Ubuntu, lessons learned

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Hello All,
Just thought that i would put my two cents in about dual booting “linux ubuntu” It would seem that ubuntu is not for “noobs”I have given this a somewhat fair try, (only about a week and many,many hours) but almost every thing that i have tried resulted in less than stunning success! (Good thing i backed up both hard drives) “Ubuntu start screen (when you stand back from the screen a bit looks like a profile of a “screaming skull”) very creepy! should have taken that as a warning of things to come.Seems to me that even in the “absolute Beginner” forum the replies are in Command prompt “geek speak” on the main forums they seem to take great delight in going on and on comparing command prompt posts! Ubuntu has a dedicated following of masochistic “true believers” Fellow noobs take my advice stay away from this!Take your lumps with XP, Vista , or 7. If you want specifics, post back and i’ll fill you in with all the gory details.Bottom line “it ain’t worth it” (free software) Gladly spend a few $$ for a out of the box working system. Regards PlainFred

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There are graphical shells for Linux, but I agree that those who have no interest in getting down and nerdy with their OS should shy away from Linux. Best for them to focus on Apple and Microsoft products. Both companies have made a good business out of shielding the average consumer from the bewildering plumbing underlying their modern OSes.

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Just to play the other side of the card, if everyone started on a Linux distribution, then attempting to learn Windows or MacIntosh systems would be just as hard or uncomfortable as everyone makes Linux out to be. When learning something new, it helps to forget all you know. Starting from scratch isn’t always a bad thing. I can’t say I’m as strong a user in the Linux world as I am in the Microsoft world, but I’ve become comfortable enough for myself.

I hopped between various distributions before finally settling on LinuxMint. This distro, is based on Ubuntu. The biggest hurdle I’ve found for my friends who have attempted using Ubuntu, was getting their media to play. Due to restrictions enforced in the USA, Ubuntu doesn’t ship with media codecs installed. LinuxMint pre-installs these, and other software, to make that jump into Linux easier.

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My experience, brief as it is, with installing Ubuntu has been more positive than yours. I used the Wubi installer to do what is effectively a dual-boot install onto an old XP Home laptop, which it can do just by setting up a new directory entry C:Ubuntu which holds the directory stucture for the Lnux ‘disks’ and programs – this coexists with Windows pretty happily.

Yes, I hated the ‘brown warrior’ desktop background, but the usual right-click on the desktop enabled me to change it to my uual plain pale cyan. Work of a monent (well, just a few).

The ethernet internet connection to my router just appeared, without me having to do anything at all!

My main complaint about lack of fonts in open source software was somewhat alleviated by finding how to download the old “Microsoft TrueType Fonts for the Web” package, to give all the old favourites like Arial, TNR, Verdana, Tahoma, Courier New, Andalé Modern, and Georgia.

And after that it was the usual updates, which happened automatically, just the 220 of them which took about the same time as to install a Microsoft Windows Service Pack. Every few days after this, a few more are offered, and you can control whether or not to install them since you have to type in your password to allow yourself into the equivalent of Administrator mode. I must say I would have no idea what each did, and whether or not it was necessary, so I just take them all. You are presented with a brief writeup for each update (if you select Details mode), but, as you say, this is somewhat inevitably in Geek-Speak. Entirely painless and fairly rapid.

Open Office (only 2.2 so far) is built-in, and you get what you’re given, just like for Microsoft Office. I found I have to UK-ify all the usual areas where the options were set to US, whereas the desktop itself had automatically set things like Keyboard and Language to the UK English format from the information requested at installation time.

Email has been very frustrating, since, although SMTP (for outgoing messages) is very easy to set up and seems to work with a variety of parameters, I haven’t managed to get POP (for incoming messages) to work, in spite of trying several option values. It may be not understanding fully my ISP’s writeup on how to set up Outlook Express 6, and migrating across the settings to Evolution mail. I could have abandoned the built-in Evolution mail and installed Thunderbird, but I was trying to get the supplied package to work.

You have to familiarise yourself with the very simple menu structure and what’s there, and you have to ‘find out where they have hidden the feature I want this time‘ just like for a new version of Windows.

On the whole my experience has been fairly promising, but my lifetime experience (aargh!) with Microsoft and Windows probably means that I wouldn’t dream of making Ubuntu my only operating system.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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My main complaint about lack of fonts in open source software was somewhat alleviated by finding how to download the old “Microsoft TrueType Fonts for the Web” package, to give all the old favourites like Arial, TNR, Verdana, Tahoma, Courier New, Andalé Modern, and Georgia.

On the whole my experience has been fairly promising, but my lifetime experience (aargh!) with Microsoft and Windows probably means that I wouldn’t dream of making Ubuntu my only operating system.

If you don’t already have it, you might download the DejaVu font set. This began with a free offering to the open source community from Bitstream of the single font set of four instances of Prima Sans, I think, which is no longer free and which with further development has taken a different branch for more specialized purposes. This was replaced by Bitstream Vera (Primavera, so to speak) from which one open source project created DejaVu (fun with names) and which has now been expanded and is updated and refined on a regular basis. It works perfectly well under Windows.

Much of the later development is in the direction of supporting more languages, which is fine but tricky. If your requirements do not extend beyond the Latin-Greek-Cyrillic alphabets then you can dowload that set. This will give you healthy set of sans, serif, and monospaced fonts which are a single family, and which are complementary and are constantly being improved upon.

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I suppose that it is a matter of taste. I find that working in Windows is very difficult and not very productive, while working in Kubuntu (KDE desktop) is very intuitive. My silly mother in law fell in love with the effects she saw on my laptop, and managed to install Kubuntu _herself_, and uses it every day (from a disc that I gave her). This is a person who could not download and install Firefox on Windows! I doubt that my 74 year old mother in law has ever consulted a forum or even knows what the CLI is.

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dotancohen,
Hello,I’m glad that your experience was better than mine ! It was a disaster from the “gecko: (a little lounge lizard humor) First (i don’t know what CLI is either), I couldn’t get connected to the internet, then when i did firefox would freeze up my pc when i finally did manage to connect. rebooting then somehow wiped out my access manager starting the whole process over again. Also i couldn’t “see” my programs from the “Vista side” (dual boot) when i got that straightened out I then couldn’t unmount them ! on and on . Look for me if a OS cant do the basics out of the box, i at 60 plus years don’t have the time or energy to fool with it! Say what you will about windows …. but it works! I Hate Ubuntu! (intrepid ibex whatever that is ?) even if its free! Goofy names and all! Regards Fred

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(i don’t know what CLI is either),

Command Line Interface. The Unix equivalent to a DOS prompt.

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Command Line Interface. The Unix equivalent to a DOS prompt.

bmeacham,
Hello and thanks for the explanation, think that ill pass (again) on “Ubuntu” and maybe give “Mint” a looksee. Fred

I can appreciate your frustration in learning from Ubuntu, I would like to second the recommendation that you try Linux Mint. I have been using Mint’s standard edition for the last three development cycles and each one is sweeter. It is the most usable and friendly [recognizing your hardware] “out of the box” that I have found. Do give it a try, I believe that you will be pleased.

Timo,
Hello and thanks for your reply, Can you recommend a link to “Mints” site , as i would like to give it a look. Regards Fred

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Hi, Just Plain Fred,

You can find Linux Mint’s web site here . It has been quite a while since I used Linux Mint, but it was great then and I’m sure you will like the new one.
Enjoy.

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Hi, Just Plain Fred,

You can find Linux Mint’s web site here . It has been quite a while since I used Linux Mint, but it was great then and I’m sure you will like the new one.
Enjoy.

Gerald Shepard,
Hello and thanks for the link . I have downloaded “Mint” v-8 and did the sum check thing and “burned” the ISO disk. One warning “Norton 360” alerted on the “PDF” download page, and gave an “unsafe website” warning (“Trojan”) think the link was from Ireland.(switched to a mirror site) Looks interesting though and was able to connect to the internet straight off (Wireless) no problem (more than i could say for Ubuntu) I will post back after installing “Mint” on my experimental drive, and giving it a good work out.. Regards Fred

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Just as Chris suggested, try Mint. Simply put, it works.

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I installed Ubuntu last night, and I’m tickled pink. It’s a wholly new experience (I still work primarily on Windows, as it is my main source of income), but I’ve made the leap and installed ubuntu on my *only* computer. I had downloaded an older distro, so there was an upgrade immediately, but it only took about 45 minutes to download and install. It recognized all of my hardware immediately, which is something Windows would never dream of doing. I guess over the next few weeks I’ll see how I feel about it; I’ve used Knoppix (a Live CD) for data recovery before and thoroughly enjoyed it, I found it very intuitive. I may try to find a similar installable distribution. I suppose it is to each his own, and sometimes, the old dog just doesn’t WANT to learn a new trick

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I installed Ubuntu last night, and I’m tickled pink.

I’m a bit less enthusiastic this time round, having found that the PPTP VPN setup which worked perfectly in Ubuntu 8.10 no longer works at all in 9.04.
And I still can’t get the ZyXEL cardbus wireless card in my laptop to operate (runs perfectly in Windows XP).

Like most things, if it works first time, it’s fine — then 90% of one’s effort goes into trying to get 10% of the non-working hardware or software to work.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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I’m not to keen on Ubuntu purely from a ‘taste’ point of view. I use opensuse and I’m also over 60. It works out of the box and I can get “geeky” with it if I want to (I use CLI a lot!)
In fact I’m so impressed with Linux I don’t have any MS on my pc at all and haven’t had for about 2 1/2 years. When I bought a new pc recently with Vista already loaded I couldn’t work it out so I took it off and stuck with my openSUSE.
MS no thanks, too difficult!

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I’m over 60 and fairly well literate when it comes to computers; I build, upgrade and repair them as a livelihood for both individuals, libraries and offices. I’ve tried 5 different “distros” of Linux and didn’t have much trouble with the installation of any of them. But I was anything but impressed, especially after all the respected “geeks” boasted how they could run circles around Windows. Eventually it became apparent that these guys would be happier with a vehicle stripped down to run in one of the local dirt oval tracks than with a Honda Accord with all the amenities.

Trying out these versions of Linux did make me very appreciative of all that Microsoft has done to make using a computer an easy and fun experience. No, I do NOT have myriad problems with my systems; the occasional “glitch” is all. All my systems, XP, Vista and Windows 7 are fast, stable and beautiful. They run whatever programs I install without a whimper, do whatever I ask them to do and perform admirably. My wife has Apple machines and they are better than the Linux distros I tried but still less intuitive than Windows. I do think that there is a large percentage of Linux users who have made the switch due to pride (I’m a REAL geek) or they are infected with the Lemming Disorder.

Different strokes for different folks!

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Hello All,
Just thought that i would put my two cents in about dual booting “linux ubuntu” It would seem that ubuntu is not for “noobs”I have given this a somewhat fair try, (only about a week and many,many hours) but almost every thing that i have tried resulted in less than stunning success! (Good thing i backed up both hard drives) “Ubuntu start screen (when you stand back from the screen a bit looks like a profile of a “screaming skull”) very creepy! should have taken that as a warning of things to come.Seems to me that even in the “absolute Beginner” forum the replies are in Command prompt “geek speak” on the main forums they seem to take great delight in going on and on comparing command prompt posts! Ubuntu has a dedicated following of masochistic “true believers” Fellow noobs take my advice stay away from this!Take your lumps with XP, Vista , or 7. If you want specifics, post back and i’ll fill you in with all the gory details.Bottom line “it ain’t worth it” (free software) Gladly spend a few $$ for a out of the box working system. Regards PlainFred

I can appreciate your frustration in learning from Ubuntu, I would like to second the recommendation that you try Linux Mint. I have been using Mint’s standard edition for the last three development cycles and each one is sweeter. It is the most usable and friendly [recognizing your hardware] “out of the box” that I have found. Do give it a try, I believe that you will be pleased.

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I installed Ubuntu 8.04 (I forget what animal that is) on a used Dell desktop for my granddaughter,and it works great. Couldn’t get a wireless card to work, so there is an ethernet cable strung from the router upstairs, but other than that it’s a champ. She surfs the internet, does IM chat with her friends and uses Open Office Writer and Calc to do her homework. She has figured out how to download and play MP3s. No worries about viruses (that’s the main reason I gave her Linux instead of WinXP). Recognizes USB drives no problem. Sorry you had a hard time with it, but my experience has been quite good. Oh yeah, there was a glitch. We found out the hard way that it would not wake up from Hibernate mode. I had to reinstall the whole thing. Fortunately that was early on before she had saved any files. So now we know not to hibernate it and it works fine.

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I installed Ubuntu 8.04 (I forget what animal that is) on a used Dell desktop for my granddaughter,and it works great. Couldn’t get a wireless card to work, so there is an ethernet cable strung from the router upstairs, but other than that it’s a champ. She surfs the internet, does IM chat with her friends and uses Open Office Writer and Calc to do her homework. She has figured out how to download and play MP3s. No worries about viruses (that’s the main reason I gave her Linux instead of WinXP). Recognizes USB drives no problem. Sorry you had a hard time with it, but my experience has been quite good. Oh yeah, there was a glitch. We found out the hard way that it would not wake up from Hibernate mode. I had to reinstall the whole thing. Fortunately that was early on before she had saved any files. So now we know not to hibernate it and it works fine.

Strange how people’s experiences differ!
This was the first Ubuntu release (it’s called ‘Hardy Heron’, by the way) that I had trouble with – primarily with the network connection. I’d been using Ubuntu since 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) and everything had been peachy. I’d previously used Mandrake (before it merged with Connectiva) and SimplyMepis – both KDE desktops. With 6.06 I suddenly developed a preference for GNOME, but my faith was cruelly shaken by my experience with 8.04.
I now double-boot with OpenSUSE 11.2 (KDE) and Mint 8 -Helena (GNOME). I’ve been using both distros for a couple of years now (Mint since 3.1 Celena) and am very satisfied. Perhaps I just prefer Green to Brown!

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I simply installed Ubuntu and then the package ‘ubuntu-restricted-extras’ in the software center, and now it runs/plays all my files and installed flash and java. I still run windows on my desktop, but for my laptop I pretty much only run Ubuntu because I use it mostly for surfing the web and Skype.

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I simply installed Ubuntu and then the package ‘ubuntu-restricted-extras’ in the software center, and now it runs/plays all my files and installed flash and java. I still run windows on my desktop, but for my laptop I pretty much only run Ubuntu because I use it mostly for surfing the web and Skype.

d5j9
Hello, thanks for your input, as of now i can’t get my verizon mc760 wireless card to work with either system ! looks like i’ll stick with my windows Vista home premium (no SP or updates) I call it Vista-0 Regards Fred

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Your experiences will vary, in part, depending on your particular hardware. I have a lot of medium- old hardware. I found that Ubuntu through Feisty 7.04 recognized my older video cards just fine. Beyond that, no good for me until the release of Jaunty 9.04, then Ubuntu started recognizing my older video cards once again. BTW during that period, Linux Mint continued to work with this older hardware, as I remember. What those two couldn’t handle, Mandriva could get to work. In general, older hardware which can’t make the grade with newer Windows versions can definitely still have a long and useful life under Linux. That old hardware does not need to be thrown away.

Windows also has problems working with some of your hardware, sometimes. A lot of perfectly good hardware that worked fine with 98SE and Win2k would not work with XP. I have a Visioneer scanner in that category. Still works great under 98SE. Much, much hardware got obsoleted with the release of Vista because it didn’t have near enough ‘horsepower’ to run that OS. The same was also true when XP came along. But that ‘obsolete’ hardware can still run Linux.

My reasons for leaving Windows were several. Mostly, I got tired of the security software rat race. It just became such an onerous burden to try to keep up with all that stuff. My experiences with Linux OS’s have been nothing short of fantastic! It really changed my life as much as learning Windows did when I first got into computers in ’96.

Windows needs a *lot* of tinkering- with security software, patches, drivers, etc. Linux can need a lot of tinkering too, it’s just mostly in different areas. Most folks will stay with Windows, because it’s familiar and they know their way around it. It’s harder to try new things and learn new ways. Took me a while to get around to switching- but once I did, I was waaaaay happier (“Why did I wait so long?”)

Ubuntu and Linux Mint have both worked great for me. Either is a good starting point for the newcomer or experienced Windows user. Once a person has made a definite decision to make the change, they will find lots of help if they look for it. I found a wealth of friendly Linux help online. Often problems are surprisingly easy to solve. I doubt it is impossible to make a particular wireless card work under Linux. Usually there is a way.

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Your experiences will vary, in part, depending on your particular hardware. I have a lot of medium- old hardware. I found that Ubuntu through Feisty 7.04 recognized my older video cards just fine. Beyond that, no good for me until the release of Jaunty 9.04, then Ubuntu started recognizing my older video cards once again. BTW during that period, Linux Mint continued to work with this older hardware, as I remember. What those two couldn’t handle, Mandriva could get to work. In general, older hardware which can’t make the grade with newer Windows versions can definitely still have a long and useful life under Linux. That old hardware does not need to be thrown away.

Windows also has problems working with some of your hardware, sometimes. A lot of perfectly good hardware that worked fine with 98SE and Win2k would not work with XP. I have a Visioneer scanner in that category. Still works great under 98SE. Much, much hardware got obsoleted with the release of Vista because it didn’t have near enough ‘horsepower’ to run that OS. The same was also true when XP came along. But that ‘obsolete’ hardware can still run Linux.

My reasons for leaving Windows were several. Mostly, I got tired of the security software rat race. It just became such an onerous burden to try to keep up with all that stuff. My experiences with Linux OS’s have been nothing short of fantastic! It really changed my life as much as learning Windows did when I first got into computers in ’96.

Windows needs a *lot* of tinkering- with security software, patches, drivers, etc. Linux can need a lot of tinkering too, it’s just mostly in different areas. Most folks will stay with Windows, because it’s familiar and they know their way around it. It’s harder to try new things and learn new ways. Took me a while to get around to switching- but once I did, I was waaaaay happier (“Why did I wait so long?”)

Ubuntu and Linux Mint have both worked great for me. Either is a good starting point for the newcomer or experienced Windows user. Once a person has made a definite decision to make the change, they will find lots of help if they look for it. I found a wealth of friendly Linux help online. Often problems are surprisingly easy to solve. I doubt it is impossible to make a particular wireless card work under Linux. Usually there is a way.

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I’ve had a sort of mixed experience with Ubuntu 9.10… Just as I was starting to get past the different (non-Windows) way of doing things, I installed Windows 7 on another partition and now am unable to access the Ubuntu partition. I have several articles telling me to do something with GRUB and it all seems very complicated and involved to me… Just as every new thing I have tried on my computers once seemed to. I do not know any techies personally so I’ve had to geek up a bit. Nor can I afford to pay others to resolve my computer issues so I’ve had to learn how to do it myself. Luckily I take after my dad and actually like and eventually understand this stuff. My plan of attack is always research, research, research. Evernote keeps me sane.Then I study the heck out of it. Until I know it cold. (Which takes a bit due to short term memory issues!) Then I just do it and hope for the best… apologies to Nike… So while I would appreciate an easier way if anyone knows one, in the meantime, I’m in serious research mode.

I do like a lot about Ubuntu and look forward to learning more and more about it. I also run XP Pro and Home on older laptops and my desktop, as well as Vista on a laptop that also runs Win 7. As was mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, you just have to learn Linux one step at a time just any commercial OS. I was trying to reinstall XP when I finally got sick of the ridiculousness and installed Ubuntu from a LiveCD I had burned. The installation went incredibly smoothly. no muss, no fuss. (Although apparently I did miss something or I wouldn’t be unable to access it now!! ).

I had been slowly upgrading the hardware in the desktop to ultimately install Win 7 on it. So after taking delivery of an upgraded graphics card that would be capable of handling the aero effects — though admittedly eye candy, I find it productive as well… I seem to always have a zillion windows open..and aero makes it so easy to dig right down to what you need to see — I downloaded and burned Gparted.iso and booted from it to re-partition the desktop drive. I’m a big fan of EASEUS Partition Manager. I’ve used their home version….their pro version… It’s excellent. However, I read somewhere that Linux doesn’t do well on partitions created by Windows partition managers. I had heard of Gparted and even had installed it on Ubuntu, which of course was useless at the moment since the very partition it was on needed to be moved. Well suffice to say, now I am a big fan of Gparted. It was intuitive, therefore so easy to use it inspired confidence rather than finger-crossing. I moved the partition which was in the ext4 (no, not 3) format, then created a large partition to be FAT32 to house documents to be shared between the two OSes and then an NTFS partition to house Win 7 OS and programs. The rest of the drive was unallocated except for a small swap (?) partition for Ubuntu. It seemed to go relatively smoothly. The one thing that I left out at this point is booting into Ubuntu to make sure it was ok. I regret not having done that. I stopped working for the night after the completion of the re-partitioning. The following morning still over my first cup of coffee I started installing Windows 7 and haven’t seen Ubuntu since. EASEUS sees both of them but threatens me with deactivating the Win 7 partition if I go through with clicking on activate for the Ubuntu partition. So now you know how I got where I am…. Any non-GRUB solutions?

Thanks for listening….

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Sorry, not sure what to tell you except to try to find help in the #ubuntu IRC channel on Freenode.

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Gparted is indeed a wonderful partition manager. Quite intuitive, as you say. It’s also my favorite and I’d use it almost anywhere- but one caveat- after I had gparted format a partition NTFS, I would also make sure Windows gets a chance to reformat to NTFS over what gparted just did. Your comment about using Linux partitioning tools for Linux installs is right on the money. Same goes for Windows. Use their tool.

A couple of points- you should not expect to install a new video card where you have already installed a copy of Ubuntu, and then expect Ubuntu to still start up routinely. Ditto for partition work. Installing Ubuntu and then modifying partitions would bring major trouble.

Basically, the best strategy is to get Windows all installed and working well, then install Ubuntu. You would have a lot less grief if you let grub take over. There are some finesses you can do in that regard, but that’s above my pay grade.

I suggest you temporarily forget about Ubuntu and concentrate on getting Windows in good shape. Then reinstall Ubuntu onto the partition you want. Be sure to select Manual partitioning (‘advanced users only’). You sound like you pretty much know what you’re doing. Pay close attention to how all your partitions are set up and make sure the Ubuntu install reformats only where you are putting Linux root (“/”). BTW it would be a great idea to have a separate Ext3/Ext4 partition for “/home”. Your personal data and settings would then go in there, if you make one. Then if you later reinstall/ upgrade ubuntu, or install another Linux distro, your data in /home is still usable with the new OS. In that case, let gparted also format the partition for /home- but only that one first time. If you later upgrade the OS, you would surely not want /home formatted- you’d lose all your saved personal data.

EASEUS sees both of them but threatens me with deactivating the Win 7 partition if I go through with clicking on activate for the Ubuntu partition. So now you know how I got where I am…. Any non-GRUB solutions?

Your problem here is that probably only a small subset of Win users understands this “EASEUS” utility. It’s both a partitioner and a boot loader? Sounds a little like BootitNG, then. You would not be ‘threatened’ this way if you understood how grub works. Perhaps you are thinking that you need to change which partition is considered ‘active’ or bootable by Windows? I believe that grub lets that ‘active’ handle remain on the Win partition. It doesn’t matter to grub. It can make Ubuntu boot up just fine, regardless of the ‘active’ label. I think your main problem is trying to ‘force solutions’ onto Ubuntu/grub using Win utilities. This is understandable, you know Windows better. It’s your present frame of reference. If you instead adopted the attitude that grub is going to play fair with all OS’s and that grub is very capable, you might be able to give Ubuntu a fair try in a multi- booting environment. A fair try means to let grub install with Ubuntu and handle which OS’s boot. This may mean, BTW, removing your EASEUS utility if it indeed acts as a bootloader- prior to your Ubuntu reinstall.

In the final analysis, EASEUS may just be playing with the ‘active’ label so far as which partition is to be so- labeled. You may have gotten faint hearted at the last minute when EASEUS could have done this safely- toggled the ‘active’ marker from partition to partition, OS to OS. I really don’k know what that utility was up to. But I sure do find grub easy and reliable to use.

If you are interested, I can give you a url to a very friendly Linux support forum online. Those guys really know their stuff and can help you way better. I am still beginner/ intermediate level and have lots to learn.

P.S. If you installed Ubuntu and then either changed your video card or messed with partitions afterwards, there is a good chance that your “EASEUS” utility is looking at a bootable Windows and a copy of Ubuntu that you have rendered unbootable. My solution for this is to (1.) get your hardware changes finished and stable, (2.) set up all partitions first, (3.) finish Windows, (4.) reinstall Ubuntu, (5.) let grub take over.

You know how Windows sometimes cries for missing drivers after you make hardware changes, or reinstall the OS, right? Linux is just as touchy, if not more so. Cleaning up after such messes involves some finesse and a good knowledge of the Terminal (like the command line in Windows). For beginners, simpler just to reinstall the OS. That’s way easier in Linux than in Windows, BTW. You yourself have seen how fast and easy Ubuntu installs. And no activation nags- imagine that!

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Hi~~Cluttermagnet – All,
I too, had problems with “upgrading” to 9.10…..It left my laptop – V2630US HP compaq presario unbootable !!! The hated grub error 17!!
I found NO help on the forums…So much for upgrading!!
It worked fine on my dell desktop…I did have an old CD of 8.10 and decided to install it, hoping it would ””overlay”” the corrupted 9.10.
It did not….left the corrupted version and made space for 8.10….NOW-I have a messed up disk! I’m barely a step above a noob, so I don’t feel comfortable deleting all the extra ext partitions. In grub, 9.10 is listed sda2 un-bootable? in gparted from a CD or my ISO, it doesn’t tell me where the 9.10,is, just various ext partitions???
I hate to mess up my windows XP system, since I need it for work…
If I knew how to copy/paste in Ubuntu, I’d do that—so you could see the grub menu and what gparted displays….?
BTW, how do you know for sure if an ISO is OK for installation? I can use it as a live CD, surf, go anywhere and it sees what a CD should…mem tested OK…cksum OK – I think?
I ‘m never sure which partition the CD is seeing? By installing it could it wipe out my XP or will grub KNOW where to put 9.10??
Thanks for suggestions.
John in Dallas.

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Hi~~Cluttermagnet – All,
I too, had problems with “upgrading” to 9.10…..It left my laptop – V2630US HP compaq presario unbootable !!! The hated grub error 17!!
I found NO help on the forums…So much for upgrading!!
It worked fine on my dell desktop…I did have an old CD of 8.10 and decided to install it, hoping it would ””overlay”” the corrupted 9.10.
It did not….left the corrupted version and made space for 8.10….NOW-I have a messed up disk! I’m barely a step above a noob, so I don’t feel comfortable deleting all the extra ext partitions. In grub, 9.10 is listed sda2 un-bootable? in gparted from a CD or my ISO, it doesn’t tell me where the 9.10,is, just various ext partitions???
I hate to mess up my windows XP system, since I need it for work…
If I knew how to copy/paste in Ubuntu, I’d do that—so you could see the grub menu and what gparted displays….?
BTW, how do you know for sure if an ISO is OK for installation? I can use it as a live CD, surf, go anywhere and it sees what a CD should…mem tested OK…cksum OK – I think?
I ‘m never sure which partition the CD is seeing? By installing it could it wipe out my XP or will grub KNOW where to put 9.10??
Thanks for suggestions.
John in Dallas.

Follow this guide, but make sure you get the number right for partitions (sda1, sda1, etc.)

Guide

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I’m 57 and basically starting over in this ether world. I’ve never liked MS, Apple’s too stodgy and expensive, but I’m sitting here plunking on a Vista laptop. I was considering Ubuntu, but want to install behind a partition so both OS’s are available (dual boot?). Most of this geek talk has passed me by, but I get the gist that my experiment would work better with Linux Mint. So, how do I go about installing w/o disturbing Windows? And please, plain English, until I can get caught up on the “geekspeak.”

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GSWillett, here is how I went about adding Ubuntu to my laptop as dual boot.

First, download the Ubuntu ISO and burn it onto a CD (Windows 7 has an ISO burning utility, but I don’t think that Vista does. You might have to download and install one. Unless you have Nero or Easy CD Creator, they can burn an ISO.) Once you have done that, reboot into the CD. Most computers are already configured such that they will boot into a bootable CD if one is insert in the CD drive. Doing this gives you the opportunity to try out the distro before installing it. The things you should look for include:
a) make sure that the distro recognizes your wireless card and that you can connect to the internet
b) make sure that the distro recognizes your sound card and can play sounds
From personal experience I have found that Ubuntu 9.10 cannot handle either my sound card or my network card. However, 9.04 and earlier versions did not have any problems.

Once you have verified that Ubuntu likes your hardware, reboot into Windows. Right click on Computer in Explorer and select Manage. Go into Disk Manager. Right-click on your C: drive (in the lower panel of the window) and select the Shrink Volume option. Shirnk the volume by at least 10GB (5GB is probably enough, but having some extra room is helpful). If the drive will not shrink enough, remove some files (try a disk cleanup operation or even defragment the drive).

Once you have done that, reboot into the Ubuntu CD and once it it running, click on the install icon on the desktop. When you get to the dialog on partitioning your disk drive, choose the Custom option and tell Ubuntu to install in the free space. Warning: this one operation on partitioning the hard drive is the most important step – if you screw it up you could lose your C: drive and all of the data it contains. If you are not sure, find a friend, family member, co-worker, or even a perfect stranger who has worked with Linux and have him or her help you.

That’s it. When you are done, you should have a dual boot system.

By the way, there are many web sites that describe in detail how to set up dual boot systems with Windows and Ubuntu – googling should turn up quite a few.

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Thank you. Project for another day in the near future.

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I have a multi-boot system – 2 Linux (Mint 8 & PC User OS) and Windows XP & Vista. I did also have Win 7 Release Candidate but removed that when it expired and I did not feel paying for full Win 7 was worth it.
My “main” system is Vista and I have XP as Hewlett Packard decided not to provide Vista drivers for my 4470 Scanjet. As a pensioner (72), I cannot afford to replace a scanner which works perfectly well and has attachments for slides & negatives.
I like to try out different systems and programs, so that is why I have the Linux systems as well as MS. The Linux systems also boot very quickly if I just want a quick look at the net, or some of my photos.
I have 14 partitions spread over 2 drives. I have my data (Excel, Money, Word etc), photos, music, and MS applications all on separate partitions, so they can be seen by all systems (I can use the same copy of applications on different Windows systems).
I installed XP first, then Vista & Win7. Then the Linux systems. I let Grub do the boot. When it boots, it has the Mint screen with the Linux options and a Windows option (I set this as default). That then takes me to the Windows boot screen where I have Vista as default but XP as an option (and previously Win7).
Incidentally, on Vista I run Sun Virtual Box where I currently have XP and a Ubuntu 9 -based system! But they cannot see my files so are limited in their use – just good for experimenting.
I sometimes have trouble with remembering which system is which (senior moments!!) and keeping up with updates, but it keeps me out of mischief that I might get into otherwise!

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Have Ubunti on a blank 98SE machine. How do I remove it?

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Have Ubunti on a blank 98SE machine. How do I remove it?

Boot into MS-DOS from a diskette and format the drive.

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Boot into MS-DOS from a diskette and format the drive.

I have a slightly different question. I installed Ubuntu as a dual-boot with Vista (now upgraded to Windows 7) a year ago. Tried it a few times but decided it wasn’t for me. Deleted all Ubuntu-related files (I think), but I still have that annoyiing Wubi boot screen asking if I want to boot into Windows 7 or Ubuntu (Win7 is the default). How do I get rid of the boot selection screen? Not interested in any solution involving re-installing Win7 through the DVD – I can live with it as it is, just want to know if there is a simple way to avoid this boot screen. Thanks for any advice.

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I have a slightly different question. I installed Ubuntu as a dual-boot with Vista (now upgraded to Windows 7) a year ago. Tried it a few times but decided it wasn’t for me. Deleted all Ubuntu-related files (I think), but I still have that annoyiing Wubi boot screen asking if I want to boot into Windows 7 or Ubuntu (Win7 is the default). How do I get rid of the boot selection screen? Not interested in any solution involving re-installing Win7 through the DVD – I can live with it as it is, just want to know if there is a simple way to avoid this boot screen. Thanks for any advice.

Hi Tom and welcome to the Lounge!

Boot into Windows 7 and go to this link for the procedure to delete a partition. Be sure you clearly identify the Ubuntu partition so you delete the correct one. Next, go to this Microsoft site for instructions on using the bootrec command to fix the master boot record (fixmbr) and the boot sector (fixboot).

Then remove the Win7 DVD and reboot into Windows 7.

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I have been dual-booting Ubuntu with Windows 7 now for several months. Prior to this I dual-booted with Windows XP for several years.

Before I give you my perspective on this I feel I must first give a little personal background. I am a former IT industry insider. I have held a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification since 1998, and hold certifications in several other IT areas as well including Genesys, Cisco, Proxim, and others. Now, take a deep breath and let that sink in for a minute.

Since the very first version of Windows, I sought better. Windows is bloated, insecure, unstable, and expensive in any and all of it’s iterations. I use it simply because it’s marketplace ubiquity make it necessary. I dual-boot with Windows simply because my job requires me to have access to it.

For every real need I use Ubuntu. Ubuntu is no more difficult to use or learn than Windows. It offers everything that Windows does and more. Ubuntu installs in 15-20 minutes flat with 1 reboot. Sure to get the most out of it you have to tweak it a bit, but you have to do this to Windows as well. Even with the streamlining and simplification that Microsoft tried to build into Win 7 it is still more time consuming, and troublesome to install than Ubuntu.

Ubuntu includes Firefox and Thunderbird which are my browser and mail engine of choice, and these are faster and more secure in Ubuntu. In almost every way Ubuntu is superior. I had no difficulty at all learning to use it, and it looks every bit as slick and pretty as Windows (better in fact). If you just play around with it you will find that you like the Gnome (pronounced “Nowm”, not “GuNowm”) desktop as well as the Windows desktop. If you really really want to, you can use many MS applications in Ubuntu (such as those stupid gadgets/widgets on the desktop)

Here are two examples of things you can do with Ubuntu that you cannot do with Windows (there are many more);

1) In Ubuntu, you can mount manually or automatically the drive representing your Window install. Then you can copy files back and forth between Windows and Ubuntu. Try booting into Windows and looking at your Ubuntu disk/files. You can’t do it, because Windows lacks the power and flexibility.

2) Now, copy a Word or Excel document from Windows into Ubuntu, open the document with Open Office and make a change. Save the document in both the MS Word format and the Open Office format and copy these back to your Windows Desktop. Now boot into Windows again and look at the documents. The Word document opens fine, and the changes are there. MS Office has no problem recognizing the changes. Now try to use MS Office to open the Open Office document. You can’t because MS Offices lacks the power and flexibility.

Both of these weaknesses are by design. It displays the selfishness of Microsoft, and the lack of concern for users. In short, Microsoft does not play well with others…they are afraid to. Ubuntu not only plays well with others, they are the STAR player.

So, why would I want or need this kind of flexibility? Simply put, people like me use it. I do not use Windows until my job requires me to. When I have to work on files sent to me in MS Office format, I can do so without exposing myself to the insecure, and limited Windows environment. Now don’t get me wrong here, I am no hater. But I am a realist, and the reality is that Ubuntu is more convenient, more flexible, more powerful, safer, and far less problematic than Windows in any of it’s forms. Yes as it has been pointed out, Ubuntu takes some getting used to, and requires you to invest in some common sense and do a little work, but the efforts are minimal and the payoff is HUGE!

Now a note on SuSE Linux which someone mentioned. SuSE was up until 2005 the best Linux distro, and has some advantages over Ubuntu. It has one major disadvantage, Microsoft used a leveraged deal with Novell in 2005 to gain control of SuSE. They were attempting to appear Linux-friendly. What they actually did was took control of a great distro so that they could reverse-engineer/ruin it. A similar tactic was used against Netscape, but this backfired and bit Microsoft in the face, and now we have Firefox…but I digress.

Try Ubuntu. Really try it, not just in a cursory, obligatory way. Sincerely try the software, and get to know it. Give it a real effort and you will find that you will view all Microsoft products in a slightly different light from then on.

Please note: This post was intended to share my insights for users who are curious and adventurous enough about Ubuntu to try using it. This post is not an invitation for you to hate, or prove some point at my expense. I will not review or reply to any rebuttal – so just assume you won the argument. You didn’t, but assume it anyway. I know that this is a forum for those dedicated to Windows, and that MS has a large number of fanatical adherents who become excessively violent at any hint of a challenge to their sacred cow. This was not an attempt to tip your cow, so be nice and get over it.

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I have used ubuntu off and on for several years. the very first thing noticed was that ubuntu was plain JUST NOT MUCH FUN. After all the hours spent i never did figure how to just download an app and run it. it seems that everything is so “cut and dried” that theres not much fun. In windows i can download and try out hundreds
of apps and utilities, all free if u so desire. When a person is accustomed to DL anything and everything ubuntu is a big disappointment. Never did try the app manager, probably the reason i didnt learn anything. I accidentally discovered something about the ubuntu live cd. I was swapping harddrives and not yet installled the one i was swapping, i picked up the unbuntu live cd and put it in the cdrom and booted up. Couldnt believe that unbuntu would operate without a Hdd installed. But, it did and fast as hell (working on memory only i guess). Only noticed one problem…after getting online and pulling up web pages unbuntu was slow to open links. I was thinking in the event of crash what an easy way to get back on line real quick if needed. And about security., what could a hacker or any harmful program do to your pc if there is no hdd installed? Not much, i think, since they cant change the cd, Unless of course they could leave something harmful in memory, is that possible?

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@ Victor Wright:

Victor, yours is the MOST succinct explanation of one’s experience using Ubuntu I have ever read!!

I, too, multi-boot. My work laptop has XP-Pro, Vista Business, and Ubuntu. I don’t have the creds as you do, but I have to work within both versions of Windows day-in and day-out. However, when at home or “off line” I LOVE Ubuntu. As you mentioned, there IS a small learning curve, mostly CLI tribal-knowledge stuff, to tweak Ubuntu with various hardware nuances. But I had to do the same thing with Windows (download this BIOS, or that driver, or that other DLL to get my graphics card or NIC to be operational in Windows).

Finally, I absolutely LAUGHED OUT LOUD when I read your bottom disclaimer!!! I’m going to plagiarize and tweak that a bit for my own use, sorry! It is AWESOME!

– – fred

Windows aficionado, Linux Mint evangelist

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As soon as I had more than one hard disk, I set up both disks as bootable to Windows. It made a very handy backup if ever I had a problem, I could simply boot into the other disk. I decided to add Ubuntu to the mix a few years ago and my experience has not been bad.

At first, I wanted to use an OS that could take advantage of my multiprocessor 64 bit CPU but I did run into a problem with my old TV media player appliance that never had Linux software. I eventually figured a way to use VirtualBox to let me run Windows on it’s own static IP address to serve my TV media player. It all worked except my CPU just didn’t quite have enough horsepower to transcode a video file and serve the media player in a snappy fashion. So I have stayed primarily on Windows even though I can’t use the 6GB of RAM or 64 bits of CPU processing power.

Sure I’ve had some difficulties. My original attempt at Ubuntu was a little before Ubuntu was ready to support 1920×1200 screen resolution on my video card. It kept dropping down to a lower resolution every time there were significant software updates. But that went away after the next release. Keeping VirtualBox updated was a pain in the butt since Sun can’t seem to allow revision updates. You had no choice but to remove and reinstall VirtualBox every major version release (at least the virtual PCs still worked in the reinstalled software most of the time). Adobe doesn’t really have Flash working quite right on 64 bits, that’s kind of a problem on a media PC. My last upgrade to Ubunto 9.10 was a little bit of a problem, it wiped out my MythTV software. (apparently this is not common, I don’t really know why it happened)

But working with Ubunto has been fairly uneventful. It’s not even that hard to set up Thunderbird to use the same email files on either OS. Every message is available no matter what OS I log into. I have never felt it necessary to upgrade beyond MS Office 95 at home so Open Office is very satisfactory.

Pretty much any problem I have had (except the latest MythTV problem) was answered by a google search of “my problem” and “ubuntu”. I have never had to browse the various boards for support. The answers were on the boards, I just didn’t have to browse them because google took me straight to the answer. Only getting VirtualBox to work as a static IP address took long carefull reading of the VirtualBox manual.

I am probably going to buy a new Home Theater PC soon to install in the living room and retire the little Media Server appliance. That PC may get Windows 7 but only if I can’t get Ubuntu to work with the new TV tuner cards and my old PC will probably get Ubuntu 10.4 full time. I’ve even got an obsolete IBM Thinkpad that should probably get a new OS. I am sure I will always keep a Windows virtual PC on hand but I may leave the Windows community in the not too distant future.

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I was introduced to Ubuntu after buying an old $25 iMac with nothing but the OS. Useless without programs. So, I found that Ubuntu (6.06) supported the G3 processor, loaded it and got it networked, printing remotely, running an old DOS application, browsing, etc. This is one of those egg-looking machines, so if you have one, don’t pitch it.

I bought a Dell laptop, somehow managed to mangle the installed Windows XP and tried to reload XP from my bought-and-paid-for XP disk. It wouldn’t recognize my network, screen, sound.. almost nothing. I wiped the disk and tried Ubuntu (7.10). It loved everything out of the box. I browsed the internet with Ubuntu to find the drivers in needed to get XP running!

Been dual booting since, Ubuntu 99% of the time and XP for the few apps that won’t run (Quickbooks, some websites). I’ve been able to see the XP partition from Ubuntu and the Ubuntu partition from XP (a real geeky trick).

My big problem came when my wife’s Win7 machine arrived. I can see her on the network, but am prompted for a UserName and Password for access. Nothing will work. I can still access the other XP machines and Vista machines from Ubuntu (still running 8.04) and can access her Win7 machine from my laptop when I’m running XP! Same hardware!

I noticed a Microsoft MVP on here. You got any inside dope? The threads I’ve found, in the end, say MS has purposely sabotaged Samba support on Win7 Home Premium.

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I’m with StoneChucker and others who’ve endorsed Mint for folks wanting to try a desktop Linux distro. Really slick. I’m not an “IT industry insider” but my certs and experience are “good enough” for America’s Third World County, such that, although almost all the systems and networks I service are dominated by Windows, I have managed to flip a few folks on to an appropriate (for them) Linux distro. Heck, sometimes it’s Puppy Linux, but when that’s appropriate, you can be sure that the old Win 98 (or 95!) system it’s used on will be a useful machine.

My own experience with Ubuntu has been mixed. Early iterations were too fiddly for me to recommend to others. 7.10 was the first that started to approach becoming “good enough” for the average user. But as I used 8.10 I had the same fiddly lil issues crop up time and again. Sound (particularly midi) required re-configuring after every darned update, it seemed. Ditto for my nVidia video drivers. Interestingly, unlike cluttermagnet’s experience, although darned near every software update caused me to have to reset the video drivers, when I changed to a different nVidia card, everything when smoothly. Go figure. 9.04 never quite made a full upgrade and I had to scrub and reinstall. But the transition to 9.10 was smooth. Not even the typical sound and video problems.

Now, my main machine runs Win7 with Linux Mint in a VM. Why? Well, my main machine doubles as a media pc, and there’s not a single solitary (or combination) solution on the Linux side of the equation that does things even half as well for recording TV, for example, as WMC does. Tried ’em all. Some would sorta work, but needed mucho mondo add-ons to approach being half as functional as WMC right outa the box. And my Wonder Woman does like to watch nice digital recordings of her programs. So, Win7 is running all the time so WMC can handle TV recording (and tons of other media sharing while it’s at it, just cos it’s already there) and I get my comfy Linux Mint install working in a fully-functional VM. So, Victor, you are almost right about Linux offering “everything that Windows does and more.” If I could really do everything WMC allows in Win7 in a Linux distro, I’d likely run Win7 in a VM as a reference “machine” only and do everything in Linux.

But Linux still falls short in media use. (One other: although I can get almost complete functionality out of a music transcription app designed for Windows by running it with WINE, almost doesn’t quite get the baby made, and no, Rosegarden and other attempt to effect decent music transctiption for Linux do NOT come close. Some Windows apps are still better than anything in Linux.)

Other reason why I run Linux in a VM on my Win7 machine? Easy. I hate dual booting anyway. Did it for years with Win98/2000, then Linux/WindowsX (whatever current was, including, for a while last year, Win7B/RC).

BTW, PCBSD as an alternative to a well-designed desktop Linux distro is an option folks looking for a change ought to consider. I’ve had a PCBSD machine or two running around here (I try to not let them run loose, as it were :-)) for some years now, and the OS just keeps on amazing me. Nice stuff. Heck, it’s BSD, so skinning it to have a Mac-like look and feel is a fun thing to do when MacCultists are over…

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I admit that I came across Ubuntu 9.10 largely by accident. I upgraded my oldest set top with a view to reinstalling my original XP . But the disc would not download —- spent too long in the desk drawer, rattling about I suspect. But I found a Ubuntu disk, popped it in and bingo, it installed itself with very little effort on my part. After a lot of updates 1,250 to be exact I was up and running. My first impressions are of the simplicity of the system and how fast it is even with only 2gb. ram. Yahoo and Google take care of the Internet , Open office organises my letters. I’m not very interested in music downloads, cause my ears are beset by tinnitus and video streaming is just not my bag.

The biggest worry I have about the system is antispyware—or rather the lack of it. After 4 years of installing anti spyware apps in Windows, using Ubuntu makes me feel totally exposed—naked even. BUT the forums are full of folk asking the same question, “has anyone suffered an infection”, and as far as I can ascertain nobody has [yet!]

If you want a system without all the Windows bells and whistles give Ubuntu 9.10 a try and remember its free. And Oh! I’m not an agent for Ubuntu, I will keep my two Windows 7 machines as they have their place in the scheme of things, and my next new build will be for Windows XP I just love that quirky OS.

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Gotta say that Victor Wright has it nailed. Well said.

I’ve noticed that many of the non-Windows experimenters are using an old/castoff/orphaned/damaged box, even an ancient Apple in one case. Yes, Ubuntu and most other Linux distributions will give most of these old boxes new life. That’s one of the real advantages of using Linux. Knoppix is even intended to be used only as a live CD, with a major use being to fix old or malfunctioning Windows machines. My son was handed a Knoppix CD in his Computer Science class and told to use it as a toolbox for any broken machine.

My suggestion to many of you is to try an inexpensive K(eyboard)V(ideo)M(ouse) switch and run two boxes. My KVM is currently splicing an elderly HP laptop running Ubuntu Karmic Koala with an elderly homebrewed XPHome box (which has a Linux dual boot partition as well). Mama’s new Toshiba ultralight laptop is also part of the network–Win7, but set up in a workgroup, not in a “homegroup.” They all work together in a Samba/XP network and use printers hooked up to the XP box.

My point is that a KVM and a little CAT5 or wireless network gives you incredible variety and flexibility. Mozy and Dropbox, among others, provide essential backup locations for all of my machines, so rebooting/reformatting are simply a matter of a few minutes with Linux and, yes, a few hours with Windows. A slipstreamed CD for XPHome SP3 does save a little time.

Try everything. With your essential files safe in offsite storage, let the wind blow through whatever hair you have left! PCLinuxOS is quietly becoming one of the best Linux distributions because it just plain works–it even recognizes the Broadcomm wireless chips right out of the box. There are literally hundreds of Linux flavors to try–i actually kind of wish there were some standardization, but that would inhibit open source, wouldn’t it? If you haven’t tried KDE or XFCE or Enlightment or one of the other desktop managers, you’re only looking through one eye! And the repositories for any of the distributions have more stuff to try and experiment with than the Windows world ever thought of. All free.

I’ll shut up now. Some of the posts in this thread show ignorance and bad temper, but many just show a little bewilderment. Some show some pro or con Windows bias, sometimes expressed in ignorant, ad hominem language that’s regrettable. The open source world, as demonstrated by the Ubuntu spirit of cooperation and welcome, is indeed more pleasant and productive than the arguing. I’m no pacifist; a Windows hooligan can get his nose figuratively punched by insulting me. There’s just too much fun to be had in the playground to be nasty and unhelpful.

I invite your comment.

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I am dual booting Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows 7…both work fine (except neither will print to the printer running off of an XP machine). I tried Ubuntu so that I would know what the Linux guys were on about as they slammed Windows. I like Windows 7…hated Vista; XP was Okay.
I am not an IT pro…just a guy who likes playing with computers…and I found Ubuntu pretty easy. It seems a bit slower sometimes (primarily Internet, but that might not be the OS as I am having some Internet connectivity issues – in Ubuntu…but I have had these with windows too). I think what I like best is that it seems to be able to do everything windows can – differently, but as easily; and it is free. It also runs on old hardware a bit better.

For those who found it hard, I would agree with one of the previous posters…it is more about what you know. Whenever I go into a computer store with Apple, I can never get them to do anything as easily as Windows or Ubuntu…yet Mac has this rep as being super user friendly. I think it is because the things I am used to, for getting things started, aren’t there. There is no , Start button or Right click…these are all just the little things that throw me…I would love to have use of one to see if I like it – but they’re too expensive to just try. What I really like is learning, and Ubuntu opened up a whole new area to learn in.

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Speaking from within ubuntu and coming from a windows background, I like them both. This netbook came with vista ultimate pre-installed. Painfully slow. Windows 7 fairly zips along but it still has it’s moments. From my experience, linux does netbooks better, faster. I find help from the resident expert in apcmag.com magazine. I have tried linux since the 1990’s and it is really only the since the various live distros started coming out that they made any sense to a gui-oriented person like me. Also I find the terminal in linux to be a lot more intuitive and forgiving than the command prompt in windows. Ubuntu has a wonderful app that let’s one put an ISO onto USB, graphically. This is what is required to do the same in Windows:
INSTALL WIN7/VISTA ON USB – apcmag march 2009 pp 80:
open command prompt as administrator
TO PREPARE USB DRIVE:
‘diskpart’
‘list disk’
select disk #’ (carefully!)
‘clean’
‘create partition primary’
‘select partition 1’
‘active’
‘format fs=fat32’
‘assign’
‘exit’ (added 3/28/10 see below)
TO INSTALL OPERATING SYSTEM
‘xcopy u:*.* /s/e/f g:’
where optical drive is u: and usb drive is g:
[3/28/10:’exit'(had this in the wrong place, sorry.uH)Note also works for PE builders] You can edit configuration files as recommended by Woody in newsletter August 20, 2009,on the USB key
I still need my windows, for the sheer volume of workable drivers and applications, and for my disk imaging. The windows registry is a wonderful place to be. A boot manager such a system commander (not free)
avoids the dual-boot traumas, and has pre-boot partitioning. Windows 7 scorned my old Pentium3 with 384mb ram, ubuntu lets me access the old hard drives.

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I come from a long (25 years+) DOS/Windows background. I had very little *nix experience until I tried Ubuntu a few years ago.

The geek in me loves it. And I do use it as a server OS — my home media server, DNS servers, DHCP servers, web server, mail server, etc. all use Ubuntu. And I’ve tried several times to use it as my primary OS on my desktop or laptop, but sooner or later I find something that just isn’t available, and that always pushes me back to Windows.

I’ve got a couple of HTPCs and I’d love to use MythBuntu or the like, but there’s no Blu-Ray support (yes, I know I can decrypt/rip a disc to the hard drive and play it that way, but I don’t want to do that). I do a lot of video encoding/etc. and am dependent on the various Windows-based tools like Avisynth and MeGUI; I find them to be a lot better than futzing around with mencoder or ffmpeg on Linux. Also, I do play games occasionally, and didn’t care for the Cedega-type solution.

When I can do things like that on Linux, I’ll move in a flash.

I also don’t bother with Linux for the various family members I support for similar reasons. My wife and daughter and mother all use Photoshop, and yes I know all about The Gimp, but it’s not a seamless transition…and there’s plugin support to consider. My father is probably the only one whose needs are simple enough, but he’s used Windows for a long time and the transition would be painful.

I really, really want to move to Linux and open-source apps. As soon as I can…I will.

–chris

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I have been using different Linux distro’s for about a year and half now. But to help everybody out that can not find a linux driver for a wireless card you can use ndiswrapper. Ndiswrapper reads the windows driver and injects what it needs into Linux to make your wireless function with in a linux environment. I hope this helps everybody out.

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I have been using different Linux distro’s for about a year and half now. But to help everybody out that can not find a linux driver for a wireless card you can use ndiswrapper. Ndiswrapper reads the windows driver and injects what it needs into Linux to make your wireless function with in a linux environment. I hope this helps everybody out.

srauls,
Hello,thank you for your input … Question: As i am no longer a real “newbie” (quad booting various versions of Vista and Mint Helena 8) i am giving “linux” another look. I do still have a “wireless” issue with Helena 8, as i did trying out “Ubuntu” only now i can get on line about 90% of the time. (ubuntu Zero%) You mention “Ndiswrapper” could you please explain….. I looked at the site and am not sure exactly how to proceed. do you run the program from windows and let Linux find it or….. load it some how in Helena? Regards Fred

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You can go to Ndiswrapper and download ndiswrapper for the linux distro you are using. After you are done installing ndiswrapper you will go into the gui interface or you can do it through the cli, I prefer the gui. download just the driver or use your cdrom. ndiswrapper reads the windows .inf file for your wireless card. ndiswrapper then takes out what it needs and inserts it into linux. I have had pretty good success with ndiswrapper. In ubuntu it should be in your repositories already and you can install that way.

For linux mint here is a wiki page to help you out Mint Wifi go to “3 Load ndiswrapper”

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You can go to Ndiswrapper and download ndiswrapper for the linux distro you are using. After you are done installing ndiswrapper you will go into the gui interface or you can do it through the cli, I prefer the gui. download just the driver or use your cdrom. ndiswrapper reads the windows .inf file for your wireless card. ndiswrapper then takes out what it needs and inserts it into linux. I have had pretty good success with ndiswrapper. In ubuntu it should be in your repositories already and you can install that way.

For linux mint here is a wiki page to help you out Mint Wifi go to “3 Load ndiswrapper”

srauls,
Thank you for the information…. tried to do as you have stated “Installing Ndiswrapper”…. seems that I’m still too much of a “Linux newbie ” as the install instructions were way above my “pay grade” Do some more reading and I will post on the “mint forum” maybe someone can “walk me through it” Regards Fred

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Unfortunately I only used Linux Mint for about 2 days from what I remember there is a add programs or repositories not sure what it was called. If you search in the repositories it might have the ndiswrapper so all you would have to do is install it from there. Then install the actual drivers into linux mint should be fairly easy. What is the make and model of your wireless card. If you are using aetheros there is drivers for that if it is a broad comm I’m surprised that Mint didn’t detect that for you.

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Unfortunately I only used Linux Mint for about 2 days from what I remember there is a add programs or repositories not sure what it was called. If you search in the repositories it might have the ndiswrapper so all you would have to do is install it from there. Then install the actual drivers into linux mint should be fairly easy. What is the make and model of your wireless card. If you are using aetheros there is drivers for that if it is a broad comm I’m surprised that Mint didn’t detect that for you.

srauls,
Hello, My air card is a Verizon MC 760 , and Mint will see and connect to the internet but only after going through a crazy scenario…. boot into Vista …. re start into Mint… disconnect from the internet… (even though its not connected) re connect, and Viola…. a connection. I will keep fooling with Linux as long as i can stay connected to the internet with it. “learning at my own pace” On a better note i have found a program that will backup Linux without doing a sector by sector backup (as Acronis) “Clonezilla” (Free Whatever) http://clonezilla.org/ down load , then “burn the ISO” to a CD…. works ok basic “plain jane” interface. Regards Fred

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I did some looking around about your Verizon Wireless. From what I found out Verizon actually rebanded the Novatel Wireless Ovation™ MC760. There is a complete linux setup guide. Since Mint is based off of Ubuntu you should follow the Ubuntu guide you can click here to go to the manufacturers site then you can read through their documentation on how to set it up.

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I did some looking around about your Verizon Wireless. From what I found out Verizon actually rebanded the Novatel Wireless Ovation™ MC760. There is a complete linux setup guide. Since Mint is based off of Ubuntu you should follow the Ubuntu guide you can click here to go to the manufacturers site then you can read through their documentation on how to set it up.

srauls,
Thanks much for all your help, and the links. I will give it “a go” and post back if i have any success ! …… or another “DOOM” scenario . Regards Fred

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If you are still having troubles even after following the manufacturers information you might have to unmount the usb so the modem portion of the usb will start working. Thats what I had to do with my USB 3G modem. Every time I plug it in it comes up and recognizes the thumb drive portion of the 3G modem first after I unmount it will come up and recognize as a usb modem.

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In many cases, the network manager called wicd can make life much easier for Linux wireless connectivity. If you have a system on which you have loaded Linux, and can’t seem to get the wireless working–if you have a router, try plugging in an Ethernet cable between it and the Linux machine. That should be a simple connection to get on the Internet. Then, look at your package manager for wicd, download and install it. I have found it far more forgiving of otherwise difficult wireless cards.

Of course, if your distro of choice doesn’t offer it–or if the version is quite old, as some are–you can also go to the wicd home page at

Reading through the thread, I was amused at some of the posts. For example, the gentleman who “tried” Linux but found it “no fun” because he couldn’t download and install programs–but didnt’ try the package manager in his distribution. That is much like saying “I tried that car, but it was no fun. Of course, I didn’t take it out of first gear!”

Also, the many people who don’t find Linux or MacOS “intuitive”. To a large extent, what is “intuitive” is what you are accustomed to. For them, it’s probably wise to try a version of Linux which uses KDE as its desktop. Out of the box, that is the closest to the familiar Windows approach–although like nearly everything Linux, it is highly configurable.

As for me, my DVD drive on my old laptop died several months ago–followed a month or so ago by the hard disk. Thus, when I slipped in the drive I had used as a backup in an external case, I could not reinstall the XP setup from the OEM DVD I have. Thus, it’s been all Linux since then–no biggie, as 90% of my work previously was in Linux anyway. The machine is to be replaced this Summer when I visit the States again–machines here in Ukraine are quite expensive, as it happens, and I am on a very limited income these days so every little bit helps.

If the replacement machine has Windows 7 pre-installed, I’ll likely keep it and install Linux as a dual boot–simply to be able to answer questions from acquaintances and family. However, a very real possibility is that I’ll replace the original drive with a solid state disk, where space will be precious enough that I won’t bother installing Windows on it–but I’ll hold on to the original disk in case I ever want to run it again. My plan is to get another laptop–and which distribution to use is a rather fun question. Presently, I’m using an Ubuntu variant. Next month, I’ll probably go to Kubuntu after the new version is out…but I am also quite fond of several others.

Finally, several people have said that Linux seems “slower” than Windows on the Internet. That, friends, is quite a laugh. The network stack in Linux is very efficient–and Linux doesn’t send countless “keep alive” messages over the network as Windows does. In fact, on a network of Windows machines, the amount of useless traffic is incredible. On this machine, for example, when I was running XP in dual boot, my usual complement of open Firefox windows–using the exact same plugins as I run in Linux–would consume so much memory, as would the various anti-malware apps, that I often had to close things just to get it to respond at all. Many new websites would not load at all, while others loaded very slowly. (I suppose I should mention this is a dual core machine of 1.66 GHz and with 1.5 GB of RAM). After dual booting into Linux, opening the same browser windows, I could easily listen to Internet streaming radio and have a number of applications open all at once without strain.

The simple fact that Linux can perform well on old machines with few resources that Windows chokes on should give a few people a clue that it is far more efficient.

If I wanted to run even faster, of course I have the choice of using a much lighter-weight windowing environment. The Elive distribution, for example, is one such–but is far from deficient in an “eye candy” sense.

David

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David,
Hello, Yes i admit that Linux has a “steep” learning curve, and i am still way down at the bottom. But… now that i can (most of the time) connect to the Internet (still haven’t found out why) i have found as you have stated Linux is faster than Windows for Internet surfing (we all hate to wait until things load up) I now find myself using Linux Mint “Helena v-8 ” more than usual , i suspect more so in the future . I think people (as i had ) give up on Linux too quickly, for various reasons. Can’t connect,get frustrated with the new OS, don’t understand the “terminal”, etc. My solution that works for me was to install Linux on it’s own disk (using EasyBCD v 2 beta, accommodates Grub2 ) ….so no conflicts and can boot into Linux when i want to fool with it, and my Vista SP-0 ( no patches or updates) Windows system is still the default “OS”. This way i can learn at my own pace (slug slow) … that is when the wife isn’t looking.. Regards Fred

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Ha Ha! Thanks for the comments guys. Feel free to use/”plagiarize” my disclaimer. I am very direct and so I get a lot of hate. I have a habit of trying to ward it off pre-emptively.

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I’m a bit late to this party but I can understand certain frustrations some people are having with linux. I do not consider my self an expert, especially in linux distros, but I have tried Ubuntu (since version 6.04), Mint (8 and 9), PC Linus 2010, and Puppy(4 and 5) and have had some issues, however all were resolved except for one. That one being getting my linksys wireless USB adapter to function on a deskktop. My other desktop machine with a Ralink wireless PCI adapter works just fine under linux. If your wireless doesn’t work, an ethernet connection may be your only resolution. As is not generally acceptable with a laptop, perhaps linux should not be used.

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I am running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS dual booted with Win XP Pro. I started with v8.something a few years ago. It’s running on a home assembled Intel P4 type machine. I had absolutely no problems getting it up and running, nor have I had any serious problems since then. Were it not for the fact that I have software that won’t run on Ubuntu (CAD, Photo), I would think about dumping Windows. Over time it’s user friendliness has improved and there is a lot of open source software available that would suit me fine for regular office stuff. I admit that some of the software isn’t as polished as MS nor Apple, but it would be fine with me. Of course there are those who go in for aesthetics-prettiness who would never be satisfied….especially the Apple folks. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I believe that someday, Ubuntu-Linux has the capability to be a credible system for the masses….but probably not just yet.

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I’m 66, and I go back to the DOS days, which I suspect helps in dealing with Linux’ command line.
OTOH, I hardly ever need it.
My Linux experiments started with Fedora in various versions, brief experiments with Debian and SUSE and then an early version of Ubuntu.
Several people have pointed out that Windows has its share of problems and necessary tweaks and that’s true. My experience as the neighborhood go-to guy is that most home users know very little about Windows and just want to surf the web and send/receive. A smaller subset want to deal with digital photos and/or music.
Ubuntu handles all these chores easily and instinctively for those who put forth the effort, and there’s the rub. In my experience there’s a huge percentage of users who aren’t willing or able to do so. That seems to have something to do with human nature. I’m not sure if curiosity is a learned behavior, but when it comes to computers, many people don’t have any. If something doesn’t work they walk away from it or spend money to solve a problem that a few minutes of Googling would resolve.
In short, I see the problem as users, not operating systems.

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In short, I see the problem as users, not operating systems.

I guess Steve Jobs said something pretty much equivalent to that, regarding a pricey phone, recently .

Not all users have the skills, or the patience, or the time, or all of them together, to use a given OS for the tasks they want a computer to help them with. They will go with whatever is easier or faster.

Unfortunately for your point of view, good OSes that do not meet the needs of these users, which will be a big number on such a massified computer market, will never go beyond a very (comparatively) small number of enthusiast adopters. That’s been the problem with Linux all along and it doesn’t look like it’s any closer to overcome it.

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I love Linux Mint and would run it 100% — if I could. Unfortunately, I have not found either a satisfactory Linux PDF editor or a satisfactory Linux text search and retrieval tool, both essential applications for me. I am not satisfied with any of the Linux file managers, either. Nautilus comes closest to what I like, but I really want something that works like the old ExplorerPlus for Windows. The Norton Commander clones for Linux leave me cold. So I keep Win7 for my production computer, but my wife does great with Linux Mint while my daughter prefers Ubuntu Netbook Edition.

The friends and neighbors I support (most of whom seem to be blue-haired ladies over 65) do just fine with Linux Mint. They browse the web, send email, and use Picasa to manage photos. One did not even notice that I had changed her OS from WinXP to Linux Mint. (A few tweaks can make Mint look almost like Windows.) From a support standpoint, the users I’ve converted to Linux never call anymore. It just works. The few remaining Windows users still call regularly, having encountered malware or some other gremlin.

On balance, I prefer Linux for the casual user. Windows is still required to perform many of the tasks required by more sophisticated users. My dad (who is 86) has an iMac and iPad. I don’t mess with Apple because their DRM policies appear even more predatory than Microsoft. Nonetheless, Mac products make the latest Windows machines seem antiquated. I suspect that Mac-style products will be the standard in another ten years or so. Both Linux and Windows will have to improve dramatically to keep up. John Dvorak said it best: “Apple took the original MacBook Air and improved it by replacing it with a lighter more elegant model. If it were NEC, Toshiba, Lenovo, Dell, or just about anyone else, they would have made it heavier, uglier, and clunkier with each generation. At least one company – Apple – gets it right. What I don’t understand is why the others can watch this, apparently slack-jawed while doing so, and not figure it out.”

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People use Windows because it’s a monopoly, and they don’t know anything else. So, it’s “easier”, because you don’t have to learn anything, just put up with what you know. When you get used to Linux, though, you find that things are different, and in many ways better. http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/ is a great summary of its advantages. For somebody who can learn something new, or somebody who doesn’t know ANYthing (your mother in law), Linux is better. All those Android phones, all those servers and supercomputers….the desktop is the last bastion of Windows. How long can they hold on??

Nobody uses anything because it’s a monopoly. You can have the netbook as a great example – they initially ran on Linux. Just have a look at where that ended.

You also getting your data wrong. The enterprise side of Microsoft’s business is pretty strong and you can hardly say servers are a Linux / unix domain.

I don’t want to re-enact the Linux vs. Windows debate. I just thought it was funny that the users were blamed for Linux’s lack of acceptance. .

Doom has been prophesied for Windows since Linux came about, how many years ago?! They doom sayers were obviously right.

I am sorry, I shouldn’t have started this and I won’t feed it. I am really not interested in a Linux vs. Windows debate again. My personal preference is Windows and I started programming on a Nova 4, running on Unix and programmed on Unix workstations for a long time. Still prefer Windows to any of those for my own use, but that’s just my opinion.

Regards

Rui

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I don’t slam either OS. I’m an Enterprise Architect, focusing mainly in telephony and web and started with DOS back in ’87, CICS etc in ’88, Unix in ’92, Linux in ’95. I design very large solutions that span the globe using Linux on servers with an almost 95% Windows client base. So I work with either.

This thread started two years ago and Linux on the desktop has progressed mightily, where a reasonably new computer user can install Ubuntu without looking at a command line. Having said that, then going on to install Windows and dual booting or the other way around, takes a little more savvy. With Grub2 as the boot mechanism, I’ve seen 98 out of 100 dual boot installs work so well that the user didn’t need to be very savvy, but for those 2 it is very difficult. And if you install Windows after Linux, Windows just ignores Linux and you have to be savvy enough to go into the boot mechanism of Windows, or update Grub2 to take back boot control.

My point being is that for a single OS install, either OS is a pretty easy install process where you can begin computing right away without much work. Not so with dual booting for either OS.

I was a super Windows power user through the 90’s, and I never gave up on Windows (hence receiving the Windows Secrets Newsletter), I just migrated to Linux over time. My entire home network has been Linux since about 2004, including routers and switches. I only very occasionally fire up Windows in VirtualBox to run an app that I can’t in Linux. For instance H&R Block tax software, I could do it online, but prefer to keep all of that info locally, hence my use of their Windows version of app. But other than 2, 3 times per year, I don’t need to do it. The average user goes with what’s installed on their device with they buy it. That’s been Microsoft’s claim to fame and now Apple’s. It is what it is and if it works for you, great!

For anyone wishing to play around with Linux on the desktop and not wanting to spend a lot of time studying, I suggest formatting the hard drive on a reasonably recent system (3 yrs or newer) and installing Ubuntu as a single boot. You won’t have the dual boot blues and you will experience Linux without worrying if you’re messing something up with your Windows installation. I just did this on a 4 yr old Dell Laptop. I had my wife install it and it was up and running in <30 minutes without me offering any advice. Same as I suspect Win 7 would be if I asked her to do the same. Her reward is that she gets to use that laptop around the pool and outside bar rather than having me nervously worry about her doing the same with her HP HDX18. So now we have: instead of:

Enjoy whatever ya got, feel free to try something new with my suggestions above, or just scroll on down and ignore my post. I do love Windows Secrets as my favorite personal computing news source!

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The original post was two years old, things have changed a lot for Ubuntu since then. I installed Ubuntu on an Acer netbook last year. It dual boots with Windows 7 with ease, you choose either one at boot time. In some ways Windows 7 is better, in other ways, Unbuntu. For instance, Ubuntu picks up my Bluetooth mouse on each reboot, something Win7 won’t do (I have to uninstall and reinstall it on Win7). Ubuntu certainly boots faster than Win7. Updates are much more frequent in Ubuntu and very easy to do, just approve them and the system downloads and installs them, like Windows. I find I use Ubuntu a lot more than Win7, I guess because it’s faster and the window design cleaner IMO. At any rate Ubuntu is just as easy to use now as Win7. It’s all graphical with a command window available but not needed for everyday use.

Ubuntu has an option where you can download the .iso file, create a CD image, and boot and run it from the CD without touching your Windows install. That’s a good way to start to see what you think. It will take some getting used to, the GUI is different than the well-known MS Windows GUI. Not greatly better or worse, just different.

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I have no Idea why you guys hate Ubuntu, or even linux in general. I installed Ubuntu about a month ago (i’m dual booting it), and since then, the only reason I would want to boot into windows is to run a couple of programs that aren’t compatible with Ubuntu, or the compatibility software that you can install (wine). I probably use Ubuntu 80-90% of the time, and windows 20-10% of the time(out of necessity). It isn’t very geeky for general use, and I love the fact that it’s so customizable. Even if something doesn’t work, I can almost always find a solution on Ubuntu forums(http://www.ubuntuforums.org), either by finding a thread, or creating my own. It’s more secure, faster, easier to use, etc.

you should try it out, it’s great!

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I’ve been dual booting Linux Mint, in a couple of progressive distros, for the last year and a half. Currently I am using v10. I just purchased a Shuttle XPC box last month without an OS so I went through the full dual boot install experience with both Mint and XP. The only glitch was getting sound to work on the linux side. Found some good stuff on one of the forums and fixed it right up. I really enjoy using linux and if it weren’t for my ipod and nook, I would abandon XP altogether. In my opinion you can get as geeky with linux as you want. If you stick with a distro like mint its pretty much fire and forget for the majority of users. The only thing I had/have trouble getting my head around is the file system difference. Working on it!

Ted

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Hello All,
Just thought that i would put my two cents in about dual booting “linux ubuntu” It would seem that ubuntu is not for “noobs”I have given this a somewhat fair try, (only about a week and many,many hours) but almost every thing that i have tried resulted in less than stunning success! Regards PlainFred

In the past I have tried Linux in different forms and have never “bonded’ with it. Recently I tried again and this time with the latest version of Ubuntu. This time I first installed Oracle VM VirtualBox and installed in that system in a system. It all went in and looks fine on the ‘outside’ but Ubuntu will not boot because it cannot find the boot files. It is set up on my laptop Win7 and I don’t have a clue what the problem is or what to do to fix it. It seems I will not learn Linux in this life.
……
Ray/FL

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Ray: You can make a live cd copy of linux mint and if you set your laptop up to boot from cd/dvd, you can play all you want without having to install the os. I’m not familiar with using vm, but I suspect you might need to have a boot loader outside the vm, so when you start your computer you are given a choice. But I am speaking from a position of extreme ignorance here. Have you tried the Ubuntu forums. People seem pretty helpful there.

Ted

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I first installed Karmic (9.10) using Wubi within Windows 7. It worked well until I did an update which modified grub and Karmic no longer worked. Googling showed there was a problem with Wubi and grub. I reinstalled Karmic and never allowed grub to be updated and there was no problem.

I could not get my wireless to work until Lucid (10.04) arrived and it was simple to make the connection. I am currently writing this using Lucid within Windows 7.

I did an Open University course on Linux where we were advised to use Virtual Box and install ubuntu (I installed both 10.04 and 10.10) within it. There were at least 40 on the course (a count of the unique names in the fora) and all seemed to make it work, some with initial problems.

Ubuntu can also be installed on a USB stick with the security benefits if you use an Internet cafe.

I have rarely needed to use the command line and have had no problems apart from those stated above and those are history.

I have even managed to make my own version of ubuntu using Remastersys – it makes an iso image based on your current configuration. A fabulous tool to enable a re-install with minimal effort if and when you mess up. Is it better than Windows 7? I do not know. It seems to be a matter of opinion.

Brian

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I’ve had Ubuntu installed on an old desktop computer and a Toshiba laptop for almost 3 years now. My wife has Vista on her Acer laptop. Last June I bought an ASUS netbook loaded with Windows 7 Home. My main computer was running XP until last fall when the hard drive croaked. I installed Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on it.

When I bought the netbook, after configuring Windows 7 and installing the only piece of software I need that I can’t replicate in Ubuntu, I installed the netbook version of Ubuntu 10.04. It works flawlessly. I use OpenOffice on it (and all my computers because I absolutely detest what MS did to the menu system but that’s another story) and I can do everything I used to do with MS Office. I can easily share everything with the other computers including Windows because OpenOffice is platform independent.

Some of the things I like about Ubuntu:

[*]It boots and shuts down much faster than Windows.
[*]Support for accented letters is much simpler. After defining a command key (I use the right Alt key) to get é used in French and Spanish (I write in both languages), I need only hold the Right Alt down, press the single quote key, release them both in reverse order and press “e”. In Windows I need to remember a key sequence like Alt+0223 using the keypad numbers. That’s more complicated when you don’t have a keypad on a portable computer.
[*]Security in Linux is excellent, more flexible and less obtrusive and invasive than Windows (especially Vista).
[*]And something I think is really cool. In Windows when you decide to reinstall the OS or install a new version, you have to reinstall all the software you installed. You have to look for discs or download new copies. It’s very time consuming. When I bought my netbook and installed Ubuntu some software like OpenOffice was included. For what wasn’t included I simply went to my laptop and issued a command that I found on one of the myriad Ubuntu support forums on the terminal (the equivalent of cmd.exe in Windows or DOS prompt command window). It created a list of all the programs installed on my laptop. I took that list to my netbook and, following the very simple (really) instructions, issued a new command on this list and sat back and watched TV for the next 2 hours while Ubuntu downloaded and installed the newest versions of all the programs. Afterwards, I just deleted any programs I didn’t want on my netbook. When I install a new version of Ubuntu, I’ll list my software first, then either update or reinstall from scratch. I can’t see how it could be simpler.
[*]It’s got a very nice GUI interface. Different than Windows and the Mac but similar.
[*]There are several desktops available and I can easily switch from one to another. I can be running Firefox on one desktop, OpenOffice on another while watching a DVD on the third. Why I’d want to do all those things at once is a good question but it’s nice to know I have that option and I have used it from time to time.

I don’t hate Windows (well, maybe Vista). I like Windows 7 but I find the security extremely difficult to work with. For example, since I installed it I can no longer access shared folders or my printer from my Ubuntu computers. I can access shared Ubuntu folders from Windows 7 so I can move files back and forth from it. Printing is a pain as I must save jobs in PDF format, go to the Windows computer, get the file and print it. I don’t have a requirement to do a lot of printing so I haven’t worried too much about it.

At the moment I’m on vacation in Costa Rica to escape the cold of Canada and writing on my netbook, in Ubuntu using Firefox. Every day I must boot into Windows 7 to download the newspaper from home. It’s the only thing I need Windows for on my netbook. Costa Rica and Ubuntu are similar in a way – easy going and life is good.

Having used every version of Windows (except Millennium) since 3.1, a couple of Mac OSs and several different Linux distros, realizing that older Linux distros were hard to use, I can’t understand why people continue to hate Linux. Or, for that reason, why people hate Windows or the Mac. They are what they are. They are all very reliable now and they all have both similar and different attractions. Before you shoot something down, take the time to learn out about it. They mind, like a parachute, only works when it’s open.

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