When I first started using Linux ____ didn't work. Now it does.

[Paqman]

It suddenly occurred to me that we don't really see a lot of sound problems on this forums any more. When I first started using Linux, sound gremlins were a fact of life. What else used to be rubbish on Linux for you, but now isn't?

When I started:

Sound was all over the place
Wifi was a massive, massive headache for lots of users
Editing xorg.conf and messing about with graphics drivers was routine


All this stuff just works now, plus loads of other smaller things like 3G dongles and NTFS support. We've come a long way just in the last few years.

[beniwtv]

I completely agree with you.

The first time I tried Linux on my previous laptop it would not even boot. Later, everything, _everything_ just worked out of the box.

Now my new laptop works out of the box too. Actually, on this laptop Windows is the one with hardware problems (sound).

We've definitively come a long way. And I, for one, am looking forward for even more! :popcorn:

[nothingspecial]

When I first started using linux, my sound didn't work. So I consulted the mighty google.

And he taught me all kinds of complicated looking stuff like

recompiling alsa
loading and removing modules
patching
editing conf files
etc etc etc

I learnt much in my search for the answer, and became enlightened in the way of the console.

It turned out, in the end though, that you have to plug the speakers into the green hole.........

:oops:

But you could add webcams and those mobile broadband dongles (if they even had those back then) to the list of things that generally didn't work but generally do now.

[BrokenKingpin]

Wireless drivers for Broadcom... back when I was running Fedora Core 4 this was a huge pain to get working. I have had no driver issues in a really long time.

[itguy1985]

It suddenly occurred to me that we don't really see a lot of sound problems on this forums any more. When I first started using Linux, sound gremlins were a fact of life. What else used to be rubbish on Linux for you, but now isn't?

When I started:

Sound was all over the place
Wifi was a massive, massive headache for lots of users
Editing xorg.conf and messing about with graphics drivers was routine


All this stuff just works now, plus loads of other smaller things like 3G dongles and NTFS support. We've come a long way just in the last few years.

I have sound issues with psx, and other emulators. Had to uninstall Pulse to get them to work. As long as there is a lack of standards, there will be programs that don't work. As long as there is freedom, their will be no standards. It's kind of the ultimate catch 22.

[Npl]

couldnt use my harddrive (unsupported controller), which made installing interesting... there were instructions on how to compile your own kernel and then make a floppy so you can install from DVD, and then compile another kernel... YAY! And it was written for another distro which meant nothing worked as described
Nice way to get started, I gave up after a few hours getting red eyes for staring into the 60Hz commandline on a CRT display. I was retail OpenSuse which claimed 90 days support (including installation) or something like that, phoned them and asked for some help they just flat out said "we dont do such things".

HW support got alot better obviously, even if I still get nonworking network (plain standard insanely popular realtek lan hardware, not WLan - couple releases back) or a plain black screen (recent 2-3 releases) those are comparatively easy to fix (especially now that I know a little more about Linux)

[jramshu]

The only problem I noticed a little bit ago is no sound when playing embedded videos, I think I have a plugin missing. Not too concerned with it right now. Everything else works great.

[jhonan]

It was always graphics card and sound card support that drove me barmy. Find a distro with perfect graphics card support, and the sound wouldn't work. And vice-versa

The main reason my first real distro was Mandriva - It supported both the graphics *and* the sounds card.

[andymorton]

It suddenly occurred to me that we don't really see a lot of sound problems on this forums any more. When I first started using Linux, sound gremlins were a fact of life. What else used to be rubbish on Linux for you, but now isn't?

When I started:

Sound was all over the place
Wifi was a massive, massive headache for lots of users
Editing xorg.conf and messing about with graphics drivers was routine


All this stuff just works now, plus loads of other smaller things like 3G dongles and NTFS support. We've come a long way just in the last few years.


Sound was a major problem for me too when I first started using Ubuntu (8.10 and 9.04) Since Lucid it hasn't been a problem at all.
Wifi was also an issue back then. It would connect but would drop, after about 15-30 minutes. Now it works flawlessly.
They're the only two problems I had. Everything was, and is, absolutely fine.

andy :D

[itguy1985]

I actually know alot of people who had the opposite experience. Everything worked great at first, then after time, began to stop working. The problem is not with Ubuntu, or Fedora, or whatever, but with a lack of "This is the way we need to do it". As long as the main distros decide to do things differently, this will always be a problem "It works for me but not them, It works for them, but not me."

[SecretCode]

One or two sound issues. Wifi and 3G dongles were the main issues for me ...

... that are no longer issues!

Also, tethering my HTC Android phone.

[weasel fierce]

I remember the trouble to get my old nvidia card working under Hoary Hedgehog. Ditto for getting wireless to work on an old laptop (NDISwrapper and all).

The latter is how I found out that the linux terminal is case sensitive btw. After several hours trying to figure out why it just would not bloody work.

[RJ12]

For me it was Wireless that was a big issue... went to all of the trouble of using NDISwrapper and everything everytime I set up a distro, then two years later I find out it was something to do with our router.... ARGH!!

Sometimes I have heating issues though... but it generally fixes it self though.

[Bandit]

when i started:

sound didnt work unless you downloaded alsa and compiled it from source.
wifi didn't exist. Most networks were still token ring.
editing xfree86.conf and messing about with graphics modelines was routine just to get your monitor to show at high resolution and refresh rate.


all this stuff just works now, plus loads of other smaller things like 3g dongles and ntfs support. We've come a long way just in the last few years.


fixed :-D

[kabloink]

When I first started using Linux sound worked great as long as you were using a SB16 and graphics were fine as long as you bought or borrowed a copy of Accelerated-X.

Yes, hardware support was horrible back then.

[Maheriano]

- dual head video card
- Alsa

What a headache, I had to manually configure my xorg.conf file to get the 2 monitors working and I had to manually configure Alsa using the configuration tool, I think it was red/blue with gray bars. Looked like DOS. That was for my Chaintech AV710 sound card that I still use for its Envy24 chipset.

[Fedz]

Everything worked except the resolution I wanted but, after hrs & hrs of reading & then cautious editing it worked & for me luckily everything has worked near perfect since without editing :)

Btw: 11.04 (natty) has been faultless :)

[doas777]

ATI cards (especially TV outs).

[Dustin2128]

Wifi, but on the converse when I fist started using linux, gnome worked. Now it doesn't. ;)
Wifi was no problem because I was on a desktop, and everything else worked totally out of the box. Major reason I swapped to linux, actually.

[dash10]

My touchpad never worked, and suddenly with Ubuntu it worked fine.

[giddyup306]

When I first started using Linux (Knoppix) my WIRED internet didn't work. In recent times the wireless on my laptop was a nightmare... I even bought an external USB adapter, but now starting with 10.10, the wireless works.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

Things have changed a lot over the history of Linux distros.

If my memory is not failing me, when I first tried Linux in 1994 or 1995, you basically got support for a CLI through an 800 x 600 console tty, a floppy or CD drive, and a NIC (hard wired connection). If you wanted anything else, you had to install and configure it yourself. If what you installed yourself worked was really hit or miss. It took a week for me to get the system working with sound, graphics, and so on. Then I installed any applications I wanted, and those were rather hit of miss as well.

Today, after the download is complete, I can install the OS, custom hardware drivers (including wireless NIC), applications, proprietary codecs and fonts, and so on in about 2 hours. After that most everything works except for the occasional proprietary device that doesn't work correctly. That is usually the wireless NIC or on some rare occasions the graphics card. That may take an hour or two of googling to fix.

I am old enough to remember the DOS and pre-DOS days when you had to play with the mini-switches on the printed circuit cards to get the interrupt lines, DMA, etc., to work without conflict. That was before the so-called plug-and-play days.

So, I guess my definition of what "didn't work" is quite different from other people.

:lolflag:

[tumbes2000]

I am old enough to remember the DOS and pre-DOS days when you had to play with the mini-switches on the printed circuit cards to get the interrupts lines, etc., to work without conflict. That was before the so-called plug-and-play days.

So, I guess my definition of what "didn't work" is quite different from other people.

:lolflag:
No your are not the only one that remembers interrupt lines. I grow having to mess with those (my first soundblaster card comes to mind). I hated putting everything together and then realizing that these was a conflict and I had to remove a card and adjust the pinning settings so it would work.

When I used linux on my desktop 10 years ago, the drivers for the graphics card, sound card and CD burner were a mess. After a 10 year hiatus I loaded up 11.04 on a machine that I use at work with vista and everything hardwire wise just world to my great surprise.

Linux, especially Ubuntu has matured a lot.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

When I used linux on my desktop 10 years ago, the drivers for the graphics card, sound card and CD burner were a mess. After a 10 year hiatus I loaded up 11.04 on a machine that I use at work with vista and everything hardwire wise just world to my great surprise.

Linux, especially Ubuntu has matured a lot.

Yes, Linux distros have matured including Ubuntu and other distros. Most operating systems have matured when you look at their entire history. Installing and configuring many of the Linux distrs has become easier, and have end results that are less prone to instability or a lack of support for hardware.

I hope that the trend continues.

[aysiu]

I think screen resolution and sound issues have definitely been super-fixed. Wireless has gotten crappy, though, with the connection taking forever to come back after resume... or just constantly connecting and disconnecting, depending on the wireless card.

[gsmanners]

When I started using Ubuntu, you still had a separate CD for live rather than a combined live/installer.

[quimkaos]

It suddenly occurred to me that we don't really see a lot of sound problems on this forums any more. When I first started using Linux, sound gremlins were a fact of life. What else used to be rubbish on Linux for you, but now isn't?

When I started:

Sound was all over the place
Wifi was a massive, massive headache for lots of users
Editing xorg.conf and messing about with graphics drivers was routine


All this stuff just works now, plus loads of other smaller things like 3G dongles and NTFS support. We've come a long way just in the last few years.

most of those issues were hardware related... companies that didn't what to make the effort to develop drivers to unix/linux nor what to release source code or even some code that could solve those issues. thou most of them were solved by hacking/reverse engineering ...

when i started using linux after editing partitions, partitions tables and MBRs (so it could work with dual boot with win95) you had to install Xserver and start it by hand!
Problems with easy instaltion of linux distros are solved a long time ago

[Bandit]

...............

So, I guess my definition of what "didn't work" is quite different from other people.

:lolflag:

Same here my friend. Same here.. :-)

My first PC I actually owned was a Tandy1000 HX.
When I was first introduced to Linux I had a 486DX4 100Mhz with 16MB RAM, all it had going for it was a pretty colored CLI, or at least I thought at the time. Although I messed with it now and then and I had no information or anyone that had knowledge to stear me in the direction of things out there for Linux. Then a few years later around 98-99 I got a job working for a local ISP and was introduced to something called Slackware, which translated into english means "You compile everything from source.." But I at least had someone to guide me, even though he acted like a zealot. I could mananage in one afternoon to install Slack, Xfree86 and WindowMaker, then compile ALSA, XMMS, Xine and download the newer Mozilla browser. All on my Athlon 500Mhz with 192MB RAM.

[Legendary_Bibo]

For me the thing that didn't work and still doesn't is Plymouth. Well it does until I install the graphics drivers.

[Dustin2128]

For me the thing that didn't work and still doesn't is Plymouth. Well it does until I install the graphics drivers.
Eh, who needs a bootsplash? I am greeted every morning by the beautiful rapidly scrolling text of my operating system booting ;).

[wolfen69]

It turned out, in the end though, that you have to plug the speakers into the green hole.........


Now that's funny. (but I'm sure it wasn't at the time)

The only 2 problems I've had in 7 years was a sound issue in '04, and recently, my ipod touch won't mount in xubuntu 11.04. But other than that, every piece of hardware I've thrown at it works great.

[Bandit]

Eh, who needs a bootsplash? I am greeted every morning by the beautiful rapidly scrolling text of my operating system booting ;).

Indeed.. I prefer not to have the bootsplash. I prefer to know if everything is loading correctly or not..

[NormanFLinux]

I no longer have to use NDISwrapper. On an old laptop I used have to install Windows drivers to get my Proxim card to work. No longer. Ubuntu automagically detects and connects to my wireless network at first boot-up.

[Muffinabus]

After reading the thread title my immediate thought was: sound.

[wolfen69]

For me the thing that didn't work and still doesn't is Plymouth. Well it does until I install the graphics drivers.

If that's the worst of your troubles, you're doing pretty good. ;)

[wolfen69]

Eh, who needs a bootsplash? I am greeted every morning by the beautiful rapidly scrolling text of my operating system booting ;).

I kinda like that also, to be honest. It reminds me that my OS is working for me. And it's old school. I always set my BIOS to show me everything as it's happening too. Staring at a corporate logo does nothing for me.

But it really is amazing how far linux has come. I'm happy.

[spupy]

Getting compositing to work with an ATI was a pain back then around 2006-2007.
Hours of playing with drivers and Xgl to get Beryl running...

[steveneddy]

* Beryl
* wireless
* sleep/hibernate
* nvidia graphics (sometimes)
* sd card reader
* web cam

but this is a four year old laptop - that's prehistoric in computer years - thank you http://www.system76.com/

[Austin25]

Just last year, my touchscreen/active stylus just wouldn't work. Now, it works by default.
Also, my wifi card and my graphics card both required proprietary drivers that they don't now.

To all the developers of the open source community: Thank You.

[Frogs Hair]

When I tried Ubuntu 9.10 via Wubi I booted into a black screen . I could here the sound but , no visible desk top. After a number of boots I got a visible desktop and installed the proprietary driver and I was good to go.

[cotcot]

When I started exploring Linux video editing was very basic. Kino was more or less the only option.
Since then a lot improved.
I still read from time to time reviews telling that linux sucks for video. I.m.h.o. this is not correct.

[Maheriano]

My touchpad never worked, and suddenly with Ubuntu it worked fine.

I had that problem with a laptop before. I had to go into the Mouse settings in the Control Panel and enable it, worked fine.

[Legendary_Bibo]

When I started exploring Linux video editing was very basic. Kino was more or less the only option.
Since then a lot improved.
I still read from time to time reviews telling that linux sucks for video. I.m.h.o. this is not correct.

I like Pitivi. I find it to be the most stable (audio doesn't desynch all the time), and easy to use.

[daisylynn]

For me it was just the opposite. When I first got my HP, my touch pad didn't work very well at all. And the wireless card was sketchy.The minute I installed Linux, everything was perfect.

[quimkaos]

now think in working in graphic design! then try to use linux...