Update: A Month With Ubuntu To Commence

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• thedeek - Monday, February 18, 2008 - link

  I've been using Ubuntu for over a year now as my primary OS on my desktop and laptop. The only driver issues I've run into were on my new laptop with the Broadcom built in Wireless, which is no fault of Ubuntu, it's Broadcom's for not releasing an open source driver/firmware (the firmware has to be "cut" from the windows driver in order for it to work). However the hardware support today in my opinion is incredible compared to what it was 8 years ago when I first tried Linux. Ubuntu was able to recognize and configure all of the hardware in my new laptop better than XP and Vista! It took me over two weeks to get XP working will all of the hardware in my laptop that I down(up)graded from Vista, and Vista was not stable due to the Vista Certified Audio driver. It took me two weeks to find the necessary drivers because HP feels the need to force me into using Vista (however I need XP as a secondary OS for hardware dev/analysis suite). For me this was my main reason to switch to Linux, the way hardware vendors (like HP, Dell, etc.) have handled the Vista transition has been terrible. When purchasing a new machine preloaded with Vista, they almost leave you no other choice because they do not offer any driver support for XP, and if you dislike Vista your only other options are to use Linux or rely on driver hacks for XP. For Linux to gain a stronger hold in the consumer market, it just needs to do everything a little bit better than Vista, because now and in the future it is going to be consumers only other option (until Apple decides to sell their OS for use on any x86 system)

• hydrasworld - Monday, February 18, 2008 - link

  please make sure you try and install it on a recent motherboard using 2 drives in raid-0.
  
  lack of boot support for "fakeraid" / "bios raid" in almost all linux distributions has been a real problem for me. see also dmraid.
  
  when i say install it, i mean:
  
  a) start with two fresh new hdd,s
  b) use the onboard raid bios to create a 2-drive raid-0 array
  c) boot from live cd/installer
  d) see if the live cd/installer detects the logical volume and try installing the os onto it.
  
  I, and many others, would appreciate some attention being drawn to this area.

• samthefish - Monday, February 18, 2008 - link

  I switched to Ubuntu from Fedora for a linux development environment at work and liked it so much that I changed my home pc from xp to Ubuntu. I played around with Linux back in '95 - slackware dist, and had fun with it but didn't have time to constantly tweak all the things that needed to be tweaked or find compatible hardware.
  
  I had been using Fedora and RHEL at work but didn't like it enough to switch. Here's why I liked ubuntu:
  
  -Install CD lets you verify the main stuff is working before you bother to install.
  -My wireless card "just worked" on my dell laptop
  -Ditto for nvida laptop video
  -Compiz fusion desktop effects worked awesome - I use the 3d cube for my workspace and have shortcuts to email, development env. , etc. Very Mac OSish.
  -Ubuntu doesn't install lots of crap you don't need. At any time you can capture the list of stuff you've installed past the base to replicate your install somewhere else.
  -OpenArena rules. OK I know you don't need ubuntu to play OpenArena but it installs very easily. Kudo's to id for open sourcing the engine.
  
  I did find the sudo thing annoying but then found you can assign the root password and start using root by setting the password via sudo ... ie sudo passwd.
  
  My only gripes are
  The evolution email gets by - featurewise very much like outlook but I have occasional sync up problems with msoft exchange. Probably some MSFT compatibility problem where they haven't made the full API available.
  The occasional website or Java program that's hard coded for Windows. There is one web app at work that requires a JVM that you can only install on Windows.
  
  I feel like Ubuntu is what Fedora should have been. Anyway, if you haven't tried it, give it a shot!
  
  SamTheFish

• samthefish - Monday, February 18, 2008 - link

  I switched to Ubuntu from Fedora for a linux development environment at work and liked it so much that I changed my home pc from xp to Ubuntu. I played around with Linux back in '95 - slackware dist, and had fun with it but didn't have time to constantly tweak all the things that needed to be tweaked or find compatible hardware.
  
  I had been using Fedora and RHEL at work but didn't like it enough to switch. Here's why I liked ubuntu:
  
  -Install CD lets you verify the main stuff is working before you bother to install.
  -My wireless card "just worked" on my dell laptop
  -Ditto for nvida laptop video
  -Compiz fusion desktop effects worked awesome - I use the 3d cube for my workspace and have shortcuts to email, development env. , etc. Very Mac OSish.
  -Ubuntu doesn't install lots of crap you don't need. At any time you can capture the list of stuff you've installed past the base to replicate your install somewhere else.
  -OpenArena rules. OK I know you don't need ubuntu to play OpenArena but it installs very easily. Kudo's to id for open sourcing the engine.
  
  I did find the sudo thing annoying but then found you can assign the root password and start using root by setting the password via sudo ... ie sudo passwd.
  
  My only gripes are
  The evolution email gets by - featurewise very much like outlook but I have occasional sync up problems with msoft exchange. Probably some MSFT compatibility problem where they haven't made the full API available.
  The occasional website or Java program that's hard coded for Windows. There is one web app at work that requires a JVM that you can only install on Windows.
  
  I feel like Ubuntu is what Fedora should have been. Anyway, if you haven't tried it, give it a shot!
  
  SamTheFish

• gplguy - Sunday, February 17, 2008 - link

  I'm happy to see you trying out linux.I've been using it for about a year now.I started with a dual boot setup with windows still available,which gave me some comfort at the beginning.I also have an older machine that I use as a guinea pig for different distros of linux,and believe me there is alot.I finally settled on PCLinuxOS for my main machine.Now I use linux for everything.My wife and my 11 year old son use it too.My son does still dual boot because of some games he likes:).I have tried Ubuntu and most of it's spinoffs like Mint,Kubuntu,gOS etc.Don't get me wrong the "buntus" are ok and alot of people seem to really like them but I think that there are other distros better suited for beginners,especially those making the transition from windows.PCLinuxOS,Mandriva and Mepis seem much easier and a little more intuitive for people wanting to get out from under windows.Maybe you can take them for a spin too.Anyway,have fun with your project.And thanks for a great website.

• exal - Monday, February 18, 2008 - link

  I have been using Linux for some time now.
  
  As you say, Ubuntu might not be the best choice. I have been testing Ubuntu but never really liked it. Because of two things:
  
  1. The Gnome desktop which I don't think is as good as the KDE one.
  2. The sudo command that annoys me like hell.
  N.B. There are of course Kubuntu and sudo -s commands to avoid that.
  
  I have settled for Fedora since that is based on Red Hat. It's good for running servers (Apache webserver, Samba for windows file sharing, etc.) All other distros of course have this too. But I like Fedora.
  
  About installing NVidia driver. It's as easy as going in to you package manager.
  
  If you like to have administration all in one tool you should go for PCLinuxOS or Mandriva (which PCLinuxOS is based on). But those to I had problems installing on the G33 based motherboard. There just wasn't drivers for the SATA controller.

• exal - Sunday, February 17, 2008 - link

  I have installed Linux on computers from Quad core G33 Motherboard to older P4 boards.
  
  I am suing a Dual core AMD 64. I swtiched my graphics card to a 8800GT without a hitch. Hardware problems are generally a thing of the past except for the times when companies refuse to make drivers for other than windows.
  
  Wine runs World of Warcraft flawlessly. I am using it almost every day.
  
  I have MythBuntu as my Media server infront of my TV. Fedora 8 on my desktop. But I am also running Windows XP and Vista. I can say without a doubt that Vista is the least stable of those operating systems.
  
  Give linux a try it will work for you

• Tempusfugit - Sunday, February 17, 2008 - link

  I have been running Linux of various flavours for a couple of years. It is good to see that others are finally giving it a try.
  
  However, I am not sure that it is ready for "prime-time" as yet. The comments about drivers and general user friendliness are valid.
  
  The only way for the situation to get better is for more people to "give Linux a try".
  
  The version of Linux is not really that important, hopefully, one will dominate eventually.
  
  I am personally of the opinion that Gutsy Gibbon is not as good as Feisty.

• indigo196 - Saturday, February 16, 2008 - link

  It will be interesting to watch this progress. I started out giving Ubuntu a try last spring and started running Debian on my work laptop this past summer. I have Arch running on another machine and Ubunut on my daughter's machine.
  
  I do think Linux is ready for 'normal' use users, but there are some tasks which you can not do unless you use a virtual Windows session or a dual-boot machine. (read: tax software)

• Chudilo - Saturday, February 16, 2008 - link

  I can't believe so many people had so many problems with video drivers and yet no one tried searching for answers.
  Get ENVY it will setup the video drivers for you, just like a windows installer would.
  If you're changing video cards, yes gnome won't run with the old drivers, if you removed them prior to rebooting it would be fine.
  But just in case, you can always run ENVY from a text prompt.