TBF Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 (edited) I have been screwing around with Linux stuff for the past few months, and have found quite a few distro's ( thats what different versions of Linux are called ) that have made me cuss , given me headaches , and generally been a pain in the A$$ and a waste of time . Ubuntu started to look good , and then not so good when when I realized there was alot of stuff missing that had to be installed , and was not immediately available in one place . http://www.getautomatix.com/ Problem solved . Even a computer idiot like me can make this work . If you are looking for an easy operating system that actually works , this might be worth a look. BTW : IT'S ALL FREE ! Travis F. Edited November 12, 2006 by TBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Linux IS a pain, and is not for the faint at heart. Truth be told, I think linux really was written by people who miss IBM 3270 green screen consoles, which I must admit I'm one of them. I've never found a linux distribution that didn't work; you just have to know what you're doing (no offense intended) to beat it into submission to make it work, and you usually need to know a lot of arcane console commands, hence the reference to text-based consoles. It's getting better, but if you've found one that works for you, congratulations and go with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Heiter Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 (edited) I'm with Bill. I am a huge Linux fan but I stay away from it as a desktop OS. In the last 15 years of IT work, I can't tell you how many really bright techno-savy guys I've watched take their company issue laptop and immediately reformat it to put this or that distro on it. Redhat, Fedora, Mandrake, Ubuntu, you name it because they hate the Gates and these other OS's are so superior, blah blah blah. I then watch those same guys spend hours and hours trying to make their Linux do the same tasks that the people on PC's are doing. The cool factor of being able to maintain your own ARP table really suffers when it takes you four hours to figure out how to burn me a cd of the code you're working on or you have to spend a full day configuring your browser to spoof the annual benefits enrollment website into thinking you're using IE on XP. The fact that you were able to do it shows me how bright you are but it also tells me you didn't have sense enough not to do it. If you're going to do it, do it like Travis did in your spare time as a fun project and leave your production machine alone. ** Sorry for the rant. If you can't tell, I'm practicing for the lecture I'm going to have to deliver later this week. Edited November 14, 2006 by John Heiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Linux is great for some things (you're using it to read this) and make a great second system (especially if you are use a 2 port KVM switch so you can use one monitor/keyboard/mouse on both). I keep an XP box as well as a Linux box running a duplicate copy of the USPSA web server as two of my development machines at home, and use XP in the laptop on the road. The Microsoft apps are so ubiquitous that you're always going to be playing catch up when you use a Linux box for any purpose other than a specialized system for designated tasks. Now that virtual machine technology is viable, there's always the option of running both on a single box. It reminds me of the old joke: A customer comes into the computer sotre complaining that an application does not run on Linux. The service rep loks at the box and says "See, here is says Windows 2000 or better". The customer replies "yeah, I know - Linux is better so it meets the requirement." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 It reminds me of the old joke: A customer comes into the computer sotre complaining that an application does not run on Linux. The service rep loks at the box and says "See, here is says Windows 2000 or better". The customer replies "yeah, I know - Linux is better so it meets the requirement." I never heard that one; I like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted November 18, 2006 Author Share Posted November 18, 2006 The more I mess with this combo , the more I like it ! Multimedia , web browsing , general stuff , it's all there . Internet radio , ripping and burning , office apps , it's all there . It,s running fine on my spare P3 733MHZ , and so far , has all the features of Windows XP plus extras. No need for any cryptic command line commands every time you turn around , just use it . I mentioned this because it's so UNLIKE any other Linux I have tried , I am getting inclined to install this as the OS on my main computer , instead of XP ... I am not a geek. Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek45 Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 I'm not much of a computer geek. I have a deal with my computer geek friend, I fix his guns, he fixes my computers. I installed ubuntu Linux on two computers with ease. installation including partitioning my harddrive, and allowing dual boot (Win XP or Linux) was surprisingly fast and easy. Less than 30mins. and no headaches. the cool thing is you can burn a CD and run the operating system from a CD to see if you like it. I did, and then decided to try a full install. With zero trouble I've managed to surf the web, set up my printer, print PDF files, read MS word files, etc. I've only been running it for a few days, but I really like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampleworks Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 If Microsoft continues their ridiculous garbage up like they released with Vista, Linux will begin to emerge as a desktop OS for the average home user. I know of several Vista installs (all of which are 100% legit retail copies) that for some reason un-activate themselves and you have to call up Akmed over in India and try to understand him reading you a 25 digit string of numbers. Vista was a solution for something that had no problem...something like this 4# trigger thing in Production. Vista: 1 step forward - Pretty graphics 2 steps back - Requires most users who didn't buy their computer in the last 2-3 years to completely upgrade in order to even benefit from it. I'll continue using Windows XP far until the time Microsoft stops supporting it. After that, I'll be wearing the red cowboy hat or hugging the penguin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robomanusa Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 unix based distros have come a long way in the last couple of years, I expect them to continue on an upwards trend. I still use M$ but only because its what my kids use in school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 In my modest and humble opinion, I'm not sure why MS even bothered with Vista at this point. Win2K and XP seem to be stable and reliable and capable for most people. I also heard/saw that MS will be supporting XP for another five years. By then maybe Vista will be safe to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampleworks Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Considering I still have a client that actively uses a 286 with DOS and a NT4 server with no service packs...and have no desire to upgrade to even XP, it'll be a long time before the world takes Vista. Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with so many different versions of Vista. Home and Pro gave people an easy choice. Now with Home Basic, Premium, Business, and Ultimate...you have to go to the website to even see what the features are. I pity people who buy a "value PC" somewhere expecting to see the new Vista and only have Home Basic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted April 7, 2007 Author Share Posted April 7, 2007 You couldn't GIVE me a new release of a Microsoft product . Ubuntu keeps getting better all the time. Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek45 Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 (edited) My LINUX ubuntu desktop . . . . http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/der...creenshot-3.png Edited April 7, 2007 by Derek45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainmcphersn Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Installed Ubuntu 6.10 on the new laptop, Acer Aspire 5100 series. No fuss, no muss, even the wireless came right up and worked with no issues. I'm dual booting with Vista as I still need Windoze but with the grub loader, it's no big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timamal Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Next computer will be a mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek45 Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Next computer will be a mac You can run ubuntu LINUX on that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 If you like Ubuntu, you will simply love "Simply MEPIS" http://www.mepis.org/ It homegrown to boot (developer is from West Virginia, believe it, or not). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin J Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 It never ceases to amaze me how many geeks are gun guys!! +1 for ubuntu. I'm a security guy and have to run XP for some of our forensic tools, so getting away from XP is a no-go for us. But.........any other time it's Ubuntu on the desktop and Debian on the servers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Give knoppix a try also. Download the .iso and burn it to a CD or DVD and boot. Its a live OS on a CD and has several GUI desktops, openoffice and all the other apps installed. http://www.knoppix.net/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted July 30, 2007 Author Share Posted July 30, 2007 Currently living in a Windows free environment at home . Just in case anyone wonders which version of Ubuntu they should try , I would go for the stable version instead of the latest and greatest ( and less stable and tested ) version . Dapper Drake ( if you think that's a goofy name , the latest is Gutsy Gibbon , which replaced Fiesty Fawn , which replaced Edgy Eft ) has been really easy to work with for me . Dapper runs fine on an old P3 733MHZ clunker ... Of course it's a bit faster on my 30% overclocked Frankenputer from hell ... Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoMiE Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Anyone try Fedora 7 yet? I just started to try it, still unsure if I want to go linux route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 You couldn't GIVE me a new release of a Microsoft product .Ubuntu keeps getting better all the time. Travis F. Oh, yes you could! You could give me, in no particular order: Visual Studio Enterprise (or whatever it's called now) Office Ultimate Small Business Server, with 50 seats Other things I can't think of right now... Or just make it easy on yourself and lay a top tier MSDN subscription on me. I'll happily accept! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Next computer will be a mac You can run ubuntu LINUX on that too. Why would anyone do that? Isn't Mac OSX already linux or unix based? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Next computer will be a mac You can run ubuntu LINUX on that too. Why would anyone do that? Isn't Mac OSX already linux or unix based? I believe it has roots in the CMU Mach kernel. I think Steve brought it forward from the NeXT days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockster35 Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Would it be beneficial to install this system on an old Compaq 5838 that I have sitting around. I currently use it in my soms room, and it is used very infrequently for research for his school work. It is linked to my network via a Linksys wireless adaptor. I am running Win 98 SE, but am really tired of the crashes! I have never tried Linux, but have thought about it many times! With Vistas problems and Microsofts in-ability to get things right the first time, I will probably be going Linux on all future builds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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