Vista to Ubuntu!

[davidallan]

Well the time has come for me to change to Linux as my main OS for my laptop. After several years looking at Linux instead of windows Ubuntu 7.10 has done it! I've played with red hat years ago then Fedora as of late but Ubuntu for me comes out on top. The installation of programs pluggins etc is easy as I've come from a Windows backround.

I work as an IT manager and work with many Windows distributions server and desktop. Linux and its command line have been a challenge to learn as i've spent most of my computing life on DOS. Only playing with Vmware ESX has given me the push to learn Linux once more. I've always wanted to learn Linux and Ubuntu is an awesome friendly distribution...only thing I feel is a bit of a cheat > Ubuntu and Gnome are too easy and hide most of the command line learning and now like Vista you no longer need DOS commands I feel asthough i've missed out on the Linux commmand era > but thats probs just and i could easly locate an old redhat iso! lol.

Anyways just thought i'd post my positive thoughts about Ubuntu which best of all is FREE!! :D

Cheers,
Dave.

[Mateo]

good deal, hope you find it satisfying.

[atomkarinca]

Actually, you can still use CLI for almost anything. So you haven't missed out a lot yet :)

[marco123]

Welcome.:) You now have a real Operating System that can actually operate your computer. Do you know that Vista Ultimate can't even burn an .iso. lol

[bash]

Well you can still use the command line if you like. That whats I think is great about Ubuntu. You free to choose if you want to do it the graphical or the "command line" way. To each its own. :D

I don't know how good you know your way around Ubuntu already but here are 2 ressources you can consult:

The Ubuntu Wiki (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/)
UbuntuGuide (http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Gutsy) - Has explanations for how to install and do the most common actions.


Or feel free to ask here in forums.

[BigSilly]

...only thing I feel is a bit of a cheat > Ubuntu and Gnome are too easy and hide most of the command line learning...

I wouldn't worry too much about that as a newcomer. You'll pick things up when needs be. I've been running Linux for a couple of years and I still have loads to learn about the command line. It's not nearly as scary as people make out though....

[Redenbacher]

only thing I feel is a bit of a cheat > Ubuntu and Gnome are too easy and hide most of the command line learning

I've been running Ubuntu for about a year (I also chose it over Vista, without much hesitation), and I use the command line at least once a day. Somethings are just faster to slap them in to a command line rather than hunting them down on a graphical interface, ie. installing packages.

sudo apt-get install [package] is much easier than opening up synaptic and hunting the package down, as long as you know what it is.

Moving and editing files can sometimes be easier as well, but once again dependent on whether or not you actually know the path to the file.

As having a windows background as well, I've learned quite a bit of command line in the past year. Especially when running in to problems that you have to fix yourself! (Something you could rarely do in windows) Because some problems will require you to reinstall drivers through command line because the GUI won't load without a driver change or whatever it might be.

I hope windows crashes and burns one day so the world can realize there is an alternative that is easy and painless!

[davidallan]

Thanks for all the replies to my thread. Some good tips!

One thing I forgot to mention was the extremely good support Ubuntu fans give!

Cheers :wink:

[davidallan]

Do you know that Vista Ultimate can't even burn an .iso. lol


Yeah I know. Crazy since it's the Ultimate edition!!! :lolflag:

[Linuxratty]

Yeah I know. Crazy since it's the Ultimate edition!!! :lolflag:

Well,if you burn an ISO.,that means your most likely leaving Microsoft behind...Can't have that.

[maniacmusician]

sudo apt-get install [package] is much easier than opening up synaptic and hunting the package down, as long as you know what it is.

And if you don't know what a package is, you can search for it using apt-cache search [search] [terms] [here]. To make the command line even more convenient and fast, you can use bash aliases, so that instead of typing sudo apt-get install and apt-cache search, you can just type install and search.

I wrote a short article on bash aliases for my school's wiki, which you can find here; http://wonka.hampshire.edu/sta/twiki/bin/view.pl/STA/BashAliases

Yes, the wiki takes a really long time to load, sorry about that. This is because of the LDAP authentication that someone set up and apparently didn't do a great job of; not bashing on anyone here, I couldn't have done it at all, so kudos to them.


I hope windows crashes and burns one day so the world can realize there is an alternative that is easy and painless!

Well, at this point, I think from the observable trend of things, it's fairly obvious as to what's going to happen. Windows is rapidly declining in popularity because of their ****up with Vista, and Mac OSX is rapidly gaining popularity due to the same reason. Our best hope is that Linux will replace Mac in its current standing and Mac will replace Windows, which I suppose wouldn't be so bad. But even that may be too hopeful. We might just be stuck where we are, though I certainly hope not. We're making incredibly big strides right now.

[mulder_edu]

I work as a Dell Technician for their XPS computers. They all ship with Vista and I can't stand the thing. Most of the people who call are just calling to complain about Vista.

I actually prefer Linux because I can do so much from the command line (including Ubuntu). The Add/Remove Applications GUI in Ubuntu is great, but I prefer to install everything from the command line anyway.
You can do whatever you want in Linux. I'm tired of the rigid world of the Evil Empire (old friend of mine worked for Microsoft, he used to call it that).