I’m considering taking the plunge and buying myself a shiny new laptop. It’ll be a basic kind of thing which has no “Office” pack on it - I’ve had experience of the usual MS stuff via work and have also used OpenOffice and simliar at home. However, I’m considering Ubuntu 'cos I’ve heard good things about it, but am wary about downloading something I’m totally unfamiliar with.
Can you lovely people who use it give me the benefit of your advice?
Ubuntu is a really good, user-friendly distribution of Linux, ideal for people who are coming from a Windows background. It comes bundled with OpenOffice and also applications for web browsing, email, instant messaging and image manipulation. Installation is no more difficult than installing Windows.
If you have the installation media for Windows to fall back on (if you don’t like Ubuntu), then you have nothing to lose in trying it. It might not be right for you if there are specific Windows applications that you need/want to run (such as games).
It comes with a desktop interface called Gnome, which is very similar to Windows - takes only a couple of minutes to adjust to the differences.
It is supposed to be possible to run Windows apps on Linux with a compatibility layer called WINE, but I’ve never found this to be entirely satisfactory. If you just want to do email, web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, photo tweaking and instant messaging, it could be ideal for you.
I meant to add; if you’re unsure, you can download a ‘live’ version that runs entirely from the CD, so you can try it out before you commit to installing anything permanently on your machine.
The only problem that I can think of is that if you have a Broadcom wifi adapter, you would have to use ndiswrapper.
If you are technically savvy, it’s relatively easy to do, but I don’t know what level you’re at.
Also the ubuntu forums are very friendly.
One can also download version that runs as a VMWare “appliance” to try it out.
Get the free VMWare player here:
http://www.vmware.com/download/player/
and the appliance here:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/484
Just order a free CD and use that when it comes…
Check your local bookstore, as a lot of Linux mags of late have been running issues focusing on Ubuntu and the information on the distro in them is really handy. I’m running Ubuntu on one of my boxes and I really like it. The system to install other programs is very nice. The only problem I’ve had is that there are some quirks installing Java, but there’s several tips on the various Ubuntu forums on how to fix that.
I have been running it for a while now and quite like it.
I would second the advice to order the free CD - or several as they like to give you a bundle to spread around.
Ubuntu Home. Go to the “Shippit - Free CDs” page and create an account.
I did download it a couple of times and failed miserably in trying to get it to load but the ‘proper’ CDs are a doddle and have an option to run a ‘live’ version without the need to install it, so you can have a play around with it, see it fou like it then install if you wish.
I downloaded the PowerPC version, intending to install it my Mac’s second hard drive, after reading on the site that version 6.something included an “easy installer”.
Damned if I could find the “easy installer”.
Yes, and particularly useful because you can make sure your network/wifi settings are all working, and they’ll be retained as it’s installed. On the desktop of the Live CD is an icon which will initiate the install process (with plenty of opportunities to cancel!)
Actually, the networking aspects are the one thing I keep neglecting to mention (because I have the luxury (if it can be called that) of ethernet connections wherever I go. If you need dialup networking, or WiFi, then it’s essential to make sure your hardware is supported. Most ordinary wired ethernet chipsets are, but not all modems and wireless adaptors.
Also, I believe some printers can be problematic.
Massively so. The inability to get my HP laser working under Linux is one of the things keeping me rooted to Windows for the majority of the time.
No idea what you’re on about. I installed it last week on my new laptop, after booting the Live CD and getting wifi working: apart from manual partitioning (for a dual-boot system), I can’t see what on earth anyone could find problematic about it.
I suppose it’s possible that I downloaded the wrong disk image (the image I downloaded and then burned to a CD). Having successfully installed and used RedHat Linux on a PC several years ago, as well as a working version of YellowDog Linux on an older Mac, I felt confident that I would have little trouble getting a much newer distro, one with an “easy installer” working.
Again, I must have overlooked something, or clicked the wrong link on the Web site, but after reading page after page after page of documentation I still hadn’t got to the part about how to make my Mac boot from the CD. Browsing through the files on the CD, I didn’t see anything different from the standard batch of files you’d see on any Linux distro CD.
I’m open to suggestions 
Thanks for the help - time to go PC shopping!
You mean boot straight into the installer, or boot into Gnome, with the option to then install (which is the ‘easy installer’)? The two need different CDs, the latter being the ‘desktop’ CD.
Once again I’m reminded what a technopeasant I am. When I saw the heading of the OP, I thought you were referring to this:
http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/demographics/ubuntu-260905.htm
I recently received my free Ubuntu CD (by the way, could someone explain the business model of an organization that mails out unlimited free CDs and seemingly has no revenue streams?) for installing on my new computer. However, I have quite a few Windows applications that I need and will keep needing, but I’ve heard WINE works fine, so I’m going to try that.
If it doesn’t, I’ll have to double-boot to Windows. Last time I did that I was using Red Hat and the only way to get it to work was to install Windows first and then Red Hat on top of it. Is that still the case? If I may want to be able to double-boot to Windows, do I have to make that decision before installing Ubuntu?
Just out of curiosity, how do you furriners pronounce “Ubuntu”?
“Ubuntu”