Two different machines and experiences installing and running Ubuntu

[ramblinche81]

Overall, I love the entire system and community of support. I like to solve puzzles and fix things. This was my second install on a machine over past three years and I am glad I made the move overall. That said, my patience wore thin on installing 12.04 LTS to my Toshiba laptop. This weekend I almost came to believe MS Windows products were worth the frustrations. I enjoy technology and problem solving, but I am not a code writing personality. I want technology to work for me, not so much the other way around.

My prior experience was loading Karmic to a home built desktop (asus32mvp with amd) was almost three years ago and it went really well except for sound which was solved in a day or say. I had a clean boot and install within an hour, with full functionality. While I struggled with sound for three or four days looking for permanent fix, it was a minor inconvenience and I had confidence the overall OS was going to work. I also spent some time learning the nuances of command line instructions.

For three years, no crashes, dumps, bumps, or critical failures or system crashes. Not one. That is motivation to replace Windows on the family laptop with the latest version from ubuntu world when Windows updates started routinely failing and MS support says, reload and start over.

This weekend I really was expecting to install 12.04 LTS with the same fluidity and ease as my Karmic install. Oh, was I in for a surprise. At one point I told myself I regretted my modest contribution to the community as a poor investment of $30.

I was NOT prepared for the idea the kernel would never load and the system would lock up. It was Windows all over again with a Black Screen of Death with no message or clue to the cause (which makes it tough to find a cure). Despite all the best efforts of other user's previous failures, there was nothing I could find which related to or solved my problem.

At one point, I convinced myself Windows knows how to get a fresh system started (whether you like the feel or content of the installed product as a different topic) and well, maybe this product isn't for all users, or at least people trying to revive an older laptop.

The really good news is the community came through with some ideas and with a little blind luck I tried a solution of my own creation based on the intuitive nature of the command structure....and it worked. Hey, if x is giving you problems, turn it off and see what happens.

A tweak here, a tweak there. I doubt I will touch the command system again, same as the Karmic which has not been upgraded and won't be until it crashes and can't get up on its own. I am really glad the auto updates have worked flawlessly.

So, long winded testimonial overall. I love the system, I love the community of support, I love the ability to fix things or try things transparently without relying on a remote support group with a plan B is always, reformat and reload your OS.

Now, if I can just figure out how to hack my TiVo boxes and share files within the house network it will really be worth it.

[coldraven]

Nice testimonial!
I've been using Ubunbtu and derivatives for four years and learnt a few things on the way.
Some machines have hardware which is problematic. My neighbours PC will run 8.04 flawlessly but 10.04 is unusable due to it's Intel integrated chipset.
The laptop I'm using now has a ATI video card that has to use the open source (mesa) driver. The proprietary driver will only support X.org up to 7.4. The result is that I get various graphic problems and cannot run Unity. So it's Kubuntu for me at the moment.
But nothing would make me change back to the nightmare that is Windows.
Happy hacking and good luck with your Tivos

Re: Windows
Would you trust a company that does this?
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-paten...rm-7000007102/

[bcschmerker]

I've done three generations of LinUX boxes over fifteen years. My first such box, an Intel® Pentium Processor® 200-based mid-tower rig running Red Hat® Version 5, predated Ubuntu® (Warty didn't start development until 2001); it probably would not have run Warty.

My second box is a home hot rod that started life as a bone-stock Everex® TC2502 (VIA® C-7D CPU and matching chipset with UniChrome video) running a derivative of XUbuntu® 7.10 Gutsy distributed by the now defunct Good OS LLC; I did two major upgrades with the same Athena® 500W PSU and Advance Micro Devices® Athlon 64® X2 5600+ MPU, a short-lived one to an ECS® mobo with an nVIDIA® MCP78S and GeForce® 8400 (uncommanded shutdowns under 8.04-LTS cut this one short) and then to a Gigabyte® mobo with Advance Micro Devices® 780GX chipset and ATi® Radeon® HD 3200 planar video under 8.04-LTS i386, 10.04-LTS i386 and now 12.04-LTS AMD64.

My third box, an eMachines®/Acer® EL1210-09 (Advance Micro Devices® Athlon 64® LE-1620, nVIDIA® MCP78S chipset, nVIDIA® GeForce® 8200 planar video), started life as a Windows box; the stock Hitachi® HDD died after less than two years, taking the stock Microsoft® Windows® 6.0.6002 installation with it. It now packs a Shuttle® PC6300002 PSU, Asus® EN210/DI/512MD3(LP) upgrade video (nVIDIA® GeForce® 210), and a Western Digital® HDD running a tailored version of 12.04-LTS, AMD64 Edition, to run stably with its quirky hardware.