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Ten Tips for Windows users making the switch to Linux

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wreckedcarzz:
FYI:

All Ubuntu based distros (Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, EdUbuntu, etc) are going to have the 8.10 update on the 30th, followed by several last minute updates - it may be worth giving another shot.

My opinion on why Ubuntu is still not ready for "normal users":

I personally have a problem with Ubuntu's ability for "learning users" (wannabe power users, ex: me) being able to seriously fsck up the whole OS by one bad setting line; my laptop can no longer launch the X window system because of a "tweak" I found on Google (text based computing is a serious bummer). You [advanced linux users] can go on about how you have to use sudo and that you shouldn't mess with things you don't know about, but if you never mess with anything, you'll never learn anything. But the lack of an error recovery ability is simply appalling. I'm glad I have nothing life shattering on that ex3 partition, 'cause 8.10 is going on it as soon as ATI xorg drivers are out.

I love Ubuntu, but it still needs that little bit of extra "noob friendliness" IMO. Stuff should be wizard based, and less leaning on the terminal. And... *goes off to Ubuntu forums to complain* :P

Anyways, give it a go when it comes out. Might just work for you this time around ;) :Thmbsup:

Dormouse:
My kids love Linux. They use Windows at school. but mostly use Linux at home. Prefer the depositories to searching for Windows software. Have to use Windows for some progs. Certainly not Linux gurus - but not Windows gurus either and are equally competent (or incompetent) in both.

For many people, I think the biggest problem is Linux gurus. They want simple places to go for simple answers to simple questions. Not complex answers that make them feel they don't understand, when they don't really want to understand, just to know what to do.

I've never really had any problems with Linux. Mostly because, if I can't make it work fairly easily, I give up and use another distro or use Windows for that task; and now I find Linux deals with most hardware and has progs for most of the things I do. Had lots and lots of problems with Windows because there has never been much alternative except to find a solution. So I'm less inexpert in Windows and still use it more. Looking forward to 8.10 though.

ak_:
I have a question : i'd like to install Ubuntu on my home computer, but i know 8.10 version is coming very soon. So, i need advice.

Should i :

- Install 8.04 and then upgrade to 8.10 when it's released (assuming that upgrading is safe and won't cause any weird problem).
- Wait for 8.10 and then install it.

Thank you :)

f0dder:
Wait it out - upgrade might work just fine, but I generally stay away from updates on any OS. Heck, even service packs for windows warrant a clean reinstall from a slipstreamed CD, imho.

VideoInPicture:
I have used various versions of Linux in the past and I've been using Ubuntu for a couple of weeks since I wanted to do some Mono programming with it and port some of my software over to Linux. This means that I need to install Mono onto Ubuntu. From my impressions as a new user of Ubuntu and it's image as one of the friendlier Linux distros out there, I have to say that Windows still has Linux beat for user friendliness. I found out that there is no official user support for the installation of Mono onto Ubuntu so I'm now trying to download a torrent of a distro where somebody has done all the dirty work of figuring out how get the Mono framework running on it.

Another big problem is the requirement to use the terminal to do a lot of the program installations and any advanced settings that are required to get some programs up and running. It's not as simple as Windows where it is often a double-click on an icon that opens a wizard to guide you through installation in a graphical way. Also, I think that there are too many Linux distros out there and this harms it because now a user has to figure out if a Linux program will actually run on his system or if he has to compile it from the source code!

I think Linux could take a step forward by doing anyway with the terminal and simplifying the installation of some programs. I don't think any user short of a programmer should have to touch the terminal.

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