Have your say & ask the experts

My bro is getting a new laptop this Christmas and Im thinking of using his old one to have a play with some Linux stuff. I've seen a few people on here are using it and wondered if they had any advice on getting started? Ubuntu or Debian? Are there any programs that wont work at all? iTunes seems to be one although people have said Amarok is a very good player.

Im using mostly freeware software these days, OpenOffice, free antivirals so the OS is the only thing Im paying for.

Why the big hatred towards Windows anyway? Just a general dislike of Microsoft?

I love Windows. I wouldn't have a job otherwise.

But to answer the question, I'd go for Ubuntu, it appeared to have a friendlier install when I had to get a distro recently. Why don't you just dual boot your current machine rather than wait for Christmas though?

I love Windows too.

I'm currently using Ubuntu 9.10 on my desktop PC. Painless to install & been rock solid so far. Previous editions used to hang on restart & shutdown, 9.10 loads in less than a minute & on my desktop shuts down in 5.

Some windows programs will run in linux using Wine, their website has a list of compatible software. No windows bashing here just don't have the desire to spend £150 on windows 7 & Xp grinded to a halt for some reason so changed. I did dual boot for a couple of years with many distro's.

Checkout Distrowatch as all the major Linux desktop companies have just or are releasing new editions in the next few weeks - Ubuntu 9.10, Mandriva 2010, OpenSuse 11.2, Fedora 12...

Just download a few ISO's burn them & try them out to see if you prefer gnome, kde etc. Amarok is a nice music player but is designed for kde, most gnome distro's ship with Rhythmbox but there is also Banshee, Exaile, Listen etc, I prefer Atunes which is independent and uses java to work.

Have fun

I've nothing against Windows either. Just like pottering about with stuff.

Don't want to do anything to my current computers as they are essential for work.

Are there any differences in the various Linux OS' Russ?

Been tinkering myself for about a month now.  Built myself a Linux box out of a mixture of spare and new components.

I bought a book on Ubuntu that came with a distribution CD-ROM in the back (Ubuntu 9.07), which I installed then upgraded to 9.10.  You can also download a fresh copy of 9.10 from the Ubuntu website, but a reference book is always a good idea when starting out with a new OS.

 I also tried SuSE, which I didn't like, and OpenSolaris from Sun Microsystems.  OpenSolaris is basically a free version of Sun's Solaris version of classic UNIX, and, IMHO is aimed more at the large scale professional / business application than Ubuntu.

Ubuntu makes it very easy to set up, especially peripherals like printers and internet / network connections (I have mine connected to a DSL router that also hooks up my desktop Windows PC, my notebook and my netbook). Solaris, on the other hand, isn't too "idiot friendly" in this respect.

Other notable mentions include RedHat, which I haven't tried, but which has been around for quite a while.

There's a whole host of software out there, and you pretty much don't need any Microsoft products at all.  OpenOffice 3.1 is pretty much on a par with Office2003, certainly in terms of look and feel, probably in terms of functionality.  It's likely that only very specialist programs (finite element, CAD, etc.) or utilities for specific digitalcameras, all-in-one printer/scanner/copier, etc. will be the only "weak" areas in Linux.

 Give it a whirl, but be prepared to still need Windows for some apps for the foreseeable future.

harveymt the first thing you need to do is trawl the net to see whether linux has been installed on that particular type of laptop and if there were problems with a particuar version

ive worked with redhat linux ubuntu suse solaris and hpux and would have to say that the trouble is always in finding the right driver and then installing it

always download the drivers you need the network card graphics card disk drive mouse usb or whatever before you start the install in case there are problems

to give you an example i had an ibm laptop which wouldnt work with redhat because it needed a particular mouse driver  this also meant i had to boot without the graphics display since it was unusable in order to install the driver plus know where the system look for the driver on boot

another example was on a new netbook which came with suse installed but wouldnt fcnd the wifi network even though i had the right drivers installed

in the end it meant issuing commands manually to enable the wifi which i later put into a script to run at boot

hopefully you wont need to do anything like that but just be aware linux is a sometimes motley array of different components not an integrated os like windows

you should buy a book too since invariably you end up having to know some of the commands

 

Looks like I'll give Ubuntu a whirl. And a book added to the Christmas list! My wife willl be pleased, I'm impossible to buy for.

Good luck with Ubuntu, the current version 9.10 is very polished if still a little brown in colour. Plus with it being the most popular linux varient most issues will have been covered in the Ubuntu forums.The only command line I've used so far is to add the medibuntu repository to install the restricted codecs & thats just cut/paste & enter then use synaptics pachage manager to add the ubuntu restricted extras package.

Personally I'm not sure how long I'll stay with Ubuntu as I don't really like the way gnome looks much prefer KDE 4 & did spend a long time (good & bad) using opensuse 11.1 so may go to 11.2 when it's released next week.

Also check out Linux Mint as its Ubunutu based but has all the codecs pre installed.

I took the scattergun approach to distro's, downloaded a lot & used them for a few days to find out what I liked & hated & it pretty much mirrors the top 10 on Distrowatch. Have a much tighter approach now the PC is purely Linux so a distro has to work without hours of pulling my long gone hair out.

The one thing with Linux fanboys that bugs me is the constant reference to Windoze, Winblows, Micro$oft etc. XP, Vista (just about) & 7 are all perfectly fine operating systems as is OS X, never seen any negative 'amusing' remarks about apple though.

Anyhow have fun & the best thing is they are all free, if you don't like a distro you've only wasted a few man hours & a cd.

Enjoy

russ74:

Good luck with Ubuntu, the current version 9.10 is very polished if still a little brown in colour. Plus with it being the most popular linux varient most issues will have been covered in the Ubuntu forums.The only command line I've used so far is to add the medibuntu repository to install the restricted codecs & thats just cut/paste & enter then use synaptics pachage manager to add the ubuntu restricted extras package.

Personally I'm not sure how long I'll stay with Ubuntu as I don't really like the way gnome looks much prefer KDE 4 & did spend a long time (good & bad) using opensuse 11.1 so may go to 11.2 when it's released next week.

Also check out Linux Mint as its Ubunutu based but has all the codecs pre installed.

I took the scattergun approach to distro's, downloaded a lot & used them for a few days to find out what I liked & hated & it pretty much mirrors the top 10 on Distrowatch. Have a much tighter approach now the PC is purely Linux so a distro has to work without hours of pulling my long gone hair out.

The one thing with Linux fanboys that bugs me is the constant reference to Windoze, Winblows, Micro$oft etc. XP, Vista (just about) & 7 are all perfectly fine operating systems as is OS X, never seen any negative 'amusing' remarks about apple though.

Anyhow have fun & the best thing is they are all free, if you don't like a distro you've only wasted a few man hours & a cd.

Enjoy

All you need to do to install all the codecs/flash/java/browser plugins/DVD support is type "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras" in the terminal. Hasn't been any need for medibuntu for almost a couple of years now. If you prefer KDE run "sudo apt-get install kde-minimal amarok kontact" in the terminal in 9.10 and then log out and choose KDE from the log in screen to boot into the K Desktop Environment instead of Gnome.

Windows 7 is a really good operating system, but only time will tell if it is still afflicted with the usual Windows bugs, like slowing down over time because of the registry etc...

I've been solely Ubuntu since April 2007 and haven't had any problems. I think the main benefits are not having to run any anti-virus/spyware software, having a firewall built in that works and has no open ports on public interfaces, and the stability: I ran Ubuntu 7.04 64bit for about 4 months without shutting down. I have a HP printer which was plug and play with Ubuntu and my camera, phone and new iPod all sync fine.

If you are interested in trying it to see if your hardware works etc... just burn the "live" CD image and boot it - it runs off the CD without touching your system/HDD.

Marco.

To be fair I only add medibuntu as habit though it does provide the win32 codecs and libdvdcss2 which can be useful. Though this is the longest ubuntu has been on my PC as no version from 7.04 to 9.04 ever shut down they just kept hanging & none of the forum solutions worked, plus my preference is for KDE though not Kubuntu, always feels half done compared to Mandriva & openSuse.

Anyhow I just remembered theres a free pdf of the Ubuntu Pocket Guide & Reference by Keir Thomas. It can be found here.

russ74:

To be fair I only add medibuntu as habit though it does provide the win32 codecs and libdvdcss2 which can be useful. Though this is the longest ubuntu has been on my PC as no version from 7.04 to 9.04 ever shut down they just kept hanging & none of the forum solutions worked, plus my preference is for KDE though not Kubuntu, always feels half done compared to Mandriva & openSuse.

Anyhow I just remembered theres a free pdf of the Ubuntu Pocket Guide & Reference by Keir Thomas. It can be found here.

"kubuntu-minimal" installs a basic KDE environment, that's why I added Amarok and Kontact to the install command, you can then build your own preferred KDE by installing whatever programs you like to use in KDE. When installed in this way I find KDE is as stable as Gnome on Ubuntu and KDE on other distros, as there is nothing you don't want installed. (Which also makes it quite lightweight and faster in my experience.)

You are thinking of the "kubuntu-desktop" package which pulls in everything. :)

Marco.

Edit: To force a shutdown use Ctrl+Alt+F1 to drop to shell, log in then issue "sudo shutdown -h now"
To return to X from shell use Ctrl+Alt+F7

Just doing out my Christmas list now. Would I be better off with a general linux book or one specific to ubuntu?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linux-All-one-Reference-Dummies/dp/0470275359/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258067268&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubuntu-Linux-Dummies-Paul-Sery/dp/0470125055/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258067401&sr=8-10

I'd say the Ubuntu book, although there's nothing in these books that you can't learn online with some Google searches, or on the Ubuntuforums/Wiki.

I just learned by using Ubuntu and asking on the forums about anything I wasn't sure about.

All you need to know really to get you up and running is:

Security: Install the "noscript" addon in Firefox. Also install the OS updates as soon as they appear. - That's it.

Functionality: Go to terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and type "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras vlc audacious devede dvdrip" - without the quotes! This will install every codec known to man, Adobe Flash support, Sun Java support, Firefox browser plugins(video etc..), DVD playback support, RAR and other compression format support, Audacious which is a lightweight music application, like Winamp, and VLC which plays everything, DeVeDe which creates .iso DVD images from .avi and other video files(with customizable menus), and DVDRip which rips DVDs.

Maintenance: Run the "sudo apt-get clean" command every 6 months. - That's it.

Then it's just getting used to being able to just use your computer without endless maintenance and malware scanning etc...

Marco.