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Ubuntu has something like this here
However, you won't win any prices, so you won't have to pay

I suspect I'll get a barrage of replies where readers describe "solutions" to all of the above. That would be great -- especially the wireless conundrum. But, I haven't found the suite spot yet... not where everything is easy to configure, easy to use. If readers have solutions, let's start a list, some repository, some "goto" place where we can all point and say, "There's your Linux desktop solutions."

https://wiki.ubuntu.com

The new version is missing from the Ubuntu repositories. It's not in the repository for the upcoming 6.10 (Edgy) release, which goes into Feature Freeze next week. Hopefully, it'll still make it in. I believe packages in the Universe repository, which Xara falls under, can be upgraded right up until Edgy reaches beta.

Aside from not having flash for FireFox (unless you use a simple workaround, just like every other distro) Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper is absolutely painless to use. In fact, due to a weird problem with AGP and AMD64 CPUs in 32-bit Ubuntu, it actually runs with less problems then the 32-bit counterpart.

See this. Apparently a recent Ubuntu upgrade screwed up the X server. Aren't I glad I don't bother installing updates! (Actually, I just use the computer as a synthesiser, and don't use one of the ubuntuized desktop enviroments, so I have to manually grab updates)

--Try Ubuntu 64-bit with Workstation 5.5.2 - works for me.

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/6.06.1/ release.1/

--I used the alternate-amd64 iso:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/6.06.1/ release.1/xubuntu-6.06.1-alternate-amd64.iso

--Just be sure to check the vmware forums before diving in; there are some additional packages and libraries that have to be installed for Vmware.

--Try Ubuntu 64-bit with Workstation 5.5.2 - works for me.

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/6.06.1/ release.1/

--I used the alternate-amd64 iso:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/6.06.1/ release.1/xubuntu-6.06.1-alternate-amd64.iso

--Just be sure to check the vmware forums before diving in; there are some additional packages and libraries that have to be installed for Vmware.

It doesn't have to be rackmount, if you don't have the space. Instead of the rackmount Travla C146 cases, check out the Travla C134 (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/images/c134-black.j pg) or C137 (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/images/c137-black.j pg) cases, they're really small.

As for setting up the necessary software, there's a number of projects that scratch that itch:
http://www.collax.com/en/resources/download-cbs.ht ml
http://www.openfiler.com/
http://www.freenas.org/
http://www.skolelinux.org/portal/index_html
http://www.ubuntu.com/server

All of these are really easy to install and work exceptionally well.

On the shipping, yes,they are on the CD.

Debian has a non-free repository
Suse has a NON-GPL kernel

The phrase at the bottom is confusing:

"All of the application software installed by default is Free Software. In addition, we install some hardware drivers that are available only in binary format, but such packages are clearly marked in the restricted component."

From this link:
http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/components

"The restricted component is reserved for software that is very commonly used, and which is supported by the Ubuntu team even though it is not available under a completely free licence. Please note that it may not be possible to provide complete support for this software since we are unable to fix the software ourselves, but can only forward problem reports to the actual authors.

Some software from restricted will be installed on Ubuntu CDs but is clearly separated to ensure that it is easy to remove. We include this software because it is essential in order for Ubuntu to run on certain machines - typical examples are the binary drivers that some video card vendors publish, which are the only way for Ubuntu to run on those machines. By default, we will only use open source software unless there is simply no other way to install Ubuntu. The Ubuntu team works with such vendors to accelerate the open-sourcing of their software to ensure that as much software as possible is available under a Free licence. "

(the bolding is mine) That the same procedure used by pretty much all distrib, requiring user intervention to install those, and allowing users to install those.

RMS doesn't recommand any major distro for this reason: http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2003/08/msg029 01.html

Ubuntu ships some non-free binary drivers by default. See the bottom of http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/licensing

So something like:

1. Go to "Applications -> Add/Remove..."
   
2. Select and install "Banshee"
   
3. Then click "Applications -> Sound and Video -> Banshee"
   
4. Plug in Ipod
   
5. You should see your iPod on the left panel, just like in iTunes.
   

My head hurts now. But "What if we build a large wooden badger..."

youve got the right attitude
microsoft did sell you a defective product, grossly defective
and now they are trying to 'change strokes in mid stream' which even the president has said you shouldnt do

but the solution is simple
http://www.ubuntu.com/

While the linux parodies are mildly amusing (and the ubuntu one makes a reference to the warty release's wallpaper that featured three naked people hand in hand), I much prefer this ubuntu parody (definitely NSFW)

Oh, and the link in the summary is beyond slashdotted - it is now just a placeholder/spam page.

If anyone buys Linux for security, they haven't done their homework.

its times like these im glad im using linux http://www.ubuntu.com/

So basically things should be assumed to be stable unless proven otherwise? That's generally not the way it works in the Debian world or the security world.

The key problem with Xen at this moment is that it's not in the mainline kernel and it's a nontrivial patch. Because of this, it's possible for Xen to break between kernel upgrades unless you put a lot of your own resources into QAing it and undoing any changes in the mainline kernel that damage Xen.

If you've been following the Ubuntu Edgy release, you'd see that originally Xen was planned to be supported out of the box in Edgy, but that changed when the Ubuntu-Xen team realized that Xen has problem in the kernel Ubuntu wants to ship (which has the most device drivers), so they'll scaled back the goal and support Xen as a "use at your own risk" less featureful but maintained Xen kernel. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XenEdgy for details.

Also keep in mind that different people have different stability needs. Novell may be shipping Xen, but they're also shipping XGL which is usable (like Xen) and a very important feature (like Xen) but not entirely problem free (like Xen). The problems of Xen and XGL aren't unresolvable. XGL just needs a little burn in time to work out the kinks, and Xen needs to just get into the kernel. The paravirt_ops spec looks quite promising (http://lwn.net/Articles/191923/) and seems to be making a lot of progress.

Fedora and Ubuntu aren't currently shipping them (except as use at your own risk add-ons) and prefer to wait until the problems have been worked out.
But that's okay, they just want to make different tradeoffs than Novell has.

Linux is about choice, isn't it?

you can get the patch for the patch here

I live in a room where I have a computer which is not connected to Internet, nor it is going to be.

When I got this room, first thing I did was to order Ubuntu and Kubuntu CDs. I installed both and finally I settled with Ubuntu (dual boot with previous installation of Windows(TM) ).

Now my girl friend is not familiar to Linux and its ever changing world, and wants to play songs. And I want to boot into beautiful looking Ubuntu! So I downloaded all the packages in my office, burned them on a multisession CD and brought them back to my offline computer to do apt-get.

To my surprise, still nothing would run except some rare MPEG files. And the reason is that all the downloaded .deb files listed on Ubuntu page are dependent on so many .so files that I lost my enthusiasm to boot in linux.

Now, I think I will give a try to Freespire. What do you people suggest? My machine is too old to go through Gentoo, which would be still better!

Perhaps we should expand the old joke a bit.

Windows XP Home patches: http://www.ubuntu.com/
Windows XP Pro patches: http://www.gentoo.org/
Windows NT4 patches: http://www.debian.org/
Windows 3.1 patches: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

This way we can troll both sides of the fence.

Patch available here.

HTH

http://www.ubuntu.com/download :)

Linux, on the other hand, may not ready just yet for the desktop. But it will one day.

If it wasn't ready before, it became ready with the release of Ubuntu 6.06. I have been searching for five years for a desktop Linux that just works — as in Grandma friendly. I tried RedHat 7.3-8.1, Debian Sarge, Knoppix, and Kanotix. All of them had their issues unless you were at least a power user. Not so with Ubuntu, or my preference, Kubuntu. I'm not saying it's perfect or will replace standard Debian or Gentoo, but if K/Ubuntu isn't ready for the desktop, then neither is Windows.

then complains about not having Outlook on Linux.

Huh? I've ran M$ Outlook for years at my current job *on* Linux. I can also run Evolution (which has some pretty cool features) and connect to M$ Exchange if I want to. This guys doesn't know what he is talking about.

The Ubuntu Forums are a wonderful resource. Instead of beeing called an ingnorant newbie, people with questions get quick, polite answers. Very little of the arrogant, elitist attitude that pops up in so many Linux forums.

One shouldn't forget Sun http://www.ubuntu.com/news/sunfire and Opera http://www.ubuntu.com/news/opera9. Also, there Ubuntu certificates now http://www.ubuntu.com/news/lpi1. Ubuntu is going after enterprise, but don't expect it to be over night. It's still needs release or two to proof it self. Other than that, Ubuntu already becam synonym for "Linux desktop". And we all remeber how RedHat started, right? First they were desktop distro. This is the same path that Microsoft did - first conquer the desktop, then the world.

One shouldn't forget Sun http://www.ubuntu.com/news/sunfire and Opera http://www.ubuntu.com/news/opera9. Also, there Ubuntu certificates now http://www.ubuntu.com/news/lpi1. Ubuntu is going after enterprise, but don't expect it to be over night. It's still needs release or two to proof it self. Other than that, Ubuntu already becam synonym for "Linux desktop". And we all remeber how RedHat started, right? First they were desktop distro. This is the same path that Microsoft did - first conquer the desktop, then the world.

One shouldn't forget Sun http://www.ubuntu.com/news/sunfire and Opera http://www.ubuntu.com/news/opera9. Also, there Ubuntu certificates now http://www.ubuntu.com/news/lpi1. Ubuntu is going after enterprise, but don't expect it to be over night. It's still needs release or two to proof it self. Other than that, Ubuntu already becam synonym for "Linux desktop". And we all remeber how RedHat started, right? First they were desktop distro. This is the same path that Microsoft did - first conquer the desktop, then the world.

Sounds like Microsoft circa 1990. I can honestly say I never expected, even later in 1995, Windows to make a dent on the server side. Yet it did.

In the end, Red Hat have their "We don't expect any money from this" distro (Fedora), and their "We plan to make a fortune from this" (RHEL); and Ubuntu seems to be following that (Ubuntu and Ubuntu Server.)

I welcome this. I didn't think much of Ubuntu when I installed it, it's not the environment for me, but that said the installation process was very, very, good. Fedora could do with a "non-free" directory given that was the only serious issue I had with the Fedora install when I tried it (I'm still fighting it, as Fedora's lack of libc++5 is preventing fglrx from working.)

Hmmm, that reminds me, I need some technical support:

Y'know, Fedora sucks. It'll never be ready for the desktop until someone ensures that you can get accellerated ATI drivers for it and all the associated dependencies and whatnot. It's just impossible to find libc++5 anywhere, how is anyone supposed to make it work? Windows is much better.

(Let's see if that works. I've never tried it before.)

People keep saying, ubuntu is cool, but I really don't see why it is?
I think it's because it's easy to install and upgrade, making the switch for new users easier. I always liked Debian but the only real disadvantage was package selection, Ubuntu took care of the package selection part. I look at Ubuntu as Debian with more up to date packages.

It's way easier to find rpm of a release than .deb version.
After just trying to get DBD::Sybase up and running on my linux system I would have to disagree with you. I use FC4 at work (along with some RH servers) and Debian/Ubuntu at home. To get DBD::Sybase I needed to get freetds running and the compile and install DBD::Sybase. freetds.org has src files, no rpms or debs. A search through yum yields no results for a freetds package, searching the web I did however find an older version of freetds along with an already compiled (older) version of DBD::Sybase as an RPM. Ok I though, I'll just compile and install. Unfortunately either I'm missing something to compile it or they are missing steps in their documentation but I couldn't get it working (The DBD::Sybase compile would fail miserably) I eventually just install the older versions and live without some of the features in the new version.

Just for fun, I looked on my Ubuntu and Debian systems. Guess what, they both have freetds and already compiled DBD::Sybase packages. While I think package selection used to be a reason to choose red hat over most other distros, lately I've found most places have at least source code available and a lot of users typically translate that into packages. Ubuntu has one of the nicest selections of packages I've seen in a while.

For me, Ubuntu is Debian with more packages. Because of that, I typically use Ubuntu as a destop and Debian as a server. I can see Ubuntu having more marketshare than Fedora Core but no way will it overtake Red Hat because of the "Enterprise" credibility Red Hat currently has.

Also what's the point of having something installed and waiting hours for internet download time, instead of downloading a DVD while you were sleeping, and get everything at once
Ummm... Ubuntu is available as a DVD iso as well. http://www.ubuntu.com/download Just go to the bottom where it says: Ubuntu DVD Releases. Oh, and you can kick off the internet downloads while you are sleeping too... and if you don't need all the packages, you download less than downloading all the packages.

waiting hours for internet download time, instead of downloading a DVD while you were sleeping

Canonical does offer enterprise support for Ubuntu. That is where they plan to make their money, just like Red Hat.

Why do so many people say that Ubuntu's not acceptable to enterprise because it doesn't have support, there's no one to blame, etc? Has no one ever gone to ubuntu.com and seen that big friggin' link at the top of the front page, which says "support"?

http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid

Alternatively, has anyone ever actually used RedHat support? *I* wasn't impressed...

Ubuntu was certified for IBM's db2: http://www.ubuntu.com/news/db2cert
However I think Ubuntu will only be used in small companies as desktops. Most people I know use either FreeBSD or Windows 2003 as their server OS.

My prediction is that Novell will gain significant marketshare in the enterprise OS sector. Especially after all those Netware servers migrate to SuSE.
Also, Novell seems to support the non-enterprise users more than Redhat (and their Opensuse distro is much more stable than Fedora).

Anyway, Ubuntu trolling aside, I think the reason there's no real wireless support is because they won't put in programs like NdisWrapper, which is often the fastest and easiest way to get wireless running on Linux. And why don't they include NdisWrapper? Their free software guidelines don't allow it; it doesn't matter how convenient it may be for the end-user, if it's patented, involves binary blobs, or anything else that would restrict its freedom, it can't go in. That's the same reason you can't get MP3, DVD, or Flash support out of the box; first is patented, second requires "illegal" decryption software, and third is proprietary software.

Ubuntu comes with the necessary ndiswrapper module pre-installed, but it needs the ndiswrapper-utils package to get it working. There is also a graphical interface to using ndiswrapper which you can use.

Note: for Ubuntu 6.06, ndiswrapper-utils is included on the standard installation CD. You can install the package from the CD and skip to section 2.2...

WPA plus authentication with Active Directory. These (Looooong) instructions didn't even work. As for "writing my own drivers", do you see the work developer written on my head anywhere? No you do not.

I can't believe people keep deluding themselves that Linux is ready for mainstream PC users migrating from Windows. It's not. It's just not! Please stop deluding yourselves. It may be some day, but right now, it's just not!

There are so many articles like "My solution for my family's Windoze box getting pwned in five seconds. I give them Linux". The subheading for these articles should be "I get lots of phone calls from my family because they can't remember what the application is called to do XYZ". It has been said many times, but I'll reiterate. Don't run with admin rights under Windows if you don't have to, and run Firefox.

Don't get me wrong. I'm enjoying (For the most part) playing with Ubuntu and SLED. But I'm positively tired to death of how much time I spend reading wikis and googling for answers when things don't work as expected.

For my card, it was straightforward enough, copying from this webpage

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/RalinkR T2500Old

However, like I said it depends on your hardware, which is a bit of a pain. Hopefully someone will come up with an intelligent enough software tool to cope with this soon.

I have no statistics on how many people face this problem (obviously), but I can personally report that I experienced this issue with release 5.04 ("Hoary Hedgehog"), but haven't had it with (fresh) installs of either 5.10 ("Breezy Badger") or 6.06 ("Dapper Drake"). I guess they just added support for auto-detecting my monitor or something.
FWIW, in case someone still has this problem, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FixVideoResoluti onHowto has a few solutions.

Ubuntu is not a company, it is a community-driven distribution. Canonical Ltd. is a major financial sponsor of Ubuntu, but (AFAIK) provides very little guidance of the project.

Ubuntu is not a company, it is a community-driven distribution. Canonical Ltd. is a major financial sponsor of Ubuntu, but (AFAIK) provides very little guidance of the project.

Ubuntu is not a company, it is a community-driven distribution. Canonical Ltd. is a major financial sponsor of Ubuntu, but (AFAIK) provides very little guidance of the project.

... visit http://www.ubuntu.com/ and download a copy. Burn to a CD, install, and enjoy a life free of stupid crap like licence codes and "Windows Genuine Advantage" shutting down MS Word just when you need it.

i highly doubt the laptop supports all of India's 33-odd "recognized languages", disregarding others commonly taught in schools (Arabic, Farsi, etc). The vernacular lobbies would have a field day claiming that the government is deliberately excluding their languages. Which is a valid point. People would sue the government and the education boards.

Preview release is here

(with apologies to the debian developers... I couldn't resist)

that was supposed to link to www.ubuntu.com/download/

Step 1 - You get Ubuntu at http://www.ubuntu.com/. Donwload an iso, burn it and boot your computer with it (put it at you CD driver and restart).

Step 2 - It will display a menu, where you choose to run it, not install.

Step 3 - Go play a bit with it. The equivalent of the start menu will be at the botton-left or the top-left corner of the screen. The menu is categorized, and all the programs have description, so you'll probably be able to surf the web or burn CDs on a few minutes.

Step 4 - Shut it down, and remove the CD. Turn the computer on again to have your Windows back the same way you left it.

You can do it because it is a greate chance to get something better than Windows, out of curiosity, or bjust ecause Linux have some great solitary games.

Ah, Well.

That seems to be the Windows users' mantra. I hear it constantly.

I got bit by WGA -- Ah, Well.
Adware pops up constantly, even when I am not connected to the 'Net -- Ah, Well.
A tool bar just installed itself, and is tracking every place I go -- Ah, Well.
A keystroke recorder just stole my banking info, and now it's on every IRC server in the world. -- Ah, Well.
My ISP just disconnected me because my machine is a spam bot -- Ah, Well.
I was dumb enough to tie my critical app to 98 and MS just discontinued updates for 98, and ME, -- Ah, Well.
My music/TV show/ etc. got encoded in a encrypted WMA file, and not it won't play on anything else -- Ah, Well.
Windows just slowed to a crawl in the middle of my Powerpoint presentation to management, and now I am standing here looking like a dunce. -- Ah, Well.

Worse than that, people are getting conditioned to such things and are extending the "Ah, Well" mentallity to other injustices in the world.

Here's two things you can do in this case instead of "Ah, Well."

http://www.apple.com/
http://www.ubuntu.com/

IMHO there is nothing fundamentaly wrong with Java, only sometimes in ways of using it.

My setup under Linux used to be something like:

• /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun
• /usr/lib/j2sdk1.4-ibm
• /usr/lib/j2sdk1.4.2_07-sun
• /usr/lib/j2re1.4.2_06-sun
• ...
• ln -s /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun /usr/lib/java
• in .bashrc or so:
• export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/java
• export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
• ...
• now, users have it easy, can override versions if they want to
• you have it easy because it's easy to find and manage versions

In (K)ubuntu you can install any version you want (not always very easy to do) and with sudo update-alternatives --config java pick the system default from a list (not per user), see the Wiki

For most apps I write/use I start from a small script, which allows picking your JVM, however this is rarely necessary, in my experience. E.g. /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun/java -cp . some.path.MyApp

My experience: prefer Sun's JVM, it's the most stable, and when things go wrong, you get meaningful error messages. Be carefull with GCJ because it does not support every library and is a very different thing compared to the normal JVM's

Concerning J2EE: The sun downloads contain an 'Application Server' (AS), but J2EE is a set of specifications, not a product. J2EE AS's provide an implementation of that specification. Examples are Websphere, JBoss, BEA Weblogic, Apache Geronimo,...

One of the main problems with Sun's Java was there distribution restrictions that forced admins everywhere to download the JRE or JDKs and be forced to trust the Sun installer.

Since lifting these restrictions a couple of months ago, Sun's java has made it into Debian's Universe repositories. It's even in the multiverse repository for the latest version of Ubuntu. Installing is now as simple as:

apt-get install sun-java5-jdk

or

apt-get install sun-java5-jre

And you're done. If Sun properly open-sources Java like they are claiming, these might even make it into the main repositories.

Help can be found on the Ubunutu wiki:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Java

According to the ubuntu-security-announce lists, the current up to date kernel version is 2.6.15-26.44 This was released 3 days ago, before the debian server compromise was announced. According to the zdnet report, this version falls within the exploitable.

I made a mistake in my initial post, slip of finger, 2.6.13* not 2.6.12*