Ubuntu 7.4...What Now?

[colinjm]

I've done it, after god knows how many Windows years, i've installed ubuntu on my spare PC. Spec is AMD Athlon 2500, 1Gb RAM, 160GB HD, 128Mb ATI Graphics, onboard sound/LAN.

Everything seems pretty good, it's very fast to boot and use. I've got it sat next to my higher spec Vista PC and it seems really good.

The thing is, I've only installed it to see what it was like, I see it has pretty much everything already installed that I could need for a basic PC, but what else can I do with it? This is my first experience of a non-Windows/MAC OS, and i'm computer literate, so where do I start.

I know where I am with Windows, I have my CD folder full of Apps to install (Photoshop, PSP 9, Video Editing, Newsleecher, Winrar, DVD Shrink, Web Apps) when i've done a fresh install of the OS, but with this Ubuntu, i'm now a bit lost.

What are the must have apps/tools that I can look for to help me learn my way around this alien (to me) OS. What about Anti-Virus/Firewalls...or do I not need them?

[zumbruk]

You don't need anti-virus, assuming you don't run as "root".

[nickfrp]

id be intrested in this
some website i have found:

www.gnome-look.org

http://lifehacker.com/software/ubuntu

www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/blog/archives/2005/11/entry_639.htm


search for Wine. it acts as an agent to instal windows software on Linux.

im a real newbie to this so this is really new to me to

if your graphics are sorted go to the terminal type
sudo apt-get inall beryl
press entre
then after it finishes installing type
beryl

becarefull though if you medal wiith the unknown it will bite you

But once it works. just look at it!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QOWeeVvhiA

[ThePassenger]

colinjm said:

I've done it, after god knows how many Windows years, i've installed ubuntu on my spare PC. Spec is AMD Athlon 2500, 1Gb RAM, 160GB HD, 128Mb ATI Graphics, onboard sound/LAN.

Everything seems pretty good, it's very fast to boot and use. I've got it sat next to my higher spec Vista PC and it seems really good.

Congrats, Linux is pretty good at running on old hardware not that these specs are THAT low

colinjm said:

The thing is, I've only installed it to see what it was like, I see it has pretty much everything already installed that I could need for a basic PC, but what else can I do with it? This is my first experience of a non-Windows/MAC OS, and i'm computer literate, so where do I start.

I know where I am with Windows, I have my CD folder full of Apps to install (Photoshop, PSP 9, Video Editing, Newsleecher, Winrar, DVD Shrink, Web Apps) when i've done a fresh install of the OS, but with this Ubuntu, i'm now a bit lost.

What are the must have apps/tools that I can look for to help me learn my way around this alien (to me) OS.

It can be a bit of a 'eh?' moment, OS boots and you're all "Ok, now I need to install..." only to find the sodding thing already sat waiting (Firefox, Evolution and such).

You might want to install Thunderbird it's more Outlook Express to Evolutions Outlook. Visit www.getautomatix.com and snag the 7.04 version, FF will offer to run the installer when you hit the link... go for it

Automatix is a helper app, it presents options that are tricky to find in a fairly simple manner. (DVD-Shrink, what they dub the iLinux package and so on). Also trundle through Applications > Add/Remove, see if anything takes your fancy. You'll find a wide range of video editing software, everything from simple transcoders up to full on non-linear editors waiting for download... doesn't cost you anything other than the bandwidth. Office work is OpenOffice (2.2 is pretty good IMHO), heavy duty image editing is GIMP...

If you have a MUST HAVE Windows app, install something called WINE. It's a Windows emulator (ok ok, hypergeeks know it's not but) go to www.winehq.com and follow the link for the appdb, search for your application and see if it's rated. If it's there and marked as 'Garbage' then it won't work, if it's not listed chance your arm anyway... you ain't gonna break your install doing it And obviously if it's rated as Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum then you're laughing for the most part. Ohh yeah... it'll also do a butt load of Windows games but you might find your GFX card struggling.

If you're in an eye candy mood, I'd suggest installing Beryl & Emerald Theme Manager. You'll need to install the FLGRX (ATi's own 3D enabled) driver (it'll boost the screen redraw rate) to get it going but... up to you really Do a google image search for Beryl to see the eye candy before you decide It doesn't drag your system down as much as you'd think.

What sort of things would you like to do with it?

colinjm said:

What about Anti-Virus/Firewalls...or do I not need them?

Not really no... if you REALLY want to you could install ClamAV or something and stuff but their are no Linux viruses. Firewall, it depends, if this machine is hidden behind your router and your not port forwarding to it... then no.

nickfrp said:

id be intrested in this
some website i have found:

www.gnome-look.org

Gets my vote as well, the www.X-look.org (there is one for beryl, one for KDE and so on) are some of the best places to find themes, splash screens and the like.

Edited by ThePassenger on Tuesday 8th May 12:20

[nickfrp]

found this
www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/index.en.html#contents

[nickfrp]

ahh also google automatix

really good. its a bundle and holds loads of good peices of software which will get you going, like codecs players email clients browsers ect..

[beaker123]

zumbruk said:

You don't need anti-virus, assuming you don't run as "root".

Crikey, that's a bit extreme...

Get it anyway, better safe than sorry: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/

[ThePassenger]

beaker123 said:

zumbruk said:

You don't need anti-virus, assuming you don't run as "root".

Crikey, that's a bit extreme...

Get it anyway, better safe than sorry: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/

Actually, if you look at what it hunts and kills.... it's going after Windows viruses. Basically the sole reason for Linux AV products is to keep a file store clean in case an infected Windows computer starts spouting gibberish all over the shop.

[Mr E]

beaker123 said:

zumbruk said:

You don't need anti-virus, assuming you don't run as "root".

Crikey, that's a bit extreme...

Why? I've never bothered on my *nix systems.

[colinjm]

Thanks for all the reply's guys. I'm now at work and i've installed it as a dual boot on my XP laptop. It's taken a bit of time to get the Nvidia drivers on, but with a little help from a friendly unix bod it's all working now.

Just downloaded Automatix, so will have a look at that. also, the beryl code shown above didnt work, it didnt like the command 'inall'

Anyway, thanks again, i'm sure i'll learn as i go along.

[beaker123]

Mr E said:

beaker123 said:

zumbruk said:

You don't need anti-virus, assuming you don't run as "root".

Crikey, that's a bit extreme...

Why? I've never bothered on my *nix systems.

Would you run without a firewall even though the default security setup of UNIX is secure? Then why run without AV.
I realise the risk of virus's (virii?) is very low at the moment, but that's exactly what the case was with OSX last year when they started getting the odd virus getting through.

Better safe than sorry.

[fredf]

colinjm said:

also, the beryl code shown above didnt work, it didnt like the command 'inall'

try this:
sudo apt-get install beryl

[colinjm]

fredf said:

colinjm said:

also, the beryl code shown above didnt work, it didnt like the command 'inall'

try this:
sudo apt-get install beryl

Lol , i'll give it a go.

[ThePassenger]

colinjm said:

fredf said:

colinjm said:

also, the beryl code shown above didnt work, it didnt like the command 'inall'

try this:
sudo apt-get install beryl

Lol , i'll give it a go.

You'll also find it lurking in Automatix around the Eye Candy area And if you look through Synaptics for Emerald Theme installing that will drag Beryl down as well.

One gotcha and only one. The default install of the Nvidia drivers might be 16bit. You'd need to change that to 24bit. Easy to do My prefered way is:

Open a terminal.
sudo nano -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf
CTRL+W (Where).
Type: Section "Screen" press enter.
Where it says "Defaultdepth 16" change to "Defaultdepth 24".
CTRL+X, Answer 'Y' to save.
Then save stuff that's open and go CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE.
Boom. Done.