Ubuntu
The last time I blogged about Ubuntu Desktop, either I didn't explain the problems I was having sufficiently, or people just don't get it and react. I try to make what I write clear enough for those new to Linux, but that may make it seem like I'm not very experienced with Linux, even though I have been actively abusing it since 1995. I have decided to just keep on writing and let the chips fall where they may. This post shouldn't raise the ire of most people though, because unlike many Ubuntu veterans and rookies alike, I have had very little, if any, problems with Karmic Koala, much to my delight. Though I should point out, even with the problems I had with Jaunty, I still ran it on all of the systems I'm mentioning here. I also manage twenty Sun workstations that have been happily running Jaunty with none of the problems I had with my home system. My home system is a Dell XPS 420 with an ATI graphics card. I first upgraded, rather installed Ubuntu 9.10, and restored my data backup from 9.04. I created user accounts and the previous fix to the gnome-system-tools made this uneventful. Installing the multimedia and third-party software is incredibly easy now. The best guide for multimedia and add-on software I have found is over at my-guides.net. Once I had everything running smoothly I decided to take a chance and install the proprietary ATI drivers. I had nothing but problems with the ATI drivers in 9.04. This time however, it all worked without a hitch. I have full eye-candy and VLC plays videos smoothly with no problems. The final big test was Brasero, which was a giant headache with Jaunty. I burned an audio CD with the Normalize Plug-in and it worked like a charm. Well over a month later, Karmic Koala has been trouble free.
Karmic Koala Eye Candy |
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Since this is day one of the new blog (which I call "Orbiting Planet *buntu*), here's an intro. To read the rest, click the Read More link at the end of this teaser. The first post is titled "U Done Me Right. U Done Me Wrong." Enjoy! Ah, the first post of a new blog. It's opportunity. It's possibilities. It's the chance to create something new and exciting, or to totally fall flat on your face. I love the pressure. As I look around at this new place, I think I'm going to like it here. I'm excited by the shiny new glossy magazine that is Ubuntu User and I know you will be too. So, what shall I talk about? Apparently, I can talk about pretty much anything. Given that this is post number one, I'm going to start with a quick overview of what you can expect here. I've been writing about, talking about, getting exciting about ( and a whole bunch more abouts) Linux, including other free and open source software offerings (aka FOSS) for years. I've given talks on Linux, done Linux training, spoken at Linux User Groups, done radio interviews and shows about Linux and FOSS, and I've done a number of television appearances talking about, uh huh, Linux and FOSS. You might say I'm a little passionate about it. What's more, I believe that Linux and FOSS are good for the world. Click here to read more of this blog |
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Today, I start with yet another online presence. I have a new blog over at Ubuntu-User.com, a companion site to the new Ubuntu User magazine by the fine people who bring you the slick, shiny LinuxPro Magazine. The second issue of the quarterly Ubuntu User magazine, in which another new column of mine appears, is on store shelves now. I'm very excited about this new blog, the Ubuntu User column, and I'm totally thrilled about my new monthly column which will be appearing in the pages of LinuxPro Magazine starting with the December issue.
I had intended to create blog post about my frustration with Vista and how I finally installed Linux on my almost one year old PC. A funny thing happened on the way to Linuxland, a roadblock whose name is Jaunty. So arrives the much hailed Jaunty, destined to be the final stake in the heart Vista. For the few Windows applications I need, I begin by giving less than half of my disk to the new Vista install, a common clean start to a gradually failing Windows operating system. Suspecting I wouldn't be using Vista anytime soon, I didn't bother with updates or anti-virus, saving those wonderful tasks for a later date. The next step was the uneventful install of Jaunty, updates, multimedia codecs, and Virtual Box, nothing unusual. My first indication of problems were burning a audio CD for my daily commute. One of the touted features of Jaunty was the much improved Brasero CD/DVD burning software. After building my list of tracks I began the burning process. Stepping away and returning to my machine, there sat Brasero with a message “normalizing title...” After a short on-line search, I found there is a bug with the normalizing plug-in for Brasero, that is installed and enabled by default. No problem, turn off the plug-in and a audio CD is created, albeit with varying volume between tracks. |
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I had to send my netbook, an Acer Aspire One, for repair after three months of use. The unit originally came with Windows XP, but had 1Gb of memory and a 160Gb hard drive, a configuration not available on Linux versions. I installed Fedora 10 XFCE respin, but when sending in the unit I knew that Acer would probably re-install Windows XP; Acer was upfront about this. As I suspected the repaired unit arrived with a fresh install of Windows XP.
This leads me to Easy Peasy v1.1, which is based on Ubuntu 8.10. Installing the XFCE respin of Fedora was not uneventful. I had to search the Internet on how to configure the wireless adapter, sound and installing all of the multimedia codecs for video and Internet. It wasn't a difficult task, but took a little time going over different web sites and getting the configuration just right. After the work was done I was happy with the final result. I didn't really want to go through that process again. |
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After installing 8.04 on my daughter's machine, I realised that the ATI Radeon 9200 128Mb RAM AGP video card was not going to pass muster. Though it could manage some of the simpler eye candy in Compiz, it was not able to run Celestia or GoogleEarth without serious image problems. Installing an Nvidia FX5200 I thought would be a breeze. I'd installed it previously in Dapper 6.06 and had no problems. It is a twin-head card on which I ran two 17" monitors. I installed the card, booted back in to Ubuntu and selected the Hardware Drivers option in the menu, selected to install the drivers and on rebooting...I had a black screen! |
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I was and am quite impressed. The desktop is very attractive as is the instantly installed toolbar at the bottom which emulates the Mac OSX toolbar. The install was very simple and easy and includes many proprietary bits and pieces (e.g. video codecs). In this instance, as with distros like Linux Mint and Simply Mepis, when you complete an install like this for a friend, they're completely shocked that everything is instantly there: office suite, video editing suite, games etc. My daughter loves installing and trying out the new widgets from Google Gadgets – many of which are educational. For instance, one shows the planets in the solar system and when you click on a planet, you're connected to a page on the NASA site which discusses that particular planet. |
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Well, I have to say that I did go and look at gOS Gadgets...and downloaded it...and installed it on my daughter's computer: P4 1.2Ghz or thereabouts, with 768Mb RAM and a 64Mb ATI video card. The following is not in any particular order and I've included pros and cons as I've gone along.