The bet is on! Ubuntu vs. Microsoft

[jasay]

Hello,

My next task is to get KEX 1190 to play on the laptop. I listen to it on my desktop every evening at home, so it's a must have. HandBrake was one as well. I can tick that off the list.

Is there anything in particular giving you trouble? I was able to stream to the live radio, listen to the recorded mp3's and even see the videos so I would imagine you should be able to as well (with the right plugins/codecs of course).

[bpickel]

PF -
I have the mplayer plugins for firefox and that stream the station (I'm assuming you are talking about the radio station) you may need to grab those. Also if you search a little you may find some GreaseMonkey scripts to help out, a google or forums search can get you going there.

I used some of these scripts to get some web videos going Fox News etc.

Here is the blog where you can find scripts. You can find Ubuntu-specific ones by searching the forums and Synaptic. Good Hunting !
http://www.greasespot.net/

[professor fate]

Thanks, I'll check this out in the morning. I promised myself some sleep tonight. I was up until midnight last night playing with this laptop.

[Soarer]

I can't play KEX 1190 because I am outside the US. I guess I'll have to stick with the BBC

[xat_]

Hello; briefly skimmed through this thread so my response will be as brief. Foremost, commendable effort on your part. You are not exactly within the subset I'd classify as the "average user." Such a person would've ditched Ubuntu very quickly. What many people have warned at the beginning has proven true; there's a lot you can do as far as general tasks go, but when something doesn't JustWork (as the mantra goes), it's possible to hit massive blocks that require serious work. Hats off for going beyond the average user and deciding to take on the task of learning.

As far as Crysis goes, I'm not sure you'll be able to run it in Wine let alone Vista - the system requirements are steep and the demo seems to be an earlier build which performs a bit poorly even on lower settings. That said, you're welcome to try. Shader support in Wine is somewhat limited, but that doesn't mean you're totally without options. I've been enjoying gaming on Linux (Orange Box works decently); maybe the Crysis demo will work somewhat. No guarantees though.
Minor details if you're just glossing over this:
-Shader support in development
-No FSAA

You can check Wine's DirectX development to-do here:
http://wiki.winehq.org/DirectX-ToDo

If you are going to be using Wine it may also be in your interest to add a Wine repo that keeps up with Wine's release cycle (a new version every two weeks). More information here:
http://winehq.org/site/download-deb

As for sound, it sounds like (pun not intended) it really was a matter of new hardware / no drivers (and possibly an architecture mixup when you first downloaded Gutsy; should've asked for your system specs foremost, perhaps). Sadly, with all of the hardware out and coming, there's no way to best speedy support from the hardware manufacturers. And we know where they're aligned. You've come in at a lucky time though. Had this been just a few years ago, the bet would've been decided at your first install.

[TitanKing]

Hi prof, interesting threat, I like the idea. However, if I may point out a few things.

I use Ubuntu in my profession, work I do on it cant be done in Windows. Its very much like comparing apples with bananas. The Linux road is not easy, takes allot of guts and sweat with some swearing, the reward at the end is great. After really learning Linux you will realize the power at your fingertips. It is a great production tool.

In the odd events where I need to use/test a Windows application I would use Virtualbox as it integrates seemlesly. I really think you should not compare the two, rather concentrate on the real power of Linux, the few minor detail Windows can do that Linux can't will be replaced with real important subjects that Linux is capable of that Windows is years from.

Windows is created for the end user, Linux is for from the end user to the hard core computer user. My wife also recently moved over to Linux, and up to now, there was nothing she could do on Windows that she could not do on Linux, it is completely possible.

Regards,
Titan

[dasunst3r]

To get KEX 1190 (or nearly any Windows Media stream in general) working, here's what you might want to do (depending on what everyone else says):

1. Add the Medibuntu repository
2. Install these packages: mplayer, mozilla-mplayer, and w32codecs
3. Restart Firefox

[bluedragon436]

Whether you are new to using Ubuntu or have been using it for ever...there are a few things that can be a bit tricky to learn but once u figure it out I think Ubuntu is one of the smoothest running OS's...but that is just my opinion and I wish I could find a friend that would run that bet with me.....Good luck and enjoy

[floke]

On a slight side issue - I had a similar 'bet' with a friend too. He got a £20 laptop from work (an old Tecra (20G HD) they were chucking out)) and agreed to let me stick Linux on it. I pimped it up with Ubuntu + KDE + XFCE + Games etc. and anyway he had no patience and couldn's get his ipod to mount after 30 seconds of trying, so decided to reinstall Windows. Problem was, his IT dept, had given him the wrong rescue discs and didn't have the right ones, so he was 'stuck' with Ubuntu, In the end he just gave me the laptop and is going to get a new HP (with Vista!) at the weekend. My 4-yr old son now uses the laptop to play his games (frozen bubble the current favourite), so I guess you could say I won a laptop because I lost the bet!

[de_valentin]

I follow this thread since day one and it's really great to see the community work so hard to get the professor to loose his bet without forgeting the reality, that it would still be easy for him to win the bet.
I also use this thread to convince my wife to take the plunge and go for it, she allready started to get fed up with XP and she knows better than to take a step backwards by going to Vista.

And of course Kudo's to PF for not quitting while it seemed quite hopeless, you probably have the worst part behind you now.