LA_MERC_MadMAX
May 25th, 2007, 08:35 AM
It's honestly been a while since I really messed around with Linux at all. At one point, I was a devoted fan, and I REALLY wanted a Linux Distro to work for me. I put a lot of time and effort to reading forums, and configuring config files and doing all sort of things just to get stuff to work. I remember spending a day messing around w/ my Xorg.config file just to get an Nvidia driver working - I remember never getting my printer to work.
I HAD finally achieved a since of accomplishment when I got CS to work in Wine - but the performance sucked, and I eventually just plain stopped messing with it.
A while back on here, someone asked a Linux question and I think Scott mentioned that I might be a good person to ask, and it kinda brought back memories, so I decided to start tinkering again. I had heard a lot about Ubuntu, and I honestly don't think Ubuntu even existed the last time I messed with any Linux distro, so I downloaded 6.10, ran the live CD and thought - hmmm, this looks kinda cool.
Well, Ubuntu 7.04 came out last month, and I have been hearing a lot about it - even from customers - I had NEVER had a CUSTOMER ask my about a Linux distro before, so I figured I really needed it give it a seriuos check out...did some googling, and found out that Dell is selling machines w/ Ubuntu 7.04, and that Michael Dell himself runs Ubuntu...hmmm...this MUST be something - I hit distro watch and ubuntu has almost twice the HPD as the #2 Open Suse, and Fedora Core (my old distro of choice) was WAY down the list.
I downloaded the CD - popped it in, booted up, and got the the Live CD desktop and click on "Install" - go through the initial configs, and while my OS is installing, I open up Firefox and surf the web until its done (it installed in about 15 min on my machine). Who would have EVER thought you could browswe the web or play games while your OS was installing!
After getting it installed I'm amazed by the speed and the polish (did I just say polish???), yes this actually feels like an OS rather than just a bunch of code and apps thrown together! I go into system preferences and click "Enable Desktop Effects" 'cause I want Eye-Candy and I want to see what all this window wabbling and 3D cube spinning is all about - it pops up a message saying it needs to instally Nvidia GLX drivers so I say ok - it does for about 2 mins and asks me to reboot - back into Ubuntu I have Nvidia drivers loaded, 3D support and my desktop effects work, so my windows wobble and my cube spins. It took me less than 10 minutes to accomplish something that would have taken me hours previously - actually *I* didn't accomplish it, the OS did it for me.
I also found out about a great tool called Automatix2, that allows me to browse, download and install free, but closed sorce applications - found some great stuff in there including Java, Adobe Acrobat Reader, a p2p Limewire clone called FrostWire, a program called InnoTek VirtualBox - which is a VirtualPC/VMware like program that is free and works very well! There was also a clone of DVDShrink, and a great browser which is built off of Firefox called Swiftfox that optimizes itself for your processor archetecture and allows HTTP pipelining - and honestly this is the FASTED web browswer I have EVER used! There was a lot of stuff in there - I installed some things, but only what I thought I would use...I may go back and add more later. I have even got XM Radio Online working in SwiftFox, and it usins WMplayer plugins!
Anyway - just felt like posting. I have to say Linux, or at least Ubuntu has done great work to make Linux actually feel polished, feel like a completed Operating System, and actually for the first time for me, be a contender with Windows and MacOS to be a true Desktop Operating System...I can't wait to see what the next version holds - it can only get EVEN better!
I HAD finally achieved a since of accomplishment when I got CS to work in Wine - but the performance sucked, and I eventually just plain stopped messing with it.
A while back on here, someone asked a Linux question and I think Scott mentioned that I might be a good person to ask, and it kinda brought back memories, so I decided to start tinkering again. I had heard a lot about Ubuntu, and I honestly don't think Ubuntu even existed the last time I messed with any Linux distro, so I downloaded 6.10, ran the live CD and thought - hmmm, this looks kinda cool.
Well, Ubuntu 7.04 came out last month, and I have been hearing a lot about it - even from customers - I had NEVER had a CUSTOMER ask my about a Linux distro before, so I figured I really needed it give it a seriuos check out...did some googling, and found out that Dell is selling machines w/ Ubuntu 7.04, and that Michael Dell himself runs Ubuntu...hmmm...this MUST be something - I hit distro watch and ubuntu has almost twice the HPD as the #2 Open Suse, and Fedora Core (my old distro of choice) was WAY down the list.
I downloaded the CD - popped it in, booted up, and got the the Live CD desktop and click on "Install" - go through the initial configs, and while my OS is installing, I open up Firefox and surf the web until its done (it installed in about 15 min on my machine). Who would have EVER thought you could browswe the web or play games while your OS was installing!
After getting it installed I'm amazed by the speed and the polish (did I just say polish???), yes this actually feels like an OS rather than just a bunch of code and apps thrown together! I go into system preferences and click "Enable Desktop Effects" 'cause I want Eye-Candy and I want to see what all this window wabbling and 3D cube spinning is all about - it pops up a message saying it needs to instally Nvidia GLX drivers so I say ok - it does for about 2 mins and asks me to reboot - back into Ubuntu I have Nvidia drivers loaded, 3D support and my desktop effects work, so my windows wobble and my cube spins. It took me less than 10 minutes to accomplish something that would have taken me hours previously - actually *I* didn't accomplish it, the OS did it for me.
I also found out about a great tool called Automatix2, that allows me to browse, download and install free, but closed sorce applications - found some great stuff in there including Java, Adobe Acrobat Reader, a p2p Limewire clone called FrostWire, a program called InnoTek VirtualBox - which is a VirtualPC/VMware like program that is free and works very well! There was also a clone of DVDShrink, and a great browser which is built off of Firefox called Swiftfox that optimizes itself for your processor archetecture and allows HTTP pipelining - and honestly this is the FASTED web browswer I have EVER used! There was a lot of stuff in there - I installed some things, but only what I thought I would use...I may go back and add more later. I have even got XM Radio Online working in SwiftFox, and it usins WMplayer plugins!
Anyway - just felt like posting. I have to say Linux, or at least Ubuntu has done great work to make Linux actually feel polished, feel like a completed Operating System, and actually for the first time for me, be a contender with Windows and MacOS to be a true Desktop Operating System...I can't wait to see what the next version holds - it can only get EVEN better!