How to go open source.

If you have ever wondered how to go open source or if your just curious if open source is right for you, then this tutorial is right for you. Hit the next button to get started.

Step 1 Step 1: Your Internet Browser

The first thing that you should do to go open source is do download an open source web browser. For this you want to download the world most second popular web browser Mozilla Firefox.

Mozilla Firefox is avaible for download here:
www.mozilla.com/en-US/ (Note: Firefox uses the MPL license not the GPL license or LGPL license)

Read here for more info on the MPL/GPL Incompatibility:
www.tomhull.com/ocston/docs/mozgpl.html

If you want a fully open source web browser, the web browser now to get is called K-Meleon:
It is available for download here:
kmeleon.sourceforge.net/download.php (Note: K-Meleon uses the GPL license which is fully open source.)

Comments

[thelonesun]

I'm pretty sure OpenOffice isn't being developed anymore, but LibreOffice is practically the same thing.

[myinstructablesmyplace]

Yes, but this article was published around 2 years ago.
It needs a bit updating. Will welcome collaborators.

[thelonesun]

Most linux distributions ARE GNU/Linux, they just choose not to present themselves as such. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/Linux_naming_controversy

[LkArio]

I didn't know open source's a trademark :p

Also, Linux Mint is a good starter distro. More easy to use and out of the box than Ubuntu. There are GNOME, KDE, XFCE, Fluxbox, and maybe more versions available.

For IRC there's also XChat, and for torrents Transmission.

[thelonesun]

I'm seconding the reccomendation of Mint. It comes with the applications that are most used, and more codecs and drivers (sadly, not ones that work well with a nVidia card, and the driver install that they gave me is not running for whatever reason) The many versions are also good for people who prefer lighter desktop environments (XFCE is my personal favorite, Gnome is just a bit bulky) and it comes out of the box with more applications you will use.

[Nerdz]

The Ultimate way to go open source would to be to go with Linux, since Ubuntu/Kubuntu are already preloaded with Open Source Software.

For IMing, Pidgin
For IRC: Konversation
For Torrents: Ktorrent
For CD Burning: K3B

You can probably tell I use Kubuntu :P.

[myinstructablesmyplace]

No way I Kouldn't tell.
lol

[The Ideanator]

Pidgin does IRC too

[willrandship]

Didn't know that....thanks!

I always use xchat, since everything is easy to find

[myinstructablesmyplace]

Hey I was in the process of adding the linux part there but didn't have time to post it. Check it out again to see if you like what I added.

[PKM]

I kould, but only bekause you kalled attention to it :P

[wazupwiop]

1 problem with linux.  Drivers can be a pain.

[willrandship]

in my experience, only for certain video cards. everything else is pretty much supported.

[albylovesscience]

i find the Debian distro of KDE to be intriguing

[S1L3N7 SWAT]

I thought this was going to be about how to make Open Source projects. More specifically, how to licence an idea as an Open Source project. This is just a list of free software in my opinion (Although a good list). It's not really teaching anybody about Open Source.

[mrmath]

My personal push right now is to go portable with as much as possible.  The less I actually have to install on my computer, the better.

[emmerich45]

good ible. just a suggestion for the eee pc users out there, install eeebuntu its waaaaaaaay better than xandros :)

[thesstriangle]

Great suggestions !
I try to use open source apps as much as possible.

I'd like to recommend the following

Putty for terminal/SSH access (http://www.putty.org/)
Winamp for music handling (http://www.winamp/com)
InfraRecorder for burning CD/DVD's (http://infrarecorder.org/)
IMG Burn for burning images to CD/DVD/HDDVD/Blu-Ray (http://www.imgburn.com/)