So, I installed Linux Ubuntu...But, what now?

Sail

So, I intalled Linux Ubuntu. This is the first time I've ever been on a Linux system. It's nice and all, but the question is...what now?

Thaed

I'm still trying to figure that out. Build a file server?

Apreche

Use it to compute. Do your web browsing, post on the forums, read your e-mail, do some word processing, etc. Whatever you use your computer for, use that computer for. That's all there is to it.

Kite

I'm willing to give Ubuntu a try, but it is going to have to be totally superior to xp in my everyday computing in order to get me to switch. Something on the magnitude of wordpad versus word in writing a 40 page term paper. Cus all of the chicken little horror stories that all the /.ers and tech geeks try to scare me with have never happened to me. BSOD? Only seen it once in xp when my harddrive died. OMG viruses!? Never caught one since ditching 95. According to the interwebs I'm weird for not having any trouble with windows and thinking OS X is too limiting O.o

Thaed

I'm willing to give Ubuntu a try, but it is going to have to be totally superior to xp in my everyday computing in order to get me to switch. Something on the magnitude of wordpad versus word in writing a 40 page term paper. Cus all of the chicken little horror stories that all the /.ers and tech geeks try to scare me with have never happened to me. BSOD? Only seen it once in xp when my harddrive died. OMG viruses!? Never caught one since ditching 95. According to the interwebs I'm weird for not having any trouble with windows and thinking OS X is too limiting O.o

No, you're just a normal computer user. If I had Scott's mad skills and more time, I'd probably be more into Linux. There's a lot to like and I have one machine running it. But the other five computers I use all the time are either running XP or 2k. Because they are so mainstream, stuff just works on them. I don't have to do much tweaking. While tweaking is a lot of fun, I don't have much time to tweak! If this makes me a lame Windows user, I'm guilty.

Apreche

Unless you are using weird hardware or trying to setup stuff like AIGLX, no tweaking is required for Ubuntu.

Apreche

Here's a helpful site for anyone taking the plunge.

Thaed

Unless you are using weird hardware or trying to setup stuff like AIGLX, no tweaking is required for Ubuntu.

Is an ATI All-in-one-Wonder weird hardware? Is a 5.1 sound card weird? Again, Ubuntu is brilliant. It really is the best Linux ever. But to say that it has the same plug and play power of XP is kind of a stretch. I tried to set up a Linux box as a video server and I couldn't get sound with the ATI card or the Pinnacle card that I had. If all you are doing is browsing and word processing, then Ubuntu is great. If you have time and skills, you can get it to do anything and it's free. So I am actually a Linux fan. I guess in the end, I'm just sayin'.

Apreche

When was the last time you tried? Support for that sort of thing has improved greatly recently. Even so, IMHO audio suppport is the weakest point for Linux on the desktop. I've been complaining about it and screwing around with it for 6 or 7 years. I've found the key to a pleasant Linux experience is to get hardware that works with Linux, and to do as much in hardware as possible.

It goes like this. With a clean install of Windows, almost none of your hardware is supported. You have to go around the Interwebs downloading device drivers and installing them. This is time consuming and annoying, but anyone who knows how to download and install software on Windows can do it. With Linux, 99% of your hardware will automatically be fully functioning from the get go. You will only have difficulty if your laptop has a weird wireless card, if you try to get an ATi product to work or if you have some other strange peripheral. In half of those cases you will have to read a howto online and type some commands to make it work. In the other half of those cases, it is impossible to make it work without coding some drivers for yourself.

Also, I want to clarify that I'm not claiming Linux is the perfect beauty and Windows is teh useless suck. I'm also not telling everyone to use Linux and forget Windows. Some people can't do with Linux. If you use your computer primarily to play games, the Linux might be a bad choice. If you use lots of proprietary software like Photoshop and Flash, then Linux is probably not going to be your primary operating system. If you are an existing business that relies heavily on lots of Windows applications for day to day business, then Linux is a bad choice unless you hire someone like me to make it work for you. For someone like me, who is a geek who plays mostly Nintendo games, Linux is awesome. For my mom who only uses the computer for basic tasks, Linux is the best. The thing is, most people just use their computer for basic tasks, and Linux is probably better for them.

All I'm asking is that people try out Linux, risk-free, so that your misconceptions will go away. You don't have to switch if you don't want to. You don't even have to dual boot if you don't want to. Just try it. If Ubuntu Edgy Eft doesn't do it for you, wait for the next release and try that one. The rate of progress in open source development is astounding. 4 months ago I was using Dapper Drake, and Skype did not work. I had to tweak heavily to even get my sound card to work. Now with Edgy Eft, that shit works better than ever. Skype runs better for me now on Linux than it ever did on Windows. A lot of people tried Linux around 2002 and found it lacking, a lot has changed since then. Also, the next time you buy a laptop or other computer make sure to only get hardware supported fully by Linux. You might still use Windows, but at least you will keep your options open.

Kite

But exactly how is linux superior "for basic tasks"? And windows update updates all my drivers in one go and I can't think of the last time I had to go googling for drivers to make something work.. am I special again for not having any such trouble? odd..

navelfluff

I would be a little careful about praising Edgy Eft that much, Scott. It may be true that Edgy has a lot of great new features, but I think it was released a bit premature. I spent most of this last weekend installing Edgy as a file server with Samba. Linux is mostly new to me (I experimented a little with Red Hat around 2001), and had pulled out quite a lot of hair before I realized that most of my problems were errors in Edgy, and not my lack of abilities. My file server now works on a very basic level with some very annoying bugs, so I'll try the older Dapper Drake instead and start all over.

If you look around the Ubuntu forums you'll find that a lot of people have technical problems with very basic stuff on Edgy. I advice Linux newbies to stick with Dapper Drake for a month or two. I also find it annoying that I had to install Automatix for easy downloading of necessary drivers, codecs and programs, while Automatix itself was not simple to install. A newbie shouldn't have to edit script files and type commandos to get such necessities.

I am now starting to learn Linux systems in order to, eventually, build an advanced system with MythTV, GiantDisk and general network goodies that I can customize to my needs. This is simply not possible in the current Windows world.

Apreche

Automatix is terrible. I'm wondering what necessary drivers, codecs and programs you needed to use Automatix to get? Everything Automatix does can be done manually, and usually with less risk and effort. I personally would never recommend using Automatix. I got all my drivers and codecs without using Automatix, and it was very painless.

As for Edgy, it does appear that it is giving people trouble. At first I thought it was just people who didn't know what they were doing, but even one of my friends, who knows as much as, if not more than, I do, is having troubles with it. Yet again, I feel like the only person on earth who isn't having problems.

Due to the evidence, I have to say that if Edgy doesn't work perfectly for you, use Dapper. Edgy is way better and more awesome as a desktop OS because it actually includes all the nice new versions of many applications, but if it doesn't work for you, don't bother with it.

navelfluff

Automatix is terrible. I'm wondering what necessary drivers, codecs and programs you needed to use Automatix to get? Everything Automatix does can be done manually, and usually with less risk and effort. I personally would never recommend using Automatix. I got all my drivers and codecs without using Automatix, and it was very painless.

All right, I didn't have to install Automatix. I got the advice from a friend who has used Linux/Ubuntu for some time, and I am very thankful as he saved me many hours of frustration. If you are familiar with the Linux way of doing things, like Scott, you could probably install everything you need in 15 minutes with no hassle. However, if you're not familiar with the Linux way, you wouldn't even know where to begin. It doesn't help much to be an experienced Windows user either. I started looking at the official Ubuntu help pages, but they are obviously designed for those who know exactly what they are looking for, and not for newbies who wonder where to begin. I'm glad I had a friend I could skype.

Normal people are intimidated by having to write commands in the console window to do stuff. As a geek I don't have that problem per se, but I do get intimidated by the thought of all the time I have to spend learning this stuff, and to maintain this knowledge. Automatix saved me a lot of time. I got nvidia drivers, media codecs, Java, Gaim, Windows fonts that were necessary to make web pages look OK, and some other useful stuff - simply by crossing them off in a table. I didn't have to deal with searching for what is out there, looking up package names and install configurations, worrying about syntax's, learning conventions and so on. I don't think you should have to deal with all that on your very first day with an operating system that "just works". You can of course use Ubuntu "out of the box", but you won't be satisfied.

Linux can be FANTASTIC if you have a personal Linux guru or is that person yourself. Otherwise the start is a bit tricky.

Due to the evidence, I have to say that if Edgy doesn't work perfectly for you, use Dapper. Edgy is way better and more awesome as a desktop OS because it actually includes all the nice new versions of many applications, but if it doesn't work for you, don't bother with it.

I can agree to that. It's just that when you start getting trouble with Edgy, it's hard to know whether it's a bug in the system or something you did yourself. If you want to install Ubuntu now I recommend Dapper to the uncertain newbies. Although searching for errors is very educating if you are motivated enough to deal with it, as I have experienced this weekend.

Apreche

To install all those things you don't have to type a single command. Every one of those things that you did with Automatix can be done in the GUI of Synaptic package manager. Much easier than using Automatix which has a history of breaking people's systems.

navelfluff

Ah, yes. I didn't find Synaptic by myself, and it may seem like my friend doesn't use it (he likes the manual approach). I probably overlooked it because it has a different name in the Norwegian language package ("Synaptec programpakkebehandler"). It's easy to overlook a self explanatory Norwegian name when when all the documentation is in English. The on-screen install instructions don't say "Run Synaptec now to take full advantage of the Ubuntu experience" or something like that (not that I noticed, anyway).

That of course weakens my point about how hard is to start out, which is good news for everyone I may have discouraged. However, I wish Ubuntu came with a "get started guide" on first login like in Windows.

Since I have used Automatix, which worked fine apart from the manual install, I can't say for certain that Synaptic works just as well or better. I will however take your word for it. I will soon do a reinstall with Dapper, and I'm looking forward to an easier start.

Symmetry

So I finally took the plunge and put Ubuntu on one of my hard drives. Just one few issues so far.

I'm running the 64 bit version of Edgy.

A little problem with the NVidia drivers. When I followed the instructions the wiki it seemed to break X-windows if I used the "sudo nvidia-glx-config enable" command they recommended. I fixed it by going in in text mode and replacing my xorg.config file with the backup I'd made and then later editing it to replace "nv" with "nvidia" as the driver. I haven't tried doing anything 3D, so I don't know if thats worked but at least X is running fine again.

Hopefully that 64 bit version of Flash9 will come out soon

Apreche

A little problem with the NVidia drivers. When I followed the instructionsthe wikiit seemed to break X-windows if I used the "sudo nvidia-glx-config enable" command they recommended. I fixed it by going in in text mode and replacing my xorg.config file with the backup I'd made and then later editing it to replace "nv" with "nvidia" as the driver. I haven't tried doing anything 3D, so I don't know if thats worked but at least X is running fine again.

Yeah, I personally don't trust the nvidia-glx-config enable thing. I always edit the xorg.conf manually. It really isn't that hard, and it's a pretty necessary and useful skill to have. If you replaced the nv with nvidia and your X is working, then yes you have the nvidia driver working. There is no other possible explanation. If you really want to make sure you can run the command glxinfo, and it will show you all the information about your current glx configuration. If the glx vendor string is NVIDIA, then you know you're in business. If you want to try a 3d program to see how well it works, run glxgears. It is a simple 3d program that renders some rotating gears. It exists really just to test glx to make sure it is working.

Symmetry

Yup, its working.

Just the same, though, I'm feeling a bit impatient about the whole Flash thing and so forth. I wonder if I might not just be better off switching from the 64 bit version of Ubuntu to the 32 bit version. I know my way around a command line, but this is still the first time I've been root on a *nix system and it seems like a lot of Ubuntu faqs online are assuming you're using the 32 bit version.

Apreche

Yeah, I really don't know what to do about the 64-bit issue. I'm still using my old Athlong XP 28000, so I haven't had to deal with it yet, but I'm really considering not upgrading to a 64-bit chip. If a program is open source and is coded properly, it just takes a quick recompile to get it to work for 64-bit. For stuff like flash, that is not the case since you have to wait for someone else to recompile it and give you the binary. If 64-bit is so far behind 32bit is there really an advantage? My parents have a low end 64-bit Sempron, but I gave them the 32-bit Ubuntu Dapper, and it works plenty fine. I think my current plan might be to wait for quad-cores to push down the price of dual cores. Then I'll get a Core 2 Duo and use 32-bit softwares. We'll see what happens between now and then.

Symmetry

One final(?) thing. Is there any good way to convert batches of .m4a files to mp3 files while preserving the tag information? It doesn't have to work with encrypted files, just regular ones.

Apreche

One final(?) thing. Is there any good way to convert batches of .m4a files to mp3 files while preserving the tag information? It doesn't have to work with encrypted files, just regular ones.

Google is your friend. Remember, in Linux, and other OSes for that matter, mplayer/mencoder is your swiss army knife of media playing and conversion.

Symmetry

Thank you all for your help. I installed the 32 bit version and suddenly everything is working absolutly beautifully. Ubuntu is now officially my primary OS (with windows still around for video editing).

Apreche

I've never tried it, but Cinelerra is the Linux video editing program of choice. Try it and tell me how it goes.

Symmetry

I'll try it out as soon as my current project is finished.