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30 Days With Ubuntu Linux
jkwdoc writes "Vexed by Vista's hardware requirements and product activation issues, many have claimed on various boards that they plan to 'switch to Linux.' [H] Consumer spent 30 days using nothing but Ubuntu Linux to find out if this is truly a viable alternative for the consumer. Linux has indeed become much more than the 'Programmer's OS.'"
From the article: But what about power users, such as the typical audience of HardOCP - those who know how to build their own computers, but not compile their own programs?
IMHO, anyone who wants all the control of building your own computer, reads a website which has overclocking in the name and thinks Linux/FreeBSD/Open Source is either misguided about the benifits of Linux or is just lazy. Putting your own computer together these days with all the options, choices to make, etc. is getting harder than it was 10 years ago. Meanwhile, Linux has been getting easier. So I don't see where the challenge is for these people.
It is nice to see that non-Linux people are continuing to give Linux a try. Most things in the world only get one chance and then its over.
Linux may not be just a programmer's OS, but the Ubuntu flavor of Linux, IMO, isn't a very good programmer's OS at all. I think it crossed that fine line between control and ease of use.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
That depends upon what the problem is finally determined to be.
Since there is no way anyone else can diagnose your problem, you are free to make any claims you want to about it.
Meanwhile, your experience seems to run counter to the majority. I have installed Ubuntu on many machines without a single problem. Ubuntu does have problems installing at times, but mostly with SATA drives on specific chipsets in specific configurations.
I switched my 80 year-old grandmother to Ubuntu 6 months ago. I won't pretend there were no problems, but they all revolved around user interface. Specifically, things didn't EXACTLY match Outlook/Internet Explorer's interface. Once I explained that and she used it for about 2 weeks, she has no problems whatsoever.
She DOESN'T do any DVD editing. She DOES use digital photography (in that I send her pictures of her great grandson and she views them). She's even managed to solve minor problems on her own. She writes documents, receives documents (both word and excel), and has had no issues to date that could not be solved in 10 minutes on the phone.
Her only major complaint? It's not the user interface. It's not the multifunction printer/copier/scanner. It's not the funky colors. It's not the email. It's that she can't make the computer wit more than 2 hours before hibernating.
Perhaps these "reviews" of "typical users" should evealuate what a real "typical user" actually is.
I 'switched' to Linux several times in the past, only to get frustrated and switch back. But Kubuntu has stuck. I'm Windows free for a year now. The reason it stuck this time is simple - with Firefox, Flash 9, Acrobat Reader, and w32codecs, the WWW is now as good on Linux as it is on Windows. I'm surprised more people don't make a bigger deal about this. For me it's huge.
I thought I would miss some things in Windows but I didn't. The thing I thought I would miss most was Microsoft Word, but Abiword did fine. I was always concerned I would have to modify my resume and send it out in a nice Word format that Linux wouldn't have, but that was never a problem. I never missed Windows for anything. They talk about Windows having better hardware support, but my (then) 802.11b wireless was a hell of a lot easier to install on my system then Linux. I also liked the ability to open a shell and just be able to do stuff - do an awk or sort or whatever on a file, have multiple windows and so forth. It had all the nice user brain-dead stuff of Windows, but I could drop to a shell and actually do stuff, instead of getting some MS-DOS prompt crap. It's much better nowadays than my old days when I had a Linux kernel version 1 running fvwm as one of my work desktops (the other desktop at that time was a Sun IPX running SunOS 4.1.3_U1).
I'm a long time windows user, from the DOS days and I've always remained on the windows side of things mainly because at work its all we use. I never saw any point of switching of linux at home knowing that knowledge would not serve me at work.
.net framework on ubuntu ? no virtual machine if possible, no emulation, just run .net framework on ubuntu ?
.net, I don't think its possible otherwise but that's why im asking to people who knows more about this.
I'd usually spend efforts trying to improve on things that would help me at work.
Anyway, now im starting a web hosting and web design (very) small company. I'm not really impressed by the direction MS is taking nor by the fees its charging. Vista smells like a truckload of overhead shit that i have zero interest in even trying out. The 2003 line of servers from MS is just too expensive just to avoid mentionning i hate the notion of online activation/tracking.
I've installed Ubuntu and other distros of linux at the time and while I've always got stuck with the file structure and various command lines to learn, i feel this is something i could get the hang of over time.
But what brings me back everytime to windows are my own limitations regarding programming. At work, we do ASP and ASP.net. Not c#, vb.net. I can read c# but i don't really program with it.
I have no interest in learning php, ruby or other languages despite all their advantages. Because at work that's not what we use and I'd rather re-use my skills rather than split into a new branch just because im having something on the side.
so, my question is, is there any (easy) way i could be running the
I know its pretty contracdictory but i dont want to install overhead on my server just for the benefit of running
So, is it possible ?
If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
There has never really been a problem with people willing to give Linux a honest chance. I've found that I could even get my mother to try with "Slackware 96".
The problem is having people that do try out Linux stick around. Most go back to what is comfortable and they are used to after the novelty has wore off. There seems to be so much fluff about those that try out Linux and not about about those that stick with Linux. There hasn't really ever been an issue with those trying out Linux.
Well the list is typical I am afraid.
1. No 64 bit Flash. Or the lack of support in the X64 version of Firefox for 32 bit plug ins.
2. You can not watch DVDs you buy at the store with out breaking the law... Thank you US government...
3. Drivers specifically the fact that it is IMPOSIBLE for a manufacture to put a binary linux driver on a disk and stick in the box with his product.
The first part the Linux community really can not do a lot about. I guess that the distros could ship the 32 bit version of Firefox as the default until Adobe catches up.
The second issue is a legal fiction and can only be fixed by lawyers... And that is never a good state of affairs.
The third is my least favorite problem because it could at least be helped by the kernel developers. If they would just put in a stable binary driver interface then it would be possible to put drivers an a CD. Currently they don't want to put one in because they feel it would encourage closed source drivers. They will use excuses about performance but the simple truth is it is all about politics.
This article was a great example. The new network adapter didn't have a driver in distro. In this case the driver hadn't made it to the kernel yet. Even if the manufacture had produced a FOSS driver there would be no way to put it on the CD. There would be no way of knowing if it would work with the users kernel. They would have put a bunch of source code on the disk and maybe a script to compile it... If the user has a development system installed and the right headerfiles...
I hate technical problems caused by politics.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I first seriously got into Linux when I found out about XP's activation system back in 2001 or so. Until then, I had used it for home server applications (like a web server for PHP testing, and a cheap NAT/firewall router) and a development environment for college programming courses, but the news of the crazy activation scheme drove me to actually using it as my primary OS, with the intention of phasing out Windows 2000 at some point.
:(
:)
I still use Linux (Fedora Core 6) as my primary OS, and I'm pretty happy with it. It does all of the day to day productivity tasks that I need, and I like the flexibility it gives me in terms of technical capabilities - if I want to, SSH into work write a program in C++, test a web page, try out a new language, and so forth, I can do it with minimal hassle. I don't really see switching off of Linux as my own personal desktop OS.
However, I still have a Windows partition, and it's not going to go away any time soon. The Linux gaming scene is still pretty much dead (no offense meant to Michael Simms and the folks at LGP!), for one thing, and my console isn't a complete replacement for that yet. Outlook is still (unfortunately) the best local email client when it comes to remote-synchronized calendaring, email, and address books, especially when you toss smartphones and such into the mix, at least until I move to Google Apps. And when it comes to my own needs, Windows Media Center provides a better fit than MythTV. I'm waiting for 30 people to chime in that MythTV is everything to everyone - but that's just not true.
So, much as I hate to say it, Vista's probably in my future. But so is Linux.
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
I was impressed by the author's attention to detail and clear specification of the tested systems and the steps involved in using them.
One useful correction would be that programs are just as easy to install on .rpm-based systems as they are on .deb-based systems. The default tool on Fedora Core 6 is called YUM and it does all the dependency resolving necessary. There are even simpler front ends to it such as Pup and Pirut. Package installation, deinstallation, upgrade and update are just as easy as they are with Aptitude.
The problems that the author experiences with 64-bit Flash are unfortunately a result of there being insufficient pressure from GNU/Linux consumers on vendors to supply Free software. A similar problem is experience by many Ubuntu users that rely on the non-Free drivers produced by Nvidia for their graphics cards, or the various non-free binary blobs used for some dodgy wireless hardware. This will continue to be a problem as long as distributions like Ubuntu facilitate the manufacturers of this hardware in evading one of the central principles of Free Software. The manufacturers can't do a good enough job of staying current with the kernel and so GNU/Linux will always be a second class citizen as long as we accept this. Fortunately there are manufacturers, such as Intel that provide Free software for their 3D graphics cards and their wireless chipsets and so it's worth choosing their components when building a new system. (I used to buy ATI stuff because the Free 3d drivers were better than the Free Nvidia ones, but apparently the nouveau project is opening up the list of working Free Nvidia cards. I'll probably be giving Nvidia and ATI both a miss in favour of Intel though).
Unfortunately Mark Shuttleworth is a short-term thinker who is pushing many of the Ubuntu developers into including binary, closed blobs that work until you update your system. This is the tired old "I'm a pragmatist" line which has been releiving the pressure on manufacturers to open their drivers and on users to choose non-closed hardware while purchasing new systems. It's anything but pragmatic and leads to the sort of frustrations seen in the article.
Now Vista on the other hand has elicited nothing but hand wringing for several years. For what I can tell it has little good to offer except eye candy. On the downside the OS has DRM in it's DNA, it has a ridiculous security sceme. It fails to run lots of current software. It claims but fails to be more secure (can't use 3rd party anti-virus). It has extreme hardware requirements. I built my last new PC within months of the release of XP. I will not build a PC for Vista. I will not buy a PC with Vista. I do not look forward to the day that I must start using Vista at work.
The big question is this: Linux or Apple? I have an older PC in the house running Ubuntu. It's great, and it also sucks. It has tons of free software. It can't legally play DVDs. It is supremely stable and runs really fast on very antiquated hardware. Getting it to do something out of the ordinary (like using the midi keyboard I got for my son) requires navigating a byzantine maze of forums, scripts, command lines. It fit nicely with my philosophy. You can build your own. On the other hand, Apples "just work." They cost more. You don't get to build your own. Since I don't have as much time as I used to I'll probably buy an Apple for 90% of my use, and I might have a 2nd PC with linux for doing stuff that requires high end software that I don't care to buy.
That being said, am I a typical user? Hardly. I've been on the internet since 1988. I built my last computer myself. I know enough to know how little I know. Lots of people think I'm some sort of computer guru. I realize that I am just barely competent. I would never recommend linux to my Dad or a computer-clueless friend. I tell them, "Go buy a Mac. They just work." When they get their Apple, they are happy. I'd rather USE a computer than ADMINISTER one.
-- QED
Not necessarily true:
It may simply be spoken by someone who values big explosions and flashy effects over playability. (Face it... Nethack IS ugly. It also happens to be a good game, but that doesnt' change the fact that it's ugly.)
We've quietly replaced his copy of Windows XP with Folger's Coffee Crystals. Let's see if he notices any difference.
For me and a guest speaker, we made the switch and he didn't notice.
One of our social groups (not business) had a guest speaker. He requested we provide a computer and projection system for a PowerPoint slide show. The newest laptop I have is a Windows 2K/Ubuntu machine running Office 2K & Open Office.
He came and spoke and complained that his slide show wasn't working properly. The text boxes appeared all at once instead of Bullet line by line. In some simple troubleshooting we found the file worked properly on my wife's work machine running XP and Office 3K (not a laptop and not borrowable). Since I didn't want to spend lots of money on upgrades, I tossed the PowerPoint presentation at my Ubuntu partition. It worked perfectly.
I let the guest speaker know we fixed the problem with the presentation computer. At the next meeting, we simply ran the presentation on the Ubuntu partition using Open Office. Since we set it up for him and had it ready to go, he didn't notice the switch.
Searching later, I did find out about the free PowerPoint viewer from Microsoft.
The truth shall set you free!
Install Cedega. It's not Open Source, but it does come in a nice and friendly .deb package, and it runs a reasonable number of my favourite games perfectly. In a way, the installation, starting the game and running it in a window instead of a stupid fullscreen mode, works even easier and smoother than on Windows.
For some games, that is. Others just don't install or install but don't work properly.
For me what has changed the most is that the reliability of hardware is much harder to predict. 10 years ago there were good brands and as long as you stuck with them you would have a reliable machine. Now-a-days it isn't anywhere near as clear-cut. Every brand is trying to aim for the low prices and thus has it's occasional stinkers. And the hardware review sites are no help because they only test for performance not reliability. Pricing has also more time consuming as half the online retailers advertise artificially low prices which they make up for with high shipping costs. And if you are running linux, the amount of work necissary to check if the hardware has drivers has increased as well.
So while slapping the components together has gotten easier, shopping for them has gotten harder. Even 10 years ago, shopping for parts was always more time consuming then actually building and configuring the machine, now it is even worse. Not wanting to deal with all that and not wanting to buy a crappy HP/Dell was a big factor in convincing me to get a G5 for my last computer rather than a PC. Probably as much of a factor as the OS.
This may seem tangental to the original discussion, but I don't think it is. Like building computers, it's my opinion thatthe limiting factor in moving to linux isn't lack of technical skill, but being willing to spend the time lookup up how to do things that are different from windows, and scouring mailing lists and forums to find an answer when something goes wrong. So if someone is willing and able to spend the time to learn about everything you need to know to pick out PC components, and deal with windows driver issues on bleeding edge hardware, then they have the skills needed to use linux. The question is one of motivation - why would they do so if linux doesn't do what they want, ie play games.
Not true. Ubuntu installs very smoothly, and if you don't mind paying for Cedega, Cedega and the games it supports also install very quickly, easily and smoothly. Installing firefox was a lot harder. Or installing WinXP. Or those very same games on Windows, even. Seriously, for gaming, Ubuntu+Cedega is as easy as you could hope for, annd it gives you a lot more control than you'd have in Windows.
As someone who uses other sustems more than Windows, but with quite a bit of Windows experience as well, I have to agree that you've hit one of the places where Windows actually shines.
The tree view on the left panel doesn't answer to keyboard commands that work on folders and files in the right panel, such as pressing Del to delete a folder. Windows Explorer is consistent in this regards.
Consistent keyboardability was one of the things that impressed me in Windows right from the start... and the first version I used was Windows 2.something... but over the years Microsoft has gratuitously broken existing shortcuts, introduced new controls with inconsistent or *no* keyboard access, and generally degraded things until I would hesitate to use Windows mouseless.
But for all that they're still better than Apple or X-11-based systems.
It doesn't get updated properly...
Another strength of Windows, though it's not consistent. Luckily F5 almost always works to refresh.
When I delete a folder...
Losing the selection when deleting files or directories, or losing the selection on refresh, is another annoyance that Windows mostly avoids. Mostly.
I can't move a file or folder with the mouse right-button.
That's something that I thought would be really useful, but I find I don't actually do it on Windows... instead I do copy/cut and paste/past-shortcut when the default drag isn't the right thing, and I'm more bothered by Finder not having "cut" on OS X.
Lastly, even though Nautilus recognize some oddly named text files as such, double clicking them is an exercise in guessing
I'm wary of double-clicking anything these days, particularly on Windows. Open With is my friend.
The things that bother me about Windows Explorer are mostly things like "you can't open that in a Window, that's on the desktop!" and "you don't really want to see these files, yes I know you said you did last time, but I'm still going to hide them anyway". That, and the whole "html desktop integration" fire drill.
I'm not much of a PC gamer these days, but unless Linux gets real support (not Cedega, nor Wine, nor any other form of emulation/non-native method) of WoW, there's no reason for me to drop my XP box.
It's more like 90 days since by Xp computer's hard drive crashed and I switched "everything" to my Linux hobby computer. I haven't looked back. Running Open Office, Firefox and Thunderbird gives me everything I need. I replaced the hard drive on my former "main" computer, re-installed Xp and went through Windows re-registration hell, but still use Ubuntu for all my everyday work except for an income tax program and a game. There's no way I'm going with all the added baggage to upgrade to Vista and MS Office '07.
Did you read the article? The experiences he had with Cedega were less than stellar, problems, low framerates etc. Not ideal
And $5 a month? I thought one of the points of Linux was that it was free... surely by paying $5 a month you're just paying the same amount as windows over a longer period of time, and all for less performance, installs that take 10 times as long as their Windows counterparts (read the article), and worse graphics and performance.
Sorry, doesn't cut it for me.