Ubuntu 7.1

[Suka]

Ok, so this came out today.
Does anyone use a Linux OS often? I was thinking of changing from Vista to this.
Whats the up side?
Whats the down side?
I was thinking along the lines of compatibility. Can i run my copy of Office 2007 on it? Photoshop CS2? Windows Live Messenger?
I have written the ISO to a disk so i can use this Live Disk feature and trial it. Its quite easy to use and sure as hell runs faster than my copy of Vista.
Thoughts and opinions would be helpful, thanks!

[Suka]

Ok so i have been talking to a guy who knows what he is on about and obviously Microsoft stuff is off the table. 7.1 has openOffice on it though so thats no worries and there are plenty of MSN alternatives.
I would like to know what its like to just generally use. Has anyone come across any problems with software not working? Any work arounds? Any programs i should download if/when i do make the switch?

[Zytek_Fan]

Drivers for devices might be an issue...

[MRR]

Drivers for devices might be an issue...

I think Dell actually bundles some of their systems with Ubuntu Linux.

[Zytek_Fan]

I think Dell actually bundles some of their systems with Ubuntu Linux.

Only enterprise systems, so workstations and servers. They will install Linux if you request it.

As far as drivers check everything, video card, sound card. Everything should work on Ubuntu though. If you have a wireless card be careful Very few manufacturers of wireless cards have Linux drivers. Sometimes Apple OS X drivers will work, since OS X is based on Unix. Just ask around on a Linux forum.

[TVR IS KING]

If you're printing, you'll have to check if your printer is gunna be compatible before you use it.
There are some great features. Instead of fully converting, I'd recommend buying a second hard drive (they're dirt cheap these days), and installing it on that. Sometimes you might not be able to get it to work, you might hate it, it's worth trying before you buy...
Or before you get it mailed to you for free.
There is also 24 hour IRC support, which is an absolute lifesaver. They'll help you with anything.

[Suka]

If you're printing, you'll have to check if your printer is gunna be compatible before you use it.
There are some great features. Instead of fully converting, I'd recommend buying a second hard drive (they're dirt cheap these days), and installing it on that. Sometimes you might not be able to get it to work, you might hate it, it's worth trying before you buy...
Or before you get it mailed to you for free.
There is also 24 hour IRC support, which is an absolute lifesaver. They'll help you with anything.

Yeah, i am currently spliting my hard drive up to have a seperate boot partition. If its good i am going to buy a huge extra hard drive to do it properly.
I don't have a printer, I take my work to my girlfriends to print out.

[drakkie]

Yeah, i am currently spliting my hard drive up to have a seperate boot partition.

Smart idea ! I dont know if you are installing on a laptop or not ? On laptops Linux has very little driver support for the WLAN devices. Also networking devices can give trouble. Make sure to have the driver cd ready and download Ndiswrapper too (put it on the not-linux partition so you can acces it in Linux directly after the install). It works ith almost any system, except mine.

I used openSuse for a while to do heavy Matlab calculations. Because of Linux's amazing speed they went so much better and easier. Unfortunately my WLAN didn't work, which was also one of my main reason for switching back to the crappy microsoft shitware.

[Suka]

Smart idea ! I dont know if you are installing on a laptop or not ? On laptops Linux has very little driver support for the WLAN devices. Also networking devices can give trouble. Make sure to have the driver cd ready and download Ndiswrapper too (put it on the not-linux partition so you can acces it in Linux directly after the install). It works ith almost any system, except mine.

I used openSuse for a while to do heavy Matlab calculations. Because of Linux's amazing speed they went so much better and easier. Unfortunately my WLAN didn't work, which was also one of my main reason for switching back to the crappy microsoft shitware.

I've gone through with it all and it runs fine. The wireless worked a treat and i can get a better connection than with Vista. I will write more about it at another time, i'm too tired now.

[Kooper]

Linux FTW!!!


Upside: OSS baby!

Downside: No / little gaming capability - try Cedega or Wine, otherwise dualboot.

[drakkie]

I've gone through with it all and it runs fine. The wireless worked a treat and i can get a better connection than with Vista. I will write more about it at another time, i'm too tired now.

Congratulations and welcome into the future of computing I can suggest you start learning some basic codes, so that you can do everything you need faster and easier. Good luck and enjoy it !

[Suka]

Linux FTW!!!


Upside: OSS baby!

Downside: No / little gaming capability - try Cedega or Wine, otherwise dualboot.

This is exactly why i decided to switch. I don't play any games on this laptop. I use it just for my Uni course. I have a PC back at home which i can play games on.

Ok so you guys have got to point me to things that will come in handy. I have already configured Compiz and have the spinning cube thing (cool as...) and a few other small things like Skype and stuff. Which btw, i can't get my mic to work for. Dunno whats up there.

Teach me!

[Kooper]

This is exactly why i decided to switch. I don't play any games on this laptop. I use it just for my Uni course. I have a PC back at home which i can play games on.

Ok so you guys have got to point me to things that will come in handy. I have already configured Compiz and have the spinning cube thing (cool as...) and a few other small things like Skype and stuff. Which btw, i can't get my mic to work for. Dunno whats up there.

Teach me!

I can recommend a great site that should give you more than enough answers (helped me out a lot when I just started out in Linux). I'll PM you the details.

Feel free to ask as well, I'll try to help wherever I can.

[Suka]

Thanks Kooper. Well i signed up for that site you suggested and my username is ThomasRanson incase you spot anything on there from me.

I have a few things i need to iron out but apart from that its been brilliant. Some of them are easy and i am just too lazy to sort them out. Like the screen turning off after a while. I know its just a matter of going into the settings but i keep getting distracted by this spinning cube...

[kigango123]

Thank god it worked for you,

i tried to load buntu fiesty onto my laptop and i had a headache of work, i cant load alot of my dependencies due to load errors or something, my nvidia graphics card is incompatible and i cant load envy-the nvidia daemon due to bieng unable to load dependencies .I have no idea at all how to install anything other than the debian files plus i just spent half a month just trying to get the system to go into the internet on a landline and when i finally got it to connect, i cant open half of the sites i want to go on Mozilla .

It is just a plain headache!