Hello,
Apologies if this has already been posted ad nauseum (and I am sure that it has been.)
I have five computers in my household, one laptop, three ASUS netbooks, and one bleeding-edge CAD system to rule them all.
Five or six months ago, I switched my laptop over to Ubuntu- in a word, a convert was made. Now, three of the five systems in my hone are Ubuntu only.
They run great, when Ubuntu is the only OS- but there's a catch (there's always a catch, isn't there?) The CAD system has to run Win7 to support Solidworks (I got CATIA to run on Ubuntu, but Solidworks is the white whale here, as it is what my employer uses.)
So, the CAD system runs Windows 99.5% of the time. Here's the rub- because I didn't boot that system into Ubuntu for a couple of weeks, the install is now apparently broken- the loading screen hangs for ever, and it just won't boot. I have not had that problem with the native, dedicated installs.
I've not only installed Ubuntu on systems I own- with permission, I have loaded it on three other laptops, and the response has been 100% positive. But I have a little doubt myself, and I am hoping that some of you Linux folks can address it. As of now, I have 30Gb of a total of 256Gb of SSD real-estate devoted to Ubuntu that will not boot- hardly the way to win friends and influence people.
I like what you've done here, and will continue to support it. But this dual-boot issue is a killer. I know, because I see the difference on my Ubuntu-only laptop, that the OS is not at fault, but somehow Windows 7 is smacking Ubuntu around on dual-boot- which is precisely where most people will start.
I don't need a fix here- right now, I'm arguing from Joe 6-pack's perspective. I know that there is probably a command-line bit of code that will work a minor miracle, and I appreciate that. What you, I and everyone else needs is a stealthy fix here, that makes Ubuntu "just work" after the initial install.
I have faith in you folks- Linux has come a long, long way since I last tried it (Fedora in the late 90's.) Just keep it up, and do what you do- I'll keep advocating it from where I stand. But this dual-boot failure has to go- from my perspective, it is the last piece in the big puzzle, next to Netflix (whom I call once a week to ask if they have Linux support yet- this week they said they are implementing it) and getting it packaged with new systems.
Anyhow, just my $.02. Overall, a big thumbs-up for the Ubuntu community.
