Yet another Linux Newbie

[nuttycat]

Hi everyone,

I am new to Linux but not to computers or the internet. Circumstance including where i stay, kept me in the windows world for the last 10 years (got my first pc in '96). I am pretty good at c/c++. I would not go to the extent of calling myself a power user in windows, but i can say that i am nearing that. I got ubuntu-breezy badger installed onto a seperate partition without much hitches. Now i find myself taking the first steps into Linux.

My main initial hitch was for about 2-hrs, a session which i spent figuring out how to get GRUB to load windows as default and not Ubuntu. (This is a home pc, and parents use only windows.), another friend who knows more linux than me, gave me the general idea of how to get to grub's configuration file. For some reason, I find that the Ubuntu distro calls it menu.lst rather than grub.conf that everyone on the web seems to call it. (menu.lst doesn't seem to be a soft link to grub.conf. is it?)

anyway, that got sorted out. searching the web for that brought me here. This looks like an excellent place to be in. Really useful and friendly advice. Thanks all.

well that's it. you will probably see a lot of me in the newbie forums as i get Ubuntu working. Looks like its going to be an interesting challenge!

see you all around,
Regards,
-Computernut

[ajgreeny]

Welcome to Ubuntu and linux.

I'm a relative newcomer to both like you (since June 2005) but have found these forums a superb way to get information from people who know their way around problems, or have found tricks to make life easier for new users. I've now got to the point where I could get rid of my windows XP, but at the moment I won't because
a) I,ve already paid for it, and
b) I don't need the disk space either.
It does mean however that I will never need to buy another windows version but can stick to this wonderful world of Ubuntu.

I have a reasonably fast machine and have added Kubuntu desktop to the original Gnome system. I prefer KDE so use that all the time. Why not try that as you may also prefer it.

Good luck and enjoy yourself sorting out a system that will give you much pleasure.

[bulldogzerofive]

I also paid for XP, had no need for the disk space, but got rid of it simply because it was too much trouble.

After a while, I have come to find Linux in general and Ubuntu specifically more "comfortable." Nothing against Microsoft, I just find I can do more in Ubuntu. I kept windows around for one program: a multimedia dictionary that I still can't get working in wine or vmware. <sigh>

Its a very poorly written program, but it looks snazzy, which is high on the list of priorities for some other users in the house. But after a while, I found that I was booting into windows so infrequently, that the first hour of so of the time it was on I was running the crappy windows update tool (which usually does not actually "update" anything... it just patches mistakes... if it updated anything you would get Vista via windows update when it is ready)because the automatic update tool only works properly if the computer is usually on and connected to the internet or updating all the other security things that windows needs, like the AV software.

Now, i do not mind playing with the computer to make things work, which is probably why I like linux, but in windows it was always the same old process over and over again. Click here, watch some mysterious message telling me that "windows is now making your life better in some way but you are not allowed to know what exactly it is doing because we think you are an idiot or if you are smart we don't want you to steal our trade secrets now watch the pretty progress bar that relates to nothing real" message that is on the screen while it patches... uh, I mean updates the operating system. Then, I have to periodically check all of the major programs I have running for security updates as well.

I did not like the automatic update tool in Ubuntu, either, because I am not always connected to the internet and it would slow things down at times looking for updates when no connection was there. As opposed to windows, however, I can simply turn that function off without getting an annoying bubble every two minutes telling me that I am at risk. Then I can write a script that checks for updates each time I connect to the internet. It took a little time to learn, but I learned something out of the process that I will not soon forget, rather than watching a mysterious update screen. In addition to that, the updates now run in the background in a way that is tailored to my use: I set it up once and it just works (tm).

So, I timed my usage on the computer one month and found that I was devoting almost 4 hours a month to keeping windows safe versus 8 hours of useful windows computing. In Ubuntu, I was spending about 10 hours a month tweaking or exploring or installing stuff, and getting about 30 hours a month doing "useful" things. Since the time I spent tweaking can also be chalked up to "fun" or "education," the investment and return scale was not that bad. In windows, however, the investment and return was just not worth my time.

So I dumped it. No hard feelings or sense of rebellion, it just does not fit me-- it expects me to fit it. I bet if you keep using Ubuntu and other GNU/Linuxes you will do the same thing sooner or later.

Happy Computing!