Ubuntu

[Doktor Avalanche]

I admit I'm a little late to the party on this one, however...

I was once a Unix user. I spent lots of time learning Unix. I got to be fairly good. Fortunately, most of that garbage has now faded from memory.

One of the things I remember about it is that a lot of Unix supporters have sent me examples of stuff to “prove” how powerful Unix is. These examples have certainly been enough to refresh my memory: they all do something trivial or useless, and they all do so in a very arcane manner.

I recall one person who said he had an “epiphany” from a shell script (which used four commands and a script that looked like line noise) which renamed all his '.pas' files so that they ended with “.p” instead.

Indeed, that is my memory of Unix tools - you spend all your time learning to do complex and peculiar things that are, in the end, not really all that impressive.

This is why I always considered Unix to be the Rube Goldberg of operating systems.

Then I got a copy of Ubuntu 11.04 and, after having used it for the last 30 days I have to say that I'm in love with Unix...again.

It seems that my complaints about Unix fell on someone who was listening. Every deficiency that Unix ever had has been fixed under Ubuntu.

If you haven't tried it, get yourself a copy of Ubuntu and if you have a minimum of 5GB of hard disk space to spare you can install it inside Windows without having to burn down your hard drive. I currently have it installed Windows XP (I refuse to go to Vista or 7) and, when necessary, I can switch to either OS.

Two selling points: it's free and you'll never worry about viruses.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

[Lambkin]

So, what is the best productivity suite to use with Ubuntu?

You mean an MS Office replacement? LibreOffice is pretty good.

Also, how well will my favorite games run on Ubuntu?

It depends but overall the selection will be pretty limited. But if your favorite game is tennis, jogging, riding a bike, soccer, etc. then you'll be fine using Linux.

How will my picture and video editing software run on Ubuntu?

Usable but not as many choices as you'll find on Windows or MacOS.

Another option to consider is to run the Linux OS inside a free virtualization package on your Windows machine such as VirtualBox or VMware Player. That way you retain all of the current capabilities of Windows while experimenting with another OS.

Or just add a hard drive and boot whichever OS you want at a given time. Get that SSD you have been wanting.

[Brandybuck]

Ubuntu? Pfft! That's for poofters! Use Kubuntu!

[Doktor Avalanche]

So, what is the best productivity suite to use with Ubuntu?

LibreOffice, but don't take my word for it.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a ... ative.html

Also, how well will my favorite games run on Ubuntu?

You play games on a computer? Man up and buy a Playstation!

How will my picture and video editing software run on Ubuntu?

What makes you so sure your picture and video editing software is all that and a bag of chips?

I'll stack my Kdenlive and LiVES against your brands any day of the week.

By the way, Ubuntu and virtually every app that runs on the platform is free.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Another option to consider is to run the Linux OS inside a free virtualization package on your Windows machine such as VirtualBox or VMware Player. That way you retain all of the current capabilities of Windows while experimenting with another OS.

Or just add a hard drive and boot whichever OS you want at a given time. Get that SSD you have been wanting.

You don't even have to do all that.

If you have at least 5GB of spare hard drive space on your existing HDD you can tell Ubuntu to install inside of Windows - which is what I did only I instructed Ubuntu to use up 30GB, which is about half of my hard drive.

At boot time you have a choice: Ubuntu or Windows. You don't lose anything, no need to wipe out your entire hard drive for one OS or another and you can have both.

I see where this conversation is going and the good Captain has a point. If Ubuntu had a digital audio/audio editing/audio and CD mastering suite nearly as good as Sonys Acid, Sound Forge, CD Architect and iZotope Ozone I'd never go back to Windows again.

[Lambkin]

So, what is the best productivity suite to use with Ubuntu?

You mean an MS Office replacement? LibreOffice is pretty good. - Yes, but pretty good is probably why most individuals and businesses use either an MS O/S and productivity suite, or an Apple O/S with an MS productivity suite.

I agree, but since my work involves managing computers and very little handling of documents, it works fine for me. YMMV.

- So for the folks who play computer games, like Scrabble, or the Hoyle series, or War in Europe, etc, they're f*cked. And you wonder why 99.9%+ of the world uses either an MS or Apple O/S.....

Sure, gamers should run Windows or use a gaming console. But keep it in perspective: not being able to play computer games does not mean you are screwed. In fact the sedentary computer gaming life is what's screwing you and everybody else. Your examples make it sound like you primarily want to use the computer to replace interaction with people. My 40 year old box of Scrabble and decks of cards from defunct airlines are better than what you've got on the screen.

How will my picture and video editing software run on Ubuntu?

Usable but not as many choices as you'll find on Windows or MacOS. - so again, the casual, average user is hosed and has to buy new software. Really?

Actually no, the video editing software for Linux is free. Depending on what you're doing, it might be good enough. Or not. You decide.

You seem to think I am a Linux fanboy but you are way off the mark. I use Windows and MacOS and Linux and I love and hate them all. Part of the fun of Linux is that the computer is the game. It's OK with me if you're not into that kind of game.

[Burzmali]

As I have mentioned before, I am a fairly hard-core gamer and I have been Linux only since late 2008. If you've installed Wine, which comes standard on the "Gamer" optimized version of Ubuntu, you can count on being able to play 90% of AAA titles within a month of release with an average of 10% drop in performance, and a high of around 25%. DOS games are played in DOSbox, same as on Windows or Mac, no real change there. Early Windows games are sometimes playable under Wine, but many can be played under Windows under DOSbox. Even on a modern Windows system, playing Windows 3.1/95 games is a craps shoot. Wine might not be perfect, but it gets better every week and is one of the most active projects in the open source world.

I have a games CD library that fills two large binders, a GOG account that has several pages of titles and a new Linux Desura account that sports around 2 dozen titles. Linux can do games. But yes, it does help to be tech-savvy. Of my collect, around 90% can be played on Linux, but 1 in 4 requires using techniques that I would not assume that a "beginner" would have.

Also, [gaming hipster], all my games are better than yours and you haven't even heard of them.[/gaming hipster]

[Brandybuck]

I've never understood why Unix/Linux is not doing better on the corporate desktop.(1) You don't need games. It's damned cheap to administer and lock down. And you don't have to worry about the secretary downloading a screensaver her cousin sent and infecting the whole company.

(1) Actually I do know, it's because MCSEs are a dime a dozen.

[Unidyne]

So, what is the best productivity suite to use with Ubuntu?

OpenOffice.org does just about everything MS Office does, for free! It's also available for Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonflyBSD and Unix.

[Burzmali]

Also, [gaming hipster], all my games are better than yours and you haven't even heard of them.[/gaming hipster]

Yes, but I could have told you about the sweet extras in Batman: Arkham City months before the game came out.

Like the one that puts Kratos back in his God of War outfit?

[Burzmali]

No, did not sit through that panel and the only reason I sat through the Batman: Arkham City panel was to see the panel that came after it (Voltron).

No, the one secret addition to Batman: Arkham City is Solomon Grundy. And Mark Hamill was on the panel, as he is the voice of the Joker for the game.

Celebrity "voice acting" in video games is so passe, I liked video games featuring Mark Hamill back when actors could actually act in games.

[Burzmali]

Like I said, I was sitting through that panel in order to ensure my seat at the next one, the one I really wanted to see.

Hey, both last year and this I have sat through the panel for the Starz Network series Spartacus. Never seen an episode, but been to both panels - again, to have a seat for the panel I really wanted to see, although Lucy Lawless is always a pleasant eyeful, who on the panels has a good sense of humor and interacts well with the fans.

If Sigourney Weaver is the queen of Comic-Con, Lucy Lawless is at least a princess (but not necessarily a warrior princess).

You want a pleasant eyeful, check out this hottie:

And yes, she plays on Linux

Edit fixed image

[Burzmali]

We'll wait while you fix that little technical error. Sure the word "Image" appears and that's about all it does. Hint - Preview button.

And there are plenty of hotties who play video games and regularly smack down the boys like they owed them money.

Fixed now, though oddly it worked from my computer originally. Probably some odd filter on the image hosting side.

[Brandybuck]

I first used Unix back in colleg (4.2 BSD). I've been using FreeBSD and Linux on my work and home system for fifteen years now. Ubuntu and many other LInux distros really are ready for the desktop now.

At work my current client is a Windows shop developing an embedded Linux product. What's funny is to see these lifelong C/C++ developers suddenly discover for the first time the joys of Unix via their Linux virtual machine. They are all in complete agreement that want to move all their systems over to native Linux.

p.s. I am currently using Windows primarily on my home system, but that's only because I'm mostly playing games. Anytime I need to do real work I boot into Linux. Since games tends require direct access to the hardware, solutions such as VMWare and Wine tend to produce poor results. But that's what dual booting is for, to isolate Windows as a game launcher.

[Burzmali]

p.s. I am currently using Windows primarily on my home system, but that's only because I'm mostly playing games. Anytime I need to do real work I boot into Linux. Since games tends require direct access to the hardware, solutions such as VMWare and Wine tend to produce poor results. But that's what dual booting is for, to isolate Windows as a game launcher.

Come to the dark side my son, if a new game isn't released with a native Linux version, it isn't worth playing.

[webhick]

And yes, she plays on Linux

Is that Alone in the Dark? Haven't played that in years...

[Burzmali]

And yes, she plays on Linux

Is that Alone in the Dark? Haven't played that in years...

That it would, Emily Hartwood was kick zombies in the face long before Jill Valentine. It's kind of sad that she got pushed aside for Carnby in the sequels, she had the more compelling story.

[Burzmali]

I saw yet another problem holding Ubuntu back when I run an in place upgrade from 11.04 to 11.10 (I usually only run complete reinstalls for new systems and on LTS releases). Since I had made some serious modifications and customizations to my configuration in 11.04, the upgrade encountered a problem. Fair enough, Windows and Mac have problems upgrading systems that are too far from vanilla too. Unfortunately, the upgrade process didn't notice or didn't mention that it had encountered a problem, and after one successful reboot, X just failed to start and the system sat at a black screen waiting forever. This isn't the first time I've flummoxed an install or upgrade so I dropped to single user mode, checked dmesg, did some googling and I was up and running in a half hour or so. Problem is that I had to know where to go to get that log and be able to ID the likely culprit out of hundreds of lines. You can't expect a new user to do that, so what's going to happen? They'll reboot a couple of times then reach for the Windows disk.

Ubuntu and Linux in general keep getting better and better, but I still can't feel comfortable loading a system that behaves like that on someone with limited computer skills.

[JamesVincent]

Someone with limited skills wont be running anything other then win OS to start with, which is why its the most popular OS in the world and will always be. Something to be said for PnP and DnD.

[webhick]

Problem is that I had to know where to go to get that log and be able to ID the likely culprit out of hundreds of lines. You can't expect a new user to do that, so what's going to happen? They'll reboot a couple of times then reach for the Windows disk.

Problem is that Windows users do the same thing. BSOD happens and they can't get in so they reach for their restore disk and reinstall Windows.