Ubuntu
I am a normal Windows Vista user so just by saying that you can probably guess this review isn’t going to be good about Ubuntu. For being free, it’s a really good OS but I’m use to all the software I can get with Vista. The only thing on my computer right now is Ubuntu and that bring me to a story…
So last night I was bored and I had Ubuntu sitting on my Vista desktop for awhile because I wanted to try it. So I burned it to a CD and partitioned my HD at the same time. After doing both of these I figured I would be set to go and I would be if I didn’t let Ubuntu automatically install itself, but I’m ahead of myself. I put in the disk and it booted, this is where I should have tried the live version of Ubuntu as a test, but I already split my hard drive. So it was a series of clicking “foward, foward, forward” with all the default settings. Then I let it automatically do something with my hard drive that I don’t even know at this point. All I know is that I wrote over Vista, like completely wrote over. So now for the past day I’ve been running Ubuntu and from what I’ve played around with it has some good features and some bad features. (Remember all these are just observations over the past one day with Ubuntu).
Good: It’s a different software that’s fun to play with. I do like the toolbars, one on top and one on bottom. The desktop is completey clear when you install it too. It comes with firefox installed instead of Internet Explorer in Vista. (Thankyou Ubuntu). It looks like it has alot of programs that could come in handy and could be nice to use.
Bad: You don’t have the commercial applications like office and things that I’ve gotten use to. It does have alternatives that are close but would take alittle while to get use to. It seems like it would take awhile to get use to the navigation through all my files. That is expected when you change OS though.
I personally like Vista and have no problem with it except the fact that you have to put up with microsoft. Once I get rid of Ubuntu and have Vista back on my hard drive I think I will boot the live cd every now and then to play with Ubuntu. I asked the question of what’s better Ubuntu or Vista on Yahoo Answers and a lot of people like Ubuntu. That’s fine with me but I’m going to stick with Vista right now…
-Joe Cerra-
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Rather than dual-booting or rebooting for the live CD, you might want to try install Ubuntu as virtual OS inside Windows (using VirtualBox or VMWare). That way, you can quickly switch back and forth between the two (rebooting takes a while) with a single keystroke. Of course, with virtualization, there will be a slight performance hit. If you have enough RAM, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Also, if program familiarity is an issue, you can also install some open source Windows programs in Vista (OpenOffice, Thunderbird, GIMP, FileZilla, GAIM) so you get used to them in a familiar environment before switching over to Ubuntu.
You’ve got to watch that disk partitioning step my friend
If you’ve the means, you could also get yourself a second PC, either used or lower-end than your current one, and a cheap KVM switch (under $40) so that both of your PCs connect to the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
The nice thing about that sort of setup is that your test bed is not your main PC and, therefore, you cannot hose your main PC while you explore things. You can also play with networking between the two systems without adding in the weirdness of virtual network adapters. You also are not waiting for a slow CD-ROM drive to thrash away loading your programs, as you do with most live CDs.
If you have not already, find yourself some basic tutorials online and give them a read. Back in the day we were sent here as part of our schooling.
http://www.linux.org/lessons/
Whether it’s useful for you is up to you to decide.
Just some quick notes :
1. Using Linux because you don’t like Vista or Microsoft is not a good thing. You can’t have good experiences based on negative feelings. Linux inherit from a great Operating System : Unix, and we should try to learn somewhat the power of Unix. Try Linux to love Unix
2. Ubuntu is not the only existing distribution easy to use. You may want to give a try to Mandriva Linux for example :
http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2008.1_Tour
Mandriva doc : http://club.mandriva.com/xwiki/bin/view/KB/Mandriva_Linux_2008_Spring_documentation
The great strength of Mandriva is the mandriva control center : http://club.mandriva.com/xwiki/documentation/2008-spring/Mastering-Manual-EN.html/Mastering-Manual.html/advanced.html
You call yourself a normal Vista user, but so to see you are also a normal WordPress user. WordPress and Ubuntu have in common that they are both free software. They give freedom to their users, unlike Vista.
You say you don’t get the commercial apps like Office, but you do not get that with Vista too, unless you buy it or install it illegally. With Ubuntu at least you get Open Office.
Also, wine can run some of the commercial apps. I can see not having certain proprietary apps as a disadvantage if it has killer features X that you can’t get on an alternative. However, being different than the most popular app isn’t a shortcoming. Looking at linux and expecting a free windows clone isn’t the right way to see it.
That said, I do respect your decision to keep Vista (to each his own, everyone has special needs / preferences), these were just a few pointers
A better bet is to install Ubuntu using Wubi which is included on the Ubuntu CD. To use it, you insert it in the drive when in Windows. It uses Windows to install it just like any program. It can be de-installed using the Control Panel. It is simple to install and it makes no changes to Vista.
It asks you four simple questions, mostly just boxes to check. It installs a partial installation while in Windows and then it completes installing Ubuntu when you re-boot (about ten minutes). When you re-boot your Windows boot manager will list two choices, Vista being the default or Ubuntu.
You will get the full Ubuntu experience. You can install new programs and can run them at near native speed. The way it works is that Wubi sets up a directory on your C: drive for Ubuntu. When you re-boot it is mounted as a drive using a loopback. Very cool! It sure beats the Live CD approach in which you run slower and can’t save settings or install new programs.
Try it. You have nothing to
I got pretty interesting setup at home;
1 x PC with Windows XP & Kubuntu (KDE 4.1) dual-booting
1 x laptop with Ubuntu
1 x Asus Eee PC 900 with Xandros Linux
Thats the only way for me atm