How to feel better using (K)Ubuntu

[geearf]

Hello,

i've been trying out the linux world for about 8 months, but i couln't get the feeling right ...

At first i was using MEPIS ( i asked many friends about linux, most of all told me to go for a debian based, then a guy told me to choose between mepis and ubuntu, at that time i looked around a bit, and choose mepis :) ).

I've been using this mepis from time to time on my laptop but never on my desktop cause i did not like having a refresh rate of 65 Hz, I know i could fix it, but after a few minutes, i did not want to look further, my eyes were hurting too much (I am not using a plug and play cable for the screen, maybe why).

Then, some months later, i wanted to try Ubuntu (warty) for my desktop (still MEPIS on my laptop), but same problem, although this time it was 85Hz so much better. I wandered around, installing nvidia drivers was a hassle cause I did not have the kernel headers, and at every boot I had to run again the nvidia installer or startx would not run .. and still of course the 85Hz problem. So i gave up.

A few weeks ago, i wanted to gave a new try to linux, so i tried Kubuntu hoary (cause I am getting a bit used to kde now from my laptop), and this time the installation of nvdia drivers was very fine, i solved my refresh rate problem in less than 30 minutes, it was like a dream for me .. :)

I wandered around, liking konqueror, trying amarok but finding it too slow and going for xmms instead, using superkaramba, compiling mplayer, using kplayer cause i had problems with fullscreen, using kopete which is very easy, and so on...

But I am still feeling much better under windows. Why ? cause i have all my usual stuff around (foobar for mp3, MPC for videos, ...).

So i came here to ask you, how did you do it ? I am not the first to try and cross the gap, i've been using unix on ssh for a while at my school, so i'm kind used to it, but that's it. At first i wanted to use linux only on commande base, no GUI, now that i have my GUI setup, I think of me as a fool :)

Thanks for any comments, and for reading all this ^^
And of course thanks for (k)Ubuntu.

PS : i am thinking of removing MEPIS on my LAPTOP and going for KUBUNTU also, very easier to use (at least on my desktop) but for the moment, as i don't use so much linux, i am not yet decided to go through another hassle (if it appears).

[kiddo]

Well, Ubuntu, for one, allowed me to not switch back anymore (well, my previous tries were.. "accidents" I should say.. like corrupted media, bloat, etc). I can only give my point of view as a gnome user: have you tried it? Ubuntu, not kubuntu. You _may_ like gnome better. You really have to see both :) even in gnome, I use amaroK however. I can't stand players that don't take my ratings into consideration. I hate deleting MP3s just because they're a bit old ;).

I stick with mostly the default install: totem as my movie player (using xine, not gstreamer)

Precise what makes you feel better in windows, and I'll happily answer :)

[geearf]

Hello,

thanks for taking the time to answer.

Actually i cannot really say what is bothering me, it's just that i cannot feel home for the moment... I thought I would by using wine with my windows applications, but it does not the job so well ...

Like i'm used to foobar, and controlling it either with a plugin on the taskbar, or with my media buttons on my keyboard, that i couldn't do it (well i never really tried in fact), i just found how to control it from superkaramba.

Also for IM, i use Miranda, never try anything else, so i cannot tell it's the best, but i am used to it, and it "bothers" me to have 2 different programs for this, and also not share the history :)

(At least i have firefox on both :D)

I guess I have to get used to it anyhow :)

[Quest-Master]

Hello,

thanks for taking the time to answer.

Actually i cannot really say what is bothering me, it's just that i cannot feel home for the moment... I thought I would by using wine with my windows applications, but it does not the job so well ...

Like i'm used to foobar, and controlling it either with a plugin on the taskbar, or with my media buttons on my keyboard, that i couldn't do it (well i never really tried in fact), i just found how to control it from superkaramba.

Also for IM, i use Miranda, never try anything else, so i cannot tell it's the best, but i am used to it, and it "bothers" me to have 2 different programs for this, and also not share the history :)

(At least i have firefox on both :D)

I guess I have to get used to it anyhow :)
It just takes a bit of time to get used to. I know exactly how you feel though. I haven't touched Windows in weeks now; only for things the family has to do.

Programs I use?

Gaim - messaging
Rhythmbox - better than Foobar or iTunes IMO
EasyTAG - fast, flexible, and non-hassle MP3 ID tag editing
Firefox - we know ;)
X-Chat - IRC
Azureus - Awesome BitTorrent client
Quanta - wonderful web development tool
MPlayer or VLC - rocking media players which have never failed me
AbiWord - fast and clean alternative to Word or OpenOffice Writer

Get used to these, and you'll probably never need Windows again. :)

[geearf]

Hello,
Thanks for answering.

I know there are plenty of linux software, for the moment i mostly tried the one coming with kubuntu (except for m/kplayer)

Gaim - messaging -> why not, though i'd like one the closest possible to miranda, i have to test :)
Rhythmbox - better than Foobar or iTunes IMO -> good then i will try it thanks, now that foobar can run with wine, i can export my playlist from fpl to m3u when i forget to do so in windows, so i don't need something 100% compatible anymore :)
EasyTAG - fast, flexible, and non-hassle MP3 ID tag editing -> hmm never bothered doing this in windows :)
Firefox - we know -> yep ^^
X-Chat - IRC -> i don't use much IRC but ok why not
Azureus - Awesome BitTorrent client -> the one i use already :)
Quanta - wonderful web development tool -> i really don't know what it is, maybe something like emacs, or a programming editor ? (for that i have one under windows, but for this i really do not mind changing at least)
MPlayer or VLC - rocking media players which have never failed me -> i sometimes use MPlayer in windows, but i like to control the player with the mouse, and i never found how, also right now under linux, when i go to fullscreen, it tries to, but the movie stays at its size, the rest goes black, so i just have the movie centered in a black screen :(. That is why i tried Kplayer. For VLC i don't know, i never liked it.
AbiWord - fast and clean alternative to Word or OpenOffice Writer -> i think i already tried it years ago on windows, but for that i am also used to OOo on windows, so it is not a so big deal, just pretty slow :).


Thanks for the names of the software, i'll try to log back in linux tomorrow, i just need some motivation :)

Also, i might have a specific question : i have firefox and thunderbird both on windows and kubutun but i'd like to have the same profile on both. Of course i am running with an NTFS partition, what would you do ? a script that copies the windows to the linux profile at start, and the linux one to the windows one at the end (but for that i'll need another partition, or try captive) or any extension that can get that for me on a ftp (as one already doind that for bookmarls)?


Thanks,

[geearf]

Hello,

i've looked a bit at rythmbox, and it's only for gnome, and for the moment i like kde :)
I've tried bmp, but still i am not getting something right, amarok seemed very good, too bad it is so slow :(

Also i have a little problem, some files on my playlist are in other directories, so i have something like :
/home/geearf/c/MP/OST\nameofthecompilation\nameofthemp3.mp3

Is there any way to autoswitch the "\" for a "/" ?
Thanks

still looking around :)

[kiddo]

Just so you know, amaroK (yeah, too heavy for you) has some nifty shortcuts built-in. I constantly use WIN+X/C/B (start, pause, forward). Other than that, xmms or rhythmbox can easily be controlled by foxytunes (something like that?) from Firefox too.

[poofyhairguy]

Of course i am running with an NTFS partition, what would you do ?

You can read NTFS in Linux, but you can't write to it without risking corruption.....

[poofyhairguy]

Hello,

i've looked a bit at rythmbox, and it's only for gnome, and for the moment i like kde :)
I've tried bmp, but still i am not getting something right, amarok seemed very good, too bad it is so slow :(

Also i have a little problem, some files on my playlist are in other directories, so i have something like :
/home/geearf/c/MP/OST\nameofthecompilation\nameofthemp3.mp3

Is there any way to autoswitch the "\" for a "/" ?
Thanks

still looking around :)

did you try muine?

[nobodysbusiness]

I recently switched from Mandrake to Ubuntu, so I'm far more used to KDE as well. I think KDE is more Windows-like, so it feels more familiar to long-time windows users. Now that I've used Linux for a while, I'm giving Gnome a try, and I do like it a lot (Though maybe it's just Ubuntu making everything so slick). As for swapping '\' for '/', I did something somewhat similar with a bash script not too long ago. I had a bunch of m3u playlists that pointed to ogg files, and I had to convert the playlists to reference mp3 files (I converted my collection to mp3 so I could put it on my new iPod shuffle). This isn't exactly what you need, but maybe some other people here can suggest how to modify it for your needs:

#!/bin/sh
# Replaces all occurrances of '.ogg' with '.mp3' in the playlist files
# in the current directory.

for i in *.m3u;
do sed 's/.ogg/.mp3/g' $i > temp.txt;
rm -f $i;
cp temp.txt $i;
rm -f temp.txt;
done

[geearf]

Just so you know, amaroK (yeah, too heavy for you) has some nifty shortcuts built-in. I constantly use WIN+X/C/B (start, pause, forward). Other than that, xmms or rhythmbox can easily be controlled by foxytunes (something like that?) from Firefox too.
Hello,

i've been looking around a bit today, and i've found how to control amarok from my keyboard with my multimedia stuff, so this is cool, even if i still find amarok slow :).

[geearf]

did you try muine?
Euh no i didn't, never heard of it.

I just looked at it, and only for gnome again :(

Thanks anyway.

[geearf]

I recently switched from Mandrake to Ubuntu, so I'm far more used to KDE as well. I think KDE is more Windows-like, so it feels more familiar to long-time windows users. Now that I've used Linux for a while, I'm giving Gnome a try, and I do like it a lot (Though maybe it's just Ubuntu making everything so slick). As for swapping '\' for '/', I did something somewhat similar with a bash script not too long ago. I had a bunch of m3u playlists that pointed to ogg files, and I had to convert the playlists to reference mp3 files (I converted my collection to mp3 so I could put it on my new iPod shuffle). This isn't exactly what you need, but maybe some other people here can suggest how to modify it for your needs:

#!/bin/sh
# Replaces all occurrances of '.ogg' with '.mp3' in the playlist files
# in the current directory.

for i in *.m3u;
do sed 's/.ogg/.mp3/g' $i > temp.txt;
rm -f $i;
cp temp.txt $i;
rm -f temp.txt;
done

Thanks, it may be usefull, even if I was more thinking of an 'on the fly' thing for the mp3 player (but that probably is not possible)

:)

[geearf]

For the moment i am having a hard time getting my mx1000 working properly, even if i found the ubuntu topic for it :)

Good night all,

[geearf]

Well for the moment this is what i've done :

i've got the buttons back and forward working, i'll try tomorrow the others.
I opened amarok, loaded my playlist, saved it, opened it with kwrite, replace \ with /, and loaded it again in amarok, not exactly as automatic as i wanted, but it did the trick needed at least.

[geearf]

Well actuallyt i've changed the amarok engine from arts to gstreamer, and it seems much better now, but IMO the fade in / out is no good :(

[geearf]

well i've been toying around a bit, and using unix system at work now is helping.
But still i need to find the softs that will make me feel ok :)

[bored2k]

I would have asked how to feel better using MS Windows :? ?

In my case, even if I am just a simple novice I don't like to think of myself as a simple user. I am a person that likes to learn new stuff on a regular basis. Using the mentioned OS, I noticed I wasn't learning anything useful other than having things done blindly by someone's propietary and boring application. Yes sometimes I use it, but that's only for DVD Authoring using Sony Architect wich is a 600 dollar unique application. Since I don't author every day, I feel happy this way -yet I'm still looking around to see if dvd authoring catches up on Linux.

Think about it next time you're using any OS -including Linux: What am I learning ? Am I putting my brain to any use?

[panickedthumb]

bored2k, you are NOT a simple novice ;) You may have been at one time, but you've learned so much since you've come here, there's no way you can be considered a novice.

[geearf]

Just so you know, amaroK (yeah, too heavy for you) has some nifty shortcuts built-in. I constantly use WIN+X/C/B (start, pause, forward). Other than that, xmms or rhythmbox can easily be controlled by foxytunes (something like that?) from Firefox too.
I've found that amarok is having trouble reading my mp3 having some stuff like 'é' 'ô' or else in the name, is that normal ?
Thanks.

[techmonkey]

I've found that amarok is having trouble reading my mp3 having some stuff like 'é' 'ô' or else in the name, is that normal ?
Thanks.
I'm not sure now, but ages ago when I tried to install amaroK, funny characters in ID3 tags like that was down to a bad (old) TagLib installation. I think amaroK requires TagLib 1.3.1 to show the tags properly.

You can probably find which version you have by going to synaptic and searching for taglib (or libtaglib, or libtag. I don't think Ubuntu does it, but I know that certain distributions (such as Mandrake) like to rename it to whatever is the current flavour of the month ;))

And if you can't install it from Synaptic, you could always brave the compiler and try and install it from source (http://developer.kde.org/~wheeler/taglib.html). Good luck with that. :)

By the way: You can install Gnome and still use KDE. Gnome apps will run in KDE and vice-versa, so there's little excuse to ignore apps simply because they run on Gnome. ;) Although, this will slow down the running of said application because it has to load in the Gnome/KDE stuff that should be already loaded by the time you login. This is especially true of running KDE apps inside Gnome, because KDE is, well, very, very heavy. :wink:

[Segovia]

Then, some months later, i wanted to try Ubuntu (warty) for my desktop (still MEPIS on my laptop), but same problem, although this time it was 85Hz so much better. I wandered around, installing nvidia drivers was a hassle cause I did not have the kernel headers, and at every boot I had to run again the nvidia installer or startx would not run .. and still of course the 85Hz problem. So i gave up.
Just out of curiosity, why do you want a refresh rate higher than 85? It just makes things blurry. I've never heard of a person who could see any flicker at 85Hz.

Most CRTs are calibrated at the factory for 85Hz. When you crank it up, you just throw it out of focus.

[geearf]

I'm not sure now, but ages ago when I tried to install amaroK, funny characters in ID3 tags like that was down to a bad (old) TagLib installation. I think amaroK requires TagLib 1.3.1 to show the tags properly.

You can probably find which version you have by going to synaptic and searching for taglib (or libtaglib, or libtag. I don't think Ubuntu does it, but I know that certain distributions (such as Mandrake) like to rename it to whatever is the current flavour of the month ;))

And if you can't install it from Synaptic, you could always brave the compiler and try and install it from source (http://developer.kde.org/~wheeler/taglib.html). Good luck with that. :)

By the way: You can install Gnome and still use KDE. Gnome apps will run in KDE and vice-versa, so there's little excuse to ignore apps simply because they run on Gnome. ;) Although, this will slow down the running of said application because it has to load in the Gnome/KDE stuff that should be already loaded by the time you login. This is especially true of running KDE apps inside Gnome, because KDE is, well, very, very heavy. :wink:

Hello,

about the taglibe i'll take a look when i boot into linux (i am making more space for it right now :) ), but i found mostly my problem : my .m3u was having bad stuff in it i don't know why, and of course my NTFS partition was mounted but in a bad way so some MP3 with accents were having square and stuff like that .. Now everything is better, thanks :)

About gnome, hmm i don't really know, i am feeling alright with kde right now, i tried fluxbox very fast, did not see much in it. I'll definitely try other desktop manager later, but not right now, maybe by the end of this big week end (i have 3 days :D) or next one, or later i don't know when i'll feel like using gnome.
But the worse thing that could happen right now is me liking more gnome that kde, cause then i would want to install ubuntu instead of kubuntu ;)

Thanks,

[geearf]

Just out of curiosity, why do you want a refresh rate higher than 85? It just makes things blurry. I've never heard of a person who could see any flicker at 85Hz.

Most CRTs are calibrated at the factory for 85Hz. When you crank it up, you just throw it out of focus.
Hello,

I have eyes that can get very easily tired (i should wear glasses for that, but i just hate glasses..) and as i spend pretty much time in front of my computer i'd rather have a good refresh rate. Basically i don't see much difference after 100Hz, but I still see it between 85 and 100.

Also, I don't know if it makes things blurry, but my screen can go up to 150Hz, so i like to use it as max ;).

[bored2k]

Hello,

I have eyes that can get very easily tired (i should wear glasses for that, but i just hate glasses..) and as i spend pretty much time in front of my computer i'd rather have a good refresh rate. Basically i don't see much difference after 100Hz, but I still see it between 85 and 100.

Also, I don't know if it makes things blurry, but my screen can go up to 150Hz, so i like to use it as max ;).
150hz? that's a lot .. and I thought 85hz was good :-(

[geearf]

In fact, today for a crt, 85Hz is bad. Most average / good CRT can handle more

[Segovia]

In fact, today for a crt, 85Hz is bad. Most average / good CRT can handle more
Yes. It's so you can attain an acceptable refresh rate at higher resolution, not so that you can run it higher refresh at lower resolution.

A monitor that can do 85Hz at 1600x1200 is not uncommon, as a side effect, you will be able to do 140, 160, or more Hz at 800x600. That doesn't mean you should run at that refresh rate just because the monitor is capable of it. Higher refresh does *not* equal better.

You should always run at the minimum refresh where you do not see (feel) any flicker. This will provide the sharpest image. For most people this lies between 75-100 Hz.

[bored2k]

Yes. It's so you can attain an acceptable refresh rate at higher resolution, not so that you can run it higher refresh at lower resolution.

A monitor that can do 85Hz at 1600x1200 is not uncommon, as a side effect, you will be able to do 140, 160, or more Hz at 800x600. That doesn't mean you should run at that refresh rate just because the monitor is capable of it. Higher refresh does *not* equal better.

You should always run at the minimum refresh where you do not see (feel) any flicker. This will provide the sharpest image. For most people this lies between 75-100 Hz.

That's definitely 85hz for me. It used to be 75hz, but I got so used to 85hz I can't use a higher video resolution than I do because of this :\

[geearf]

Yes. It's so you can attain an acceptable refresh rate at higher resolution, not so that you can run it higher refresh at lower resolution.

A monitor that can do 85Hz at 1600x1200 is not uncommon, as a side effect, you will be able to do 140, 160, or more Hz at 800x600. That doesn't mean you should run at that refresh rate just because the monitor is capable of it. Higher refresh does *not* equal better.

You should always run at the minimum refresh where you do not see (feel) any flicker. This will provide the sharpest image. For most people this lies between 75-100 Hz.
Oh i did not know that, so you think i should run it at 100Hz (like i don't feel much difference between 100 and 120 ?

Thanks

[Segovia]

Oh i did not know that, so you think i should run it at 100Hz (like i don't feel much difference between 100 and 120 ?

Thanks
Yea, well, your manufacturer has probably tuned it at a certain optimal resolution and refresh rate. The owners manual should tell you which resolution/refresh that is. I have a ViewSonic and a Mitsubishi, both of them list, in the owners manual, which resolution/refresh the tube has been tuned for.

CRTs are, of course, very good at running at different resolutions/refresh, but if you want the best possible picture, you should probably use what they recommend. It's almost always 85Hz at a certain res. If you need to go to 100, that's fine, but 120 is almost certainly overkill and probably just degrading the picture quality slightly.

[geearf]

Well thanks for teaching me that, i knew it for LCD but not for CRT.
Mine says 1280*1024@85Hz, so should i use it at 1280*1024@100Hz ? or 1152*864@100 Hz ?

Thanks for your help (also other resolutions are at 85Hz true :( )

[bored2k]

Also , what is then _the_ best resolution for a crt ? when it looks sort of boldy and not as sharp, or when it looks really sharp, but feels a bit more of a strain on the eye ?

[panickedthumb]

I've always used my monitors at the highest possible resolution at the highest possible refresh rate for that resolution. The lower resolutions are a major eye strain. Anything below 70 is painful, though I DID choose to run at 1024x768 at 60 hz on an old 15 inch monitor. It was either that or 800x600.

[bored2k]

I've always used my monitors at the highest possible resolution at the highest possible refresh rate for that resolution. The lower resolutions are a major eye strain. Anything below 70 is painful, though I DID choose to run at 1024x768 at 60 hz on an old 15 inch monitor. It was either that or 800x600.
60hz ? You must have 3 inch thick glasses.. You can't imagine how much it hurts after a hoary install, before I reconfigure xserver-xorg (1280 @ 60hz). It's like my brother's pepper spray that I sprayed on myself on day.. *stupid experiment..very*

[panickedthumb]

Remember, bored2k, what they say at the beginning of every episode of Jackass-- you weren't supposed to try that at home!!

But 60 wasn't so bad when I was used to it. Now, it'd kill me ;)

[poofyhairguy]

But 60 wasn't so bad when I was used to it. Now, it'd kill me ;)

Thank you mr LCD.

[Segovia]

Well thanks for teaching me that, i knew it for LCD but not for CRT.
Mine says 1280*1024@85Hz, so should i use it at 1280*1024@100Hz ? or 1152*864@100 Hz ?

Thanks for your help (also other resolutions are at 85Hz true :( )
Check out Norman Koren's (http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html) web page on monitor setup and calibration. Page down a little and you'll see a chart that talks about resolutions, and what is the ideal resolution for each size monitor in regard to ppi (pixels per inch).

You can ignore the part where he tells you to right-click on the "Windows" desktop. [-X LOL.

[Segovia]

I've always used my monitors at the highest possible resolution at the highest possible refresh rate for that resolution. The lower resolutions are a major eye strain. Anything below 70 is painful, though I DID choose to run at 1024x768 at 60 hz on an old 15 inch monitor. It was either that or 800x600.
Yea, 60-70Hz is like insta-headache for me too.

[geearf]

Well thanks for this i'll have a loook at it tomorrow.

[geearf]

Hello,

just to tell you that i've been using mostly ubuntu at home and at work for the past 2 weeks, i am getting used to it at last :)

But still sometimes i miss some programs from the windows world :)

[kassetra]

But still sometimes i miss some programs from the windows world :)

Like which ones?

Oftentimes there are very good Linux equivalents to programs, and sometimes Windows programs will work under Linux through Wine. :)

[geearf]

Well for the moment i just missed Miranda IM, cannot get as much with kopete or GAIM.
I still also miss a bit foobar, but it's true that amarok is not that bad, i might try juk too.

Thanks,

ps : about the wine thing i can get those both running, but it's not as smooth, and after a long time it consumes a lot of ram :(

[geearf]

Well finally i am 100% (well kinda :D ) used to kubuntu, and my bosses agreed to install in at work.

One lab of the Pasteur Institute might be full kubuntu equipped soon :)

[sapo]

Hello,

thanks for taking the time to answer.

Actually i cannot really say what is bothering me, it's just that i cannot feel home for the moment... I thought I would by using wine with my windows applications, but it does not the job so well ...

Like i'm used to foobar, and controlling it either with a plugin on the taskbar, or with my media buttons on my keyboard, that i couldn't do it (well i never really tried in fact), i just found how to control it from superkaramba.

Also for IM, i use Miranda, never try anything else, so i cannot tell it's the best, but i am used to it, and it "bothers" me to have 2 different programs for this, and also not share the history :)

(At least i have firefox on both :D)

I guess I have to get used to it anyhow :)

have you ever heard a expression that says something like this:
"If you change the grass color, the donkey will starve to death"

i m using JUST linux for 6 months now.. i ve decided "i ll wipe out this windows from my HD and did it.. the first 2 months i had to get used to it.. but now.. if i had to come back to windows...

I would miss my 4 desktops... i m used to gaim... i would miss apt-get to install apps in a flash.., my gedit to code... and i lot of stuff that i got used too...

Your problem is that you are used with those windows apps.. it doesnt mean that they are better or worst.. you are just used to it... if you needed to use just linux for 6 months.. when you start windows again... you would say "where is my other desktops?" "omg.. wheres the terminal.." "why do i need this stupid anti-virus?"

so... give linux i try.. if you can survive withou windows.. you will really start a better life.. as i did :grin:

[geearf]

Yeah don't worry i feel much better under linux than in windows right now,
probably mostly thanks to apt and ssh i guess :)

PS : i never have any anti virus on windows, neither a firewall ;)

[Stormy Eyes]

I find that the best way to feel better is to use a 21.3 inch Samsung SyncMaster liquid crystal display. Sure, it's pricy, but that's what income tax refunds and understanding geek wives are for. \\:D/