Ubuntu and me

[GazzaK]

Right, I thought I'd write a little bit about my personal experiences of Ubuntu and Linux in general...

- My Background -
I come from a Windows Administration background - for the last 8 years I have supported users in Windows 95 right up to Windows XP, on server systems from NT 3.51 to XP2003Server. I have done many courses and learnt many things, but all Windows based.

- First Linux Dealings -
about 5/6 years back I had a quick play whilst at the workplace I was in at that time on Linux, cannot for the life of me remember what flavour, but the experience was terrible, I did try, but the install was pretty much all command line, and even the interface after that was command line/terminal heavy, the GUI was nice (ish) but really did sod all, most things had to be done in the terminal - this was not nice, especially coming from a Windows background. - I decided that Linux was not for me, and forgot about it, discounting it till now as the domain of ubergeeks :) :-k

- Sunday 23rd April -
It was a rubbish day weather-wise, the day before was nice and sunny, and plans i'd made relied upon the now non-existent sun. I was stuffed for something to do, so was looking on the 'net. I found some guide with a top ten linux distro's ( http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major ) and thought "whaaa, why not, give me something to do today, but i'll probably hate it".
This was after looking into the OSX86 project ( http://www.osx86project.org/ ) which would not work for me as my CPU was not good enough :twisted:
I downloaded the iso file for ubuntu, after reading up on the distrowatch guide, it sounded like the most suitable distro for me, coming from a windows background as I do - the download was really quick, on my 2Mb DSL connection I was getting 250 odd KBPS, which I thought was great.
Once it was downloaded and burnt onto cdr, I messed with hard drives and put in my old unused 30Gb HDD and rebooted.

- Installation -
Wow, how many key presses??? like enter, left, enter, up, enter done... :-D I was impressed.
Then once it had installed it found everything and automatically downloaded all the updates - this is where I was gob smacked - I was getting 450KBPS here, how I dunno, but that was almost twice as fast as before.

I will update this thread as I go along my Unbuntu path of enlightenment... unless you hate reading my tales of ubergeekness :mrgreen:

[BarfBag]

Welcome to the world of free software! Hope you enjoy your stay. Heck... STAY!

Here's a tip - Automatix will make your Linux experience even better. It's a program that sets things up like multimedia codecs, browser plug-ins, and other things that are normally hard to install. There's a sub-forum somewhere on here with instructions on how to download and install it. You should check it out.

[zubrug]

Welcome, it actually gets more enjoyable with use.:)

[GazzaK]

Automatix is tonights project :)

seen that thread, read it, liked the sound of it all, playing with it tonight.

[Kvark]

Welcome!

With that much Windows experience I think you will unfortunately have a hard time getting used to the differences, doing some things in a different way and using Linux programs instead of Windows programs. But hope you get used to it eventually.

When you are done with Automatix. Open Syanptic Package Manager and search for the keywords/tasks you want to find programs for and mark the checkbox next to the programs you want. Go on an install spree and try some of all the cool stuff available in Synaptic.

[GazzaK]

I probably will have a hard time - but it's fun isn't it :)

whereas windows was just boring "work"

I doubt the company I work for could ever roll out linux on the desktop, so this will hopefully always be a playtime thing.

[curtis]

I suggest using Easy Ubuntu instead of Automatix.
Just that Automatix tends to cause issues, sometimes.

[nalmeth]

Some recommended reading, if you feel like you're getting stuck anywhere
Lot's of useful info
http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Main_Page
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDocumentation
BTW: My advice, DO USE automatix. Easy Ubuntu is great, and nothing wrong with using it, but automatix has done wonders for me.
It will cause issues if you have already a heavily configured system, but on a fresh-ish install, it will be great.

[GazzaK]

I've installed Automatix and had no issues, updated things, and am having fun playing with Desklets and stuff.

All the applications I was having problems with (lack of codecs to play media) work great now.

gonna play a lot more and report my findings.

Thanks to all, especially those on the umbuntoforums irc channel.

[byen]

Hey Gazzak,
Nice to see that in two days time you have already started finding your way around Ubuntu, Ubuntuforums and Ubuntuforums-IRC. SO you finally got automatix and gdesklets (I know you wanted to try that as soon as possible ;-) ) working huh! Glad to know that everything is working out for you. If you have any questions... I am sure you know where to look and ask.... we are always here!
Good luck and Welcome to the Ubuntu community!
~byen

[GazzaK]

got it all installed dual booting on my work laptop now too :)

original winxp (sadly needed for work :( ) 30GB (was full 60Gb)
ubuntu 5.10 30GB (well about 29Gb and 1Gb for swap file - decided by ubuntu install)

And everything I want :) Application wise.

just a shame I cannot use linux totally for work, but notes and some other applications prevent me doing so.

The support I have found on here, and on the irc channels is just outstanding - the Windows Admins (myself included, sadly) could learn a lot from you folks.

[GazzaK]

Well it has been a week so far, and to be honest I love it.

I do think i've put this in the wrong area though, so Admins, feel free to move it.

I have everything working I need at home, including the citrix connection to my works systems. I am very happy with Ubuntu and have actually offered some help on the irc://irc.freenode.net#ubuntuforums irc channel... :)

I love the community this distro has, it is the best.

[mstlyevil]

GazzaK, we need more people like you who come into Linux with a positive attitude. Linux is not perfect (Windows is not perfect either) but it is very powerful and offers a few things that proprietary software can not offer.

One of those things is freedom of choice. There is so much to choose from in Linux, it can be overwhelming at times. Another is flexibility. Linux allows a person to change simple things like icons or themes to the very core code itself. True software ownership is another. With Linux, you own the software and not rent it. It is yours to distribute and change as you like. There are more advantages to Linux, but that would take pages to write.

Welcome to world of Ubuntu and Linux GazzaK. I hope you continue to discover the wonders of Linux for years to come. Maybe one day you will be able to use Linux for all your needs without having to dual boot proprietary software.

[Luffield]

Welcome GazzaK. Nice read.

I'm a bit surpised to see how quickly you fell in love with Ubuntu, it took me a few months. I installed Breezy in October and wasn't too impressed, upgraded to Dapper in January to see if it's any faster - and it was, but I seffered quite a few serious bugs along the way, and only about two months ago I realized that I really don't like using Windows anymore. It just doesn't feel like 'home' any longer, I belong somewhere else now.

[drfalkor]

Congrats:KS But Linux/ubuntu is not a multimedia platform. So few good games, and non-good photo editors ( Native ).
But it can be better, with time - use wine in the mean while :D

[GazzaK]

Congrats:KS But Linux/ubuntu is not a multimedia platform. So few good games, and non-good photo editors ( Native ).
But it can be better, with time - use wine in the mean while :D

Well I came here in the knowledge that the games would not be as common as with windows, and I never really played them much at all, so that was, for me, more of a moot point.

I am happy with solitaire and tux racer :-D

photo editors - well I have been using gimp - and found it okayish so far.

[Compucore]

I used to be a heavy gamer in the beginning even before windows 95 came out. But it was strictly Dos based games. Then I kind of out gew them for the lack of interest. The first time that I had tried linux over here was way back in 2000 when I was taking a introduction to html and using unix by linux. Which was at that time redhat 6 I think. Kind of found it a bummer that I couldn't figure out at the time how to get my video card working at that time for gnome or KDE. But did a lot of learning on the command line. Especially when it came t mving around and usig VI. And about 5-6 years later. Got my hoary hedgehog and breezy up and running here. And like it as well for my purposes. I was wondering here maybe someone who is running dapper beta on their penguin box at home. Is KDE/Gnome graphics any better and the speed any better on this release that will be coming out for this month. Just curious to find out if there is a big improvement on it?

Compucore

[mips]

photo editors - well I have been using gimp - and found it okayish so far.

Wait a bit for Cinepaint Glasgow. Might wanna look a Krita but it is a KDE app.

[n3tfury]

Well I came here in the knowledge that the games would not be as common as with windows, and I never really played them much at all, so that was, for me, more of a moot point.

I am happy with solitaire and tux racer :-D

photo editors - well I have been using gimp - and found it okayish so far.

If you're used to the layout of Photoshop, you might want to try Gimpshop (http://www.plasticbugs.com/index.php?p=241).

[drfalkor]

Im gonna say it straight out,.. Im "photoshop addicted", just like "windows addicted".
Gimp is a good alternative, but just like I said, Im addicted to photoshop :D