What should I get excited about now?

[philtbelfast]

Hey all,

Made the move over to Ubuntu about 2 months ago, been using Windows all my life and to be honest hadn't even considered that there would be an alternative.

Now that I'm using it however I absolutely love it and the only thing i miss is iTunes. The move also forced me to move onto things like Open Office and Google Docs which has also been a big improvement for me. I started reading up on open source and other various things and have to say I'm a complete loser when it comes to getting excited over stuff like this, especially since its all pretty much a whole new world to me.

Question is, what sort of stuff should I be getting excited about now? Any new releases or updates that look particularly astounding, new programs etc?

Cheers,
Phil

[mardawi]

try fluxbox, you will never stop customizing it :wink:

[kevdog]

Try another distro!!

[n3tfury]

Hey all,

Made the move over to Ubuntu about 2 months ago, been using Windows all my life and to be honest hadn't even considered that there would be an alternative.

Now that I'm using it however I absolutely love it and the only thing i miss is iTunes. The move also forced me to move onto things like Open Office and Google Docs which has also been a big improvement for me. I started reading up on open source and other various things and have to say I'm a complete loser when it comes to getting excited over stuff like this, especially since its all pretty much a whole new world to me.

Question is, what sort of stuff should I be getting excited about now? Any new releases or updates that look particularly astounding, new programs etc?

Cheers,
Phil

If you have sufficient RAM (at least 1GB) you can use Virtualbox with an MS OS and get your Itunes fix that way.

[Rul]

well, KDE4 in on its way out

http://www.linuxindex.com/2007/11/20/sebastian-kgler-kde-4-snapshot-screenshots/

If you haven't you can try Amarok as a substitute of itunes.

[philtbelfast]

Cheers for some of the ideas guys, I like the look of Fluxbox, especially the right click menu.

I'm only reluctant to use iTunes on my laptop because Ubuntu/Amarok/Whatever seems to mess with any iPod i put on it. They end up reporting their free space incorrectly, often reporting that they are full when they are completely empty. Fixing it needs access to a Windows pc and the ipod restore utility. I have a Windows desktop I now use just for Music and TV basically so its not a massive deal.

Thanks all

[SZF2001]

See, tjhat's one con of going with open source stuff - sometimes you have to change the devices you use to get on with your life.

If you're really into the idea, you could sell your iPod for something flash based (I really suggest the 8Gig Sansa e200 series, then you can buy a 2Gig card for it and have 10Gigs). But I know you probably aren't willing to shell out the cash...

So my next advice - if you know how to, go to your Synaptic Package Manager (assuming you are using Ubuntu, and assuming you have a Synaptic Package manager; go ahead and use a terminal or whatever) and do a search for ipod. There are libraries and programs you can use to transfer data and such.

One thing though. Before you screw around with the apps, maybe you should have all your music backed up from the iPod to your computer, just in case (I have a friend who has a 30Gig iPod, he kept all his music only on it - drops it one day and everything is gone) - just saying, as a future warning. It's always good to back your stuff up!

Have fun, don't do drugs.

[Incense]

I'll go ahead and throw in the obligatory suggestion for Linux From Scratch.

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Otherwise I would suggest you try different desktop environments. (Fluxbox, KDE, XFCE, ICEWM....) and see if maybe there is something you like better then what you are already using.

[SomeGuyDude]

Bits of advice.

1) Don't go crazy with trying other distros. I have a stack of CDs (three Gutsy ones for some reason), and after all of that I'm back to Ubuntu and just annoyed at all the time I spent.

2) EXAILE. Seriously, this is an awesome player. No it's not as full featured as amaroK, and the green's kinda bleh, but it's a hell of a lot smoother. which I assume is a GNOME/KDE thing and it's be the other way around on Kubuntu.

[happysmileman]

2) EXAILE. Seriously, this is an awesome player. No it's not as full featured as amaroK, and the green's kinda bleh, but it's a hell of a lot smoother. which I assume is a GNOME/KDE thing and it's be the other way around on Kubuntu.

Ironically I'm using Amarok on KDE with a predominantly green theme (well green and white)

Oh and as for the OP, try messing around with Compiz-Fusion if you haven't already, and mess around with themes and programs. Try KDE if you want a big change (same OS, so same features and a lot of the same programs, but different Desktop environment), you can get it installed form within Ubuntu, but I don't know the command and I don't use Ubuntu any more

[FuturePilot]

Try another distro!!

That's what I like to do when I'm board. It's even better if you have an extra hard drive, that way you can install it and not have to worry about messing up you Ubuntu drive.:)

[Incense]

Ironically I'm using Amarok on KDE with a predominantly green theme (well green and white)

Oh and as for the OP, try messing around with Compiz-Fusion if you haven't already, and mess around with themes and programs. Try KDE if you want a big change (same OS, so same features and a lot of the same programs, but different Desktop environment), you can get it installed form within Ubuntu, but I don't know the command and I don't use Ubuntu any more


sudo aptitude install kubuntu-desktop