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View Full Version : Noob to Ubuntu, kind of new to Linux, 24 years of computers . . .



micjustmic
January 1st, 2006, 02:24 AM
Hello everyone, just wanted to introduce myself.

I'm Mic, just spent the past 3 days on dial-up downloading Ubuntu after spending several months fighting with Fedora Core 3, then Core 4 on my Intel based machine, and I have to say, after only a couple of days using it, I'm impressed, and very happy.

It installed just fine, sound card (well, the on board sound, anyone that has a Sound Blaster X-Fi knows we're still out of luck with that) installed, video was just a few APT-GET commands away for my Radeon X700 Pro AGP and everything works, including OpenGL.

Let me tell you, after what I put up with using Fedora . . . first of all, even doing a custom install and only installing exactly what I wanted I still had to swap out all four CDs, and still ended up with a bloated OS full of crap I didn't want/need.

I must point out that my first attempts at Linux were using Gentoo, and after several failed attempts at getting a GUI installed properly (and then finally getting one installed) I decided to try one with a real installer, packages included, blah blah . . . Fedora was suggested to me, I'd like to strangle that guy! It was easier to set everything up by hand with Gentoo, in my opinion.

When I did get everything working correctly with Core 3 I made the mistake of installing Core 4 . . . my sound went away, as did any OpenGL . . . and it seemed no amount of work on my part could get it working again.

Okay, fine, I'm new to Linux, but I've been dealing with computers since DOS 2 and the days that if you didn't have DOS your computer would boot into some form of BASIC, and hard drives were the size of small washing machines and cost thousands of dollars for a couple of megabytes. I'm no shlub, I have a degree in electronics and computer operation/repair, but I just couldn't get it working properly.

Now, Ubuntu . . . right out of the box everything works just fine. I like APT MUCH better than YUM, and the GUI that Ubuntu provides is nice too, searchable and again, right out of the box it works.

Color me happy, and I hope not only can I find help here, but wish to provide some, if I can.

Mic

xequence
January 1st, 2006, 02:30 AM
While Fedora core did have a very polished and professional look, apt beat yum hands down.

And if it took you 3 days to download ubuntu, I cant even imagine how long fedora core took to download :( I think most people take their 3Mbps connection for granted.

somuchfortheafter
January 1st, 2006, 02:48 AM
i did until i had to help a customer on dialup who didnt tell me they had aol, oddly enough i found an aol disk in the box for their new hp printer, how convienent. It was a first time setup deal for their new pc.

micjustmic
January 1st, 2006, 02:51 AM
Well, figure, 3 days per CD . . . I'd hoped I could get away with downloading the first 2 Fedora CDs and just trim it down . . . no joy.

I'm on a hill in West Virginia, USA, I can't even get cable TV up here let alone Internet or DSL. And I'm NOT paying $500.00 for a dish, a modem and then $90.00 a month for a connection that isn't half the speed of DSL . . . I'll pay $8.00 a month to ISP.com and just wait for it . . . that is until I move back to New Jersey and get my Optimum Online back. :D

Yeah, I know a lot of work by a lot of people goes into each of these distributions, but I can't help but call Fedora 4 a 'polished turd.' It looks nice, and those that can live with scratchy sound on certain systems, and don't get eye-crossing head aches from 60Hz on their monitors, it's great.

Yeah yeah, I know, I could simply compile a custom kernel with drivers that actually worked, but the whole point of distributions like Fedora is that I shouldn't HAVE to re-build the thing by hand. If I wanted to do that, I'd have stuck with Gentoo.

Mic

Oh, why does the furum still have that message saying, " . . . you've never posted . . . make your first post in . . .?" This is my second post, shouldn't that have gone away after the first? :confused:

briancurtin
January 1st, 2006, 03:03 AM
posts in the community forum dont count towards your post count, see that its still zero? your count only increases for posts made in the other forums

micjustmic
January 1st, 2006, 03:06 AM
posts in the community forum dont count towards your post count, see that its still zero? your count only increases for posts made in the other forums

Thanks, I just figured that out, DUH! :rolleyes:

Nice to chat in a forum where people answer stupid questions instead of pointing out that it was a stupid question, but still not answering. :)

I'm going to browse around a bit, see if I can learn something and/or help another noob that's a little more noob than me. :)

Mic