Ubuntu Help
After giving away one Ubuntu computer the other week, I’ve been Linuxless throughout my home. I’m in the process of downloading a Gutsy Gibbon VMware Appliance (with OpenOffice 2.3, Firefox 2, Evolution 2.12, Gimp 2.4, GCC 4.2.1, Gnome 2.20, X.Org 7.2, Linux-Kernel 2.6.2). Granted, the eye candy is completely missing in the virtual machine, but at least I can get a good feel for what’s going on with Ubuntu’s latest release.
It’s difficult to compare “Linux” directly to Windows (or even to OS X) - it exists and expands for completely different reasons with completely different licensing strategies. The Con Kolivas departure (-ck) was a major setback for the Linux desktop, IMHO. Linux is still too geeky, and the Linux geeks seem hell-bent on ensuring that it remains geeky - which is going to keep it from ever gaining desktop dominance past technical user communities.
Ubuntu is a step in the right direction, but… until Dell and HP start shipping it on all of their new systems (in lieu of Windows), it’s not going to come close to winning. I’m all for Open Source, but do people like my parents really care?
So, Matt’s swinging in to save the day with his Ubuntu videos. One on wireless, the other on sound cards:
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7 Comments
Nikiaf
October 24th, 2007
at 6:52pm
hey thanks for that chris! i actually emailed you about wireless issues in gutsy recently and i’m going to give wicd a try and hopefully it’ll work :).
ernie
October 24th, 2007
at 8:48pm
Quote:
I’m all for Open Source, but do people like my parents really care?
End Quote
They may surprise you if the were helped to understand what the Open Source movement is all about because it is about freedom.
Freedom to know what software is running in your computer and why.
Freedom to see and even modify the source code if you so choose.
Freedom to customize your system as much or as little as you want.
Freedom to copy and share your OS with others - legally.
Of course, the exercise of freedom does not come easily. You must learn about the OS (to customize it), and possibly learn something about programming (if you want to examine or modify any source code). What is important is that you have these freedoms with Open Source Software, even if you do not choose to exercise them. Even more important is the fact that millions of eyes look at the source code of every Open Source Program, so security weaknesses and bugs are uncovered and corrected quickly. While the turn around time from discovery to patch for Proprietary Software is usually measured in weeks or months, with Open Source Software it is usually measured in days.
You seem to think that Linux is too geeky for the desktop, and Windows is not? I use Mandriva Linux here, and I can configure my system to look and work the way I want it to from the time it exits the BIOS screen at boot-up to the time it shuts down by using the configuration tools provided by Mandriva and KDE. To even partially accomplish anything similar in Windows would involve some serious registry hacking, and perhaps rewriting some of the software (a potentially illegal undertaking), and even then it may not be possible.
If you want to see how easy installing Linux can be, install Mandriva Linux 2008. It is available as an installation DVD image, or as a Live CD image (Mandriva One KDE or Mandriva One Gnome). In either case, you burn the image to a disk, then boot your computer with it. If the disk is the DVD installer, the installation program runs directly. If the disk is the Live CD, after Mandriva Linux boots to the desktop, you can click the installation icon on the desktop. For an even better test, have Ponzi do the installation. I’d bet she can do it.
My2cents,
Matt Hartley
October 24th, 2007
at 9:18pm
Show notes for the wifi video:
http://tinyurl.com/34vdyt
Show notes for the sound card piece:
http://tinyurl.com/2p2gza
And there is a new one on tackling the DNS issues in Gutsy as well. Goto http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/linux/ to read about it. ;)
Matt Hartley
October 24th, 2007
at 9:23pm
And yes, I was in error on the Prism chipset comment, you need to install linux-wlan-ng and; well, just read the comments for the show notes on the wireless post. ;)
Matt Hartley
October 24th, 2007
at 9:28pm
Seems like the comments are only showing up half the time, so respond here if the show notes are not appearing for you via the comments section. Thanks
matthartley
October 24th, 2007
at 9:32pm
Again, not sure if the comments with the show notes are showing up, post here for them if they do not show up as the links are very important.
Matt Hartley
October 25th, 2007
at 11:34am
I’ve heard good things about the latest Mandriva release, and they do a nice job with the restricted stuff, making it work out of the box. But how is it these days with updates? Last few releases, it has been very “RPM-like” and left me missing a Debian based setup. How would say it differs from its cousin, PCLinuxOS, from which they are based?