Ubuntu Advice!

[Sabretooth]

Finally, my dad's 10GB Windows ME drive was mysteriously sabotaged. Don't ask me why he prefers ME over anything, just read on. We're cool with the 80GB WinXP drive, but it's a good idea to keep two OSs running. We have the ME to throw in again, but I've been thinking of Ubuntu, and dad thought it's okay too.

 

So before taking the plunge, I thought I'd ask if anyone was using Ubuntu. How do you go about installing it on a separate drive on the same computer? Do you get a choice screen during start-up, like you would with a Double-Windows machine? Is it true that Ubuntus never crash, or freeze or so on. Most of all, is it easy to use (my dad can get cranky if things aren't easy enough)?

 

 

(And BTW, WTH are the "Guided Mode" and "Enhanced Mode" options above the post editor?)

[stingerhs]

first, make sure you have the latest version (7.3 is the latest, i think). second, installing Ubuntu is a snap. once the CD image is burned to a disk, all you have to do is to make sure your BIOS is set to boot from the CD drive before the hard drives. then, you just need the Ubuntu disk in the CD drive during startup.

 

from there, Ubuntu will boot from the CD, and you can effectively mess around a bit with Ubuntu without ever installing it to a hard drive to try it out. if you like it, then go to the top left with the main menu and select to install Ubuntu to a hard drive. from there, you can indeed choose to install Ubuntu to a specific drive or partition. just be aware that you might have to format the HD/partition first. if you want the Hard Drive to be read by Windows, the partition has to be a FAT32 format (i don't know if they finally have support for the boot sectors to be formatted in NTFS or not, so i won't recommend that just now. i know Ubuntu can read NTFS partitions with 3rd party software, but i don't know about writing to it.)

 

once you take care of the hard drive formatting, you can then install Ubuntu, which is usually quick and somewhat painless. once its installed, you might have to check and see if any devices are missing drivers. in that case, you'll want to use Google to find Linux drivers for the devices.

 

after you take care of that, you should be good to go. Ubuntu is even more stable than XP, and it does have some great built-in apps that covers most of the basics. there is some free stuff out there that covers most of the specialty apps (Photoshop, etc) for Linux, so if you need it, then look for it. stability isn't perfect (especially if you have driver conflicts), but it is better than Windows from what i've seen.

 

hope that helps.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

(i don't know if they finally have support for the boot sectors to be formatted in NTFS or not, so i won't recommend that just now. i know Ubuntu can read NTFS partitions with 3rd party software, but i don't know about writing to it.)

http://www.ntfs-3g.org/support.html#rootfs

[Sabretooth]

Thx, that would be helpful, I suppose. The latest one is 7.4 "Feisty Fawn", last I checked. Not that I really need a Linux, but it'd great to see how the world outside Windows is.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

It's filled with eyecandy and Wine and gumdrops.

[Sabretooth]

Ah, so here I am on my shiny new Ubuntu. It is definitely an impressive OS - easy to use, though takes some getting used to. I like the way there are step-by-step instructions for everything Ubuntu all over the web. It does lack a bit of polish and tends to slow down with a lot of applications - especially audio and video applications.

 

Otherwise it is a fine alternative to Windows. I feel like a man now.

[stingerhs]

^^^^

as an official Linux user, i now officially welcome you to Geekdom. enjoy your stay.

[Sabretooth]

Say, does anyone know a good audio player? I didn't like Rythmplayer (o whatever it was) and Movie Player goes horribly slow. I tried Amarok and Kaffeine, but they don't seem to play files. I try to play a file and it goes back to the play button instead of the pause. Then once I got a dialog saying that Amarok couldn't play MP3, but the actual content of the dialog never came up (the title bar was the only thing visible). This is the only thing where I'm having a problem.

[stingerhs]

^^^^

VLC Player. get it, use it, love it.

[CLONECOMMANDER501]

Be careful, an old friend of mine lost 2 computers to linux.

[Ray Jones]

and tends to slow down with a lot of applications - especially audio and video applications.

RAM. RAM. RAM. And again - RAM.

 

 

Say, does anyone know a good audio player?

Try mplayer or xmms. These are not good, but excellent! =)

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

I'd recommend going with smplayer over mplayer, it has better support for subtitles and is easier to configure.

[Sabretooth]

RAM. RAM. RAM. And again - RAM

 

I have a hefty 512 MB of RAM, good sir and an additional 128 MB worth VRAM.

 

Wow, I didn't know VLC was available for Ubuntu. Guess I'll take that one, then. Thanks all, I'll report more problems if they crop up

[Ray Jones]

For "a lot of applications" including audio and video stuff, 512MB is like nothing. And it depend to the rest of your system specs, too. I mean, a years old 10 GiB harddrive isn't really what you would use for a system which needs to load data fast and at constant rate. For that I'd advise you to plug in a newer SATA disk or the like, and use the XFS filesystem, which is indeed err.. fast.

 

SMPlayer.. mhh, didn't know about it. But it's from SuSE and SuSE is the devil. It looks good, nonetheless. Maybe I'll give it a try and check the source.

[Sabretooth]

For "a lot of applications" including audio and video stuff, 512MB is like nothing. And it depend to the rest of your system specs, too. I mean, a years old 10 GiB harddrive isn't really what you would use for a system which needs to load data fast and at constant rate. For that I'd advise you to plug in a newer SATA disk or the like, and use the XFS filesystem, which is indeed err.. fast..

 

Well, I meant about 4-5 programs at a time. Let's take for example, Firefox, an audio player, a word application and one of Ubuntu's fine collection of little games. That does make the system somewhat sluggish, while XP seems to run perfectly well even if I doubled each window of the above.

 

I hear the Xfce or KDE desktops make things faster. Is it possible to get those on Ubuntu without having to install Xubuntu or Kubuntu?

[Ray Jones]

Well, I meant about 4-5 programs at a time. Let's take for example, Firefox, an audio player, a word application and one of Ubuntu's fine collection of little games. That does make the system somewhat sluggish, while XP seems to run perfectly well even if I doubled each window of the above.

Well, XP is on another hard disk, eh? Err and, XP has "Ubuntu's fine collection of little games"? Wow.

 

What graphic card driver are you using?

[Sabretooth]

Well, XP is on another hard disk, eh? Err and, XP has "Ubuntu's fine collection of little games"? Wow.

 

What graphic card driver are you using?

 

Heh, well let's take Minesweeper as an example.

 

Graphic card driver? Good question. I have an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 w/ 128 MB VRAM. It's showing up in Ubuntu's hardware profile thing, so I guess it might be having the driver. Besides, when I was trying out "Desktop Effects" it said that nVidia's driver was required and it installed it. So, I guess I have the latest driver. Still, if it's necessary to download a driver from nVidia's page, what option do I select in the OS section? (options are Linux x86, Linux x64, Solaris and FreeBSD) I'm guessing Linux x64...

[stingerhs]

actually, its usually as simple as looking at the original .iso CD-image file. the x64 version has "AMD64" at the end of the filename, even if you're installing it on a Core2, Xeon, or Itanium based compy.

 

another way to check, if i can remember correctly (i'm not on my Kubuntu compy at the moment), is to check your system information. it should tell you there if you have the x86 version or the x64 version.

 

oh, and for you sake, i hope you don't have to install the drivers via command line. its not a bad idea to learn, but its a pain in the arse for a novice. anyways, good luck with the install.

[Ray Jones]

Huh? Nah, it's easy. And if you're on an selfmade kernel, you can't do anything but install/compile it yourself.

 

Graphic card driver? Good question. I have an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 w/ 128 MB VRAM. It's showing up in Ubuntu's hardware profile thing, so I guess it might be having the driver. Besides, when I was trying out "Desktop Effects" it said that nVidia's driver was required and it installed it. So, I guess I have the latest driver.

A glxinfo | grep -A2 vendor should give you something like

XXXXXXX@ms-linux:~> glxinfo | grep -A2 vendor
server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
--
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
--
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 6100/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 2.1.0 NVIDIA 96.31
XXXXXXX@ms-linux:~>

which means you're in

 

Still, if it's necessary to download a driver from nVidia's page, what option do I select in the OS section? (options are Linux x86, Linux x64, Solaris and FreeBSD) I'm guessing Linux x64...

If you've picked the wrong, it will tell you.

[Sabretooth]

A glxinfo | grep -A2 vendor should give you something like

XXXXXXX@ms-linux:~> glxinfo | grep -A2 vendor
server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
--
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
--
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 6100/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 2.1.0 NVIDIA 96.31
XXXXXXX@ms-linux:~>

which means you're in

 

Well, I'm getting the exact same thing (Except the graphic card, of course). Woo, I have the latest drivers.

 

@stinger: Believe me, shooting my probs at the Ubuntu community, I've had my share of Novice command-writing. Great to learn how to use that damned terminal. Reminds me of my DOS days...

[Ray Jones]

Latest? Neenee. This is latest (beta):

ray@FBiNC:~$ glxinfo | grep -A2 vendor
server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
--
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
--
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce Go 7400/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 2.1.1 NVIDIA 100.14.06
ray@FBiNC:~$ 

[Sabretooth]

I need no damned beta drivers. I don't feel safe without the certified tag on things - except harmless applications. Those I'd go for beta-testing.

[Astrotoy7]

^^^^

enjoy your stay.

 

lolz...are you implying sabre will ditch when he eventually gets Vista and DX10 to play <insert 1337 DX10 game here>

 

 

the answer be yes

 

btw Sabre - dont forget open office, so you can go on an adventure in Time Travel - the year will be 1997 and you'll think just bought a shiny copy of Office 97.

 

(no 2003 dynamic ribbon in that one Im afraid)

 

Ok, I'll stop mucking about - but I couldnt resist a quick jab, you crazy Linux kids, you

 

anyways, keep up the great work Ist always nice to have some Linux pros around a techie place

 

* * *

 

also sabre, dont expect an WHQL(style) certification for drivers for an *open source* OS. Thats the point of a OSOS...(open source op sys) Who will be accountable if the drivers fail.... *no one except you* and getting support is a quest worthy of The Fellowship

 

still, good luck - always good to try new stuff - a great opportunity to learn, even if you dont end up adopting it as a mainstay

 

mtfbwya

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

btw Sabre - dont forget open office, so you can go on an adventure in Time Travel - the year will be 1997 and you'll think just bought a shiny copy of Office 97.

 

(no 2003 dynamic ribbon in that one Im afraid)

 

Ok, I'll stop mucking about - but I couldnt resist a quick jab, you crazy Linux kids, you

Don't forget Wine either, that way you can run MS Office even though OpenOffice is on its way to becoming the new document standard.

 

keke

[Astrotoy7]

Don't forget Wine either, that way you can run MS Office even though OpenOffice is on its way to becoming the new document standard.

 

keke

 

jmac...I'll paypal you $1 to buy a coke, if in 5 years OpenOffice has come anywhere near to that claim. Linux fans have been rabbiting on about it being 'on the verge of becoming a major mainstream alternative' for as long as I can damn remember.

 

As for Office on wine ?? Thats makes no sense. The beauty of open source = free, right ??

 

If someone is going to buy MS office, Id venture to say they can afford Vista basic, which is 1/3 of the cost(as oem). If you are not buying office but using it, then I daresay you will know how to not buy Vista/XP and still use it

 

lolz...wine reminds me of running a gameboy emulator on my pda. close, but its not the same, and will never work all time, exactly the way you want it to...

 

The juggernauts will always win, they have the $$$ to pay people to work on things and provide *support* <<<this last word is really important to understanding why the 'mainstream' thing will never work. Most people simply do not have the knowledge or confidence to problem solve their own pc issues.

 

for servers and geeks. Linux is king. For everything else, follow the buck

 

I wish it were different, but in a capitalist society, no.

 

mtfbwya