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BlueDev
Join Date 12/2003
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Blogging from Ubuntu

-or- thoroughly and pleasantly surprised

January 19, 2006 6:13:01 PM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
So our old desktop box has been acting very buggy lately. I knew it was time to do a clean format, and I was tired of old Windows98 on that machine, so I decided to give Linux a try. I was apprehensive, but thought it could be fun to try a little bit.

I was very, very surprised.

I have heard both the Linux fanatics and the naysayers, and generally sided with the naysayers. Nevertheless, having now given Linux a fair try I am quite impressed. I originally thought I would try Mepis, since I had used the live CD before and thought it looked nice. But I thought I would give Ubuntu a try as well. Downloaded the live CD and ran it. I was very impressed, so I went ahead and did a clean format and install on the old box.

It really rocks. Everything has worked without a hitch so far, with one exception: my Lexmark printer. That is having problems, but apparently this is a pretty well known issue with Lexmark and their closed-source drivers. I tried a method found over at the Ubuntu forums, but didn't work yet. However, not a big deal as I can always use another computer to print (and this desktop box will likely be getting replaced soon).

Gnome looks great, and it is really amazing the number of programs the Linux comes loaded with. I had no problem updating things to the most recent version, and here I am, blogging in Firefox. I can finally see how for some people, Linux is a very real, very plausible alternative to forking over big bucks for an OS.

Pretty cool.

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BlueDev
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #1 January 19, 2006 6:17:14 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Ubuntu?  Sprechen sie English?

Actually I love Linux.  But it does not pay the bills, so I use Windows.  (I love the Mac more, just dont tell anyone).

At least XP is very stable and nice. Kind of.

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BlueDev
ZubaZ
Join Date 11/2001
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Reply #2 January 19, 2006 6:20:38 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I installed Ubuntu on my daughter's PC as she went off to college. She grew up on Windows but didn't have a hitch.

If she needs help with something I'm just a live CD boot away from support.

It's a really nice distro.

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BlueDev
BlueDev
Join Date 12/2003
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Reply #3 January 19, 2006 6:40:13 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Actually I love Linux. But it does not pay the bills, so I use Windows.


I really love XP. Plus, with all my Stardock programs, I feel lost when using a computer without them. But I can now see that using Linux is not just a gimmick (like some Linux naysayers try to pass it off as), but a real option. Very cool.

I installed Ubuntu on my daughter's PC as she went off to college. She grew up on Windows but didn't have a hitch.


I looked a bit a Edubuntu as well, since I have younger kids, and think that it could also be a great thing to try. I could have made it through college running Linux no problem. With OpenOffice you have pretty much any of those needs taken care of, and plenty of other tools as well. I think I will be playing around with it for a while to come.
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BlueDev
Stanty8
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Reply #4 January 19, 2006 7:05:39 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I dual boot Mepis and WinXP on my good ol' Toshiba A75 - I liked Ubuntu as well, but it had issues with my touchpad and wouldn't play nice with my built-in wireless. Ironically, the only way I can use my old flatbed scanner is to boot into Linux 'cause there are no drivers for WinXP

I periodically contemplate installing Linux on my mom's old laptop 'cause it gradually gets more and more bogged down from the random bloatware that keeps somehow accumulating under extended parental usage... but the only thing stopping me is lack of driver support for her wireless card and multifunction printer/scanner/copier...
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BlueDev
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #5 January 19, 2006 7:12:15 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Ubuntu has a few quirks which I just don't like, and I'm not really a big Debian fan anyway. But a lot of people seem to like it. I use Slackware Linux and love it. Welcome to the Linux world

Linux: because a PC is a terriible thing to waste.
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BlueDev
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #6 January 19, 2006 7:15:00 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Linux: because a PC is a terriible thing to waste.

Windows.  Because I need to earn a living!

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BlueDev
MasonM
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Reply #7 January 19, 2006 7:32:43 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
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kona0197
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #8 January 19, 2006 8:07:30 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Bluedev - have you tried Xandros? Closest thing to Windows as you can get in the Linux world.
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BlueDev
BlueDev
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Reply #9 January 19, 2006 8:45:05 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Bluedev - have you tried Xandros? Closest thing to Windows as you can get in the Linux world.


I haven't. Hadn't even heard of it honestly. Just checked it out. Looks nice, but there are some problems I have with it.

I like the Ubuntu is free. No subscription, no nothing. Plus, I like that Gnome looks different from Windows. I am not scared about learning to use command line things to get my work done. Thanks again for the suggestion, but so far, Ubuntu is the winner for me.
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BlueDev
kona0197
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #10 January 19, 2006 9:27:20 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Xandros has a free version.
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BlueDev
BlueDev
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Reply #11 January 19, 2006 9:52:16 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Ah, must not have looked around enough.
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BlueDev
kona0197
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Reply #12 January 19, 2006 10:26:47 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
LOL I just installed Kubuntu.
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BlueDev
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #13 January 19, 2006 10:42:56 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Kubuntu is just Ubuntu using KDE instead of Gnome. Check Out SuSE if you like these sorts of "autoconfig" distributions.

I realize you are new to Linux, but if you really care to invest some time in a learning curve, check out Slackware Linux. It isn't quite as "automatic", and doesn't have all the nifty GUI tools that screw up your system, but it is very stable and reliable once you learn how to work with it.

Check out Linuxquestions.org. Read the distributions forums, and compare for yourself. While everyone has certain distro preferences very few who actually know what they are talking about will deny that Slack users know their stuff when it comes to Linux.

I have used many distributions, and can honestly say that Slack has always come out on top. For me.
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BlueDev
ZubaZ
Join Date 11/2001
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Reply #14 January 19, 2006 11:00:50 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
The question always seems to me to be
1) Do you want to learn a newoperating system and spend years learning it?
or
2) Do you want to boot the thing up, surf a little, write a letter, and chat?

I'm option 2 for the most part. Give me a GUI that just works and the option to dig if I want to.

I feel the same way about the Mac.

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BlueDev
kona0197
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #15 January 20, 2006 2:42:19 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Mason I'm not as new to Linux as you think. Been using it off and on since '99. Anyhow I'm sticking to Xandros.
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BlueDev
thomassen
Join Date 01/2003
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Reply #16 January 20, 2006 5:36:42 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I had only briefly tried Linspire before. Didn't like it very much. I found out that UBuntu was giving away free CDs, so It thought: FREE! whoho! gimme gimme! (yea, I know linux is free, but it was the free CD part...)

Anyways, I installed Ubuntu. And I found it quite pleasing. I spent a couple of days working out how to set it up as I want it and I was surpriced how easy it was once you got around to understand a little how it worked. Well the credit should go tot he people setting up these automatic installers.

However, I can't abandon Windows as I need it for my work. And I like windows. But if I where to set up a computer that just run common eveyday tasks, like a livingroom PC, I'll install Ubuntu.
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BlueDev
lifehappens
Join Date 07/2004
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Reply #17 January 21, 2006 1:20:43 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I[m impressed that you know any of this stuff.....I'm curious, but not brave enough to ditch what I (sort-of) know for something else yet.
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BlueDev
XX
Join Date 03/2001
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Reply #18 January 21, 2006 1:27:39 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I heard many good stuff about ubuntu. This is more of the same. I'm thinking about making an ubuntu computer evenually, just to play around.
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BlueDev
PurrBall
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #19 January 21, 2006 6:47:52 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Xandros is not the closest to Windows..

ReactOS. http://www.reactos.org

It even looks like it and runs the programs.
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BlueDev
Jetting Through Life
Join Date 01/0001
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Reply #20 January 21, 2006 9:27:59 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Ummm.... I didn't understand any of that computer lingo!!

Hope all is well!!

XXOO,
JTL
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BlueDev
BlueDev
Join Date 12/2003
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Reply #21 January 21, 2006 11:33:05 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Ummm.... I didn't understand any of that computer lingo!!




Yes, you have finally discovered my secret. I am a total dork.

But I love it.
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BlueDev
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #22 January 21, 2006 11:55:58 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Yes, you have finally discovered my secret. I am a total dork.

Geek!  The term is Geek.

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BlueDev
BlueDev
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Reply #23 January 21, 2006 11:56:58 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Sadly Doc, I am both.
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BlueDev
kona0197
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #24 January 21, 2006 4:53:51 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Xandros is not the closest to Windows..


Wrong. I highly doubt that ReactOS has all the Windows Codecs built in and plays every media format out there. I also doubt that ReactOS reads and writes FAT32 and reads NTFS without some tweaking. Xandros also includes Crossover for running Windows apps.
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BlueDev
PurrBall
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #25 January 22, 2006 7:30:26 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
From what you just said I take it you didnt read the web site to find out?

Multimedia

* Codecs
* Music Composition
o Sk@leTracker (Music Composition) (licence: Freeware)
o Modplug Tracker (Music Composition) (licence: GPL)
* Video Editors
o VirtualDub (Video Editing) (licence: GPL)
* Players
o MPlayer (licence: GPL)
o Modplug Player (XM / IT / S3M / etc) (licence: GPL)
o Winamp (licence: Freeware)
o VLC Media Player (VideoLAN) (licence: GPL)
o Media Player Classic
o musikCube (licence: GPL)


Reasons for and against implementing native NTFS support
[edit]
For

* Ability to use partitions used by Microsoft(R) Windows(R). This assumes that once a free, journalled FS has been developed for ReactOS that it will not be possible to use it on Microsoft(R) Windows(R) instead of NTFS..

[edit]
Against

* The specification for NTFS is not open, and so could never be guaranteed to be compatible with Microsoft's implementations.
* If an open FS (such as ext3, xfs, jfs, reiserfs) were given native/bootable support, applications would still talk to the FS. driver and should therefore still work. The underlying FS would be transparent, as long as the same security/permission mechanisms were present. Correct?


File Systems/Fat32

Full support in ReactOS is a high priority.


Here is your info.
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