By: Jason Hammond
UWO Student Number: 250352538
Mailbox Number: 140
For: Professor Gord Nickerson
MLIS 525 – Managing Internet Information Systems

Activity #5 Report – Secure Public Access Computing

My Experience With Ubuntu
At the risk of losing any “geek” credibility I may have, I have to admit that I’ve never used any version of Linux before.  All of my geekier friends have and many have raved about their experiences.  But for some reason, I’d gotten the idea in my head that Linux was too hard to install, too unfamiliar of an environment once installed and didn’t support the things I wanted to do (though I’m not sure exactly what those things were - Games?  Windows applications?  File sharing?). 

So this assignment was a great opportunity to gain some experience with Ubuntu, a desktop-focussed Linux distribution that is extremely useable, compact (the program and all related files fit on a single CD) and self-contained (it ships with various open-source software programs including OpenOffice, Firefox, Gimp and others which should cover 99% of the average users’ computing needs.)[1].

My experience was a bit frustrating initially.  The first time I loaded the program, it seemed to take a long time to load (as I knew it would since it was being loaded from CD.)  I sat staring at what appeared to be an empty screen for about five minutes before deciding to re-boot.  Now, because I’m a male and a quasi-hacker, I don’t read instructions very often.  If I would’ve, I might have realised that I had to reset the screen resolution after booting.  Instead, the second time I tried to boot Ubuntu, I figured this out by moving the mouse around until I saw that the top left menus were there but just out of the range of what was displayed on the monitor at that resolution.  Once I realised the screen resolution was incorrect after the initial install, I found both the menu item to change the screen resolution and then the best resolution to use (I went from 1280x1024 to 1024x768.) 

After I got Ubuntu to the proper screen resolution, I spent some time clicking around the menus, just familiarizing myself with the interface and also loading some of the programs (many of which I was familiar with from using them on my home computer.)  I had a weird flashback to the first time I sat in front of an Apple IIc many years ago after working on early 286-era PC’s – everything was similar but different to what I was used to. 

Ubuntu in Library Usage
In discussion with classmates, we weren’t quite clear if the intention of this assignment was to test Ubuntu as if we were users who were bringing a copy to the library to protect ourselves on public access terminals (no chance of keystroke logging programs or viruses, more control of settings & software being used) or as an option for public libraries to use on their terminals instead of Windows.  I suspect the latter option is what was intended so that is what I will focus my write-up on.  (I did visit the London Public Library with my Ubuntu CD but found their public access terminals that had CD-ROM drives were locked down so the drive wouldn’t open – so the issue of personal security might be a moot one, depending on the configuration of the library’s systems.  Frighteningly enough, the LPL terminals don’t appear to clear histories after each user so I was able to see where the person before me had been surfing.  This might also be because I logged on before their 30-minute block was up but either way, as a security issue, it should be of grave concern.  At any rate, another possibility in libraries might be booting from an Ubuntu install on a USB drive but I didn’t try this myself. 

Advantages of Ubuntu for Public Access Terminals in Libraries
- obviously, the cost of Ubuntu (ie. free, even including shipping[2]) is its biggest advantage.  Although the Gates Foundation has been very generous in donating Windows-based PC’s to libraries in the US and around the world[3], they are less forthright about their plans to continue supplying both free software and hardware upgrades in the future (although Mr. Buffett’s recent gift[4] may make this more likely.)  They also do not come right out and say that grantees must use Windows software but it is strongly suggested[5].  Ubuntu frees a library from these financial worries completely, both in terms of the operating system and the open source software that is used in conjunction with Ubuntu. 

- the security provided by a non-Windows system, simply based on the fact that Linux is not yet a major target for hackers, is another huge advantage

- some claim that Ubuntu is a more stable platform than Windows though my research found people on both sides of this issue.  Personally, I was able to crash both the Word-equivalent (while trying to load the Fax Wizard) and the image editor, things I regularly manage to do in Windows XP.  So that’s a tie in my books. 

Disadvantages of Ubuntu for Public Access Terminals in Libraries
- the biggest stumbling block would likely be familiarizing staff and patrons with an unfamiliar interface.  All operating systems have a basic similarity in what they do and how they’re set-up but it can be intimidating to have something as simple as the equivalent of the Windows “Start” button in a different place, especially for less computer-literate users.

- even though Ubuntu is very user-friendly, it still may need a fairly tech-savvy network administrator to install and maintain.  But this is only speculation as the answer to this question is beyond the scope of this assignment which asked us to assess Ubuntu on a single machine, not as part of a network configuration. 

- support and troubleshooting (for both the network administration and staff) would be a related issue but there appear to be very active, responsive online forums for this operating system[6] that would be of assistance.

- a much more technical take on some of the disadvantages of Ubuntu is available at: http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/visualbasic/dotnet/archives/ubuntu-why-9461

Other Thoughts
Most programs seemed to work well for me – I loaded a fairly large document into the OpenOffice and although it seemed to appear as it would in Word including tables and graphics, it was disconcerting to see the page count change from 55 in Word to 46 in OpenOffice, even though I couldn’t account for the difference.  Similiarly, I was able to access my USB key without problem but couldn’t browse the photos on my digital camera except via the import function of the GThumb Image Viewer.  I also couldn’t get an existing MS-Office database to load in OpenOffice’s equivalent program although I tried changing the file extension to OpenOffice’s “odb” instead of “mdb”.  I couldn’t get Java to install in Firefox, even after manually downloading the Linux version, which would have allowed me to run certain Java-based programs.  I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to figure this out and I’m sure it is doable but along with a few other question marks – recognizing graphic cards, recognizing wireless network cards, playing video files – that were raised in discussions with classmates, I realise that Linux is still perhaps deserving of its reputation as being less user friendly than Windows, even for all its recent improvements.  One other question I didn’t answer but assume is possible is saving customized settings for programs (ie. Firefox extensions or even just the preferred screen resolution) to a USB or local hard drive rather than having to reconfigure software every time you boot it from a CD.