May
31
2006
Ubuntu Dapper Review
Posted by luna6
Tomorrow (June 1) Ubuntu should be releasing their final version of Dapper and to get ready for that, this review of the release candidate will cover some of the qualities of the new operating system as well as tips on getting Dapper optimized for desktop usage. As for my impressions of Dapper itself, I would enthusiastically say that Dapper is amazing! Without a doubt, I can say positively that this is the best Linux distro I have ever used. From the simplicity of having to download just one cd iso image for installation, to having the option to have the installation discs mailed to you at no cost, and to the beauty and speed of the apt-get system, as well as a promised 5 year support cycle, and the best community forum for the times when you are stumped on a problem, makes Ubuntu Dapper the best Linux operating system I have used to date. Some of the noteworthy changes for Ubuntu’s Dapper :
* The 386 installation disc uses the LiveCD method for installation
* Faster Boot Time as well as faster Gnome start process
* New Artwork with improved Human theme
* Refined GDM Login Screen
* Better Menu Organization
* Update notifier modified with new look and restart notification dialog box
* Improved Add/Remove application to help new users install applications
* Graphical .deb package installer (gdebi)
* New Log Out Dialog
* Multimedia backend now uses Gstreamer 0.10
* Window Server now uses X-org 7.0
* Gnome 2.14.1
* Support for new hardware (SATA & SATA RAID devices)
* Improved Wireless support
* Improved Plug-n-Play for usb devices
*Disclaimer this article was written for Linux enthusiasts. If you are coming from the Windows side and the command line seems intimidating you can accomplish all of the updates and installs from Synaptic or Adept package manager applications. Both have nice graphics and require nothing more than checking the box next to the program you want to install and then selecting the install button and you are set to go. I prefer the command line because it is faster.
To read the review the and learn some tips on setting up your Ubuntu Dapper read further….
The improved installation method for Dapper was very impressive. The LiveCD method was remarkable for its robustness and its quick boot time to the desktop. Another nice feature of the Live CD is that you can save your settings to an external device, like a USB stick, if you specify the kernel parameter “persistent” when you first boot the Live CD/Installer. Once the Live CD has booted into gnome, just click the install icon on the desktop and your on your way to having Ubuntu Dapper installed on your computer. One thing I missed about the previous installation method was the no frills disk partitioning interface it used. The new graphical one is probably easier for new users, but if you want to do custom partitioning schemes it seemed counter intuitive at times, but nothing terribly difficult. Screenshots of the installation :
The video cards in both of my desktops uses Nvidia’s 6600 GT video chips and Ubuntu messes up the initial installation of nvidia drivers (as with every other distro I have tried). Since I seem to have this problem with every installation, it has become an easy routine to fix. After installation was complete I was greeted to the nice GDM login manager. After I logged in with my username and password the screen was mixed up with fragments of the gdm login mixed in with the ubuntu desktop. No big deal to fix though. All I had to do was edit the xorg.conf found in /etc/X11 and change the driver from nvidia to vesa. The simplest way for me was to reboot with the live cd and make the necessary changes in the terminal. If you have the same video card and starting from scratch you may just want to select “Server” installation at the beginning and once the minimal operating system is installed type in :
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
This method would install the vesa drivers and you can then install the nvidia drivers yourself. Note if you would rather install Kubuntu (kde) or Xubuntu (xfce) you can easily install either one or both by typing in this command at the terminal :
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
The first thing I wanted to do after having my desktop correctly installed was to set up my /etc/apt/sources.list with all the current repositories including universe and multiverse. After editing the sources.list my file looked like this :
## Add comments (##) in front of any line to remove it from being checked.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper main restricted universe multiverse
## MAJOR BUG FIX UPDATES produced after the final release
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-updates main restricted universe multiverse
## UBUNTU SECURITY UPDATES
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted universe multiverse
## BACKPORTS REPOSITORY
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse
Once I added the extra universe and multiverse repositories to my sources.list (found in /etc/apt), I updated my system by typing in these two commands in the terminal
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
If you prefer not to use the terminal, the same update can be accomplished by using the graphical application called Update Manager found under System–>Preferences. Either way, my system updated with no problems and it did so very swiftly. I then wanted to install my Nvidia drivers, which was accomplished by typing in these commands :
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup
sudo nvidia-xconfig
After a reboot, voila, glorious 3d powered graphics. Ok so I wasn’t running any 3d apps at the moment to take advantage of that, but still the speed of Ubuntu with Gnome 2.14 and proper Nvidia drivers, felt blazing fast. The next thing I wanted to do was get more adventurous and kick around the tires of the latest eye candy in the linux world better known as XGL. The procedure was not overly complicated for me and my nvidia card. I followed these steps (if you have ATI you should not follow these steps) :
1.) sudo apt-get install nvidia-kernel-common nvidia-glx
2.) sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3.) Under the module section add this line - Load "glx" and make sure - Load "GLcore" & Load "dri" are commented out.
4.) Under the devices section add this line - Option "RenderAccel" "true"
5.) sudo apt-get install compiz xserver-xgl libgl1-mesa xserver-xorg libglitz-glx1 compiz-gnome
6.) sudo gedit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom
7.) paste the following lines :
[daemon]
[security]
[xdmcp]
[gui]
[greeter]
[chooser]
[debug]
[servers]# Override display 1 to use Xgl (DISPLAY 1 IMPORTANT FOR ATI FGLRX).
0=Xgl
[server-Xgl]
name=Xgl server
command=/usr/bin/Xgl :0 -fullscreen -ac -accel glx:pbuffer -accel xv:fbo
flexible=true
8.) sudo gedit /usr/bin/thefuture
9.) paste this :
#!/bin/bash
gnome-window-decorator & compiz –replace gconf decoration wobbly fade minimize cube rotate zoom scale move resize place switcher &
10.) save the file
11.) sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/thefuture
12.) reboot
13.) xmodmap /usr/share/xmodmap/xmodmap.us
14.) thefuture
That was it for setting up XGL and I got to play with the spinning cube (very impressive), see transparent windows (was o.k.), and see bouncing/wobbly menus (made me dizzy). Here is what Ubuntu looks like running some of the XGL Eye Candy :
Control + Alt + Left would get the desktop to spin to the next desktop which I loved. Unfortunately when you click an application, the program or its menu would wobble which made me dizzy and I found that XGL slowed my computer down to much. Therefore I disabled XGL as for now. XGL is still in alpha stage so there is quite a bit of work to do with that. Impressive technology that should be watched out for. Hopefully by the next release XGL will have progressed enough to use all the time.
Now it was time to check out the amazing Ubuntu desktop! The default brown wallpaper and orange window borders did not suit me so I changed the desktop to another wallpaper that came with the install and used Clearlooks with Blended for the window decorations.
Absolutely the desktop felt fast and responsive. The system updates that flashed on the gnome panel were useful and worked well. The adept package manager advanced quite a bit from Breezy, although I found it confusing and preferred Synaptic. With that said nothing beats apt-get via the terminal.
Some of the more impressive features of Ubuntu that I noticed were the Network Servers program under Places on the gnome menu. That application allowed me to easily browse my network through Samba and locate Windows machines on the lan. The Connect to Server application was even more impressive. I could select ftp, type in the server information along with username and password and then have it mounted as an icon on my desktop. That was neat and works well for SSH and Samba as well. Unfortunately that program does not work with NFS mounts. To mount nfs drives you should first install the proper packages :
sudo apt-get install nfs-common
then add a line to your /etc/fstab file in this syntax corresponding to your particular information :
192.168.X.X:/nfs_server_shared_root_directory/
name_of_shared_directory /Directory_on_your_local_
computer_to_mount_nfs_drive nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0
then type in :
sudo mount -a
then your nfs drives should be mounted and ready to use. Welcome to Lunapark6 lan!
From there it was time to check out the search engine known as Beagle. Note that Beagle does not come installed by default so I typed in terminal :
sudo apt-get install beagle
The Beagle search program worked flawlessly and I did not notice any lag on my computers while it was indexing my hard drives. For KDE users there is a nice KDE native frontend for Beagle called “Kerry” that you should check out. I would have preferred to have a search box somewhere on the desktop or gnome panel that would instantly make searches available from Beagle. The closest I could find was the Gnome deskbar, which you have to add manually by right clicking the gnome panel and selecting add to panel, but after typing in the search words I would then have to select the Beagle search engine. Nice anyways, but would have liked something even better integrated into Gnome next time.
With that accomplished, the next thing to do was to get the multimedia codecs installed. Due to licensing issues most Linux distributions do not have proprietary codecs like mp3 installed by default. To get the mp3 codecs installed I had to type in these command (make sure your repositories have been updated like mine - specifically adding the universe and multiverse repositories).
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-gl gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse libxine-main1 libxine-extracodecs
For the Windows Media and Real Player formats you can add those by :
wget -c ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/pool/main/w/
w32codecs/w32codecs_20050412-0.4_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i w32codecs_20050412-0.4_i386.deb
The multimedia programs available on Ubuntu are all quite impressive. Amarok 1.4 would be the highlight. Absolutely wonderful audio player, similar to iTunes but actually has more features sans the music store. Because Amarok 1.4 was released to late to be included in Dapper you can upgrade to Amarok 1.4 by this method :
*add this to your /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/amarok-14 dapper main
then in terminal type :
wget http://people.ubuntu.com/~jriddell/kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
then in terminal type :
sudo apt-key add kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
then in terminal type :
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install amarok
Some other media players to note were Banshee, if you install the Banshee DAAP plugin you can use Banshee as a frontend or backend for windows media or iTunes. Rhythmbox has progressed nicely, although simple things like album art are not included in the program as of yet. For keeping track and editing the id3 tags in your music collection Easytag worked like a champ. In the latest version found on Dapper, you can add album art into multiple songs at one time. Sweet! If you find Easytag to be cumbersome, a simpler tag editor is available called Cowbell, but that program does not work with album art as of yet.
sudo apt-get install banshee banshee-daap easytag cowbell
For playing videos and dvds VLC worked flawlessly, playing just about any file format in existence. VLC is pretty much the swiss army knife of video players and it is a must have application on any platform. VLC is the only Linux player I know of that can play ripped dvds in iso format straight from the hard drive. Mplayer, Kaffeine, Xine all are good video players available for use on Dapper as well. To install these applications type in this command at the command line :
sudo apt-get install totem-xine xine-ui mplayer vlc
For graphics Gimp, F-Spot, Digikam all worked fantastically. Google’s Picassa now runs remarkably well on Dapper as a wine port. Google’s Picassa for Linux can be downloaded here. To install F-Spot and Digikam
sudo apt-get install digikam f-spot
Gaim the instant messenger client for Gnome was a pleasure to use. There is a new plugin called “Guification” that will allow pop up messages to appear on your desktop when your contacts come online or go offline, like MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger. To use the new plugin called Guifications type in this command at the terminal :
sudo apt-get install gaim-guifications
Then start Gaim and select Tools–> Preferences–>Plugins. Enable guifications by placing a check mark next to it. Then click Plugins under the main Preferences tab in Gaim and select Guificatons. Change settings as you like then restart. Works wonderfully.
For browsing the ‘net Firefox 1.5.0.3 worked as impressive as always. Java and Flash you do have to install manually which can be done by typing this command in the terminal :
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
sudo update-flashplugin
sudo apt-get install sun-java5-bin sun-java5-plugin
If you want Adobe’s PDF reader and install the plugin for Firefox :
sudo apt-get install acroread
sudo apt-get install mozilla-acroread
sudo apt-get install acroread-plugins
Mozilla Thunderbird is not installed by default so if you wish to use that program then you can type this in the terminal :
sudo apt-get install mozilla-thunderbird
If you have a Gmail account and would like a simple but effective icon to sit on your Gnome panel to notify of you incoming messages, you definitely want to install Gmail notify.
sudo apt-get install gmail-notify
If you wish to install a firewall, one of the best on any platform is Firestarter and it is readily available from the Ubuntu repositories by typing in :
sudo apt-get install firestarter
Some of the other more notable improvements I noticed about Dapper would be the way it handled USB devices flawlessly. My Canon digital camera as well as usb thumb drives worked without any problems or user intervention. Plug it in the usb port, the devices were recognized and ready to be used. Ubuntu also mounted my windows NTFS partition automatically and allowed me to read from the drive without any problems. The screensavers were absolutely some of the best I have ever seen. Gnome 2.14 has improved so much in speed and stability that I don’t use KDE much these days. If you do prefer KDE, Kubuntu’s implementation was good and should be checked out. I was particularly impressed with the development of Xubuntu and XFCE. Xubuntu has done an amazing job with that desktop manager and if it was not for gnome I would use that as my daily desktop manager.
To sum up my experience with Ubuntu’s Dapper I will say that it is easily the most impressive Linux distribution I have used to date. The combination of speed, stability, ease of use and the excellent apt-get package manager, makes it the Linux distro to beat. The 5 years of upgrades is another incentive to try out Dapper as well. This would be the first time I would recommend a Linux distro to any computer user (including Windows users) and feel confident they would like the system, as well being able to use the system proficiently shortly after testing out the system. Excellent work Ubuntu.
Below are screenshots of my Ubuntu desktop, as well as the default desktops for Kubuntu and Xubuntu
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Comments
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what is linux???
Very useful and impressive site for noobs.
[...] http://www.lunapark6.com/?p=1235 [...]
[...] Dapper Drake, the new version of K/Ubuntu is out, and it rocks. I’ve been using the beta for awhile, & I’m very very very happy. For an interesting review that’s chock full of screenshots & useful info about software to install, check out Ubuntu Dapper Review. In particular, there’s nice info about getting the nVidia drivers installed, and even the coolest eye candy in the world, XGL. I’ll be posting more in coming days, so keep posted … & if you haven’t tried Dapper yet, go try it! [...]
Ubuntu rocks no doubt. And any sane person from nux world agrees. But there lies a major problem which ubuntu people never addressed. Number one,no distro upgradablity ie u try to upgrade breezy to dapper or edgy n it spoils the show . Number two , Apt not maintained properly, u will find so many libraies like libc6 , libqt etc which are not distro upgradable ( again upgradability issue).
Debian apt is something which rocks ( rock stable infact ).
But never the less ubuntu is the best distro. I just makes u addictive. But look into my queries ..hey Ubuntu gurus
[...] “To sum up my experience with Ubuntu â��s Dapper I will say that it is easily the most impressive Linux distribution I have used to date. The combination of speed, stability, ease of use and the excellant apt-get package manager, makes it the Linux distro to beat.”read more | digg story [...]
[...] También han hecho un lavado de cara al sitio principal de Ubuntu, aprovechando la ocasión. Si quieres más información de lo nuevo de Ubuntu, en este artículo podrás encontrarlo, así como varios pasos útiles para añadir a ésta magnifica distribucción las aplicaciones y códecs imprescindibles. (Aunque teniedo Automatix todo es más fácil) [...]
rfalrutz & Jimi: try this thread http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=148351&highlight=Xgl
Im a noob and I have been trying to switch from windows to ubuntu. I tried to instal XGL and when I rebooted my system on step 12 my system come back up with an error saying that xserver was not configured correctly. It then could not boot into the GUI and now im stuck in the command prompt. Tried to reboot and it gave me the same thing. This is the third time i have tried this and everytim i have reinstalled. (probably didnt have to but didnt know what to do) I have a gforce 4400 and was told this should work on it. I am going to reinstall now. If someone could give me some advice to install XGL and the eye candy or even better a step by step for someone with a gforce 4400for a super noob that would be so awesome.
[...] Ubuntu Dapper Review Related Entries: Ubuntu mgmt commands Unofficial Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) Starter Guide [...]
[...] Ubuntu Linux 6.06 Published June 18th, 2006 in software, linux Tags: install, kubuntu, linux, ubuntu. I had this post in the pipe since start of june when Ubunbtu Dapper 6.06 was released. It has become a very clean and user friendly linux distribution is allegedly even grandma compatible. I installed kubuntu, the ubuntu flavor with the KDE desktop, on an old AMD K3-400 with 512MB yesterday. The main purpose of that box will be playing music files so I was glad to see amarok does perfom well enough on that old piece of hardware. All in all the installation and the desktop make a mature impression. I wish there were some applications available via “add/remove programs” to easily install. If you want to check out a more detailed review of the distro head on over to lunapark6.com Technorati Tags: install, kubuntu, linux, ubuntu [...]
[...] Recenzja Ubuntu Dapper - http://lunapark6.com/?p=1235 (ang.) [...]
Noted in the review details of nvidia device configuration. Do you have similar detail for ATI technologies (i.e. eMachines AMD 3200 with and ATI Express 200).
Thanks
rfalrutz
[...] Mark Stamiatu has a comprehensive look at Ubuntu for novices. His blog is from October 2005, but much of what is there is applicable in Dapper. Lunapark posted a great article on Dapper last night, May 31, 2006, complete with screenshots. [...]
Honestly, this release is a bit of a curate’s egg. In most respects it’s a fantastic distribution which is streets ahead of the others I’ve used. But there are some pretty serious bugs in this release: the ati bug and the printer bug are, frankly, deal-breakers. Also setting up WPA on a broadcome 43xx wireless card is needlessly fiddly and difficult. I can only imagine newbies getting extremely frustrated and disillusioned.
In all, this release is a let down for me. If it’s truly ‘LTS’ then is shouldn’t contain deal-breaking bugs.
[...] Permalink (0) Hi all, Instead of posting a tute somebody has done the same in a more impressive way. Head to Lunapark6 Archive Ubuntu Dapper Review for some good screenshots alongwith the famed XGL thing. Don’t be afraid by the usage of cmd line. I’m sure somebody will wrap the whole thing in a nice interactive script with a dash of icon. I”ll be cross-posting the link to the Ubuntu 6.06 LTS thread too. [...]
I’ve been experimenting w/ Linux (various distros) for quite some time now…I’ve finally dumped my WinXp partition and have decided to go all out with Ubuntu Dapper version. Thanks for the info you’ve published here.
Looking forward to a fun and exciting new OS experience.
Milton
i really liked the installation. its really easy than any other distribution, even then i found some difficlties in the installation from the live cds. then i used the alternate cds for installing this. the problem was during partion. custom partioning was not working ans since i am using windows also with out custom partion i cant do any thing
kishor
I am really impressed with the new dapper version. I was a newbie (still am:) to linux and install breezy badger and getting everything to work was ok but still harder than windows. But with this new version everything seems to be working perfectly.
Another great plus point is how great it looks! man, the interface looks so much smoother and refined. Much better than the Breezy. All the upgrades to the programs like open office have also made a difference. Ubuntu will eventually become as easy to use as windows or even easier. I certain find it easier and much less frustrating.
Thanks for a great distro guys, hope the next one is even better.
Arun
Thanx for that nice review luna6. This is the type of review I like, you really covered up what was new and what to note from that distro.
You made me want to try it. I downloaded Suse some days ago but I wanted to try Ubuntu first. I must say I love it! I come from ArchLinux, I use Gentoo at work, was initiated to linux with Fedora Core 2, Mandrake and Suse 9.2. Ubuntu really impress me. Xgl works, but not with your instructions. I recommend reading the Wiki for Xgl : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CompositeManager/Xgl It says how to install Xgl as an option for GDM, that way it is possible just to try it without screwing a working installation. Xgl works ok here, just a bit slow.
My laptop (Dell Inspiron 8500) is now able to suspend/hibernate. Please visit again the wiki for this : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SuspendHowto and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NvidiaLaptopBinaryDriverSuspend
Thanx again!
I found that the liveCD ubuntu 6 trashed my grub boot loader. Grub error 17.
I was more or less forced to install Dapper as the only way to get my Sony Vaio PCG-R600 back. Lost access to XP and suse 10.1 as the existing grub boot loader would not run. However I like most of the Dapper distro and will overwrite my troublesome and highly modified Suse installation.
Love this guide. Happy to say that I have Ubuntu and XGL running like a dream :-)
JARROD:
This may be of some help: http://www.nvu.com/index.php I use it on some sites.
To turn off that wobbly effect, you can use the command “gconf-editor”. Select apps->compiz and there you can find the configuration settings for all the plugins that use Xgl, including the wobble effect.
I have used Ubuntu off and on for a year. I finally dedicated a machine to Ubuntu. It is only an AMD 1.8 duron with 756mb ram and 250 gig hard drive. I was going to just use it for a media pc/pvr. I have been frustrated with windows forever but had never found a solution that could replace it. I just have to find a program to replace dreamweaver and we are good to go. I upgraded by changing all references to dapper in the repos. I can say that the upgrade impressed me. It worked flawlessly. I am considering upgrading my computer to a faster machine but either way it was a great upgrade and for now saved me some money on buying a new system. I can now buy that 42″ plasma I have been struggling with getting cause I needed a new comp.
I’ve been using Ubuntu for a little over a year, and I prefer the Gnome desktop to KDE (don’t know about others atm), but with Breezy, there is still a ways to go before a seasoned Windows-only user would be able to do everything they expect to do with ease.
I’m about a day away from upgrading to Dapper, and I’m hoping some of the bugs are cleared up. By bugs, I mean things like mount points not staying set when I add them in the disks manager.
I would assume that, since you are able to set up mount points there, they should remain intact unless you change them, but so far that has not been the case; when the system is restarted, they will disappear. With Breezy, I have to add the proper entires in /etc/fstab if I want them to remain after a reboot (unless it’s a USB device, which is nicely automted).
Another problem I’ve been extremely annoyed with: Often, when trying to copy text in a browser, a drag-drop will initiate, and the small bracket-type icon shows up, and then the entire system freezes up for 30 seconds to 20 minutes (how long this lasts depends on the resource usage at the time). While this problem is active, I can move the cursor, and the animated parts of the desktop still move (like the resource meter and the clock), but nothing on the screen is cickable for the entire period. Keyboard shortcuts also do not work, although I can alt-shift-# out to another terminal if I get tired of waiting, and just pkill the offending application.
Wow, thanks for all the helpful install commands. I am using dapper right now - my first time using linux! - and it helped a lot. Thanks again.
I had Breezy installed, and it was more or less OK (except for wireless). I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro; after some configuration, 3d acceleration was working, although a little slow for my system. Sound worked as well; I have a 5.1 system and all channels worked.
But after upgrading to Dapper, sound is broken. I can perform a sound test from System, Preferences, Multimedia System Selector (I have ALSA selected) and the test sound plays. But no other sound does. I’m a little disappointed that the upgrade process didn’t work properly; I’ll have to install Dapper from scratch.
I installed Ubuntu 6.06 to my IBM Thinkpad R50E just yesterday.
For the first time in 6 years time (multiple laptops guys, thanks for asking), linux will not be replaced by me again with Windows. I have installed linux variants (redhat, suse, mandrake/mandriva, gentoo, you name it(, I tried it on both laptops and desktops Hell, I just installed Ubuntu 5.10 two weeks ago on this thing and I scrapped it again. But not this time.
Why?
After the basic install, it detected everything, even the special keys like the keyboard light, sound, wireless, etc. On my last windows xp install, even with the thinkpad drivers from lenovo and/or ibm, i just couldnt get the keyboard light to work! (I dont use it much, but miss it when it doesn’t work).
As soon as I figure out pimsyncing with a windows mobile device, there goes the desktop. And I might even kick the windows 2003 server I use after I succeed on the desktop.
Vista is nice. But Vista won’t run too nice on any of my machines. I know. I tried it a few times allready with different alpha/beta releases.
There you go, my first Linux post ever.
I must say, I’ve tried a couple other distro’s and I alwasy reverted back to Windows because it was so time-consuming to get the whole system set up. But with Ubuntu Dapper Drake (being the first time I tried it), I was very impressed that everything worked, my soundcard (M-Audio Revolution 7.1; I had sooo much trouble getting stereo sound out of Fedora), and as an added bonus, all my ntfs drives were mounted. No more adding lines in some fstab or whatever it was. I really had to labour with getting my ntfs drives mounted in other distro’s. The GUI package manager was very easy to use. Aside from getting Nvidia drivers set up, which your review guided me through (even then it was very easy), installation was very smooth. I think I’m gonna try and phase in more time with this OS.
Dude… thank you so much for publishing this. You REALLY helped with getting my Dapper up and running smoothly.
Thanks again,
L.
Crafter instead of downloading the iso and upgrading that way, why not just upgrade through apt-get? (Change all references of Breezy to Dapper in your sources.list) then update and then upgrade. Easier I think.
Last time I tried to upgrade to Breezy Badger, I was so frustrated that I backed up and re-installed. Hope the ‘upgrade’ in the installer is a breeze.
Ubuntu, Simply Superior.
How do you get transparency working in XGL?
I’m using a high end laptop which has absolutely no trouble ripping up xgl as far as cpu/gpu/memory issues go. So it’s not a hardware issue.
- my card is nvidia,
- i’ve set up xgl/compiz from the official nvidia thread (the same in this guide),
- transparency does not work for me…
Please tell.
-suma
Kosksun,
I’m using a Dell 1150 I used this link to get wireless working:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1071920&mode=linear
Hope this helps.
I am a noob in OS’s but I know for sure that if this OS caters for gamers from start Xp or vista will be in trouble.
I think it is a great OS from the look of it but seriously most of the people love to game on it. Especially with keyboard and mouse! and now most still DX 10 is only for Vista only. If this new OS can run faster than vista in terms of gaming 50% of the battle won. Because most kids use computers today that real adults. (kids=Adults that can’t grow up in their head :) )
Hehehe my 2 cents worth
Well, i have also tried several distros and i would not give up Ubuntu for any of them (hapy user since hoary). Ubuntu’s coolness is so great that it dampens all the problems i have had so far to the level that i simply don’t care about them. Ubunutu is the coolest distro for desktop usage. period.
BUT
That can’t be said for programming.
For example, out-of-the box ubuntu does not have make. Well, i have been solving a problem for 2 days (installing something) and i did not check this possibility because i have thought every decent linux distro has make, right? Wrong.
Installing Ruby on Rails for example seems to be an untrivial task, too - my blog entry entitled ‘Getting Ruby on Rails up and running on Ubuntu Dapper’ is the most popular one… and i could mention other development-tool installation woes.
Of course i think this is more or less OK since Ubuntu wants to be a desktop linux (?) and not a hardcore distro aimed at geek developers who want to tweak everything imaginable… (for this there is gentoo).
I did not say Ubuntu is not suited for development - but if you would like to use it for that purpose, you have to install some additional packages in the beginning to save you from some serious head-scratching.
Out of all the linux distro’s I have come across Ubuntu is certainly one of the best and definately has alot of potential over other distro’s around. I will say I wouldn’t mind that spinning cube effect on OSX when switching virtual desktop. There are a few that do the Cube transition effect but they dont allow you to drop windows across the cube with the same effect.
Interesting; the well thought out comments were good to read, the negative comments were par for the course. I am a Windows user; I have never had a virus and I have been on the job as a windows software developer for 16 years. I routinely back up my system. I like unix type systems because I think they are a neat hobbyist adventure. I don’t really care to surf the web and I think it is a gratuitous waste of time (I would rather waste my time gaming) but two comments really stick out. One comment that really sticks is that until my games go to that platform I am not about to waste $2500 worth of my gaming rig on a quest to relearn how to use unix from back in the 90’s when I sys admined a SGI Irix and Indigo box. It was fun and all mounting drives, playing with shell scripting and cron, but once the system was all set up and working I really didn’t have much more need of it because it did its tasks well and that was all it was for. The second comment is that I would be lost if I tried to save my XP from the command prompt. I don’t like how complex the system is; especially whats buried under the hood that I don’t know about. At least with unix you get a pretty good contract that lets you know what you have and what you don’t have; I think the manual installation of all the packages is a testimony to that fact; whether end users like it or not there is a lot of money to be made providing this service for Jane and Dick, who spend the same monies getting their computer fixed because they like to watch porn viruses.
Ok, new to linux, and I wanted to give this a shot on my laptop, well it didn’t like the network, either onboard or the wireless nic, nor did it like the onboard graphics.
Dell Inspiron 1100.
Any thoughts suggestions on where to get onboard intel nic and video drivers that work?
With all of the bickering going on between which is easier to install and use, you’d think that we have returned to kindergarden for the umpteenth time. Every time I see a news article regarding a new version of windows or a new distro of unix, the “fan boys” seem to come out of the wood-work. While I have used both windows and various flavors of unix over the years, I have found that both have their ups and downs (which I’ll not go into detail). My only valid point is that when unix supports the vast majority of my games in all their glory (all options enabled, greater than 1080*768, 30+fps), you will have a convert.
A few bugs, nothing major.
I just installed it on a P-4 2.2 with 1 GB RAM and it was so much easier than any of the 20-30 XP installs I’ve done. This is my first look at Linux and I’m really impressed by how nice it is. I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions, but this is going to be fun! I can see my whole evening will be spend here playing with it :o)
Jerry,
I feel bad for you man. No Anti spyware in window?! “Light weight” antivirus?!? It still requires reading the file twice, once to scan for the hidden virus in it and once to acually load the program! That would be scary if it did not do the checks first. 2Gigs of ram in windows XP is like putting 512megs of ram on 95 or 98, 95 wont use it and 98 wont do anything with it. Sure XP can see it, sure it might seem like it puts it to use but I will tell you what, it will suck that swap file to nothing long before it start to really use that 2gigs of ram of yours. Jerry, seriously..
Have you ever tried to fix a windows box from command prompt? The GUI wont do you any good when your ntldr goes awall and you have to restore it from command prompt. Have you ever tried to restore an Active Directory user from a backup? Thats more commands to restore one user than I type in linux in a 3 month period of time. Heck you just prey that chkdsk in the recovery console will fix your drive problem and restore some files that got corrupted from the last reboot since you have no inet access or proper programs to be able to even start to attempt to restore your computer to something that is concidered a working machine just to backup your files to a disk so you can format for the 4th time in the last 2 months. All bacuse of a network based virus that is going around that infects your computer remotely and you have no control over it. As a friend of mine use to say “Thats what I call quaility.” :)
I wish all new draper users the best of luck! I will be upgrading shortly, and for all the windows users here…. Well I wish you the best of luck as well. Just remember us when you are fighting off spyware or some other terminal illness on your computer. Trust us, we will remember you with all of our free time we have.
hooch Says:
man linux rocks the world.XP IS GAY. But i want to try VISTA
If XP is GAY, then VISTA is the DRAG QUEEN of OSs that makes MacOS look restrained.
Andrew Says:
And it’s asking a lot for her to learn how to use a unixy text editor, and then find and access the xorg.conf file.) It may seem like these kinds of rants appear often. But in my opinion, they don’t happen often enough.
mirod Says:
I was getting nowhere with the official Ubuntu packages (in upgraded Breezy Badger), and your instructions got me up and running with my dual-screen system in no time.
Isn’t this why Linux will probably never be mainstream? Not only is it potentially confusing, but that it has a perception of being difficult.
For example, the reviewer had to install codecs to play MP3s and DVDs etc. I mean, how on earth are you even supposed to explain what a codec is to an average user who is used to buying a Dell PC where everything more or less works?
The tragedy with Linux is that no matter how good it is it cannot compete with Windows or even MacOS because it isn’t marketed well. Many Linux fans are comfortable with the idea of tracking down packages and dependencies etc., but nobody else is. MacOS is probably the easiest desktop to use, yet it has a woeful market share. Not because it’s necessarily bad, but because people know Windows and are comfortable with it.
The sad fact is most people don’t really want innovation in my experience, they want their stuff to work the same way it always has. Even moving the “start” button, or its analog in Linux, is enough to put people off. As good as Ubuntu is it will never move beyond its hobbyist market share. Which is a shame.
As for the “ease” of the terminal, who are you kidding? One spelling mistake and it fails. It is this purist approach to desktop computer usage that keeps people thinking of Linux systems as stuck in the 1970’s. It is also this perception within the Linux community, that the rest of us are too lazy or stupid to learn it, that will prevent mainstream uptake. People aren’t interested in typing into little windows. They want to double-click and forget about it. At most tick a few options in a well thought out dialogue box.
Although much of what the reviewer did can be done using GUI equivalents it’s interesting to note he chose to show off Ubuntu’s impressive capabilities using the command line. This seems to be at the center of Linux’s problem wwith mainstream perception - it’s a well thought-out OS that will never get beyond the already-converted and a few curious Windows users.
man linux rocks the world.XP IS GAY. But i want to try VISTA
whoever wrote that first review is a fool. “safe email client” “safe web browser”. Sounds like you use windows. I’m just gonna let you know, there have been literally NO virus outbreaks on linux! Linux (maybe with exception of webservers) general dont need anti virus. Windows Vista’s security set up is going ten steps to far and doing anything (especially installing apps over the web) will involve entering your password like abillion times. I don’t take kindly to windows trusted computing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_computing). Also from what I hear, using the “version manager” or whatever Microsuck will call it, is confusing and near impossible (oh wait, I just described the entire os!). As for your wonderful apps, have fun paying for them, there’s an open source app for everything! Your sarcastic and misleading comments are unwelcome.
rickdt,
Your 60 minute installation of an OS sounds fantastic. I assume you didn’t need to reboot your PC whilst installing those 52 updates?
Did your OS installation include sufficient antivirus & spyware protection? An office suite? Capability to read pdf files? A safe internet browser? Safe email client? Decent CD & DVD recorder? Sound Editor? All that in 60 minutes? Linux is way better than that - you should try it. ;-)
I’ve done 10-20 windows installations; I was happy iwth none of them before 2.5 hours of installation.
And when Windows Vista comes out, will you be able to just type “dist-upgrade” and watch it magically convert your windows XP into windows vista without messing up your whole installation and having to start again?
I’ll be surfing porn or getting some work done whilst you’re installing useful applications.
I love it when I use apt-get dist-upgrade to upgrade to the next Ubuntu distro and when I reboot the X conf is all fucked up! Just gotta love it!
@wrathernaut
yeah, wtf IS up with that?
I noticed in the image preceding this article there is an icon for Internet Explorer. How did that get there? Wine?
There’s an even bigger difference in speed if you bother to recompile all of those sources and set a few gcc flags before going to bed some eve; a large enough difference that offering precompiled binaries for every arch is a waste of a distro’s time. Let the ubuntu group concentrate on continuing to deliver the enterprise level features, ergonomics, support, and installation that are making them into a leader rather than wasting human capital on something the already converted can do while they sleep.
All I do is stick in my windows xp pro cd, boot to cd, run set up, follow onscreen instructions, in about 30min my machine is up and running, all devices drivered. Plug in my cable modem surf to windows update, install 52 updates. Next i go to my d drive and install the lastest nvidia drivers that I have stored on it. I’m done, about 1 hr of my time and I’m back up and running. Install all my games and play.
Why all this typing in crap at a command promt to get you OS installed????
My system specs: (I built my own) amd 3000+ 64bit, 2 gigs ram, MSI 7600gt, MSI neo4/sli board,
Never have a problem with XP.
Have fun setting up linux, I will be playing my games while waiting for you to finish setting up linux.
Yes, vesa in 16 colors? And no soundcard or stuff like that?
With XP released 6 years ago (or more), it’s hard to support the latest hardware. Nothing they can do about (well, you can by a SP2, but you’ll be confronted with the same pb sooner than later). What makes Linux so fast to install (30min if the PC is slow, 20 if it’s fast) is that you can pick the latest version of your favorite distro and most often everything is on the CD. If it’s not, synaptic is far friendlier than having to look for drivers yourself.
> I have built several computers
I’ve installed/repaired more than several computers for friends, and more often than not XP doesn’t recognise one or 2 pieces of hw. And 640×480 isn’t great, esp with 16 colors.
The point is not bashing XP (no need) it’s just bashing a troll that doesn’t understand you can’t really support on install some hw that got drivers done after you developped the install CD. It’s just that (from experience) it’s easier with a Linux distro than with a XP cd (XP takes at least one afternoon when you install it for someone - drivers is a pain, esp when you have to open the PC to get the name of the video card or anything else. Faster to boot a Linux Live cd and get the names from the OS. Then comes the long wait to get all the updates. Then some decent antivirus and software…).
I can let newbies install Ubuntu. Sadly I can’t get them to install XP themselves. So now I just don’t support it anymore, and saves a lot of time (as I say, I don’t mind spending 20 min in front of a computer)
>Little boy, did you ever try to install WindowsXP on a recent PC with the same graphic cards?
I am not sure what you think Windows XP is, but I have built several computers, all of them have had windows XP and nVidia graphics cards. I have had 0 problems to date getting them installed. Windows uses it’s graphics drivers until you install your own. Both work fine.
What’s with the internet explorer icon on the desktop?
>So yeah, Linux is far better at that and easier for the “masses to adopt it”. Not to say it’s far faster to install the only piece of hardware that isn’t supported out of the box.
Thats a good point. I never really realised that Linux now seems to have better out of the box compatibility for a lot of hardware these days :).
Oh, and also… I have a 6600GT and it works fine out of the box for me anyway. Works fine on all distros I have tried recently (Fedora Core 5, Suse 10.1, Ubuntu 6.06)
>Yeah, linux is great … so great that it can’t properly detect and install the right drivers for the ubiquitous 6600GT.
Little boy, did you ever try to install WindowsXP on a recent PC with the same graphic cards? Well, you just won’t notice it as much as a pain because that will only
be one of the many drivers you’ll have to look for and install (oh, and it won’t even help you by telling you what’s the name or the brand of the hw you’re looking a driver for. I can’t count the times it’s reported a different name/brand than what was the real graphic card… Great for the “masses”). If you’re lucky, it won’t even recognise your ethernet card or your modem.
So yeah, Linux is far better at that and easier for the “masses to adopt it”. Not to say it’s far faster to install the only piece of hardware that isn’t supported out of the box.
Jerry:
That’s cool, I’m the same as you. Only older. So I would never, ever consider using any form of graphical user interface. They are so lame, it’s just like the big toggle switches I used to have to use to program the drum SEL machine I cut my teeth on - lots of muscle movement and unscriptable flailing for little effect. Command lines are such a gigantic improvement in speed and efficiency! I switched over in 1972 and I won’t go back to clumsy non-textual interfaces, ever! I run Ubuntu in *pure text mode* only (works just fine) and most of my commands are in the 120 character + range (yay, grep gawk and sed!). I browse the internet with curl and wget, and netcat piped to gawk which works absolutely great! Soon, Microsoft will release their new version of windows with a text CLI (playing catch-up to Apple, as usual) and I’ll finally be able to use windows like a Real Man, too!
Qua-sar:
Part of what Ubuntu is about is accessibility and community. If you need i586 or i686 packages, you can make them with the i386 package, but you can’t do it the other way round if you’ve only got an i386. That being said, I’m sure you could start a project to build ISO images of an i686 ubuntu for those of us with fast machines - go for it!
Thank you so much.
I was getting nowhere with the official Ubuntu packages (in upgraded Breezy Badger), and your instructions got me up and running with my dual-screen system in no time.
So thanks to you, instead of complaining that the install did not work and that (slightly) exotic video configs are Hell to install in Linux, I am reading your nice review of Dapper, and happily typing this.
Nice!
The video cards in both of my desktops uses Nvidia’s 6600 GT video chips and Ubuntu messes up the initial installation of nvidia drivers (as with every other distro I have tried). Since I seem to have this problem with every installation, it has become an easy routine to fix. After installation was complete I was greeted to the nice GDM login manager. After I logged in with my username and password the screen was mixed up with fragments of the gdm login mixed in with the ubuntu desktop. No big deal to fix though.
*******************************
Yeah, linux is great … so great that it can’t properly detect and install the right drivers for the ubiquitous 6600GT. This stuff just needs to work if you want the masses to adopt it.
Very useful.
Ubuntu is one of the best distro, the only question is why do they stick to i386 CPU. Honestly, who is using it anymore??? SuSE and a few other switched to 586 - probably they checked out the market. Yeah, I can change the kernel to whatever very easily ( or even compile my own in 50 minutes) but kernel is only one app running, Gnome/KDE is taking at least 50% of CPU time and recompiling the desktop takes several hours!!! May I just suggest that besides the i386 packages there should be available i586 and perhaps i686 packages :). Believe me, there is a difference in speed…
“your mums computer probably lacks 6600s, so it will install fine”
not everyone gives a shit to the latest pricey gaming-geared parafernalia. Your computer will not slow down for running an older 3D card which just yesterday was running CounterStrike just fine. In fact, 3D cards are not even much use for a predominantely 2D desktop, irrelevant rotating and spinning screens aside which really add nothing to functionality.
The version of Synaptic in Dapper includes a nice feature for dial-up users, or users with expensive internet conections.
Mark all the packages you want to install,then choose “Create script for packages to download” (or similar, as I’m not using an english desktop) in Synaptic.
It creates a script. Copy the script to an usb, floppy, etc., and run it in any unix-based OS. If you want to run it in windows or MacOS, also download wget for those operating systems, and include it in your usb. In windows, give the script a .bat extension. The script will fetche those marked packages and any dependencies you may need.
Then take the resulting .deb packages back to your computer, and you can add them again into synaptic (in the File menu), or just do ’sudo dpkg -i *.deb’.
[...] Wha? Yeah, funny name, but apparently a great Linux OS. Lunapark 6 posts a nice review. [...]
[...] Recenzja Ubuntu Dapper Drake (tuż przed wydaniem) [...]
[...] [...]
please don’t use automatix. It messes up your system. It is not safe to use. If you want to use something similar use EasyUbuntu like someone else pointed out.
Better yet follow documentation on http://help.ubuntu.com
I have been running Ubuntu for about a year and have run the unstable Dapper for sometime. I just want to say that after using Ubuntu I will never go back to windows ever again. With dapper and its improved eye candy and stability why would I?
The only thing I have had a problem with is getting my nvidia video out to work properly, and wish someone would make a graphical set up tool for this as editing CFG files just a pain, especially when you have tried everything stated in all the forums.
Apart from that and the odd help I need to install stuff like a scanner, I am happy as punch!
[...] Lunapark6 » Archive » Ubuntu Dapper Review (tags: linux ubuntu review tutorial install guide) [...]
@ andrew.
if you use a new card (6600s for example), you will have problems. its a pity it doesnt fail over to vesa and keep going, but thats the way it is. your mums computer probably lacks 6600s, so it will install fine.
RE automatix:
afaik, there will be no automatix for dapper, as arniboy gave up the project (last i heard).
try http://doc.ubuntu.com or EasyUbuntu :)
kk
> I don’t know if developers read these forums, but the point of my > post was to make a request and offer some feedback.
I finally visited lunapark6.com. Oops. Oh well. Ha ha. Maybee they do, who knows. Cool movie reviews, by the way!
Steve Jesus Says:
> Andrew,
> You are spewing rhetoric.
I don’t know if developers read these forums, but the point of my post was to make a request and offer some feedback regarding my own experience with linux (from the distant past). I think it’s actually pretty common for people to give up linux specifically because of trouble getting video to work (as Alex just pointed out). I didn’t know about automatix, but it sounds like when it comes out, this might solve exactly the issues I was complaining about (assuming you have access to the internet). That’s really very encouraging.
I have been testing out edubuntu for about a month now, which is based on Dapper, and all I can say is WOW!
Setup was easy, updates were great. The look and feel are fantastic. Everything is very clean and intuitive.
Slight issue with my WiFi card, the default drivers didn’t work. Of course all I had to do was switch over to an older verion of the driver, which came with the default install, and I was up and running.
Looking forward to good times with Dapper!
I believe Automatix only works with Breezy Badger for the moment. I would assume that there will be a Dapper version soon enough though.
For those who are concerned about the command line, consider this: it is much easier to tell a person “type this” than it is to tell them to “click on this, then this, then search for this, then …”. The command line is invaluable for support.
I am really looking forward to trying out Ubuntu 6.04 as soon as I can.
However I do have a few concerns about its applicability to a home computer. While it is really easy to install anything you want if you have an internet connection - what about those who are on dial-up, have download limits or have nothing at all? Without that critical parts of the OS (Java or Nvidia drivers for example) are a challenge to get and install as you can’t use apt-get as far as I know. I’m a little bit surprised there is no mention of Automatix on here as I think it does most of the things mentioned in the review automatically.
I’m also wondering how well it will work with wireless and the like but I guess we’ll see that.
I agree that you can’t expect any new person to use the command line ever, and it’s great that there are graphical interfaces. I just hope there is a sufficient FAQ on the disk to induct a new person into using it.
Anyway, here’s to DD and looking forward to Edgy!
Steve Jesus…you have me cracking up! Thanks for this review as well, it will help me out when I install Ubuntu tomorrow. I use Windows, but want to give Linux a spin.
Andrew,
You are spewing rhetoric. Raise your hand class if you haven’t helped you mom install Windows. If your mother were to install Windows from a Retail CD, what is she gonna do when That 5 year old XP CD can’t cough up a driver for her video or network card because her hardware is from 2003, not 2001. She rollin’ at 640×480 with no bits. And her sound may not even work. That doesn’t happen often in Linux.
Excelente esta revisión de Ubuntu. Ayuda a personalizar la distribución y orienta a los usuarios en la selección de paquetes que no se instalan automáticamente.
> “The video cards in both of my desktops uses Nvidia’s 6600 GT
> video chips and Ubuntu messes up the initial installation of
> nvidia drivers (as with every other distro I have tried).”
That’s is very dissappointing. I can say that in the past video driver problems have repeatedly been the largest roadblock I encounter when installing linux.
> “All I had to do was edit the xorg.conf found in /etc/X11
> and change the driver from nvidia to vesa.”
Okay, this is reasonable for me. But what about my mom? (Actually I still have -horrible- memories of playing around with my “xf86config” file, and selecting “vesa”, …to no avail.) This has to change. There’s no valid excuse to require most people to edit xorg.conf.
Incidentally, most of the people I know use either Nvidia or an ATI graphics cards. These are popular cards. I admit I am ignorant as to the technical, legal, or ideological issues that may be at play here. But I don’t understand why distribution vendors have the appearance of not being concerned about this issue.
Video is a deal-breaker for most of us. Most other installation issues can be fixed later. Without some kind of functional svga video, it’s tricky to get on the internet and look for help. (I know for a fact, my mom, for example, doesn’t know about lynx. And it’s asking a lot for her to learn how to use a unixy text editor, and then find and access the xorg.conf file.) It may seem like these kinds of rants appear often. But in my opinion, they don’t happen often enough. I really I hope that one day the linux community can resolve these issues without compromising its goals. That said, I am very happy and excited about the release of dapper drake.
Jerry, it’s been stated several times that you don’t have to use the command line in order to use the OS. Please re-read.
I’ve been a Windows user all my life, but after reading this review, I’m seriously, SERIOUSLY considering switching.
Actually, when I started using Linux about 3 years ago, I steered clear of the CLI whenever possible… no it is my best friend. I achieve so much in so little time. Don’t get me wrong though… I’ll still be using Amarok or mpg123, and KMail over Mutt.
Honestly though, let’s not argue. I read an article on Slashdot a couple of months ago that said what is hurting mainstream adoption of Linux more than anything are Linux nazis who are bound to make thier point whether you want it or not. We are all speaking above common Windows folk. They don’t grok it because they don;t care. It really just needs to be sold to them properly, and word-of-mouth from the general Linux community easily becomes foot-in-mouth.
So to sum it up, yes I think Linux is better (for me) and most of you here probably feel the same way. So who cares if Jerry wants to pop his head in just to let the world know he won’t use Linux.
No one is reading this except for Linux geeks and Jerry …bored with Tom’s Hardware I suppose. So do we all want to make ourselves look like idiots, or just let Jerry continue to be the one he already is.
Tommorrow is going to be a beautiful day.
We will all have the real deal 6.06, and I might even cry when I install it because I see a future that I don’t want the rest of you to screw up.
Steve Jesus.
Another Windows vs. Linux argument
Personally I love them.
My guess is that 90% of the world (OK I’ll pretend people are educated, 70%) uses windows b/c it comes preinstalled on their computer. It also works (w/o any effort on the users part) for everyday things (If you don’t do anthing interesting w/ a computer, the computer won’t do interesting things to you). I doubt a lot of people care what their OS is, just that it works.
My two favorite parts of linux are the fact that I feel powerful and the terminal. Fortunately, I also happen to enjoy spending three hours fixing something that just works on windows. Unfortunately a lot of medium level interesting software doesn’t run on it. It can also scare you more than Windows can (rm -rf * [enter] “oops wrong directory…”).
My favorite parts of Windows are the fact that I know how to use it and that all but the most some of the most interesting software runs on it. For the record, the last time Windows crashed on me, I was abusing it. Oh! and there’s no 64 bit compiler (I have an AMD64). It also frustrates me sometimes.
Conclusion: Ubuntu (or any distro that tries to work w/o asking questions) + wine (the nonexistent version that can run any windows program w/ no questions asked) = best “average user” operating system
I think it’s great that you included the commands for fixing the problems you ran into.
I have tried linux before, but was not able to get the nvidia drivers to correctly work. With this reveiw and console commands I may have to give linux a 2nd chance.
No, I don’t use the command line on Windows, and I won’t leave Windows for Linux to use a command line. No way.
Mic,
Try the Ubuntu Live CD to check your USB wireless. I use a Netgear USB and Ubuntu detected it automatically. This is the first Linux distribution I’ve tried that I did not have to use ndiswrapper. Ubuntu even detected all my printers and scanners and had drivers for them. No other distribution, not even the vaunted SuSE 10.1 or Windows XP, has been as easy to use. Or as fast. Ubuntu may just be the best Linux distro ever.
Jerry,
You don’t have to type anything in Windows? Ever run msconfig? Have you ever edited the registry to stop that annoying MS gremlin, MSN Messenger, from popping into your sys tray every time you tinker with OE or IE? How do you think this is done? CLI. Ever used AutoCAD, Jer? Works only on Windows and has LOTS of commands for its CLI. Windows just likes to hide theirs as most users don’t know what to do with it or understand why it’s there.
Makyver,
Stop spreading MS FUD. You sound like Bill Gates. It’s not just a numbers game, the Linux hierarchy and file system requires a root password for administrator rights to mess with the critical stuff. That adds a level of security most Windows users are ignorant of. Granted, you have to type it into a CLI, but you’re gonna have to do something similar in Vista.
It seems a lot of people are whining about the command line. The lack of a powerful command shell is one of the things that drove me away from Windows. Once you learn how to use it, you will quickly tire of navigating menus and clicking through numerous dialog boxes. It becomes much easier to just type a few commands and be done.
[...] http://lunapark6.com/?p=1235 [...]
Don’t underestimate the simplicity of windows. The command line is extremely offputting for new users, and, reguardless of whether or not you need to use it to gain full/extra functionality, it is a major reason why linux has a very small desktop market share.
That and hardware compatibilty issues, proprietry liscencing issues, software patents, lack of third-party software, lack of marketing…
Jerry,
You can use Linux without using the command line. The real benefit to a *nix system is that if you have an issue the fix is not hidden from you. However, if you are a user who is not technically able to take advantage of that fact you still are no worse off than you are with Windows.
If you want a proprietary OS I would suggest Mac OS over Windows.
John
“Jerry Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Come on, look at all these things that you typed on your terminal, it’s fine for developpers, but it’s more than complicated! I never saw such in Windows! ”
The majority of the commands he used in his review are apt-get. If typing sudo apt-get install “application” is too much to type, the same result can be acheived by going to main menu(like the start button)/administration/synaptic package manager. It’s a simple, easy to use interface to obtain any free software you could imagine. However, the list of avaialable packages is quite extensive and, for the developers and non-developers, typing a command in a console when you know the name of what you’re looking for actually saves more time than browsing through a list of 1000’s of programs, plugins, etc…
Macyver …I agreed with most of what you said except some of this : Now, sorry guys but I’m going to have to play devil for a sec … the reason that GNU/Linux is so secure is that the Desktop is still majority controlled by MS and if your a theif who are you going to target, 2 million users (what ever the number is on linux these days) or 2 billion ( same here I don’t remeber right now) … If your playing the numbers you crack MS … it’s a better chance your code will spread farther …
On the webhosting front Apache running off Linux is more prevalanet than anything running Microsoft. Incentive for a thief would be to go after those, unless it was be damn difficult to break into. Of course security breaches occur but I would venture to say that the majority of those are from mismanagement on the human side. Anyways even if Linux had equal marketshare with XP, Linux is far more secure. My two cents.
“Jerry Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Come on, look at all these things that you typed on your terminal, it’s fine for developpers, but it’s more than complicated! I never saw such in Windows! ”
Huh!?!?!? You’ve never had to edit a Windows Registry, try to manaually register a DLL, or recover from a blue screen of death in safe mode?
Please! Windows has its major holes and pit falls also.
Jerry, for people who are familiar to command line, it’s easier than navigating through various menus. Ubuntu is just as user friendly as Windows and doesn’t require that use the terminal at all. I’m still a relatively new user to Linux. After frustrating attempts in the past with Mandrake and Fedora, I can honestly vouch for Ubuntu’s ease of use and versatility.
Ok guys … stop with the windows is better cause it doesn’t have a command line … if you don’t want a command line don’t use the command line you can do all of this from a gui they are there.
Second … there isn’t a single command in Windows to update/install all new versions of everything so if you want the updates in technology and security … don’t use windows.
Now, sorry guys but I’m going to have to play devil for a sec … the reason that GNU/Linux is so secure is that the Desktop is still majority controlled by MS and if your a theif who are you going to target, 2 million users (what ever the number is on linux these days) or 2 billion ( same here I don’t remeber right now) … If your playing the numbers you crack MS … it’s a better chance your code will spread farther …
Makyver
Keep in mind most of these command-line actions provide functionality not present in Windows.
For an ordinary users, Ubuntu or SUSE or Fedora can be used with little to no command line usage, like Windows.
To truly customize it, and use it to its fullest potential, then the command-line is useful, also like Windows.
Also - enterprise grade hardware, such as any Cisco switch/router, is configured with a far more obscure command line… so this is definately not an “old” technology. Rather, it’s clean and efficient, without the bugs and performance hits from a GUI.
You don’t actually have to type any of those commands; it can all be down with the GUI (i.e Synaptic).
Most of the packages mentioned can be installed via Synaptic which is a GUI frontend available for apt under System-> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. There is also no need to edit your sources.list from the CLI; if you’re really hung up on a GUI you just add them from within Synaptic by going to Settings->Repositories.
One thing to keep in mind; the reviewer is installing additional applications that are not part of the distribution… it’s not suprising that some of it requires a little bit of prior experience with linux/ubuntu to be able to install them, they’re not offically supported.
Mic:
Ubuntu is rather good at detecting and using any kind of internet device during installation, which sets it up for use after the OS is on the disk. I’ve never personally tried it with the USB interface you mentioned, but I’m pretty sure it would work.
Cheers!
Jerry, what does a copy of Windows XP cost? Windows Office? And what does Ubuntu cost? Those lines of code, would it be worth $350-$400 of your time to type those? I don’t use Ubuntu but last time I checked, it was free.
Ok, but I don’t use Norton antivirus, I don’t use any anti-spyware. I only antivirus I use is NOD32 which is very light-weight, and I don’t have problems with running heavy software as I have 2GB RAM and an Athlon64. Frankly, I will never, ever use Linux unless I don’t have to type a command line, even it looks simple for its originators. Having to type a command line a like 20 years back in the past. Doesn’t make sense to me at all.
Also while your brand new windows computer is starting to feel like a old 486 computer because your virus scanner, anti-spyware program, security programs like norton are all running in the background…in linux you dont have to run any of that. Also while your internet connection seems so slow because your compute