from Buy Linux CDs page.

3. One runner-up will get one disk with Linux distributive of his / her choice from Buy Linux CDs page.

Prizes will be sent via airmail (international) or second class (UK) mail.

If there are any import taxes or surcharges, winner has to pay it.

No cash alternative.

Amazon voucher is only valid on Amazon.co.uk

If winner or runner-up does not correspond to e-mails within 2 weeks after announcement, prize will be withheld. 

Other terms and conditions:

1. Contest is running by myself (DarkDuck).

2. There are no official sponsors for this contest.

3. My decision is last and binding to all parties.

4. All the communications regarding this contest should be in English only.

5. Contest terms and conditions can be amended any time, including but not limited to cancelling of contest.

6. No purchase necessary.

7. Only one prize per person, even with multiple entries.

8. I may contact you regarding further details of your answers.
9. Your article may be published on this blog without any further approval from your side, unless you let me know otherwise in the contest submission email.

What you should not expect when switching to Linux

Linux is a great operating system. Nobody in the Linux camp will argue about that. There are many articles on the Internet convincing you to try and to switch to Linux. There are also many articles that attempt to show you why you should not switch.

Let's look at this question from a slightly different viewpoint today. Say, you are now convinced that you want to switch to Linux. What you should NOT expect from this switch?

Austrumi 3.2.2: a nice stranger

Austrumi is not a very famous distribution in the Linux world, although I have written about it twice already.

Let me introduce it again for those who did not read my previous reviews.

Austrumi is a Linux distribution that is based on Slackware and developed by a small team from the Latgale region of Latvia, a small ex-USSR Baltic state.

The official site of this distribution is far from the best I have ever seen. It pretends to have several sections and work in different languages, but many of them simply do not work. Even the forum link from that site is not functioning.

The "news" section of the site tells you that the latest version of that distribution is 2.4.0. The download link on the site points to an ISO image with index 2.2.9, but it still does not work. But if you remove the filename from the download link in the address bar of your browser (ftp://austrumi.ru.lv/), you will be able to see a list of ISO images. The latest version is 3.2.2 and it was released in August 2015, so we are talking about a very fresh release now.

Image size of Austrumi 3.2.2 is just 278 MB, which definitely puts the distribution in the "pocket" category.

When I reviewed the previous versions of Austrumi, I had to record a CD-RW or DVD-RW, because neither the dd command nor Unetbootin worked with this ISO image. This time I was a bit luckier. Although dd command still does not work, Unetbootin created a workable USB stick for me.

So, USB drive is in the port of my Toshiba Satellite L500-19X laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from USB. Let's go!

How many OSes does your computer have?

There are so many operating systems in the world. Apart from the famous ones, like Windows, MacOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Mageia or Linux Mint, there are hundreds of smaller and less well-known.

If there are many operating systems, there is a good chance that your computer has several of them installed.

How many?

Let's vote for the number of operating systems you have on your computer. If you have multiple computers, please vote for the one you use most often.