Losing Patience With Linux

[bikeboy]

Hi mrgnash, I notice you're from Aus. Are you a member of the Whirlpool broadband forums? www.whirlpool.net.au if you are not.

There is a good linux forum there (not that these forums aren't awesome) with people in our time zone that can always help you through problems with quick replies. Sometimes that is important for keeping the frustration at a manageable level

I'm sure 64bit linux has a way to go but it's lucky you aren't trying to get XP-64bit working. I haven't heard too many success stories there.

Good luck!

[arctic]

Most of the above issues have been resolved, but there are still a couple of niggling things which necessitate keeping XP... such as the lack of a streaming media app on par with Winamp, the ability to play World of Warcraft (STILL can't get Wine to install/compile properly) and support for my USB headset which is the only alternative I have to my rather lacklustre laptop speakers.

To be honest: There is no "need" for streaming media apps or games or a USB headset. These are luxury-things you are asking for that may or may not work with any OS you decide to try out. You NEED to play World of Warcraft? You must be kidding...

And one final note: Laptops are primarily designed for work, not for gaming.

[Mr. Electric Wizard]

If your ever in the market to get another laptop, I'd seriously have to suggest an HP.
I just bought one the of Wal-Mart specials a couple of weeks ago ($378 - ze2308wm) and I am totally in love with it...
But... It has been the most difficult install of Ubuntu I have done yet.
Complaining aside, once dialed in, this is a rock solid install.
Laptops bring lots of different "variables" to the equation.

Some of the things I encountered:
-ATI card not found, and X not starting with fresh install.
-WIFI not working, had to use Ndiswrapper (broadcom chip)
-Double clock speed bug (noapic nolapic) kernel option.

All wonderful learning experiences!

So, basically what I'm saying from one n00b to another n00b is that if you stick with it long enough it will pay off for you!
If you stick with it long enough also, it'll probably turn into obsession!

Do they have a twelve step program for Linux?

[prizrak]

I would never advise an HP laptop to anyone I don't hate, same with Toshiba actually those things tend to die randomly (hardware). I do believe that if you want to move to 32bit all you have to do is install the regular 386 kernel. I'm not sure though, if you do install it just don't remove your old kernel and boot into 386 if it don't work you can just reboot into your regular one
Since you got a Linux guru around maybe you should try Gentoo, it is very good for complete customization. It is a VERY difficult OS to install and get stuff running on, so approach with caution

[Freddy]

A big part of the problem is that I'm using an Acer Travelmate 4402WLMi, which right from the beginning has done it's best to let me know that it was never designed with Linux in mind.

You know that it wasn't designed for XP either? The usual XP that most people use, isn't compiled for a 64bit architecture either and the one that are, is a big joke with little support, such as drivers. Most of the 32bit programs will run on a 64bits XP but a lot slower then on a 32bit system.
So if you used a 32bits XP, why not just use a 32bits Ubuntu? If you made a /home partition you can backup in that and mount your old home when making the new install.

WoW should work with Cedega (wineX) (not sure that Cedega will work on your 64bits system though), using Cedega will cost you some but atleast you could play WoW from your Ubuntu. /// Freddan

[Kerberos]

You know that it wasn't designed for XP either? The usual XP that most people use, isn't compiled for a 64bit architecture either and the one that are, is a big joke with little support, such as drivers. Most of the 32bit programs will run on a 64bits XP but a lot slower then on a 32bit system.

I'm 99% sure thats not true (unless your dealing with Itanic). You shouldn't lose performance running 32bit apps on a 64bit OS. They should run at the roughly the same speed they would have on a similar 32 bit system.

I run Windows x64 on my laptop (Ubuntu refuses to even boot on it) and don't notice any slowdown running 32 bit code. Drivers admittedly are a bit of a joke (Flash card reader and Intel wireless* drivers are unavailable) but apart from that I've got no real problems with it.

* According to Intel, "Windows x64 is 'unsupported'" (you betcha it wouldn't be if Intel made x64 chips - talk about anti-competitive)

[Emerzen]

To be honest: There is no "need" for streaming media apps or games or a USB headset. These are luxury-things you are asking for that may or may not work with any OS you decide to try out. You NEED to play World of Warcraft? You must be kidding...

And one final note: Laptops are primarily designed for work, not for gaming.

Every computer use is a luxury! Who are you to decide what is a computer necessity for someone else's needs?

[mrgnash]

Yeah arctic, I don't need you or anyone else to tell me what I should do with my computer. Perhaps you think that no-one should ever leave Bash, or they might be spoilt by all those 'luxuries' that come along with a... *gasp* window manager! :O Oh well, there's always one in every thread I guess. Anyways, the advice from the rest of you guys is much appreciated Unfortunately I didn't mount my home directory on a separate partition. And I'm also aware that XP 64 is another minefield... that's why my lappy comes with XP Pro 32 instead -- hell, it's even using a FAT32 filesystem just so it can use it's 'eRecovery' system (which I had to uninstall because it didn't like the fact that I modified the partition table to accommodate Linux) and backing up the hardware profile alone consumes about 3 CDs as it is. So don't worry, I don't have any illusions about the compatibility of XP but because it was pre-configured on this machine, it has meant less work for me

And thanks, I'll be sure to check out those forums

[arctic]

Man, I only wanted to point out that there is a difference between the word "need" and "want". If you fail to see that I am sorry. I am simply struck by the way some people use their language... without care to detail. I do care... although english is not my native language.

And Emerzen, not every computer is a luxury. I would say that in hospitals, computers are a necessity. But ...we are going off-topic, so I better stop before a flame-war breaks out.

[mrgnash]

Man, I only wanted to point out that there is a difference between the word "need" and "want". If you fail to see that I am sorry. I am simply struck by the way some people use their language... without care to detail. I do care... although english is not my native language.

And Emerzen, not every computer is a luxury. I would say that in hospitals, computers are a necessity. But ...we are going off-topic, so I better stop before a flame-war breaks out.

Before you dig yourself a deeper hole you mean? If you reread what I said carefully, you'll realise that my point was that: if I want to do these things, then with the way things currently stand with my system, I have to switch to XP. Therefore, for me to do what I want to do with my system, keeping XP on my HD is necessary.

Maybe these things seem frivolous to you, fair enough; but it's my computer, I paid for it and it's up to me to decide what I want to do with it, whether that be work or play (I happen to use it for both). Oh and the old fall-back of 'My original statement only concerned semantics' is a coward's way out.