I have a desk top with Windows XP. Windows is corrupted and for the most part doesn't work. The computer didn't come with a install disk and the back up disks are long gone. (thanks wife) Paying Microsoft for a new copy just burns my butt for some reason so I have been looking at Ubuntu. I have downloaded it and made the boot/install disk and it seems to work pretty good. I know some of you guys have used it before and wanted to get some input before making the switch. We also have four laptops running Windows, 2 vista machines and 2 XP. Will I still be able to network all of them with the desktop running Ubuntu or will the desktop be left out in the cold. I know enough about computers to be dangerous. Will Ubuntu be an easy install or will I have to set everything up manually? Is it stable? The desktop is a Compaq and it has always been a little flaky. Will Ubuntu solve that or will it be flaky too. Any insight would be a great help.
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Feb. 21, 2010 6:09 p.m. Toyman01 Dork
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Feb. 21, 2010 7:04 p.m. Grtechguy UberDork
You have nothing to lose but time.
but, Ubuntu will network fine. Installs are idiot proof.
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Feb. 21, 2010 7:07 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
I am posting from an Ubuntu machine - my laptop also runs it.
Its an easy install, followed by a few "must have" installs like MS fonts, codecs and flash, etc... If you decide to go that way I can give you a pretty good head start once you have it up and connected. If you use wireless, make sure your card's chipset is supported. Most are but there are a few that just refuse to work. If you use the Live CD, can see the screem and can get on the net then you are gold to fix anything else that bugs ya.
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Feb. 21, 2010 7:39 p.m. Toyman01 Dork
Does Ubuntu run faster than Windows? I assume it has to be less of a resource hog than Vista. It seems to boot faster from CD than Vista does from a HD. If you had Windows machines that were running fine would you change them over as well? Or would you dual boot them?
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Feb. 21, 2010 7:40 p.m. Toyman01 Dork
One more thing, I have some software that I like to use for keeping my photos straight. PMB from Sony. Will Ubuntu run most software or just software written for it.
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Feb. 21, 2010 9:19 p.m. Jeff Dork
GPS, I tried the live CD yesterday and could not get my wireless to work. Works fine plugged in. I'd like to switch, but if wireless doesn't work, it won't work for me. Any thoughts?
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Feb. 21, 2010 9:36 p.m. 93gsxturbo Reader
Best part about Ubuntu is you can buy a computer cheaper than a WIndows machine and install Windows XP on it and have a really nice machine for not much money.
I bought my HP Netbook with Ubuntu and tossed XP on it within 18 hours of opening the package. Partly because Ubuntu didnt run the software I needed for ECMLink and Power Commanders, and partly because it sucked.
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Feb. 22, 2010 12:43 a.m. BoxheadTim HalfDork
Toyman01 wrote:
One more thing, I have some software that I like to use for keeping my photos straight. PMB from Sony. Will Ubuntu run most software or just software written for it.
If it's Windows software, you're most likely not able to run it, sorry. There is a way via Wine (a Windows emulator) but it's fairly restricted as to what it can run.
If you happen to like Ubuntu (I do, it's probably the easiest to use desktop Linux) and you need to run the occasional Windows program, have a look at installing VirtualBox and running Windows inside that.
Regarding the Windows license - if you do have the license sticker for Windows XP on that machine that shows you've got a legit one and has the license key on it, you should be able to pick up an XP disk without a license on ebay for a couple of bucks. As it's essentially the sticker that confirms the license and not the disk, you can install it using that key and you remain legit.
Jeff wrote:
GPS, I tried the live CD yesterday and could not get my wireless to work. Works fine plugged in. I'd like to switch, but if wireless doesn't work, it won't work for me. Any thoughts?
Do you know if it found the card but couldn't configure the wireless network or if it couldn't find the card? If it's the former and you're running a WPA-secured wireless network then it's "simply" a matter of configuring wpa_supplicant. If it's the latter and you know which card you've got, you'll have to have a look around the Internet to see if there are some instructions on how to make your card work with Linux. Unfortunately wireless networking is still one of the areas in Linux that aren't as smooth as you'd like them to be and not all card manufacturers support Linux in the first place. Worst case, if you like Linux and want to run it outside a virtual machine, you might have to replace the wireless card with one that's supported by Linux.
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Feb. 22, 2010 1:31 a.m. RedS13Coupe Reader
Do you still have the serial number for windows? You could always download a backup copy and use your legit serial, just make sure to download the same version you had.
Ubunutu is anywhere from fine, to terrible depending on what you want from it. If I had a legal way to run windows I would... I find EVERYTHING to be more annoying and difficult in linux. A lot of that is because I have a custom built computer, and linux uses a lot of generic drivers... But it wouldn't play nice with my scanner, my sound card, or my dual monitors.
I also found Open office to be a pretty flimsy substitute if you actually need to work with others. Going from open office to word was fine... But the other way messed up everything but the most basic word document.
IMO Linux is good for servers, internet browsing machines, and kids who want to post about how they are using linux on the internet (Just my opinion though)
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Feb. 22, 2010 6:35 a.m. GameboyRMH UltraDork
Jeff wrote:
GPS, I tried the live CD yesterday and could not get my wireless to work. Works fine plugged in. I'd like to switch, but if wireless doesn't work, it won't work for me. Any thoughts?
You could try using the Windows (XP) drivers with ndiswrapper. That usually works.
I run Ubuntu on all my non-gaming machines (well actually my gaming machine dual-boots now but that's just as a backup). The downsides of Ubuntu are that gaming is a crapshoot (you're trying to run Windows games designed to render with DirectX after all) and some hardware can give you trouble (although it's rare to be totally unable to use something...usually you can find ways to make things work).
The advantages are that it's rock solid, at least as easy to use as Windows, security is far better and viruses are basically a non-issue, your OS won't be remotely deactivated if you change network cards (it handles even radical hardware changes just fine as well), it's a few hundred bucks cheaper at $0, much lower maintenance, great community support that beats the crap out of any telephone support maze, and if you know what you're doing you can do a lot of fancy stuff that would be impossible or impractical on Windows.
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Feb. 22, 2010 11:02 a.m. ReverendDexter Dork
I dual-boot Ubuntu and Vista on my laptop.
The only reason Vista is still taking up space is that the software that interfaces with my OBDII scanner is Windows-only. That being said, the ONLY time I boot into Windows is when I'm plugging the laptop into a car (< 1% of the time).
Testing with a live CD is definitely the preferred way to go. If you can get online, even if some other stuff doesn't work, you're golden. Someone out there will know how to make just about anything else work.
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Feb. 22, 2010 11:08 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
Toyman01 wrote:
One more thing, I have some software that I like to use for keeping my photos straight. PMB from Sony. Will Ubuntu run most software or just software written for it.
For Windows software that I really need I install a free VMware Server instance running XP on Ubuntu. I suppose if you don't have a copy of XP this is an expensive option but... XP is pretty easy to find if you have no moral issue with snagging a torrent copy. You DID pay for it once when you bought the computer, afterall. Wine works for a lot of things but - its often a real bear to configure.
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Feb. 22, 2010 11:35 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
Jeff wrote:
GPS, I tried the live CD yesterday and could not get my wireless to work. Works fine plugged in. I'd like to switch, but if wireless doesn't work, it won't work for me. Any thoughts?
Do you know what chipset (google the model number & ubuntu) the wireless card is?
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Feb. 22, 2010 1:17 p.m. Grtechguy UberDork
broadcom cards (aka Linksys) will need to a special patch installed
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Feb. 22, 2010 2:18 p.m. Jeff Dork
My Wlan is a Broadcom 802.11 b/g. I've Googled that and Ubuntu and not found anything encouraging. Several unsolved questions on the Ubuntu forums. If anyone here has an answer, I'd love to hear it.
I've been flirting with Linux for years now (since 1998) but it always comes down to it being to fiddly. XP sucks rocks, but at least I can make it do what I want. I guess when Redmond blows it up, I'll have to switch.
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Feb. 22, 2010 2:20 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
Jeff wrote:
My Wlan is a Broadcom 802.11 b/g. I've Googled that and Ubuntu and not found anything encouraging. Several unsolved questions on the Ubuntu forums. If anyone here has an answer, I'd love to hear it.
I've been flirting with Linux for years now (since 1998) but it always comes down to it being to fiddly. XP sucks rocks, but at least I can make it do what I want. I guess when Redmond blows it up, I'll have to switch.
Yeah, Broadcom is one of the worst case scenarios for Linux. The answer is $29 for a D-Link 140 wireless USB dongle
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Feb. 22, 2010 2:30 p.m. turboswede UltraDork
If you still have the OEM license key on the side of the PC, then just borrow download someone's OEM install disk and you'll be fine.
However, I think learning to move away from Mickey-Soft is a good thing in the long run.
I think I still have a couple of spare PCMCIA wireless cards around. I'll check to see what chipsets they use if you need one.
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Feb. 22, 2010 4:16 p.m. Grtechguy UberDork
this is the broadcom/ubuntu answer http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
It does work just fine, a pain, but it does work
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Feb. 22, 2010 5:05 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
Grtechguy wrote:
this is the broadcom/ubuntu answer http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
It does work just fine, a pain, but it does work
It works for certain models only - I have a built-in in my HP laptop that just refused to comply and I'm no stranger to compiling my own stuff. It would work but only in "B" not "G" and it would just crap out for no reason.
I Went to the "supported" list and bought a USB version of a known model to work right out of the box and its so much easier than fighting with it. I even got it to work in promiscuous mode so vmware could share it with the main OS.
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Feb. 22, 2010 5:09 p.m. Toyman01 Dork
Well, Ubuntu is going on the desktop tonight. If I can get it running smooth I may just change my net book over too. Thanks for all the input. If I have any questions I know who to ask.
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Feb. 22, 2010 7:04 p.m. akamcfly Reader
Also on ubuntu right now.
I'm dual booting 9.10 and Windows 7. I tried to get my realtek 8192e built-in wireless going with ndiswrapper and screwed the whole thing up. I'm back to using my dlink 122 802.11b usb dongle (only 10MB/s from bell anyway). Otherwise, everything else on my newish toshiba laptop just works.
Apparently, the next kernel has the realtek drivers...
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Feb. 23, 2010 8:01 a.m. GameboyRMH UltraDork
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:
Yeah, Broadcom is one of the worst case scenarios for Linux. The answer is $29 for a D-Link 140 wireless USB dongle
The top "hardware avoid list" for Linux users:
Broadcom (they offer drivers for most models, but their cards NEVER work without them)
Foxconn
Creative Labs (Also a downright nasty company worth boycotting, IMO)
Also Intel video cards are far less troublesome than ATI or Nvidia cards. ATI has open source drivers, and Nvidia offers closed-source drivers with a nice control panel, but if it's a non-gaming linux system just go with Intel.
Every Intel network card I've run across has been plug & play with Linux, even obscure dual-ethernet server cards.
Also I cannot recommend Toshiba laptops in general, having two that died on me and another in the process of dying.
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Feb. 23, 2010 9:16 a.m. turboswede UltraDork
That's because Intel is a huge UX/IX company and has supported it from the beginning.
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Feb. 23, 2010 10:06 a.m. EricM Dork
I have been windows free since 1996. Just do it. (posting from my work Laptop which is a Windows XP system, irony is your friend)
