ubuntu and you too!
For those who pay attention to whether I live or die, you may have noticed my absence online yesterday (since I'm connected in some form about 24/7.) This was due to my installation of Ubuntu, an open source Linux distribution.
So, 24 hours and 4 formats and reinstalls later, I am here to offer my own review and thoughts on the latest and greatest in the open source movement.
First - this is not my first Linux installation. I've worked with RedHat for about three months while I was at RIT, and installed my first Mandrake copy (7.2, if memory serves me) when I was 17. I've also uninstalled all copies of Linux within a week of placing them on my system (if you found out that an operating system didn't support USB mice in the year 2002, you would too.) So, that being said, take what I say at face value, and if you disagree, blame it on the fact that I have some experience.
Second - in order to get the installation right, I wouldn't take the low road. Windows was getting the boot. My only data available was a LiveCD which I knew worked on my comp from previous testing, and a 40GB external 2.5" drive with "Firefly" and 20 gigs of music on it - not exactly tech support material, but what I figure the average user will be walking in with.
Ok, so - installation. LiveCDs are the greatest thing an OS developer could make. Popped in the Ubuntu CD, and while I was installing the OS (this is completely through a GUI, mind you,) I could browse around on Firefox. Hell, I could even just play on the CD, screw around and check if all my devices would work with Ubuntu. Installation overall was just as easy as Windows or OSX, if not easier - very intuitive.
So, my complaints? Drivers. You might be wondering by now why I would have to install the same OS four times in a row. The reason is half my own stupidity and half unrecoverable errors. I've got an Nvidia card, a Geforce 6800GT; not new, but still enough to run almost any game you throw at it.
Ubuntu decided it wouldn't natively support my card, and with that, no custom resolutions. No problems, I've read that Nvidia has great Linux support, and I've installed drivers before, so I hop over to Nvidia's site and grab the latest drivers. I read on their site I need to go to a terminal and copy some commands they provide. Not exactly as user friendly as Windows, but they tell you what to do - most people can follow this.
"You have an X Server running. Disable it to continue."
After some searching, I find out the X Server is the GUI for Ubuntu. Ok, so disable it and paste that command, and Nvidia will take care of the rest, right? Not quite. I've now got a black screen with an error message telling me my kernel's unsupported with this specific driver. Huh? Whatever, just let me get another driver.
Nope. Not happening. Know what we will give you, though?
_
Yeah, look above. That's it. Last time I checked, a underscore can't show me a forum with tips. It's a FUCKING BLINKING LINE. And I didn't write down the command to reload X Server. This little cursor is intimidation incarnate to the average user.
So, long story short, after four reinstalls, several pages of printer paper with odd commands scrawled over them, I got my video card working. This is not something I want to experience again, nor do I imagine the average user would deal with this long before going back to a Windows CD.
On the plus side, everything past this was a breeze. Yeah, there's some terminal stuff to do. In fact, there's a lot of it involved with setting a system up. However, you'll always be in a GUI doing this, and forums have the added bonus of thousands of users who know the exact command you need to use - just copy and paste.
So, what's my overall impression? I love Ubuntu. I'm using it at the moment to type this, and I'm finding all sorts of perks to it that Windows can't touch. It's also the most user-friendly distro of Linux I can think of. Also, it's FREE. Kinda hard to top that. However, to become a real competitor, there needs to be some more enthusiast-friendly documentation. I'm not a coder, and a command line isn't my preferred method of computer interaction, though I know it pretty well.
Also! My loyal readers all have a bonus - you now know someone who's installed Ubuntu as their primary system, and can help you through whatever questions you may have with it. Be intimidated by the command line no longer, just toss me an e-mail or IM with your question, and I can point you in the right direction.
Anyways, hope everyone at least checks Ubuntu and the open source movement out, and those who take the plunge have my undying support. Take a look at the related links below for some more info.
Related:
Want to just find out about Ubuntu? Check out their website and find out for yourself.
Linux can be intimidating, and finding obscure commands for a specific flavor of Linux can be a daunting task. The Ubuntu forums have a huge user base though, and most of them are always willing to help out the newbies.
So, 24 hours and 4 formats and reinstalls later, I am here to offer my own review and thoughts on the latest and greatest in the open source movement.
First - this is not my first Linux installation. I've worked with RedHat for about three months while I was at RIT, and installed my first Mandrake copy (7.2, if memory serves me) when I was 17. I've also uninstalled all copies of Linux within a week of placing them on my system (if you found out that an operating system didn't support USB mice in the year 2002, you would too.) So, that being said, take what I say at face value, and if you disagree, blame it on the fact that I have some experience.
Second - in order to get the installation right, I wouldn't take the low road. Windows was getting the boot. My only data available was a LiveCD which I knew worked on my comp from previous testing, and a 40GB external 2.5" drive with "Firefly" and 20 gigs of music on it - not exactly tech support material, but what I figure the average user will be walking in with.
Ok, so - installation. LiveCDs are the greatest thing an OS developer could make. Popped in the Ubuntu CD, and while I was installing the OS (this is completely through a GUI, mind you,) I could browse around on Firefox. Hell, I could even just play on the CD, screw around and check if all my devices would work with Ubuntu. Installation overall was just as easy as Windows or OSX, if not easier - very intuitive.
So, my complaints? Drivers. You might be wondering by now why I would have to install the same OS four times in a row. The reason is half my own stupidity and half unrecoverable errors. I've got an Nvidia card, a Geforce 6800GT; not new, but still enough to run almost any game you throw at it.
Ubuntu decided it wouldn't natively support my card, and with that, no custom resolutions. No problems, I've read that Nvidia has great Linux support, and I've installed drivers before, so I hop over to Nvidia's site and grab the latest drivers. I read on their site I need to go to a terminal and copy some commands they provide. Not exactly as user friendly as Windows, but they tell you what to do - most people can follow this.
"You have an X Server running. Disable it to continue."
After some searching, I find out the X Server is the GUI for Ubuntu. Ok, so disable it and paste that command, and Nvidia will take care of the rest, right? Not quite. I've now got a black screen with an error message telling me my kernel's unsupported with this specific driver. Huh? Whatever, just let me get another driver.
Nope. Not happening. Know what we will give you, though?
_
Yeah, look above. That's it. Last time I checked, a underscore can't show me a forum with tips. It's a FUCKING BLINKING LINE. And I didn't write down the command to reload X Server. This little cursor is intimidation incarnate to the average user.
So, long story short, after four reinstalls, several pages of printer paper with odd commands scrawled over them, I got my video card working. This is not something I want to experience again, nor do I imagine the average user would deal with this long before going back to a Windows CD.
On the plus side, everything past this was a breeze. Yeah, there's some terminal stuff to do. In fact, there's a lot of it involved with setting a system up. However, you'll always be in a GUI doing this, and forums have the added bonus of thousands of users who know the exact command you need to use - just copy and paste.
So, what's my overall impression? I love Ubuntu. I'm using it at the moment to type this, and I'm finding all sorts of perks to it that Windows can't touch. It's also the most user-friendly distro of Linux I can think of. Also, it's FREE. Kinda hard to top that. However, to become a real competitor, there needs to be some more enthusiast-friendly documentation. I'm not a coder, and a command line isn't my preferred method of computer interaction, though I know it pretty well.
Also! My loyal readers all have a bonus - you now know someone who's installed Ubuntu as their primary system, and can help you through whatever questions you may have with it. Be intimidated by the command line no longer, just toss me an e-mail or IM with your question, and I can point you in the right direction.
Anyways, hope everyone at least checks Ubuntu and the open source movement out, and those who take the plunge have my undying support. Take a look at the related links below for some more info.
Related:
Want to just find out about Ubuntu? Check out their website and find out for yourself.
Linux can be intimidating, and finding obscure commands for a specific flavor of Linux can be a daunting task. The Ubuntu forums have a huge user base though, and most of them are always willing to help out the newbies.
2 comments:
The command line can definitely be daunting at first, especially if it's something you've had little to no experience with at this point. However, sometimes it is just a hell of a lot easier. Whenever I find myself using Windows now I'm always thinking "this would be so much easier if I had a terminal to work with." And no, MSDos doesn't count. Perhaps that's because I am a programmer and end up using apps that run from the command line (SSH, Vim, etc.) more often. Either way, the more you use them, the more intuitive they become, until you realize it's much easier to type 'gedit /mnt/data/doc.txt &' in an open terminal than it is to browse to your data partition, find doc.txt, and open it in a text editor. But either way, Ubuntu provides you with the choice, instead of forcing the more "user friendly" route.
On a side note, I've had some problems installing with an Nvidia card as well. Lots of companies don't release the drivers for their devices for Linux developers to work with (this is not the case with Nvidia, but you wouldn't believe the hell I went through to get my sound card working). Also, if you're looking for some cool eye-candy stuff, check out gnome-look.org.
Ok, so, about a week later, and I have one comment to add: this O/S absolutely rules. I've finally understood what o/sshould mean (from now on, os or o/s refers to "open source" and OS or O/S refers to operating system.)
Ubuntu, even with the flaws I gave it before, is the easiest Linux distro available at the moment. Hell, I'll even go so far as to say it competes with Vista tweakability, for the techies out there.
I've configured all of the apps I normonally use with ten times the ease-of-use of Vista. I know that's a hard claim to justify, but this O/S is simply incredible to use. The amount of GUI modification would make any modder wet in their pants.
Alright, I simply can't add any more. You're just going to have to take my word for it. If there are any typos, I blame Firefox and its massive language support.
Post a Comment