UBUNTU? Any good?

ses6jwg

Mine had a belkin, and when I first installed it said it needed to download some package manager, but the irony was I could not connect to download it!

So just plugged it manually into the router and it worked straight away after downloading and restarting.

gonzo127

ses6jwg wrote: »

Mine had a belkin, and when I first installed it said it needed to download some package manager, but the irony was I could not connect to download it!

So just plugged it manually into the router and it worked straight away after downloading and restarting.

that does seem to be the usual fix if your wireless doesnt work right away, plug in a ethernet cable directly into your router and it will download the correct drivers for it

surebet

Linux are becoming easier and easier system. I think in nearly future it will beat up windows and become the most popular computer system in the world.

Ubuntu is claimed to be one of the best desktop linuxes. You will see the difference between fresh and current system and the old - designed over 7 years ago - XP.

pramsay13

This time last year my vista went on the blink, so I took the plunge and installed ubuntu.
My 80gb hard drive was full of windows etc and I had music / videos etc on an external drive.
I now have all of those files on the hard drive and still have 15gb spare.
It also loads far faster.
There have been a number of minor issues but as pointed out you can nearly find everything on ubuntu forums.
There is no way I'm ever giving money to microsoft again.
I have recommended it to others and think you should go for it.

Taffybiker

I have a dual boot system with XP and Ubuntu. My only gripe is I can't seem to get Ubuntu to play DVD's, despite following many how-to's and advice from forum members. I conclude that it must be my DVD drive, though it works in XP. I have to assume it's a firmware issue.
One piece of advice I was given but haven't tried, is that Ubuntu isn't too keen on the NTFS file system on which it piggybacks if running dual boot, but standalone prefers the FAT format and works a lot better.

bat999

@ Taffybiker
I use VLC to play DVDs with Ubuntu.
I followed the guide here to install libdvdcss:-
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs

It was just two commands:-

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

and

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

computershack

If you don't even know how to wipe a PC and reinstall Windows, you're in for a world of grief with Ubuntu or any Linux. Look at the instructions above just to get it to play DVDs...and Ubuntu needs a package installing to even play MP3s which in itself needs you to know to go into the Software Sources and select the right repositories in order to be able to install that package.

Linux is far from simple.

ses6jwg

computershack wrote: »

If you don't even know how to wipe a PC and reinstall Windows, you're in for a world of grief with Ubuntu or any Linux. Look at the instructions above just to get it to play DVDs...and Ubuntu needs a package installing to even play MP3s which in itself needs you to know to go into the Software Sources and select the right repositories in order to be able to install that package.

Linux is far from simple.

Like I said if you just use your laptop for browsing the net, emails, word processing and listening to music. Its brilliant. especially on older laptops,

but anything else and it gets difficult.

John_Gray

I have installed/updated Ubuntu (various versions from 8.04 to 9.10) on an old laptop using WUBI to run dual-boot with Windows XP.

Provided Ubuntu supports all your hardware, it is usually fine, However, it wouldn't recognise the ZyXEL G-120 cardbus card that Windows had happily used a few minutes earlier before a reboot, and the ability to define a VPN to connect to my work has got worse with newer releases.

If you can't get it to support what you need, even by Googling and searching through multiple forums, etc, then you just have to give up. How much time can you practically spend on a recalcitrant problem?

Whatever people say about Windows, it's usually possible, fairly readily, to get hardware driver support for almost anything that's on the market. With Ubuntu it seems to be a matter of luck...

motorguy

If you enjoy spending an entire evening getting even the simplest things to work then you'll love it.

Personally, it wasnt for me as i have a life.

I'd be inclined to source another XP cd. Is it a dell laptop by any chance?