Ubuntu

[Jerome Scuggs]

Ubuntu is a really great little desktop productivity distro. I've been using Linux as my main O/S for uhh over a decade now? The only thing I'm disappointed with is audio support and audio applications. Multiple sound cards and midi devices are a bitch. I got a mac for that.

you should check out JACK. I don't do too much audio-based work on Linux so i don't know if it will help you, but here's the info:

JACK is a low-latency audio server, written for POSIX conformant operating systems such as GNU/Linux and Apple's OS X. It can connect a number of different applications to an audio device, as well as allowing them to share audio between themselves. Its clients can run in their own processes (ie. as normal applications), or they can run within the JACK server (ie. as a "plugin").

JACK was designed from the ground up for professional audio work, and its design focuses on two key areas: synchronous execution of all clients, and low latency operation.

xog: it's copying the files to your harddrive from the .iso... when it says "downloading", it's simply downloading some packages that might not be on the .iso - the latest updates, language packs, etc.

i would recommend a partition with ubuntu on it, if you know how to partition and dual-boot OS's (i sure don't.)

what do you use your computer for normally? - specifically, is there anything you think you'll be missing if you switched from Windows? post your doubts and i'll see if making a full switch is right for you.

and, looking at your screenshot, the first app i would recommend to you is Avant Window Manager, which is like an OSX dock. from the look of it you like to customize your desktop, and linux is the king of that.

with ubuntu, adding apps is as easy as going to the package manager, finding the app, clicking install, and waiting. if you can't find it there, you can, of course, download packages from the internet and install them. they come with the extension '.deb' - once you download it, ubuntu automatically opens it and installs it (as well as any other necessary files or libraries). of course, you can download the source code and compile/install it yourself.... but the last time i had to do that was maybe a year and a half ago.

edit: overall, the beauty of linux is the open-source nature of it. if you feel like a feature is missing... chances are it's a download away. the biggest example of this is how many businesses are starting to use linux (for security reasons and general productivity), as well as media (i read somewhere that a recent movie - beowulf maybe? had all the CGI done on linux computers). for that reason, the traditional "use windows for THIS, use mac for THAT" is now seeing competition from "use linux for BOTH".

edit 2: oh, and feel free to download and try whatever programs you feel. the way Linux's architecture is set up, installations are very clean - uninstalling a program leaves -no- unwanted files left over. and due to the aforementioned modular nature of linux, even if something goes wrong, chances are it will not affect the rest of your OS.

edit 3: and i completely forgot this: defragging. i forgot to mention it because i don't do it. you don't have to. linux just sort of works.

[castromarx]

Ubuntu is a really great little desktop productivity distro. I've been using Linux as my main O/S for uhh over a decade now? The only thing I'm disappointed with is audio support and audio applications. Multiple sound cards and midi devices are a bitch. I got a mac for that.

[Edify]

There's a place on the ubuntu website where you can have free CDs of it shipped to wherever you'd like. So just get one or a couple and give em to your friends or something.

[Xog]

blah, now i'm already running into a problem with it.
I downloaded the 699.1MB installer (took about 45 mins) and ran the installer, now in the installer it's downloading the 699.1MB installer again.






?

[Xog]

thanks a bunch jeromidome, installing it now

[Jerome Scuggs]

http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whati...u/804features/

just stare at that animated slideshow type thing... the GUI is amazing

[Jerome Scuggs]

what kinds of things in ubuntu make it amazing? There's not too much info.. i mean, how is it different from windows? is there a difference in performance and/or accessibility to files and such? is the display easier? is the UI easier to use?

what i need to know is, how would this be better than say, a mac or XP or vista or something?

if you're into computers - like you can tweak windows and fix gramma's computer - then linux is very intuitive and easier to use.

ubuntu comes with openoffice, which can edit word .doc's and powerpoints and excel, an opensource photoshop clone called GIMP.

installing programs is hella easy - just go to the Synaptic Package Manager, search for what you need, and voila.

WINE is a package that puts a compatibility layer for windows programs. you have to tweak the code a bit (it's easy stuff) and re-compile WINE in order to play subspace, but there's a website dedicated to categorizing how-to's on installing most major windows apps like photoshop, and there's now a WoW client for linux.

the new thing that is tricky to understand is the desktop. since unix is fairly modular, the desktop module is, of course, open source. desktop environments come in all types (hence the flavors Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu - running GNOME, KDE3/4, and XFCe respectively).

Ubuntu, with GNOME, is my favorite. KDE is more media/graphics oriented, and so slower computers struggle. XFCe is a super-minimal desktop for old computers. GNOME is a very... general, good one. It comes with Compiz, which allows crazy effects - effects that put OSX and Vista both to shame. This is the closest to Windows as you get, really... except infinitely better. I have made my computer look like a Vista desktop and an OSX desktop - exact clones.

Everything (as far as the structure of the files/folders, etc) is organized very efficiently, though it is definitely different from Windows. If you're a nerd, you should intuitively pick it up quickly.

Ubuntu 8.04 is the most recent release... and it's awesome. Ubuntu 7.10 i installed with the minimum of hassle, and 8.04 fixed everything wrong with 7.10 (it wasn't much) and now it's incredibly easy - besides the basic UI customization you're going to do, you probably won't be tweaking much else.

Hardware recognition is great. I ran Kubuntu on a desktop we got in like 1997, with a voodoo3 gfx card and 700mhz processor and it ran fine and recognized everything. Currently I'm on a gateway M505x, which i plugged into a monitor and use a USB keyboard. Ubuntu recognized all the media keys, which is nice when i'm working on something and i wanna change the song/volume/etc. It even recognized my ATi card and installed a driver, which works fantastic.

you can install ubuntu as a program on windows if you want to try it out.

[Xog]

ubuntu 7.10 was amazing... but ubuntu 8.04 is perfect. i haven't had to use the command line yet (though thats the beauty - it's still there for the hardcore geeks, even i use it to tweak things)

what kinds of things in ubuntu make it amazing? There's not too much info.. i mean, how is it different from windows? is there a difference in performance and/or accessibility to files and such? is the display easier? is the UI easier to use?

what i need to know is, how would this be better than say, a mac or XP or vista or something?

[Jerome Scuggs]

ubuntu 7.10 was amazing... but ubuntu 8.04 is perfect. i haven't had to use the command line yet (though thats the beauty - it's still there for the hardcore geeks, even i use it to tweak things)

[Xog]

Does anyone here use ubuntu by any chance?
www.ubuntu.com if you want info..

i've been considering it for a while.. but i'd like to hear some experiences if anyone here has any? i've got a classmate that uses it, he said it's the best cuz it's a mixture of all OS's when you customize it... is this true?