distro is not a fancy word for disco
LAMP stands for (L)inux (A)pache (M)ySQL (P)hp. More specifically:
Linux refers to the free open source version of the operating system, Unix. Unix was originally meant for big machines; opposite from Windows. It involves creating a lot of small parts that interact with each other but is relatively user-hostile. Windows XP is based on Unix. Mac OS10 is a variant of Unix. Many people argue that Linux is superior to Windows because it is good not just on the client-side (individual systems), it also scales beautifully and extends to even the biggest web servers. Unfortunately, there is little to no regulation which resulted in numerous different distros (distributions or ‘versions’ to the non-techies). According to distrowatch, the top three distros are Ubuntu, openSUSE, and Fedora.
Our assignment due in two days, beside creating a simple website, includes downloading Ubuntu, burning it onto a disk and then hijacking a pc on campus. Although this is definitely illegal may not be legal, JP reassured us that nothing could go seriously wrong. Even if something did go wrong, we should run away and act innocent. But if that failed, we could just say it was an assignment given by our invincible tenured Professor.
Before downloading Ubuntu, we needed to decide how we want to get it up and running based on the following options:
- Using an old laptop
- Dual boot; running off a desktop CD where part of the hard drive is used for the second operating system. However, there have been known cases where the hard drive space used becomes permanently occupied and special software is needed to retrieve the space.
- Using a virtualization software such as VMWare (free version available here) or Parallels.
Since we’d just sold both our old laptops after hanging onto them like pack-rats for the last 2 years, option 1 was not feasible. Option 2 seemed too risky because my laptop is my life only machine. That left option 3 and I’m inclined towards Parallels because nothing is too expensive for my baby laptop.
Downloading Ubuntu took about 2-3 hours (was working on other stuff so didn’t pay attention to the time) while burning (via Nero) the cd took maybe 10 minutes. Now I just need to hijack me a pc (using option 2) and then look further into using VMWare or Parallels to run Ubuntu on my laptop.
