Reading Linux

Foreword

So with Microsoft ramming Vista down their helpless users' throats... err, winning their hearts for the most advanced Windows ever, and knowing that I'll eventually be required to "upgrade" my XP, I'm once more looking to free my main PC from Redmond's claws. From previous attempts I know that this is not easy, as I expect my future system to have all the advantages and features of Windows, but none of its disadvantages. Also, the new system should be more advanced in every aspect, but not too different from what I'm used to.

(Skip the following text block if you're either not interested in Macs at all or a religious Mac user.)

For a while I thought of OS X as the answer to all of my questions... mainly thanks to the generosity of Orchid who bought a second-hand Mac and placed it in my room. It seemed perfect - easy to handle, a beautiful UI, and reasonably fast even for today's computing needs (dual 1.25GHz with 768 Megs of RAM). Even the OS (Tiger) was up to date.
Then I started discovering its downsides. Yes, Macs do have them. *fends off raging Mac users*
Take WLAN connectivity, f'r instance: The Mac way to connect your computer is simple enough - buy AirPort card, plug AirPort card in, watch "Shall I make stuff work" dialog appear, click "Yes, please" button, stuff works.
However, with a third-party card it's a bit more complicated: Plug card in, watch Mac act as if nothing had happened, manually download&install driver, reboot Mac, manually configure network card. Then, after every boot-up, log in and use the driver utility to manually connect to your WLAN.
Bluetooth: While my Bluetooth USB stick is recognised and appears to be working, I can't make connections from or to any device. There are probably super-expensive iTooth™ modules that Just Work™, but I'm not gonna look for them.
When my cell phone is connected to the computer via USB, it asks whether it should identify itself as a phone or emulate a flash drive. My Mac refuses to acknowledge its existence in either mode. Well, besides a "This device requires too much power and will not work" pop-up when I plug it into the handy USB connector at the keyboard instead of crawling under the desk in search of the USB connector on the back of the computer. But it does that too with my regular USB flash drive, so I guess the phone is not to blame.
Long story short, the Mac is cool but it does not do everything I need, and I lack the expertise to fix it (but so does Google, so that's okay).
Besides, my main machine is a neat 3GHz AMD with lots of HD space, and it'd be kind of a waste to just let it sit there unused.

Soo, back to square one, with a mental note to keep the Mac for prestige reasons.

Having tried the Dapper Drake release a while ago, I decided that Ubuntu was nice but needed more work in order to suit me. (I'm a helluva modest person, ain't I?)
Then, just at the right time (lots of Vista talk), Feisty Fawn was released.

Feisty Fawn rocks, because...

It's simple, part 1. Every Linux distro I've ever tried came with 43 text editors (2/3 of them being different versions/incarnations of vi), 8 web browsers, 6 desktop environments, 3 word processors, 14 media players, and so on etc. pp.
Ubuntu has one browser (Firefox), one office suite (OOo 2.2), one highly configurable desktop environment (Gnome for the 'standard' Ubuntu). I've never seen a start menu as tidy and clear before, and for every possible task there's exactly one item, and that item will get the job done. If you still need more software, it's one apt-get or three mouse clicks away.

It's simple, part 2. The installation is painless, and besides the awkward partitioning tool I've yet to encounter a text or program that doesn't make perfect sense. And it all comes in my native language.

It's simple, part 3. There's an open-source nVidia driver, and a 'closed' one. It asks you which one you prefer and installs it. The installation is painless and works. And that's the last thing you'll need to do to configure your video stuff. It even determined the correct screen resolution for my monitor on its own.

It works. I'm happy to say that Feisty Fawn is the first distro to correctly recognise and configure all of my hardware without any human interaction whatsoever.
The network was up & running in no time, although turning off DHCP and setting a static IP required a reboot for some reason.
The nicest surprise was when I wanted to install my printers. Instead of the usual "how is the printer connected to the computer", "what brand/model is it" dialogs I expected, I was presented with a list of local (USB) and network (TCP/IP) printers of which I could choose one, click OK and that was it.

It boots. This may be nothing spectacular to you, but you wouldn't believe how many distros' boot loaders go belly-up when they have to manage Windows on hda1 and Linux on hdb1 - either they choke on the Linux boot process, or I need to play around with fixboot and fixmbr from the Windows recovery CD to at least get Windows working again. However, my system now boasts a grub that will boot both Windows and Linux. And it didn't require any manual configuration at all.

It's got security right. You work as a normal user, and when you want to do admin stuff, you enter your password. Easy access to root powers without much hassle whenever you need them, but a request for confirmation when something important happens to the system. No need to always work as root, none of that "users always work as admins when they shouldn't, so let's just castrate the admin account until they can't start Notepad without entering their password twice" Vista crap.

It looks good.
The default theme is elegant and straightforward. Windows users will feel right at home. For additional eye candy one may wish to install Beryl, albeit Ubuntu warns you about possible stability issues. (I had to cold-boot the machine once after the desktop disappeared and the keyboard stopped working.) Beryl (a derivate of Compiz) is Aero done right. You get the fun and eye candy - wobbly windows, 3d desktop switching, fancy alt-tab window previews - but unlike Aero/Flip-3D, the eye candy doesn't get in the way of productivity.

It's got everything you need.
Actually it doesn't, but whatever you might desire is just one easy one-step installation away. And that's okay, because everything besides a very common set of applications should only be installed at the user's explicit request.
(Did I mention that the entire thing fits on a single CD?)

Things I'd like to see

There's a theme manager. I can only preview the themes tho, not apply them. I'm not sure if this because of Beryl.

Wine is installed but doesn't seem to work. I haven't had the time for troubleshooting; hopefully it's something that can be fixed easily.

A function to mount SMB shares (i.e. actually map them into the file system) would be nice. I can connect to shares and get the corresponding icons on the desktop, but they're not mount'ed, so not all programs can access them.

Also, my Bluetooth seems to work, bluez is available on the command line, but there's no Bluetooth icon or anything GUI-related. I'd like to access my cell phone, at the very least to transfer files; a function to synchronize contacts and the calendar with Evolution would be perfect.

Conclusion

Ubuntu rocks. Feisty Fawn even more so. I might just make the switch and abandon Windows this time.

Consider yourself hugged.

This post was edited by null on Apr 27, 2007.

Ubuntu has one browser (Firefox), one office suite (OOo 2.2), one highly configurable desktop environment (Gnome for the 'standard' Ubuntu). I've never seen a start menu as tidy and clear before, and for every possible task there's exactly one item, and that item will get the job done. If you still need more software, it's one apt-get or three mouse clicks away.

Well, and if you dont like Gnome - like I do - you have the choice to select out of at least four other tastes of Ubuntu:

• Kubuntu - KDE; the one I'm using (but heavily 'pimped' with other stuff right out of Synaptic and the './configure make && make install'-procedure)

• Edubuntu - Gnome, but enhanced for educational use

• Xubuntu - using XFCE window manager

• Fluxbuntu - using my beloved Fluxbox window manager (which I've installed nevertheless - thanks to apt-get and Synaptic)

cu, w0lf.

ps: but I'm not going to switch to Faisty Fawn for the next 2 months or so - a) never touch a running system b) especially if its a production environment c) thus we wait till all the start(l)ing bugs have been ironed out ;)

Naturally, I love Jesus very much. I love him so much that I'd like to crucify him all over again.

Ubuntu rocks. Feisty Fawn even more so. I might just make the switch and abandon Windows this time.

Since begin of March 2007, I know Windows only from looking at other people's monitors and having some installs safely put in a cage inside of virtual machines ;)

cu, w0lf.

Naturally, I love Jesus very much. I love him so much that I'd like to crucify him all over again.

Yeah, but sometimes it's not easy to make the switch. I've just spent half an hour looking for a program to burn AVI files to DVD, and it's not easy when you don't know exactly where to look (I for one don't).

Consider yourself hugged.

I've just spent half an hour looking for a program to burn AVI files to DVD, and it's not easy when you don't know exactly where to look (I for one don't).

AFAIK 'AVI' is a container file format, thus, it depends on what movie data type this specific file contains. ;)

The Ubuntuusers-Wiki shows a lot you can add to your basic Ubuntu installation to get that done. GSpot should work with WINE or a VMware, too.

cu, w0lf.

ps: I really wish there was DokuWiki markup support - its sooo hard to write entries whilest having only one hand free (the other one's occupied holding a piece of cheese-sausage-bread) :-/

Naturally, I love Jesus very much. I love him so much that I'd like to crucify him all over again.

This post was edited by ginsterbusch on Apr 27, 2007.

The Ubuntuusers-Wiki shows a lot you can add

Ooh thanks, this looks nice.

its sooo hard to write entries whilest having only one hand free

Well, there's always the one-handed Dvorak keyboard!

Consider yourself hugged.

This post was edited by null on Apr 28, 2007.

The network was up & running in no time, although turning off DHCP and setting a static IP required a reboot for some reason.

sudo ifconfig eth0 down

(pause for a minute or so)

sudo ifconfig eth0 up

(pause for 2-3 minute or so)

.. didnt work?

cu, w0lf.

Naturally, I love Jesus very much. I love him so much that I'd like to crucify him all over again.

This post was edited by ginsterbusch on Apr 27, 2007.

Ifconfig worked, but what I wanted was the static IP to replace the one given by the DHCP server. I figured it's not worth wasting a lot of time on it, as I needed to reboot anyway after the installation of Beryl.

Consider yourself hugged.

I figured it's not worth wasting a lot of time on it, as I needed to reboot anyway after the installation of Beryl.

Oh .. well, then .. whatever.

BTW: Was it worth installing Beryl? I'm probably NOT going to use any of the oh-so-sightful 3D-desktops in favor of my beloved Fluxbox-KDM-combination. Others wont, too.

cu, w0lf.

Naturally, I love Jesus very much. I love him so much that I'd like to crucify him all over again.

Was it worth installing Beryl?

Well, with my limited experience I'd say it depends on how much of a sucker for eye candy you are. :-)
If stability is important to you, I suggest you avoid Beryl. It crashed my box several times, and when I switch desktops too often I eventually end up with an empty desktop and a blocked keyboard (not even control-alt-backspace or -delete will work).

On the other hand, I've found myself missing the "wobbly windows" and "rubber band" effects on my XP box at the office today...

Consider yourself hugged.