Ubuntu Linux for beginners - howto

[Globulator]

Those looking at an alternative to Microsoft's new Vista
( www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/ )
might find this article a useful read about what to expect....

the article said:

For many people, e-mail, web surfing, picture editing, listening to music, making spreadsheets and basic word processing are just about all they do with their computers. Today's Macs and Windows PCs are impressive machines indeed, but their power — and price — can be overkill for the average computer user. If you're looking for a new computer and you're not sure whether to go Windows or Mac, I'd suggest also paying some attention to the "L" word.

No, not that "L" word. I'm talking about Linux.

....and about how to try it out with a 'Live CD'..

A Live CD is one you stick into the CD slot and boot from - and you can then play with Linux, without even having to install it on the PC

the article said:

Like many Linux distributions, the entire Ubuntu operating system is available as a free "Live CD" you can download from the internet. Just burn the file [called an "ISO"] to a CD, and that's it ... you're ready to try Ubuntu on any home or business PC. Alternatively, you can pay a small shipping fee and have an Ubuntu disc delivered to you by mail.

Either way, reboot your Windows machine with the disc in the CD drive, and rather than starting up Windows, the computer will run Ubuntu directly from the CD. This means that your entire Windows installation, including all of your personal files, are left entirely untouched — nothing is "installed" over the existing content on your machine. Once you're finished trying Ubuntu, just take the CD out, reboot and your PC will start Windows exactly as it did before.

Full Article Here:
www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/linux.html

[ThePassenger]

Globulator said:

Those looking at an alternative to Microsoft's new Vista
( www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/ )
might find this article a useful read about what to expect....

Interesting. Vista has potential issues syncing to an iPaq... worth remembering.

[jimmyjimjim]

Drawback is driver support.
Stuck Ubuntu on a pc with an embedded video card; can't get the fecker above 1024*768.
Quite annoying on a 22" monitor.
If you're running something less proprietry, then you likely won't have any problems.

updated for speeeeeeling...

Edited by jimmyjimjim on Tuesday 27th March 06:08

[Mr E]

jimmyjimjim said:

Drawback is driver support.
Stuck Ubuntu on a pc with an embedded video card; can't get the fecker above 1024*768.
Quite annoying on a 22" monitor.
If you're running something less proprietry, then you likely won't have any problems.

updated for speeeeeeling...

Edited by jimmyjimjim on Tuesday 27th March 06:08

I bet it's an Nvidia chip - and it's pretty easy to solve (currently running Fedora 5 with Nvidia GFX card in pretty much whatever resolution you want).

[Globulator]

jimmyjimjim said:

Drawback is driver support.
..........
If you're running something less proprietry, then you likely won't have any problems.

As said, check what the chip is as Nvidea supply their own drivers.

Your statement above is soooo ironic though, the support for hardware of Linux is sooo superior to the driver support of Vista. Vista appears to support a very very small subset of mainly brand new hardware.

Vista's lack of hardware support is one of its main problems.

Don't confuse XP supporting lots of stuff with Vista supporting stuff - they use different drivers!

[Jinx]

jimmyjimjim said:

Drawback is driver support.
Stuck Ubuntu on a pc with an embedded video card; can't get the fecker above 1024*768.
Quite annoying on a 22" monitor.
If you're running something less proprietry, then you likely won't have any problems.

updated for speeeeeeling...

Edited by jimmyjimjim on Tuesday 27th March 06:08

Dumped the CD into my AMD 64 laptop and it picked up everything (external sound blaster card, PCMIA wireless network card, Radeon mobility chipset (1400x1050), usb mouse, external hard disk). With XP I needed a shed load of extra driver disks.

[ThePassenger]

Jinx said:

jimmyjimjim said:

Drawback is driver support.
Stuck Ubuntu on a pc with an embedded video card; can't get the fecker above 1024*768.
Quite annoying on a 22" monitor.
If you're running something less proprietry, then you likely won't have any problems.

updated for speeeeeeling...

Edited by jimmyjimjim on Tuesday 27th March 06:08

Dumped the CD into my AMD 64 laptop and it picked up everything (external sound blaster card, PCMIA wireless network card, Radeon mobility chipset (1400x1050), usb mouse, external hard disk). With XP I needed a shed load of extra driver disks.

The graphics issue above could well be due to needing he proprietry driver, Intel, ATi, Nvidia and ViA put out closed source drivers that make better use of their chips than the default open source ones; that being said Nvidia is the best chipset to have when it comes to migrating to Linux.

The surprising thing I found is that Ubuntu 7.04 beta did the bog standard install (OpenOffice, Gaim, etc.) and using 2.1Gb of space. Conversley WinXP (I installed it just to play the Sims) sucks 5Gb of space.