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Ubuntu
I have never used Linux before. 4 years ago, my friend tried to sell me on it, but that was back when I couldn't really do everything I wanted to do (organize photos, design websites, listen to music, anything other then talking on Gaim and surfing the net). But, now Ubuntu has been released and I'm starting to wonder if I should give it a shot. I have an crappy laptop just lying around not doing a whole lot. I'm considering installing it onto that machine.
Those who have used Ubuntu and like it, can you give me some tips? Those who have used Ubuntu and don't like it, explain why.
Is it much harder then trying to learn XP/OSX?
Those who have used Ubuntu and like it, can you give me some tips? Those who have used Ubuntu and don't like it, explain why.
Is it much harder then trying to learn XP/OSX?
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Comments
If you are moving from Windows to Ubuntu, and are going to be using it as an alternative, I think it is great. From a Linux stand point I am sure the "geeky" nix guys don't care for it, as it has a lot of GUI menus, and "wizards" and such. Most of everything in Ubuntu can be done via a GUI of some sort. Making the transition from Windows nice and smooth. I installed it on a dual boot system and ended up using it for 3 months straight without booting to Windows. But then fell back to MS cause of a few certain programs.
I really enjoyed it though. But be prepared to learn some Linux commands. It is not all 100% GUI, and some dirty work will be required from time to time.
I had a small issue with getting my NVidia card working, but I was also trying to get Enemy Territory to run. Normal desktop usage I had to problems with at all.
I used it primarily for website coding, and my own local testing server, worked great. Much better than Windows ever will. But if you want to listen to MP3s I believe you have to do some "work" to get them to work in Linux. Although that might have changed, dunno.
Also, the Ubuntu forums are freaking great. Tons of support from the community. I tried Fedora a long time ago, and hated it. It put me off of Linux for quite some time, but Ubuntu was awesome.
There is a LiveCD which you can download. It allows you to play with Ubuntu (although it might be a little slow depending on hardware, as it runs in your RAM) without making any changes to your HDD at all. Consider the LiveCD as a test drive. I'd recommend downloading that and checking it out before committing and installing it.
Evan, is the installer actually not working or is it just going really slowly. It happened to me too. If you're using the newest release (6.06) then when you boot up you should get a few options. Instead of choosing the top one try the one underneath. The installer is still slow but its more bearable.
Go read all those links that Bergamot posted as well as this one before you make crazy statements like that. Mac OS X is essentially just Darwin with a pretty aqua interface. I'll pay for the stability and ease of use that brings, but I don't think OS X is superior to linux because of it.
Anyways, back on topic: Definitely try out Xubuntu first, if you have an older machine. It uses a window-manager called xfce instead of gnome or kde (what Ubuntu uses). Xfce is really lightweight but still has all the features you will need. You can always install gnome or kde on top of Xubuntu as an afterthought. I installed Xubuntu from the Live CD on a PII 600MHz with 512MB RAM, a crappy graphics card with 32MB VRAM and a 5200RPM HDD. The install took just under 23 minutes.
I have no clue what I need to fix to get it running, and I have never really been able to find help on the subject without having to do some major kernel hacking - which I am not really up to level enough to do with confidence. That's a shame because I would really like to try Linux. I have tried Fedora Core, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Gentoo, SLAX, Slackware, Knoppix, and Debian. None of them get past the loading screen. It's a shame.
I found dual-booting very cumbersome.
Dreamweaver I have since pretty much abandoned and can live without. When I was in Linux land I used BlueFish. It was decent. Although it was too far back and I cant remember how it compares to Zend Studio, which I love.
Photoshop I did try to use under Wine, but it does not support CS or CS2, only 7 (at the time anyways). And going down from CS/CS2 to 7 is just... unbearable. I did try Wine and PS7, but it was too buggy. And the GIMP (a four-letter word) is not even a choice (IMO).
Although as of late I have found that I have not fired up PS for some time, other than simple images resizing/cropping. So I probably could try Linux again, but games. I need my games. Which lately I have also, not played. But I will, and I do. I am also a very stubborn person, lol.
But I really liked Ubuntu, it was a very enjoyable experience.
The problem that I found was that after using win/dos for 15 years I knew the windows-way of doing things, and it was tricky to unlearn that.
I've gone back and forth from PC to Mac between jobs without issues, so I'm not really worried that I won't be able to use it once loaded. What I am concerned about is actually installing it and getting it to the point that I have an desktop-like interface. That's what I want. But, I'm getting the feeling that "out-of-the-box," it isn't the most usable systems just yet. This disapoints me.
bugsmi0 said, "the Apple will always RULE!!! ;-)"
Yes, and if I had some money to drop, I'd get a mac as there is a lot of things I miss from working on a mac that I'd go back in an instant. But, I'm po. So pirating and testing Linux will have to do for now.