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118 Comments
- inactive, on 01/12/2009, -1/+44Not much of an article. Very generic, no new insights are added.
- wigren, on 01/12/2009, -1/+29Great article, except for the last part about not recommending Linux users go with out anti-virus protection. Linux security is not through obscurity. http://www.linux.com/articles/60208
- jerryjamesstone, on 01/12/2009, -5/+28Hmm...I been thinking of checking this OS out
- PatrickBrown, on 01/13/2009, -3/+23Buried for blog spam.
- apzdsx, on 01/13/2009, -5/+21I also tried Ubuntu! Digg me up!
- brainnovate, on 01/12/2009, -1/+14You should, I love it.
- benologist, on 01/13/2009, -5/+17*Yawn*
These "switched to x from y" posts gets more exciting every time someone rewrites them, and doubly so when someone summarises someone rewriting them! - PHJames88, on 01/13/2009, -2/+13Like every one of these ever.
- JamesBondJr, on 01/12/2009, -2/+11I've done that a couple times, especially for older computers that don't have the horsepower to run OSX or Vista. It works great, as long as your computer doesnt have some foreign parts that it won't recognize.
I've found that the learning curve really isn't too big, it's pretty intuitive. - inactive, on 01/13/2009, -1/+10I've always considered making the jump myself. I've got a few paperweights sitting around that just need new HDs though, so I really should get on that... I imagine there will be plenty of problems and plenty of virtues, just as the author says.
- smotpoker, on 01/12/2009, -1/+9Yep, the only security holes that are likely affect Linux and other FOSS apps are usually the type that are near impossible for an AV to detect while it is still exploitable. Since they usually get patched by the time an AV definition is available or much malware could be written to exploit it, running an AV solution is usually just a waste of resources (and time on many systems).
A fortunate byproduct of the FOSS world rarely taking weeks or months to issue a stable update once a vulnerability is found. (since developers can help each other out more easily and clearly see how software interacts with each other without having to keep things hidden or figure out abstractions to facilitate hiding etc) - sigmaman2, on 01/13/2009, -2/+10What you should keep in mind is that with the hardware issues, they are not TECHNICAL issues, but LEGAL/SOFTWARE RIGHTS issues.
Linux programmers can crank out a driver overnight, if not sooner. The problem is that the hardware makers don't open all of their hardware specs to the public. They keep them under wraps to protect trade secrets, maximise profits, whatever. So, if the hardware doesn't already conform to known open standards, Linux programmers can't make an open source driver for it. That's why FOSS supporters urge people to check the hardware compatibility with an open OS first before purchasing. That way, you know you are getting hardware that works, and you'll be supporting hardware makers that supports FOSS. - clickwir, on 01/13/2009, -0/+8Where's the content?
- clickwir, on 01/13/2009, -2/+9I installed Kubuntu on my laptop.
Opened VLC.
Told VLC to open Capture Device.
I made faces at myself. (10 mins)
I closed VLC and did some actual work. - kilodelta, on 01/13/2009, -0/+7the hardware is pretty rock solid, it's handled everything else i've thrown at it.
that being said, i haven't entirely given up on it. i'm inheriting a laptop soon which i'll toss Ubuntu on. - bugwayji, on 01/13/2009, -3/+10 I'm not a computer rocket scientist, only did a 2 years computer science diploma. I only use Ubuntu as my prime O.S.. I run it on a Acer Aspire 3050, yes had to play with the sound to get it going, and the wireless manager. The amount of Software is awesome and varied. Whenever I am using it around people who notice they can't believe it's free, and how well it works. I like Awn and the Widgets all work well. Having control of the O.S. is awesome.
- trafficlight, on 01/13/2009, -4/+11You were doing something wrong. Or you have some really flaky hardware.
- saitama, on 01/13/2009, -0/+6Excuse comment hijack. Here is the original article:
http://www.zmogo.com/gear/the-new-year-linux-resol ...
Blogspam buried. - Orsenfelt, on 01/13/2009, -3/+8The specifics don't matter to the end user, so it's still Linux's problem.
- DontGiveADamn, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5I recently bought an Intel atom ITX motherboard to upgrade my kitchen computer. I decided to switch from XP to Ubuntu. The install was easy, it connects to my Windows network, it plays my music and surfs the Web. Sure there was a learning curve, I'm still learning, but I am very impressed with Linux. Maybe I'll switch my file server / web server / remote access server to Linux next (it's also running XP with Apache). I look forward to the day when I can be Microsoft free.
- jansie, on 01/13/2009, -1/+6yep, snob. it's called an operating system, not an inoperable system.
- nullity, on 01/13/2009, -2/+7Just download the CD image, burn it, and boot it. http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
You don't even have to install it, you can run it off the CD (although it will be slower).
What are you waiting for? Someone else to burn it for you? They do that too, and they'll even mail it to you. https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ - zero, on 01/13/2009, -1/+5After you setup the repos and installed the codecs right? I have been using ubuntu for a year now and linux generally for about 10 years, I love it, but I'm not believing an old lady setup ubuntu by herself.
- WinMacLin, on 01/13/2009, -2/+6Linux stories that don't contain 'I just found this cool thing called Ubuntu, anyone wanna read about me trying it out and the hilarious exploits I get up to with my Computer!'
How many of these Switcher ***** stories are there going to be made. No one cares. - gcauthon, on 01/13/2009, -1/+5You don't have 2GB? I guess Ubuntu may not be the best choice for your Packard Bell 486slc (or whatever you're using) then.
- av4rice, on 01/13/2009, -1/+5Aren't most computer parts foreign?
- virtualmode, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4I installed Ubuntu on a brand new Asus laptop a few weeks ago. Things which just worked "out of the box": screen resolution, WI-FI (Atheros driver automatically suggested and turned-on by Ubuntu), touch pad with scroll. ATI graphics driver was also suggested automatically, all I needed is to click "Activate" button for it. To get sound working I didn't need a driver - I just added one configuration option (which isn't perfect, but I predict in the next version of Ubuntu I'll get the sound "out of the box").
The laptop had Vista preinstalled, but it took me less time to install Ubuntu, than boot into the preinstalled Vista the first time (with it's slow "hardware performance detection" and many other annoyances).
With all the software Ubuntu has "out of the box" (like Firefox, Gimp and OpenOffice) it saved my day, while in the preinstalled Vista I would have to work hours first to turn-off its annoyances, remove the crappy software kindly installed by Asus for me, then find and install the software I need. - woodrail, on 01/13/2009, -4/+8Yep, Ubuntu is awesome. Just to reiterate : It's easy, it works, it's free, all the software for it is free, you'll never spend another penny on software again, and it never gets virusses.
I know 6 computer illiterate old ladies who use it with zero problems. - theaceoffire, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4If it works, it is perfect.
I personally had issues with the video card on 8.04 (It was due to having a PCI video card instead of AGP or PCI express, which always gave me issues) and with my TV tuner card.
My other computers had no issues since 8.10, so here's hoping its fixed. - Skyview, on 01/13/2009, -5/+9my grandma is using Ubuntu without the problems you are having.
I'd say you were doing something wrong and my grandma just pwned you. - frouse, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3Linux supports significantly more hardware out of the box than Windows does. There is a reason that manufacturers have to supply Windows driver discs with most products. Windows hardware compatibility is an illusion.
- utopianfiat, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3I been thinking about giving English classes on Digg.
- inactive, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3I have Linux AVG (Yes AVG make a Deb file) to protect *coughs Windows files....
- nexmachina, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3Who the ***** cares?
- Dejas, on 01/13/2009, -3/+6I tried the same thing but couldn't get my wireless usb nic to work. An important milestone for ubuntu will be when I can buy any nic Best Buy sells and it is compatible.
- trafficlight, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3Does it run okay with the Live CD? Or just when you install it?
- sideral, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3I tried it... but Ubuntu didn't work on my pc. When something on windows doesnt work, its normally easy to find a solution. When something on linux doesnt work, prepare to be reading about cryptic accronyms, large error logs, obscure commands, difficult configuration options and so on. Linux is awesome, but only when it works.
- skztr, on 01/13/2009, -4/+7"The Pre-Loaded Software"
All well and good until you find out that with Linux, your options are "pre-loaded" or "write it yourself"
Yeah, being able to type "yum install some-random-free-program" is nice, but until there's a good way for joe nobody to have their software installed with as much ease- I'm thinking providing a UUID and public key on a website which browsers can pick up on like any other URL [eg: msn://, torrent://], there's just no way Linux can be "liked"
The Windows World: "Hey, just got a new PC. Came with all this great bundled software" "Cool, install this thing and we'll blow eachother up" "Okay, give me the URL?"
The Linux World: "Hey, just got a new PC. Came with all this great bundled software" "Cool, install this thing and we'll blow eachother up" "Okay, let me check if the repository used by this distro has that..? Nope. I'm gonna go learn Python or something"
Linux doesn't have:
- Standardization. Too many distros with "almost compatible" combinations of hierarchies and libraries
- Vision. Everybody is afraid to move away from things that seemed like good ideas during an all-night coding session in 1973
- Sense. /usr/bin? Really? You think having a single place to store all executable files makes more sense than having files categorized by what they do? (/usr/opt/Photoshop/bin, anyone?)
and on and on. Try Gobolinux, then run back to windows.
-- Note: I am a most-of-the-time Linux user. - yfph, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3funny, with kubuntu-64 (KDE variant of Ubuntu), I installed all of the bells and whistles, OpenOffice 3, R, several games, several programs for my work and the final size came out to a mere 6gigs.
- bootup, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3People who end up migrating to GNU/Linux aren't repulsed by change or don't know enough to realize what they are using is different than what they had before. If you are smart enough to buy a GNU/Linux computer then you would get better compatibility than Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. Even if you don't GNU/Linux has better compatibility out of the box on a random computer than Mac OS X or MS Windows.
- KaiUno, on 01/13/2009, -3/+6So when I grow up (I'm 32 now), you think I'll stop playing games?
It's not a matter of growing up, I just don't want to dual-boot for games. Or for any reason actually. It's a waste of time when Windows does just about everything Linux does. Granted, Linux is free, but that's just about it. It's a pain in the ass if you want to install drivers (I have an X-Fi and I had to miss 75% of its functionality, and even getting the 25% of it working, that is, plain regular stereo sound was hard.)
After that, what software is there that doesn't have a counterpart on Windows? Right. Absolutely nothing.
I'm sorry folks, but I won't switch to Linux just because of some misguided "open source is better, fight the system" feeling. I'm lacking in that department and I just don't care. - DigitalPioneer, on 01/13/2009, -6/+9Why do people always gripe about hardware compatibility on Linux? So you have to do a little work to make your graphics card work... Big deal! Try doing it in windoze some time! It's a lot harder. People don't get that when they buy a windows computer, that computer was BUILT SPECIFICALLY for windows, and the manufacturer set it up for you. Given that a single LInux CD has to install on ANY computer of a given architecture, I'd say it does a pretty darn good job. If you can't handle a little hardware setup, why don't you buy your computer from a Linux-friendly OEM?
- shethinkmefunny, on 01/13/2009, -0/+3Honestly, aside from the speed, stability, security, customizability and power, my favorite thing about GNU/Linux is it's actually *fun* to use. If you've got the time, patience and drive space, I'd suggest taking one of those paperweights, divvying the hard drive up into 10-20 gig chunks, and installing a few different distros and just screwing around with them - try out the different file systems, desktop environments, apps, compatibility environments, etc. You'll learn a lot in a short period of time and have a blast doing it. Plus, if you bork one, you can just boot the next one in line :D
Personally, I think that's the best way to get into Linux. As you screw around with the gibblets of your software, you'll start finding it hard to go back to Windows and/or OS X. They've got their place and work well enough most of the time, but they've had all the personality engineered out of them. - stalky14, on 01/13/2009, -0/+2Pfft. A week's barely enough time to get all your /etc/*.conf files sorted out!
8^) - waspbr, on 01/13/2009, -0/+2you can google around for lighter installs
- wigren, on 01/13/2009, -1/+3*opens vlc*
Oh, cool! - inactive, on 02/25/2009, -0/+2I'm damn tired of seeing stories like this hit the front page. I've been seeing these ever since joining digg. When will it come to an end?
- DontThinkSo, on 01/14/2009, -0/+2Install "flashplugin-nonfree".
Or, go to a website and have firefox suggest it for you. Only exception is youtube, which takes matters into its own hands and just sends you to adobe's website, where you can download the installer, but a package is preferable. - cJw314, on 01/13/2009, -0/+2Advantage being...? (it's not windows?)
- inactive, on 01/13/2009, -0/+2Linux is good, apart from the fact that new-ish printers do not work (as well as even some pretty old ones).
What are you supposed to do with a system that won't let you print?
But by the way, my old gripe was that there is no good video editor, but now I've realised there is. It's called Kdenlive, and it works very well. One of the biggest problems people have is that they try and get software from the repositories, but I realised that Ubuntu doesn't update them very well, so if you get Kdenlive from it's own website, it works very fluently as a Windows Movie Maker replacement. I think they need to include it by default. Loads of people use video editors to put their stuff on YouTube, so it's essential for any modern operating system to come shipped with one.
So yeah, just waiting on good printers, and support for Flash CS3, and then maybe I'll switch full time. -
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