Tell me about UBUNTU

[Scoobs]

Is it any good. should I use it?

[DarrenSV650S]

No. No






















no no there's no limit!

I'm running "easypeasy" on an Acer Aspire One netbook, it works really well. It's a spinoff of Ubuntu.

I understand Linux Mint is very good.

[5hort5]

It's ok, I use it on my kids computers as I don't have windows licenses for them. had no problems installing it and it can run open office for home work fine (fully compatable with office). They also use it for browsing and it has a nice educations packages (or full install called Edubuntu) that they use a lot. If it's going to be used for browsing, word, spreadsheets and presentations its fine and free. Works on most common hardware so should be fine.

[jambo]

Maybe.

I've been using it for about 18 months as my main operating system and I really enjoy it. The community's helpful if you don't know how to do something, the hardware supports very good and the updates are dead easy.

On the other hand. It's not Windows. This means some things are easier, and some things are harder. Almost anything can be changed if you don't like how it works, but it does take some getting used to.

Tell you what, try for yourself in one of these 2 safe ways:

1) Duel boot the computer. Ubuntu's install CD can re-size your Windows and put itself in the free space left over. Pro's being you can use it "native" on your computer and get a feel for it, if you like it you're good to go.
2) Run it in a Virtual Machine using something like virtualbox. You can then run it on top of your existing PC. No changes to your PC, but if you do like it you'll have to end up going to option 1 sooner or later.

Jambo

[fastdruid]

Yes you should try it.

Originally Posted by jambo

Tell you what, try for yourself in one of these 2 safe ways:

1) Duel boot the computer. Ubuntu's install CD can re-size your Windows and put itself in the free space left over. Pro's being you can use it "native" on your computer and get a feel for it, if you like it you're good to go.
2) Run it in a Virtual Machine using something like virtualbox. You can then run it on top of your existing PC. No changes to your PC, but if you do like it you'll have to end up going to option 1 sooner or later.

Before even going that far you can install and run it from within windows straight from the CD or just go the 'live' cd route which doesn't touch the hard drive.

Druid

[jambo]

Originally Posted by fastdruid

Yes you should try it.



Before even going that far you can install and run it from within windows straight from the CD or just go the 'live' cd route which doesn't touch the hard drive.

Druid

Quite true, I'd not realised you could run it within windows. The Live CD's a great idea to have a quick look around, but you can't reboot the machine without loosing your settings, though you can install programs so it's of limited use after the first hour.

Jambo

[fastdruid]

Originally Posted by jambo

Quite true, I'd not realised you could run it within windows. The Live CD's a great idea to have a quick look around, but you can't reboot the machine without loosing your settings, though you can install programs so it's of limited use after the first hour.

Jambo

It's not quite running within windows but installs from within windows to a loopback device so no re-partitioning of drives etc.
http://techie-buzz.com/ubuntu/dual-b...installer.html

Or as an actual VM within windows http://www.petri.co.il/installing-ub...in-windows.htm

Also you can use a USB stick to save your settings.



Druid

I'm dual boot here (win7 and Ubuntu) I have personally been using linux as a casually user for well over 7 years and all I can say is that it has come a long way in terms of useability.

It is different from windows so my advice is keep with it and you will be rewarded. I now only really use windows to play games. Everything else I do through Ubuntu.

remember, its free, most software on it is open source and everybody in the community helps everyone else. Put simply, if there is an app in windows there will be a open source version of it on linux.

I detest linux as an everyday operating system, the OS wont help you fix a problem at all, you will be on forums all the time looking for the solutions, only for one problem to lead to another.

You will still have to rely on some command lines at some point, and never moan about it, you will be shot down in flames on how command lines are better bla blaa blaa lol.

To get all the drivers working correctly for my system and devices was just painful if not impossible. Dont get me wrong, if your hardware / devices are all pretty generic most things will likely work straight away, just try tweaking them...

I tried various versions of linux around once a year but end up back on windows, and realise how easy it is. Open, next, next, next, next complete. Done. There is a funny little cartoon describing the experience, ill try fine it.

No doubt some of these here will counter the above statements, but its true, maybe its just the vast and varied things i do on my system to why i have so many problems with it.

It is better and more intuitive than it once was, but still annoying.

Try OSX if you want an alternative to windows.