I Installed Ubuntu 18.04 LTS From Scratch in Two Hours

This evening, I did a clean install of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS in just a smidgen over two hours.

It took 2:05:58.81 from the time I sat down at my desk this evening to get Ubuntu up and running

That photo shows my Ubuntu desktop after it finished installing with my stopwatch in the foreground. I will even admit that I was going very slow and being extremely cautious. Installing Ubuntu is super easy, and I think anyone that can follow instructions can get it set up without any problems. The reason I did a clean install is that I felt like I corrupted my previous system in some way when I originally tried installing Corel AfterShot Pro 3. You can read this tutorial I just made that explains how to install AfterShot Pro 3 on Ubuntu step-by-step.

This brings me to my last point. Because installing FreeBSD seems a bit harder than I thought it would be at first (because most laptops aren’t fully compatible with the OS), I probably will not be installing it anytime soon. You can therefore ignore this post I made last week about switching to FreeBSD. Maybe some day I will learn how to use FreeBSD. I hope so, at least.

How to Install Corel AfterShot Pro 3 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

I just finished doing a clean install of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. The reason? I felt like I might have corrupted my computer in some way when I did a previous attempt of installing Corel AfterShot Pro 3. The tutorial below is designed to help anyone install this application on Ubuntu Linux so they can avoid the mistake I made (which had to do with downloading the wrong file from Corel). Note that this applies to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and AfterShot Pro 3.

When I first tried installing this program in August 2018, there was no official documentation on Corel’s website. That seems to have changed in these four months, and there is now an article up on Corel’s support website that explains how to install this program in a small number of steps. I personally find this YouTube video made by Corel much more helpful in showing how to set up this application. That is what I used to successfully install this application on the first try. I wanted to make this process even easier for others and me in the future by including this detailed tutorial based on the YouTube video.

To install AfterShot Pro 3, follow these steps:

  1. Download this file from your Corel order email: AfterShotPro3-system-Qt.deb
  2. Make sure the file saved to your Downloads directory
  3. Open the application Terminal
  4. In Terminal type the following commands, making sure Terminal finishes before entering each one (do not type steps in italics verbatim; they are instructions):
  5. cd Downloads/
  6. sudo apt update
  7. Enter your password
  8. sudo dpkg -i AfterShotPro3-system-Qt.deb
  9. sudo apt -f install
  10. y
  11. Close Terminal

Congratulations, it should be successfully installed! Open the application the way you would normally open applications. If you ordered the full version, you will be asked to enter your serial number.

Did you find this helpful? Please let me know in the comments!

I’m Switching to FreeBSD

I’m planning on switching to FreeBSD as my primary operating system in the coming weeks. Don’t worry, I will continue to update this blog.

Even though I created this blog, LinuxPhoto, last June, I haven’t really used or learned Linux all that much in this time. I will continue to use my Linux laptop for editing and posting photos on this site, but I am planning to use FreeBSD as my primary OS indefinitely. I actually have been using either my Windows 10 laptop or my MacBook Pro most of the time. I think forcing myself to learn one of these professional operating systems (e.g., FreeBSD, Linux) by using it as my primary computer will greatly help my understanding of the way these operating systems work. Initially, I will use my FreeBSD laptop to do all the basic stuff I do on a daily basis: browsing the web, listening to music, and editing office documents. Later on, I might decide to learn some more advanced features of FreeBSD.

To help me with all of this, today I got a book from Amazon titled Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD:

Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition

It’s written by Michael W. Lucas, who I saw had a number of reviews commending his writing style on Amazon. Before purchasing, I read the introductory material, and I can attest to the quality of his writing. I also own another book on No Starch Press, Automate the Boring Stuff With Python, which I haven’t yet read, but I did at least enjoy the design and writing style (of what little I did read). Seeing that the third edition of this book on FreeBSD was just released in October 2018 and that version 12.0 of FreeBSD is slated for release on December 11, 2018, was enough to tell me now is the time to switch.

What is FreeBSD, and why am I interested in switching to it as my main OS? First, if you want to know what it is, I suggest reading the Wikipedia article on FreeBSD. To answer the second question, I would just say that FreeBSD is the operating system I have always been most attracted to for some reason. It always seemed more advanced than Linux, and I liked the name and the BSD Daemon (devil mascot). When it was time for me to find a new web host the answer was simple: one that uses FreeBSD. I, therefore, use pair Networks to host this website and many others; they are one of the first web hosts and offer FreeBSD as a hosting option.

The intended purpose for this blog is to show people that Linux is a viable alternative to managing and editing photos. That is not going to change. I still think Linux is probably better than FreeBSD for managing and editing photos because of the larger number of applications available for Linux (for example, Corel AfterShot Pro 3, what I use to edit my digital photos, is available for Linux, but not FreeBSD). I also think people are more inclined to switch to Linux than FreeBSD, because most people haven’t even heard of FreeBSD, and it is a more advanced operating system that requires more technical knowledge.

In conclusion, I am excited to switch to FreeBSD as my primary OS and hope to learn much about the way these professional operating systems work. Probably by the time the next LTS version of Ubuntu is released (most likely April 2020), I hope to also become more knowledgeable in Linux. I will continue to use Linux to post photos to this site, and I still believe it is a good alternative to Mac or Windows for managing and editing photos.