ubuntu Linux, pics Options

[lagos]

Ive made the switch from windows to linux a few weeks ago. I love it. Its nice having a super secure system that looks better then xp and is totally free. Here are a few pics.

[CelicaST_CALI]

ive heard its geared toward engineers...but it is awesome..

[dabazied]

I've always loved Linux better lol. Mandrake back in the day was awesome.... oh, and I loved Knoppix too lol

[lagos]

ive heard its geared toward engineers...but it is awesome..

actually Ubuntus motto is "Linux for Human beings" lol.
it is a bit harder to setup then your average XP system, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

[CelicaST_CALI]

hmm cool....

[808celica]

noob question how do you take a pic of you desktop stuff???????

[lagos]

in windows you press the print screen button on your keyboard and then open up MS paint and right click/paste.

linux has a small app for taking screenshots.

[lagos]

http://www.ubuntu.com/

if you guys want to check it out, download the iso from the main site. its totally free and legal, and you can run the OS right off the CD without having to install anything to just play around with it. just keep in mind that it will run a little slower off the cd rom, and you wont get all the cool 3d effects until you install it.

[jdg371]

Thats pretty sweet.

[stetsonaw]

i love open source.

[CelicaST_CALI]

noob question how do you take a pic of you desktop stuff???????

lol i had the same q,there is a key on ur keyboard to the right of F12,above insert, it says "prt scr" you push and hold that for about a second then u open up paint and do to edit and click paste.ur welcome

[torhne]

i loved Ubuntu and messing with beryl, got to be such a pain in the ass when i was trying to game with it though. every time that Wine would update, it would break EVERYTHING

[lagos]

i loved Ubuntu and messing with beryl, got to be such a pain in the ass when i was trying to game with it though. every time that Wine would update, it would break EVERYTHING

yeah, thats why its good to keep an XP partition for gaming.
I mostly play my 360 anyway, so its not an issue for me.

[x_itchy_b_x]

looks alot like osx very cool though thats its free!

[torhne]

yeah but imo the point of a linux system was teh stability and the awesome uptime, my box was up for 4 months at one point, the pc im on right now, not even a server, just an every day computer, its a pain in the butt to reboot all the time just to play a game

[Hanyo]

I am really insteresting in making the switch. But I fear I set up the computer improperly, get a virus and not even realize it.

[lagos]

I am really insteresting in making the switch. But I fear I set up the computer improperly, get a virus and not even realize it.

you have nothing to worry about. linux is a billion times more secure then windows and doesnt get viruses. as long as you have a basic router/firewall on your network, youll be totally secure.

there was a story a few weeks ago about how our stock market is making the switch to linux based systems. that says a lot right there. heck, even this website is run from a linux machine.

[CelicaST_CALI]

if i switch will all my programs still be there,Mozilla Firefox, msn messenger, PS, aim, civilization, etc?Will i have all my itunes music,photos?

[Kwanza26]

To me... it's a MEGA-nerd OS. The kind of OS where you have to work extra hard to find drivers and software... but hey. You're a mega-nerd... you can program your own...

[lx130]

sooo like what about drivers for your comp... do u gotta worry about those? liike soundcard, vidcard, wireless etc.

[torhne]

just google your hardware before you install, like 99% of all network cards are supported, probably more like 99.9, but just google "ubuntu +graphicscardname" or something like that. set up a seperate partition to mess with it before you make the switch, or download it and run it from the live CD, although it will be slow running from just the CD, but it wont even touch your hard drive or make any changes. its set up pretty sweet. If you do decide to do the switch, i can try to help you out as much as possible

[lagos]

if i switch will all my programs still be there,Mozilla Firefox, msn messenger, PS, aim, civilization, etc?Will i have all my itunes music,photos?

yes and no.

its kind of like asking "will my windows apps still work if i buy a mac?".

they will work only if they have a linux version of that same app. there is a linux version of firefox that comes preinstalled. instead of AIM you have pidgn (actually better then AIM) and instead of photshop you have Gimp. most of these basic apps come preinstalled with ubuntu, so you have something that will cover ever task.

your best bet is to download the iso and boot up from the live cd. this will just run the os off the cd drive without installing so that you can play around with it and see how you like it.

if your a total computer n00b, this probably is not for you. but if you know your way around windows, and want to try something cool, then youll probably like it .

http://www.ubuntu.com/

just google your hardware before you install, like 99% of all network cards are supported, probably more like 99.9, but just google "ubuntu +graphicscardname" or something like that. set up a seperate partition to mess with it before you make the switch, or download it and run it from the live CD, although it will be slow running from just the CD, but it wont even touch your hard drive or make any changes. its set up pretty sweet. If you do decide to do the switch, i can try to help you out as much as possible

different distros support different hardware. best way to really know what works is to download the iso and run it as a live cd. youll know right away if your graphics, audio and networking drivers are all detected or not without even having to install the OS.

[torhne]

yeah that is true, but like i said i ran it for months, and i never really had a bad time with it, Wine (Windows Emulator) can run most stuff, like... WoW, Counter Strike, etc etc. ubuntu is really really popular, and for the most part if you have a question or having a problem, just typing that string into google will give you some walkthroughs on how to fix it.

btw lagos, none of that was directed at you it was more of a broad statement to anyone thinking about trying it. i need to get another pc up and running to just run that on

[lagos]

btw lagos, none of that was directed at you it was more of a broad statement to anyone thinking about trying it. i need to get another pc up and running to just run that on

oh i know... i just wanted to point out the coolness of a live cd.

[Hanyo]

I guess I'll dig this old thread up from the grave.

I recently made the switch to ubuntu 7.10. The install was quick and painless. I had a old hard drive lying around so I didn't have to deal with the partition mess.

First impressions:

Annoying. I had a very hard time to get my modem to work, it required me to change to a older kernal version and that made a huge mess. I bought a new modem, and solved the problem.

Second impressions? :

Wow this OS is really shiny with lots of cool graphics. I maxed out the visual settings and had jiggly windows to play with. There was definitly a increase of performance because I no longer needed to run a antivirus scaner in the back ground.

Compiz install made things even more pretty. But its impractical, I guess i'm old school and can only deal with task on a 2d plane.

Getting drivers and new programs are easy. Just a simple line in the terminal would make it auto download and install software. How nice is that?

If you ever wanted to play a video, you can make ubuntu get the codec with out worries of installing adware or malware.

End impression:

Ubuntu is nice and fast if you are a avid websurfer. But majority of what i do is game and surf the web at the same time. For example I play a round of counter strike between checking email and searching the web.
When i am on ubuntu i would get bored because the lack of game support.

[lagos]

^ glad you kind of dig it.
Its best to think of it like a mac. You can do a lot of stuff on it, but if your a gamer, its probably not for you. Would be great on a laptop for secure web surfing, and low hardware requirements.

The new version of ubuntu is coming out next month!

[Defgeph]

Can you have a choice on which OS you'd like to run. I have XP right now. If I download this can I switch back and forth ?

[Celiracer18]

yeah you can dual boot it. you'd just have to restart and select whichever one you want. just make sure to put linux on after XP

[lagos]

Yes. As long as you have windows installed on there first, ubuntu will ask you if you want to keep your windows install. It will then partition the drive in half and give you a boot loader so that you can pick what OS you want to run at start up.

[WALKER]

Glad I found the thread. I think I will try and make the switch this weekend. I installed Debian on one of my computers a while ago, but never got it fully setup.

Do you require any additional programs to set it up on a wireless network or does it have everything built in?

[lagos]

Glad I found the thread. I think I will try and make the switch this weekend. I installed Debian on one of my computers a while ago, but never got it fully setup.

Do you require any additional programs to set it up on a wireless network or does it have everything built in?

You might need to download Ndiswrapper. It lets you use your windows based wifi drivers inside of linux. but it all depends on what wifi card you have.