New Linux user

[Lukky]

Hello all,
I have installed the latest Ubuntu on my laptop with a dual boot to xp. I really like Ubuntu so far. it takes some time to get it all installed and working but I think it might be worth it. I would like to know who else uses Linux and why

[Lucas]

Are you using Ubuntu 8.04?

I just updated my PC to run 8.04 using Wubi.

It works fantasticly!!
I would like to go full on Ubuntu, but CS3, SSP, MixMeister, Steam do not run well on Ubuntu, even with Wine.

PS: I just fixed your thread name as well (You forgot the 'i')

[Lukky]

Yes I am using Ubu 8.04 with compiz. I am still trying to figure out how to get pics on my desktop cube caps. Are you running any worship software yet in Linux. I have been looking into Lyricue. I think that is what it is called. I dont think i can switch all the way yet. I still need Vegas and CS2 and i dont think that the nero for Linux has all the options that the windows version has.

Thanks Dustin

[cjlowe]

Personally I admin of 3 Ubuntu servers; they sit alongside three Windows Server 2003 servers. Web- and mail-related services - web server, proxy server, IMAP, etc, as well as one software router handling our DMZ traffic.

Actually, as of 3 hours' time, I'm resigning from that job. But not because of the servers - they rock.

[waynehoskins]

Except for my silly Mac, I'm exclusively Linux. Hardy works great, though it will be even more better when the Network Mangler is more mature (for things like openvpn).

We run lyricue at our place, it just works. Documentation is a bit lacking, especially the part about how you get it working just right, but once it's up it's great. I made a howto a while back, I'll put it up on our server sometime.

Also, video capturing and editing and DVD authoring under Linux is pretty simple too now. Good, and free to boot!

[tedanderson]

I primarily use it because it's different and it is a more "mature" method of computing. Plus it makes the statement that there are other choices other than Windows or MacOS. Also, I am not the kind of person that follows trends or goes with the crowd. I like the fact that Linux and its community is somewhat obscure to the pop culture main stream PC users.

Documentation is a bit lacking, especially the part about how you get it working just right, but once it's up it's great.

I agree. It took me almost 2 months to get to that point but I finally did it. It's just one of those thing you have to spend cultivating in order to get the most out of it.

[Tony Kanago]

Ted,

By the fact that your decision to use Linux because of its image or the fact that it's obscure to the mainstream computing world, wouldn't that mean that you do follow a trend? Counter-culture is just as much of a trend.

Realistically, the documentation is still more than sufficient; there is likely more modern literature available for Ubuntu specifically than Windows. The trouble is accessibility. While it exists on the internet (and in print,) because few people have a more culturally inherent knowledge of Linux systems as they do of Mac or Windows, they don't really know where or how to look or how to ask to find it.

While Linux has plenty in its favor, I find it still incredibly immature as a desktop. For a development environment, I love it. I love being able to very extensively customize my interaction (beyond what any 'normal' desktop user would, mind you) specifically for use in development. For a normal/media production desktop, it still falls flat probably for the same reason. I find it difficult to have the best of both worlds in a desktop - high extensibility, and a seamless user environment without the need for interaction. While Shuttleworth has done tremendous things in getting the Linux desktop to the mainstream, but it just isn't enough yet. A lot of people get really turned off by such an open system. We'll see what happens, I suppose, but I don't see Linux as a viable option for me at present.

[twj]

I've never tried Linux. Is there a version that will run on an old Pentium 200mhz pc? It currently has Windows 95 on it. I only use it for Open Office and Firefox but since almost no anti virus supports Win 95 it's hard to keep it clean.

[waynehoskins]

Originally Posted by twj

I've never tried Linux. Is there a version that will run on an old Pentium 200mhz pc? It currently has Windows 95 on it. I only use it for Open Office and Firefox but since almost no anti virus supports Win 95 it's hard to keep it clean.

Perhaps DSL or Puppy. Maybe even a lightened cut of Ubuntu. I do have Ubuntu running on older machines (like 500-800M P3s), but a 200M P1 might be cutting it a bit close.

If you don't want a GUI, that simplifies it a lot.

[waynehoskins]

By the way, on documentation, I was referring mainly to the lyricue documentation. The Linux manpages and such are pretty comprehensive, and between them and books and the Interweb, most everything you need to do is pretty easy to do.

The Synaptic package mangler is the GUI alternative to apt (or front-end to apt), and usually it just works. There's even less need in later versions of Ubuntu (Hardy especially) to manually configure xorg.conf for most normal activities.

Linux, the Ubuntu desktop flavor especially, is a perfect fit for me, since my day job is wrangling data and all our servers run CentOS. For me, it just works, but it's probably not quite ready for the average consumer .. but getting closer with each passing version. When the Network Mangler is more mature, then it will be even more better.

[JordanN]

My desktop runs three operating systems:

• Fedora 8
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Of those, Fedora 8 is my preferred OS.

[jflash]

I go back and forth between Ubuntu (will be 8.04 once I get my new HDD in due to the death of my old one ) and XP Pro, and Ubuntu is my favorite by far. Only problem is SundayPlus (now MediaShout), CS3, and Office 2007 (read: PowerPoint 2007) don't do particularly well using Ubuntu. If it weren't for that, though, Ubuntu would be my primary operating system, if for no other reason than the ability to FTP into my own machine to retrieve the announcements loop I forgot to put on my flash drive, or use TightVNC server with the Java files to connect to the Desktop without having to pay for GoToMyPC or similar.