come on now

[Bigboss21]

I have been thinking about installing Ubuntu because i am still using win98, yea im poor what can i say. But anyway i have to share this computer with the rest of my family and they don't have the patience like me to sit here and figure out all the little things. What Ubuntu needs is a some kind of manual and some kind of centralized body to get everything needed to run this thing at 100%. Things like how to connect to the internet, and how to set up your printer, are much to complicated for a beginner and should drastically be simplified, Im sure some geeks wouldn't like it but this OS is for the Linux idiots not the genius's they can go find the other dozens of Linux versions to use. If i install it i have no way of getting information because i would be to stuck on how to get my dsl modem to work on a system that wont read the software. and im not talking about the stupid books that describe every button either, just a clear and cut way of what to do to get started. How are software company's supposed to take this seriously if no one is using ubuntu.

[MarkWarwick]

Well, since Ubuntu is open source it will be predominantly supported by it's online base. Remember you didn't pay for it, it's open source and managed by a not-for-profit organization this is a community based and supported thing and since it is held together by the "magic" of the internet to allow communication on such a vast scale between its members who happen to be the very structure of it. This would also the means of receiving support for such problems.

With the nature of the OS being made by those who use it this means it may need tweaking to work with every last piece of hardware out there remember the majority of companies developed their hardware in such a way to run on Microsoft's windows operating system and therefore no driver or software for automatically changing/applying settings may be made by the company for Linux distributions so there would be no plug-and play facility available.

Also no person should run install a new OS on their critical machine due to the obvious possibility of it not working. Remember that the operating system is the piece of software that lies between the applications you use and the hardware that calculates and displays the information to you. Theres a lot going on in their and changing it changes everything. An install of a completely new OS should be attempted only on a machine that you are prepared to spend time working with and are able to use a computer with a working internet connection to allow you to access such support.

Although most homes would have a router that would handle "dialing up" the internet and would eradicate your problem as it would just be a case of forwarding the internet connection to one of the computers in your home by means of simply plugging in the cable to the Ethernet port. This should work straight away with your first install of Ubuntu.

Although may I recommend Xubuntu which is considerably more friendly to such low powered machines from back in those days.

[Bigboss21]

Yea i guess but this website could do better. They should have a section of how to's and problems that need to be fixed. Windows is running on my last nerve i need to escape. Dude i dont know what you said but i do need help on how to connect to the internet on Ubuntu or kubuntu, if im connected thats all i need and i'll figure out the rest as i go. Im using covad dsl.

[leftyfb]

Have you tried booting to the live cd and seeing if it just works?

[justin whitaker]

I have been thinking about installing Ubuntu because i am still using win98, yea im poor what can i say. But anyway i have to share this computer with the rest of my family and they don't have the patience like me to sit here and figure out all the little things. What Ubuntu needs is a some kind of manual and some kind of centralized body to get everything needed to run this thing at 100%.

The manual is right here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Training

Things like how to connect to the internet, and how to set up your printer, are much to complicated for a beginner and should drastically be simplified, Im sure some geeks wouldn't like it but this OS is for the Linux idiots not the genius's they can go find the other dozens of Linux versions to use.

Ok, that's not really called for, is it? A little bit of surfing would have given you the answer you seek.

For example:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ADSLPPPoE

Gives you how to set up a PPPoE (ADSL) connection.

And here is a general page on networking:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InternetHowto

Some of that is geeky, I admit, but its laid out quite well, and is fairly easy to understand.

If i install it i have no way of getting information because i would be to stuck on how to get my dsl modem to work on a system that wont read the software. and im not talking about the stupid books that describe every button either, just a clear and cut way of what to do to get started.

There you go now: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UserDocumentation

How are software company's supposed to take this seriously if no one is using ubuntu.

There are 521,000 members in this forum as I answer this....and trust me, not all of them are smart.

And who cares if anyone takes it seriously, so long as we do?

[Bigboss21]

i want it to be taken seriously so we can have more software developed for it. So we dont have to find tips and tricks to do everything, and so i can get rid of windows entirely. If i knew anything about programming i would be all over that.

[Bigboss21]

good i could not find that documentation, thanks a lot buddy ok once i get the internet, i think im all good on that part. ok but guys one more question, how do i set up my webcam on this thing. My family likes to talk to the relatives any help would be swell i couldnt find anything on the documentation.

[leftyfb]

At the moment, only Skype Beta 2 and Ekiga work for streaming webcam over the internet to another user. A lot of webcams just work. Try using the live cd and plugging it in and trying Ekiga under Applications - Internet

[drascus]

there is several options first there is a manuel on how to do basic things in the panel help menu. secondly there is plenty of books on ubuntu in the book store which are manuels on how to use it. The operating system itself is free but the overhead cost of printing manuals to everyone that wants a copy is way to high and I don't think that canonical should have to absorb that cost. There is plenty of information available to anyone that looks.

[cmnorton]

I have been thinking about installing Ubuntu because i am still using win98, yea im poor what can i say. But anyway i have to share this computer with the rest of my family and they don't have the patience like me to sit here and figure out all the little things. What Ubuntu needs is a some kind of manual and some kind of centralized body to get everything needed to run this thing at 100%. Things like how to connect to the internet, and how to set up your printer, are much to complicated for a beginner and should drastically be simplified, Im sure some geeks wouldn't like it but this OS is for the Linux idiots not the genius's they can go find the other dozens of Linux versions to use. If i install it i have no way of getting information because i would be to stuck on how to get my dsl modem to work on a system that wont read the software. and im not talking about the stupid books that describe every button either, just a clear and cut way of what to do to get started. How are software company's supposed to take this seriously if no one is using ubuntu.

You have an option, albeit more cost, of purchasing an Ubuntu system from a reseller, who has hopefully worked out the kinks for you. For $250.00, you can get a desktop support contract for Ubuntu. Canonical has pretty good support.

Linux in general is difficult to install on a laptop, but on older (4+ P IV Acer) desktop hardware, I've had little trouble installing Ubuntu, including getting sound to work.

There are Ubuntu manuals on-line for free and some you can buy that cover basic setup and configuration. I have not come across any manual that covers those little annoyances that occur on either Windows or Linux.

As to Win98, I don't blame you for staying on it. If you go on Vista, you are likely to be "wild" about that. As I understand it, you can still get XP systems up through June 30th, 2008. I have an XP system at work; it causes me very little trouble, but then again, it is not my primary workstation.

Three years ago, I purchased the best non-gaming workstation hardware I could afford for Windows XP. It came with 1GB RAM, a 2.+ GHz hyperthreaded Intel chip, a SATA drive; and has been upgraded to 3GB RAM.

On startup, to get all the Symantec Anti-Virus, Anti-Intrusion, and so on stuff running takes literally 3-5 minutes for the system to quiet down. I can run Ubuntu desktop (with server components installed) on an old PIV, and it meets my needs as a test system, and it's usable on boot, so is an old Acer Tavelmate 630 1GB laptop with a 2.something non-hyperthreaded CPU in it.

The moral of all this is you are the best judge for the grief you want to experience, seriously.