A Win for Ubuntu

[CTSLICK]

I hate to speak too early but my first try at Ubuntu looks like a success on my aged HP laptop (AMD 450 Mhz with 128 Mb RAM, 800x600...ouch). I let my kids beat on this laptop for web browsing, IM and email. I decided to try Linux a couple of years ago after enduring 5 or 6 ground up rebuilds using Win 2000. Here's where I have been over the past few years...

Mandrake 9.x: Easy install....never got the wireless card working

Mandriva 2005 LE: Easy install...beat the wireless card into submission after a second install. Took another beating to actually connect to my wireless network. Overall everything finally worked but it just felt slow.

Vector Linux: Obtuse but usable install...never got wireless working, lots of display/video card problems. On the plus side it seemed very quick.

And then Ubuntu. Easy install, recognized my wireless card right away and connected to my network right away. No display issues. All updates were installed without a hitch, everything just seems to work. Feels snappier than Mandrake.

So, much to the dismay of my children, this old laptop looks like it may live on. Please accept my appreciation for being the FIRST Linux distro to really work for me.

[KingBahamut]

Aye.

We try our best.

So does our Dist.
=)

[poofyhairguy]

I hate to speak too early but my first try at Ubuntu looks like a success on my aged HP laptop (AMD 450 Mhz with 128 Mb RAM, 800x600...ouch). I let my kids beat on this laptop for web browsing, IM and email. I decided to try Linux a couple of years ago after enduring 5 or 6 ground up rebuilds using Win 2000. Here's where I have been over the past few years...

Mandrake 9.x: Easy install....never got the wireless card working

Mandriva 2005 LE: Easy install...beat the wireless card into submission after a second install. Took another beating to actually connect to my wireless network. Overall everything finally worked but it just felt slow.

Vector Linux: Obtuse but usable install...never got wireless working, lots of display/video card problems. On the plus side it seemed very quick.

And then Ubuntu. Easy install, recognized my wireless card right away and connected to my network right away. No display issues. All updates were installed without a hitch, everything just seems to work. Feels snappier than Mandrake.

So, much to the dismay of my children, this old laptop looks like it may live on. Please accept my appreciation for being the FIRST Linux distro to really work for me.


Welcome. Ask questions if you need to.

[xequence]

Are you using gnome? (Default with ubuntu) My 700mhz 192 MB RAM is slow in gnome. Not extremly but a little annoyance. Whats your secret? :P

[CTSLICK]

Are you using gnome? (Default with ubuntu) My 700mhz 192 MB RAM is slow in gnome. Not extremly but a little annoyance. Whats your secret? :P

Yep, using Gnome. No secrets...maybe its just my low expectations to begin with. This laptop is pretty slow by today's standards and I have no illusions that linux could "fix" that. What I can say is that I find the performance with ubuntu and Gnome to be very acceptable...better than what I had seen with my other linux attempts. It performs as well as my last Win 2000 install and that's good enough for me.

[drizek]

Yep, using Gnome. No secrets...maybe its just my low expectations to begin with. This laptop is pretty slow by today's standards and I have no illusions that linux could "fix" that. What I can say is that I find the performance with ubuntu and Gnome to be very acceptable...better than what I had seen with my other linux attempts. It performs as well as my last Win 2000 install and that's good enough for me.
have you considered using e16/7? it should fly on that computer, with more eyecandy. and if you set it up correctly it should work just as well as gnome for basic tasks.

[CTSLICK]

have you considered using e16/7? it should fly on that computer, with more eyecandy. and if you set it up correctly it should work just as well as gnome for basic tasks.

And the noob replies...uuuuuhhhhhh...e16/7? Ummm yeah....and that would be? [slinks off to Google]

[CTSLICK]

And the noob replies...uuuuuhhhhhh...e16/7? Ummm yeah....and that would be? [slinks off to Google]
e16/7= Enlightenment 16.7?

[gorkhal]

e16/7= Enlightenment 16.7?

You could get the Elive 0.3 live cd HERE (http://www.elivecd.org/)...it comes with Enlightenment..and since its a live cd, just burn the downloaded iso file, and boot using the CD, and see if Enlightenment works or not.

Live CDs are a great way to test many other distros as well, given your old hardware, you could also consider Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/).

[benplaut]

for a system that old, even though it works with Gnome, i highly recommend

www.xfce.org

to install, just

sudo apt-get install xfce4
(in a terminal)

and select XFCE from the "Session" menu when you log in :)

their motto: "and everything goes faster..."

:grin:

[XDevHald]

sudo apt-get install xfce4
(in a terminal)

First off, if you sudo, you need to know roots password. The below link will help you do so.

http://www.ubuntuguide.org/#setchangeenablerootpassword

Also if you're just wanting to run root right off hand without having to login as root in your terminal, again, the root terminal is a plus to run when de-packaging files.

http://www.ubuntuguide.org is your friend and please use it a lot to get used to the commands as it's really a user friendly guide.

Good Luck!

[benplaut]

First off, if you sudo, you need to know roots password. The below link will help you do so.

http://www.ubuntuguide.org/#setchangeenablerootpassword

Also if you're just wanting to run root right off hand without having to login as root in your terminal, again, the root terminal is a plus to run when de-packaging files.

http://www.ubuntuguide.org is your friend and please use it a lot to get used to the commands as it's really a user friendly guide.

Good Luck!

sudo is the one that doesn't need a root password :roll:


BTW, you're not supposed to recommend ubuntugude anymore, the wiki is supposed to be better.

go to bed, you need sleep :?

[XDevHald]

sudo is the one that doesn't need a root password :roll:


BTW, you're not supposed to recommend ubuntugude anymore, the wiki is supposed to be better.

go to bed, you need sleep :?
Yes, I have been a bit edgy lately :( ignore my stupid post, take the wiki and run with it before the guide eats you alive. Althought the guide is still a useful tool for newbies :p


P.S I HIGHLY recommend the UbuntuGuide as it's commands work very smoothly. Users who are new need to follow those commands before running anything major in their tasks.

For those that are using the wiki, feel free, but those that are really new to ubuntu, please use the guide, it's a no mistake brainer to ever go wrong there.

[CTSLICK]

You could get the Elive 0.3 live cd HERE (http://www.elivecd.org/)...it comes with Enlightenment..and since its a live cd, just burn the downloaded iso file, and boot using the CD, and see if Enlightenment works or not.

Live CDs are a great way to test many other distros as well, given your old hardware, you could also consider Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/).

Thanks for the tips. I have been having problems booting from CD, it doesn't seem to want to spin up in time for the laptop to actually boot from it...its really hit or miss. But I may try a couple of live CD's as you suggest...maybe I'll get lucky.

[CTSLICK]

for a system that old, even though it works with Gnome, i highly recommend

www.xfce.org

to install, just

sudo apt-get install xfce4
(in a terminal)

and select XFCE from the "Session" menu when you log in :)

their motto: "and everything goes faster..."

:grin:

Ahhh, now see...those look like instructions I can actually follow despite being command prompt impaired. ;) I'll give it a shot thanks

[poofyhairguy]

And the noob replies...uuuuuhhhhhh...e16/7? Ummm yeah....and that would be? [slinks off to Google]
Look here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=54476&highlight=enlightenment

[poofyhairguy]

Ahhh, now see...those look like instructions I can actually follow despite being command prompt impaired. ;) I'll give it a shot thanks

XFCE is cool.

[CTSLICK]

XFCE is cool.

OK...I know this must be covered somewhere but since you're all being so nice I'll press my luck...I must be missing something needed to install XFCE

sudo apt-get install xfce4

results in

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package xfce4

[poofyhairguy]

OK...I know this must be covered somewhere but since you're all being so nice I'll press my luck...I must be missing something needed to install XFCE

sudo apt-get install xfce4

results in

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package xfce4

Have you ever done this:

http://ubuntuguide.org/#extrarepositories

[CTSLICK]

Have you ever done this:

http://ubuntuguide.org/#extrarepositories

Nope...but I have now. I think I'll pause now to actually read through some of the guide and the Wiki before I continue to plow on. Thanks for the assistance.

[CTSLICK]

Wow...final update for the night. I not only got xfce4 installed but managed to get Enlightened Gnome running as well. Not bad for my second evening with ubuntu. Great community...thanks all.

[poofyhairguy]

Wow...final update for the night. I not only got xfce4 installed but managed to get Enlightened Gnome running as well. Not bad for my second evening with ubuntu. Great community...thanks all.

No problem.

[XDevHald]

Thank you for that presentation on the fact of Ubuntu Guide is a useful tool poofyhairguy. I understand that most people do not like the guide that many of us have pulled together, but please everyone needs to make sure they're using it as shown above, it does work and is highly recommended to all newbies.

If you're new, please be sure to use this guide as it's still a fun tool for me to use and really works well.

Thank You.

[poofyhairguy]

Thank you for that presentation on the fact of Ubuntu Guide is a useful tool poofyhairguy.

I might get shot for saying this....but I like the Guide much more than I like the wiki...It just works!

Long live unofficial Ubuntu.

[bored2k]

I might get shot for saying this....but I like the Guide much more than I like the wiki...It just works!

Long live unofficial Ubuntu.
Pray that that last comment gets deeply buried into oblivion before Azz logs in.. Lol.

[XDevHald]

Pray that that last comment gets deeply buried into oblivion before Azz logs in.. Lol.
LOL, I logged it myself just for future references :D

[CTSLICK]

I might get shot for saying this....but I like the Guide much more than I like the wiki...It just works!

Long live unofficial Ubuntu.

As a new user...I agree...the guide may be unofficial but it marches you straight into what you need. Ubuntu for Dummies? :grin:

[XDevHald]

Ubuntu for Dummies?

Even better, and yes I agree with your statement.

Thank You!

[bored2k]

As a new user...I agree...the guide may be unofficial but it marches you straight into what you need. Ubuntu for Dummies? :grin:
The Guide is certaintly not Ubuntu for Dummies. A lot of seasoned and not so seasoned users like myself still use it. You don't always need to go over your Linux chickionary in order to get some commands to work.. just fire up the guide!

[EnderTheThird]

Yeah, the guide is great. I'm by no means a veteran, but I am getting better with Ubuntu. But the guide is still great when I screw something up and need to reinstall because I'm not experienced enough to fix it. :) The guide is great for little details too, like mounting NTFS drives on boot. I know I need to edit fstab and I know most of the parameters, but the guide gives me the really detailed ones (mainly, "nls=utf8,umask=0222") that I can never seem to remember and I can still change what I want to get it mounting the way I want/need it to. It's not the ultimate solution for everything, but it's a very good guide!

And honestly, I haven't really used the Wiki for troubleshooting anything. I've just searched/posted on here or looked through the guide. But I'll definitely take a look through there next time I run into a problem.

[YourSurrogateGod]

for a system that old, even though it works with Gnome, i highly recommend

www.xfce.org

to install, just

sudo apt-get install xfce4
(in a terminal)

and select XFCE from the "Session" menu when you log in :)

their motto: "and everything goes faster..."

:grin:
And I think I'll snag that command and try that myself...

Hopefully my box won't blow up :) .

/i keed, i keed...

[YourSurrogateGod]

Wow, xfce seems pretty cool. I think I'll keep this for now. I'll need to make some changes though to the settings here and there...