Any Linux users?

Post by **racketboy** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:30 pm

I'm thinking about transitioning my old Thinkpad 600X to Ubuntu Linux from XP.
I don't use it for anything critical, so it might be a good experiment for me.
My mother-in-law is kinda using it for the most part right now and has talked about buying the machine from me.

I don't have a valid XP license for it so I've been getting the "This software might be counterfeited" messages from Genunie Disadvantage, so that's another reason to switch.

I would mainly use it for Firefox, Thunderbird, and Gaim, so those won't be an issue.
I need a good Word and Excel substitute. I know Open Office is there, but I haven't been terribly impressed with it.
As basic as this sounds, my Mother-in-law would need a good Solitare program (not sure what is availible for Linux)
My biggest loss would probably be iTunes, but I'd get over it...

Any thoughts from any Linux users out there?

Post by **racketboy** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:20 pm

OK -- just started up the Ubuntu Live CD
Solitare is there, but looks a bit rough looking -- anything a little slicker?

Also, I have no idea how to get my wifi working. I have a Linksys card.
Does the Live CD not support it?

Post by **Mozgus** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:23 pm

Give up now.

Ubuntu is just about as easy as Linux gets, but installing most any driver or application is fucking hard. It's a nightmare. Stick with Windows. Trust me. You should just crack that Genuine Advantage shit on your XP machine. Even legit users need to crack that. It's a terrible concept. Here, this is the crack I am using right now, though every few months Microsoft changes their Windows Update, and you need to find a new crack, but any bittorrent site will have it for you.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... 5F6BCD6849

But if you do actually take a few months to learn the ins and outs of Ubuntu, (and believe me, it's complicated), then it can be a great OS. You just strike me as a busy person with no time for that.

Post by **Clockwork** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:54 am

i`d recommend SuSe Linux. but the prob with your wifi will be the same. you have to look, if the chipset is on a linux compatibility-site and have to get the drivers from somewhere. got a friend crazy bout linux, i`ll ask him

another friend never got his wifi running because linux doesn`t support his softswitch

Post by **Jakanden** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:55 am

While I am by no means an expert, I use Ubuntu on my laptop and love it. The people on the Ubuntu forums are awesome and will answer any question you have. They also have a great wiki to browse through.

Post by **Jakanden** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:56 am

racketboy wrote:OK -- just started up the Ubuntu Live CD
Solitare is there, but looks a bit rough looking -- anything a little slicker?

Also, I have no idea how to get my wifi working. I have a Linksys card.
Does the Live CD not support it?

Oh and admittedly, Wi-Fi can be a bitch to get working if the drivers are not available. Search the official forums for your specific model number. Most likely, someone has already asked the question and there is a thread on it since it is a common topic (I had the same problem).

Post by **lordofduct** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:03 pm

I use Ubuntu PPC edition on my G3 ibook. It is very easy to use... it allows you a nice administrator and technical hand in stuff, but leaves an option for a very simple and easy way to install via the Semantic package manager. Most all applications are available through the package manager... if not installing tarballs you download are just as easy as installing on windows. Ubuntu has a simple install tool to use... or just run the simple commands in a terminal.

I will also be using it in my server (not ubuntu... but a debian based linux).

My personal fav thing about linux is that its all free open source goodness. Everything is free and legally free and easily accesible. There are tons of people around willing to lend a hand in finding everything you need (maybe not directly through chat and forum... but indirectly such as by posting guides on wikis and webpages). The free part may not be of concern to you if you already have a Windows License and if you don't use it... your just gonna leave it lying around. But If you just bought a new windows machine and instead of paying the 100 bones for a license... transfer the license from your lappy, put Linux on your lappy and breathe some new life into it.

You probably won't notice it on a Live CD due to the slow read speed of a Live CD. But when installed Linux is much faster then XP or other modern OSs. I put ubuntu on my ibook which had OSX 10.4, the boot time was cut in half, DVD playback was much smoother, I was able to set it to a higher resolution, and it could actually render some ok 3D models with very little slow down. (it's an old G3) Best part is it even increased my battery life by 25 to 30 minutes. And on a lappy that is a big difference!

Post by **Mozgus** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:50 pm

lordofduct wrote:You probably won't notice it on a Live CD due to the slow read speed of a Live CD. But when installed Linux is much faster then XP or other modern OSs. I put ubuntu on my ibook which had OSX 10.4, the boot time was cut in half, DVD playback was much smoother, I was able to set it to a higher resolution, and it could actually render some ok 3D models with very little slow down. (it's an old G3) Best part is it even increased my battery life by 25 to 30 minutes. And on a lappy that is a big difference!

A tweaked out, trimmed down XP installation can totally smoke the default Ubuntu setup, both in terms of boot time and general usage performance. This is my experience anyway.

Post by **lordofduct** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:57 pm

Mozgus wrote:
lordofduct wrote:You probably won't notice it on a Live CD due to the slow read speed of a Live CD. But when installed Linux is much faster then XP or other modern OSs. I put ubuntu on my ibook which had OSX 10.4, the boot time was cut in half, DVD playback was much smoother, I was able to set it to a higher resolution, and it could actually render some ok 3D models with very little slow down. (it's an old G3) Best part is it even increased my battery life by 25 to 30 minutes. And on a lappy that is a big difference!
A tweaked out, trimmed down XP installation can totally smoke the default Ubuntu setup, both in terms of boot time and general usage performance. This is my experience anyway.

keywords in your statement... "tweaked out trimmed down..." versus "default"

And that takes even more work... I can put just as much work into a custom ubuntu... or even a custom redhat or suse install and get even more performance out of it. Of course we can customize and customize our windows install... but the amount of customization space runs out really fast! Linux... you can cut stuff off all the way down to the kernel... you can add stuff all the way up to a super server machine... the space to expand and cut corners is limited only by what your system can handle and what software has been coded.

I'm not saying linux is the better OS here... don't get me wrong. Windows has many merits to it (one especially being the largest user base causing a faster waiting time for new software... and videogames!). But at the same time linux has many merits as well. A standard quick default install of ubuntu that any lamen with very little time on their hands will give them a fully functional operating system with very little upgrades needed (maybe a couple video codec installations easily done in seconds) will run much faster then a simple default XP installation which will ALSO need the same codec installations. And linux is free.

I'm merely saying that Linux isn't BAD. It's not the best, but it certainly isn't bad. For someone who wants a simple lappy for doing simple lappy tasks with as little effort as possible and will be protected much more in the long run (spyware, viruses, things that eat your RAM whole) ubuntu is probably a very good bet.

Post by **lordofduct** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:15 pm

racketboy wrote:OK -- just started up the Ubuntu Live CD
Solitare is there, but looks a bit rough looking -- anything a little slicker?

Also, I have no idea how to get my wifi working. I have a Linksys card.
Does the Live CD not support it?

As for this...

Solitaire is solitaire. I guess people have their own personal preferrences of it... there is tons of shoddy little videogames out there. Probably 1000 different solitaire programs. I don't think anyone would be able to point in the direction of the best one.

Your wifi card... there is some general problems in this area true... It's really luck of the draw with this and is usually found during install.
but that's a pretty generic wifi card; "linksys" is very well known.

Here is a wiki page all about different wifi cards and how to get them working by make and model.