Overwhelmed and Clueless

**SnakeHips** · April 29th, 2008

Originally Posted by bakersfield90

Is it really this difficult to join the linux community?

It'll be a bit tough on you for a couple of weeks as you adjust to a different enviroment ,yes it wont be a walk in the park but you'll learn a
great deal ,if you stick around a while you may find that it suits you ,like a lot of others have found.

**wpshooter** · April 29th, 2008

Originally Posted by bakersfield90

After years of using Windows XP, I decided to make the jump to linux with the release of 8.04. Ever since installation, I have been bombarded with problems.

Problems are fine, I'm a trouble shooter, right? Well, apparently, linux is not noob friendly. I have no idea what I am doing/what to do and am on the verge of going back to windows.

(1) Video card does not seem to be working. Web pages are an eye-sore to scroll through and sometimes the whole system lags while trying to process scrolling. [Nvidia 8600]

(2) Sound is on and off. I have just been getting lucky messing with the settings and sometimes it works.

(3) Compiz, which I have no idea what this is, is not working and my desktop effects are laggy/non existant and I can't add any 3rd party ones. (Avant Window Navigtor)

(4) Programs that I install refuse to open and are just a useless waste of harddrive.

(5) Cannot get external harddrive to connect and open.

Is it really this difficult to join the linux community?

Bakersfield:

I believe that you are starting with the WRONG version of Ubuntu.

As a beginner, you definately should not be starting with the Hardy version. You should download and start with the Gutsy version. As a beginner, even that is probably going to be challenging enough for you.

Good luck. Let us know if you need help.

**Jammin80503** · April 29th, 2008

Originally Posted by bakersfield90

(1) Video card does not seem to be working. Web pages are an eye-sore to scroll through and sometimes the whole system lags while trying to process scrolling.

go to appearance preferences (right click on desktop and hit change background) to go the fonts tab, and switch it to subpixel smoothing (or best shapes if you don't have an LCD monitor)

Originally Posted by bakersfield90

(5) Cannot get external harddrive to connect and open.

Its probably formated wrong. Go to partition editor (under system>administraton) and see if the drive shows up there. if you're sure you have the right drive, format it to ext3.

**bapoumba** · April 29th, 2008

Merged the two similar threads in this one.

**Luxxicon** · April 29th, 2008

As a Newbie to Linux I started with 7.10 and was very happy. Everything just worked, so I agree with wpshooter and suggest going back to Gusty.

Luxx

**Puptentacle** · April 29th, 2008

Originally Posted by Jammin80503

Its probably formated wrong. Go to partition editor (under system>administraton) and see if the drive shows up there. if you're sure you have the right drive, format it to ext3.

BUT remember, make sure that drive is backed up before doing so. You will lose everything on the drive when you format it.

Yes, it's overwhelming at first. I installed and dumped Ubuntu several times in 2005 and 2006, at the release of Gutsy (and a new laptop that was given to me loaded with Virus...I mean Vista) I decided to give it one more try. I've stuck with it for the last sixish months and love it to death. There will always be problems but they can all be overcome. When they are you will have a better, more useful system. Stick with it, it's worth it.

**kanabiis** · April 29th, 2008

If you are using an external hard drive that was once connected to a Windows box, you may not have 'unmounted' the drive when you disconnected the drive. Lots of Windows users make this mistake, they just unplug the drive and go, and plug it back into the Windows box again later. Windows does not have issues with this behavior, however Linux does.

Try plugging your USB external drive back into a Windows box and use the remove hardware icon to stop the device prior to unplugging it. Once you have done this, Ubuntu will likely allow it to be mounted. Please remember to unmount the drive prior to unplugging it from your Ubuntu box every time, or you will have the same issue again.

**AdrianStrays** · April 29th, 2008

I've been using Ubuntu for a little over a month. Trust me the panic will go away, and you'll adjust. I'll offer you one tip, and that is make use of the IRC Channels. Lots of great and knowledgible people there will take you step by step through fixing just about anything (assuming you are lucky enough to get their attention).

I would also second that "go back to Gusty" suggestion, as long as you are not to settled in with Hardy. More guides for Gusty, Gusty is more stable (for the moment), more people are experienced with Gusty, and there is a lot of archived help for Gusty.

1) I too had the issue with scrolling. It is a compiz issue/Hardy issue, as I did not have it with Gusty. (Thats assuming you have the restricted driver installed properly, if it installed improperly or wasn't installed at all, that is probably the source of your problem) Thats a big one, and you may have to go on the Compiz-Fusion channel to fix it. I just turned off compiz, which helped alot.

4) Installing programs by yourself is tricky. Google "alien linux". Thats a useful program on occassion.... As a noob you may end up pretty reliant on synaptic package manager.

Is it really this difficult to join the linux community?

Yes, despite all the propaganda that says otherwise.