Windows Guy Tries Ubuntu

[zridling]

An interesting real-time installation and first-experience with Ubuntu Linux by Tom Baker. Installing GNU/Linux on a notebook is typically more difficult than on a desktop.

[attach]

[jgpaiva]

"This Account Has Exceeded Its CPU Quota"

Disregard this, the poor guy got digged

[lanux128]

i had the same feeling after trying out Ubuntu - a good read, though..

[Josh]

I have to say, I am impressed by this article. Very well written. You have convinced me to purchase an old p3 or two off ebay and setup a couple of linux boxen (one I wanted to use as a firewall, smoothwall or ipcop). Thanks for the great read!

[zridling]

Whether you love or hate GNU/Linux; whether you love or hate Windows/or Microsoft, I just enjoy reading critically honest accounts of others' software experiences. Tom Baker's was informative, if for no other reason, he did it in real time.

[Edvard]

They do not have the bells and whistles of the MS products, but they are free. Free is a huge bell and whistle all on its own. Hell, it’s a brass band playing on the Fourth of July.

OMGROFLMAO!!

[Lashiec]

Disregard this, the poor guy got digged

Quite digged should I say... now I know what kind of article should I write if I create a blog

Personally, I'm not sharing your opinions in the matter... these kind of switching experiences are starting to wear out, and they don't add too much to the Linux testing stories. If at least they took their time to test another Linux distros, it would be a bit more original (and possibly helpful), but everyone is restricting themselves to Ubuntu...

...unlike Zaine, now that was a truly interesting read. BTW, did you compile a list with the 10 reasons for not switching to Linux?

[Edvard]

But it's APPROPRIATE for a Windows guy to try Ubuntu. It just goes to show how far Linux has come. (Did anyone notice how he's constantly comparing things to his Vista Icon?)

I do agree however, that some other distros might provide better reads...
Like say, a Windows guy testing SLACKWARE...
*evil laughter*

[zridling]

Lashiec, I think the value of sharing switching experiences is that they confirm what we all know — we tend to stay with what's comfortable, what we've mastered, and what we like. And this is true in every part of our lives, not just relative to software or gadgets. How many people who drive sports cars would permanently switch to driving a truck? How often do you change the brand of razor you use? Change your favorite sports team? Or shoes? etc.

When someone does make the switch, I'm naturally curious why, i.e., maybe they know something I don't. If I try it and don't share their experience, then I know it didn't interest me. There's a lot of folks like me looking to jump off the Microsoft wagon and give something else a try. I figure after more than 20 years on Windows and DOS, I've earned my chops and deserve to look at another OS for a while. Ironically, my experiences so far has given me a greater appreciation of Windows in some ways.

I'm not done learning Linux yet. But give me another year and I'll be informed enough to write some reasons not to switch to Linux. So far, I can't come close to ten! ;-)

[Lashiec]

Uhm, reading your post makes me realize that I've been a bit more aggressive than it was necessary in my response.

A switching experience is always interesting, whether is a SO or a GF (*ahem*). But I feel that to make a valuable contribution, not only for the other people interested in the experience, but also for your reputation as a blogger (in this case), a good written article is of more interest. The point I want to make is that you can't switch from Vista to Linux in 1 day and think you can pinpoint your view about the feeling of the latter compared to the former without almost no dwelling in the innards of Linux. Maybe for the casual users is more than enough, but for the power users, the experience is of not that much help, because of all the power inherent in any SO. I mean, I want a real good article about a switching experience, not a quick tour around.

In other words, I want Ars Technica and not SuperSite for Windows

Even you seem to agree with me saying that you're not done learning Linux yet. And you've been with it quite some time compared to this guy. Of course, you don't stop learning something new, even about old things, never, but a time adapting yourself to the new situation is more than necessary in those cases.

[f0dder]

I guess I should brush up my switch/comparison thingy that I never really finished... after all I have some years of linux experience, from my original purchase of redhat 5.1 across various levels of engagement with slackware, debian, gentoo, ubuntu, freebsd, archlinux et cetera.

I'm a power user and programmer (high- as well as low-level) on windows, and I've had my hands dirty enough with linux to set it up for ADSL routing (with two NICs, ipfilter, the works), encrypted root filesystems, etc...

Basically I don't see a reason to switch if the system is going to run slower and be more difficult for my daily use, etc. And that's been my experience so far. At least I've been able to fix the issues I've had (those that were fixable!), but would you expect a regular user (or even a power user?) to know to manually edit xorg.conf to get something as trivial as a dual-monitor setup t work?

I guess I should get back to that writing that thingamajig

[housetier]

Look at it the other way: I am so used to they way X Windows works I am severly handicapped when I have to work with MS Windows. C&P jsut doesn't work as I am used to I have to install software to get virtual desktops/workspaces.

I understand everybody's trouble with linux. Linux akes trouble for them not because it is inerior, limited, or plain bad, but because it is different.

If you ain't happy with linux, don't use it! Fighting the OS is not productive.

[mwang]

I've been using Linux for 3+years. Tried Redhat, Mandrake, Xandora and Ubuntuu before settling on Fedora. My server now runs Fedora 6.

I still use Windows for my desktop. My Linux server box doesn't even have its own monitor; I manage it from Windows. But it's not because Linux GUI (X-Win, KDE or GNOME) is bad. Before the fancy ones on the newest breed of Linux distros--including Ubuntuu 7--the GUI was quite adequate for me. The learning curve varies from user to user and from distro to distro (Ubuntuu is harder for me personally because I started out on Redhat), but it's not that difficult.

What really has me leashed to Windows is software, the applications and utilities I rely on for my daily work and life. Setting up a Linux box during the weekend is one thing, trying to master another office suite enough to do the daily work as efficiently as I'm doing with MS Office is another, but still doable. Having to learn a new scripting language well enough to convert all my handmade tools (VBA scripts) so I can accomplish the jobs no office suite (either MS or others) would do for me, however, has made it impossible so far. Give me a free summer then maybe I can do it, otherwise I'm trapped.

[Armando]

Give me a free summer then maybe I can do it, otherwise I'm trapped.

I've tried several summers... i'm still trapped.

But I still have hope. One day...

IMHO, even more resources should go into developping virtualization solutions and other compatibility layers like... Wine.