Hooray for Ubuntu!

On a whim I decided to load Ubuntu Linux on my old Toshiba laptop. (My primary ride is an iBook G4.) It was so easy, and it's running so well that I totally got rid of XP. Hooray for me. I'm proud to've cleansed my household of M$ product.

Now I'm wondering why I should continue to use OSX if I can use an open source alternative that kicks ass in every way. Anyone here load linux on an Apple machine?

I don't want to stay locked into all sorts of proprietary bullshit. On the other hand, I really have no issues with my OSX experience thus far. I'm in no hurry to get rid of OSX, but it crept into my mind as soon as I started messing with Ubuntu.

And I know next to nothing about computers. I'm comfortable with them but I haven't seen much command line since the Unix shell account I had in school over 10 years ago. I'm glad we've reached the point where an open source OS can be loaded onto any computer by almost anybody.

Peace,
msi.

 

I also have ubuntu just for fun. But i can't go with out my ibook g4. If I'm correct you still need to have AV program on LINUX. As for MS I still need it to run many of my programs example: games, shrink. and VNC VIEWER 4 so I can help friend with PC.

 

does anyone out there know the advantages and disadvantages of using ubuntu?????

 

I'm probably going to try that next. I'm not at all happy with Mandriva. But the PC on loan to me from my job has a 64-bit AMD processor, and I'm not sure what's really available for it. I REALLY liked the "live" CD version of Knoppix (I just used a USB flash memory thing for backing up files), but my boss said not to use that with this processor.

 

I know one advantage: it's easy! I really can't say how Ubuntu is compared to other distros but it worked for me on the first try and that's all I'm asking. I downloaded the live CD with my iBook, burned it, and put it in my PC. The hardest part was getting my PC to boot from the CD-ROM and that was a no-brainer, too. Again, I don't know anything about other versions of linux, but Ubuntu worked perfectly, right away.

 

Is there something wrong with your boss? Or is he just computer illiterate?
There's NO WAY a USB device like that could harm his machine. Oh well.

 

If you want to try KDE and Gnome, then a distro with both GUIs might be better than installing two different flavours of Ubuntu.

Advantage 1: They support the distro a lot longer than most companies. In the case of Fedora you might end up installing an OS 4 or 5 times a year.

Advantage 2: It uses Debian based package management. Red Hat / Fedora uses RPM (Redhat Package Management). This could be good or bad depending on your experience level. Some accuse Debian of having out-of-date packages. Many people who run Ubuntu will likely complain that the latest software packages don't run on Ubuntu. This is where the Community comes in.

Advantage 3: Ubuntu is for people who like to tweak, who like a lot of control over the apps that get installed on their machine. It is not for people who like to optimise their machine - use Gentoo instead. To use Ubuntu you'll likely install a base system, then go and speak to the guys in the community to see what other apps. may be good enough to install. For example, there are probably half a dozen DVD movie players on the market. Which one to install?

Me, I'm a Gnome man. I hate KDE. (I grew up with KDE). My machine basically looks like OSX, but I actually do not like OSX (spinning wheel, can't have more than one desktop, I don't like the E17 dock, it takes twice as much work to close an app., backing up files can be a drag.) Yes, I use OSX, Ubuntu and WXP at home and at work.

I just got a free Sony 20" Multiscan HG and had a coniption getting it to work with Novell SuSE. Ubuntu gave me the higher resolutions (but not the refresh rates) to work with right out of the gate.

You'll have to try a lot of distros to see what hardware is detected "best". Some distros don't like VIA chipsets, Promise chipsets, wireless chipsets, certain soundchips, etc. If you're into changing monitors a lot, XOrg's X11 might not be the best way to go, you might like a distro that is still using XFree86.

SPM, Synoptic Package Management, is one of the major reasons and advantages of Ubuntu - the ability to choose and install apps. and packages almost seamlessly, and the Debian and user supported libraries.

But if you are the type that must always have the latest and greatest (WXP, using the latest FireFox, for example), then maybe Ubuntu isn't for you.

See you in the Ubuntu forums. http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

 

i run both OSX and ubuntu on my beautiful iBook G4. ubuntu is really the best GNU-Unix available for the iBook. there are only a couple problems with it though. 1) Airport and Airport Extreme are supported with the newest ubuntu, but i wasnt able to get my Extreme card working correctly. it is a new driver that is patched to the kernel and last time i looked, it was still in development. 2) to get ubuntu to dual boot without erasing and repartitioning OSX is next to immpossible. personnally i just repartitioined with the mac parting software and left 1/3 of my harddrive as free space. that means i had to delete the OSX partition and re-create it. there is no resizing to my knowlege that works correctly.

Ubuntu is good for an iBook. but IMO Fedora Core 5 is the best for a desktop pentium4. if ya try to load ubuntu on ur mac, dont use the live version, use the install disk. if ya have any problems like editing the YABOOT loader, or getting dvd's to play, etc just post your question. i would be happy to help.

http://netslayer.iwarp.com <a href="http://netslayer.iwarp.com">my site</a>

$ iBook G4, 512Ram, 1.25Ghz, with Ubuntu and OSX dual boot
$ Asus Mthrb, Pentium4, 1.5G Ram, pure Fedora Core 5 Linux power

 

SCRATCH THAT!!! my AirPort Extreme card now works on my iBook G4 in UBUNTU LINUX. actually, i am on my iBook right now and i am in ubuntu 6.06 without a network cable limiting my mobility. wireless is great.

 

I,ve been running ubuntu(gnome & fluxbox) on my laptop, installed easily and everything just works.Great distro.

 

I loaded Ubuntu just today. MY dad has fallen in love with it! It's sooooo awesome! I tried some live CDs like slax and feather linux, But attempted the 40 minute download to get Ubuntu. Best distro ever!

 

"Is there something wrong with your boss? Or is he just computer illiterate?
There's NO WAY a USB device like that could harm his machine. Oh well."

No, the USB device I mentioned only parenthetically.

Knoppix Live is for 32-bit processors only, and he didn't want me using that on his machine (something about it not giving proper instructions to run the fans correctly). I mentioned USB storage only to explain why I would find a "live" distro usable at all. The boss I mentioned is pretty well-informed, and even does speeches at linux conventions sometimes.

BOTTOM LINE: Do not buy a 64-bit processor if you want to run linux and be able to do normal everyday Internet stuff with it.

I've become rather dismayed already with Ubuntu, though it doesn't crash constantly like Mandriva. I've used Ubuntu for for a few weeks, but have spent entire days trying to get certain things working. Almost nothing works without a great deal of effort. Most tutorials have some mistake or omission, and I've spent probably the equivalent of two full days trying to get things working correctly.

I finally have a bittorrent client working, and can play mp3 files (priorities first!); streaming video I've not yet gotten to, but after googling around I might find time if I can take a few weeks' vacation (I'm not exaggerating by much), as most people seem to never get it working no matter what efforts are undertaken. The biggest annoyance for me is the lack of menus for installed software- installation of software doesn't give you a shortcut or icon or anything like that. Tutorials on fixing this just lead to more errors that aren't covered in the docs.

I've used linux for over ten years, but just at the command line, not with GUIs. It's great for running servers at the command line, but for "normal" usage, it's just not a very good OS, especially if you're using an AMD64.

 

"does anyone out there know the advantages and disadvantages of using ubuntu?????"

At the end of the day, I like it, but there are loads of disadvantages. There is too much software you can't use, and I'm not just talking games. Some of it has a Linux equivalent, but some of it doesn't. Hardware compatibility can be a problem. And it can be more difficult to administer.

I like Linux, but I can't see myself not having a dual boot in the near future.

 

Probably a convenient way of saying "dont use flash drives I dont trust the data that you may introduce to my computer.
Quite a lot of companies now forbit employee use of flash drives

 

I think you should stick with OS X for now until Ubuntu has everything you need. On the other hand, if you used XP, I would have said to switch.

 

or, try a distro using KDE

 

does Ubuntu not use KDE ? I thought all linux distro's had the ability to run it?

 

Kubuntu = KDE

Ubunu = GNOME

Xubuntu = Xfce

Take your pick

 

For what it's worth, I found it adequate for simple uses such as word processing and web surfing the web (with a wired connection). I never did get the wireless working, nor the sound card drivers. I can't say I was very impressed over all. but it is working.

That said I can't foresee leaving OS X for linux as anything more than an experiment.

 

I agree, I use it as an experiment too.

Did you try ndiswrapper? I thought it was going to be a nightmare but actually it wasn't so bad. I did it in SuSE 10.1 to get wireless working.