Anybody Out There Using Linux

[SmokinHammer]

So, last month I replaced my old, dying PC desktop with an awesome Mac Mini! Now the only piece of Microsoft junk I have left in the house it the laptop I'm typing this message on. The hardware is fine. It's a Compaq (so HP guts) with an AMD Turion 64 1.9 GHz chip, 2 gigs of RAM and a DVD drive. My Mac is mainly for my photography and music. I do almost all of my email and surfing on the laptop, but I think I'm done with Microsoft. I didn't mind XP, but this thing has Vista, and I've never liked it, I just got used to it. I was thinking of going back to XP, when Microsoft dangled their shiny new carrot in front of me. I thought about upgrading to 7 for a bit, and then realized that, 1) I've already given those bastards enough of my money, and, 2) 7 will have problems just like Vista, and XP, and ME, and 2000....... they never fix anything, they just come out with something new every few years, and ask for more of my cash.

That being said, does anybody here use Linux? I'm pretty savvy, when it comes to computers. I'm not afraid of Linux, I guess I'm just looking for that last little push to get me over the edge. I'd be interested to hear some feedback from someone who's using it now. I'd go to a computer forum, but I don't want to be attacked by squadrons of geeks and nerdlingers, I just want to hang out in The Vapor Lounge and see what you all know.

My apologies to all of you who love your Microsoft PC. It is not my intent to insult you or your choices. I have had generally good performance from my previous MS OS's, but I can't continue to support what I look at as an unfair monopoly. I would also like to apologize to all of the geeks and nerdlingers.

[Travis798]

I used to use Linux exclusively on my old laptop. I ended up getting a new laptop and just never got around to installing it on here, as I notice I do less and less on the computer these days. If you want to try Linux, finding the right distro can become a pain, but I highly recommend PCLinuxOS. I haven't spent any time on their forums in quite a while, but it used to have some very friendly, knowledgeable, helpful people on it that tried to help newcomers rather than attack them.

You can find the popular distributions at www.distrowatch.com. A lot of Distro's these days run a live cd, so you can boot to your cd and play around with it and see if you like it before installing it.

[FTJoe]

does anybody here use Linux?

Funny - I've resisted that for so long but once my Dell mini 10V comes in a week, I'll probably put Ubuntu on it along with XP, Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. Speaking of Snow Leopard, I see you have an AMD processor, Snow Leopard supports Intel processors but I thought I saw some hacks for AMD out there in the Ether. Snow Leopard is sold as an upgrade for $29 at any Apple store, $5 cheaper online. I won't get into the ethics of it, there are arguments for and against loading it on a non-Mac machine. I had it up on a Gateway mini, but returned it because the 10V runs SL great right out of the box.

So after all that, my answer is no...sorry. LOL

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Also remember that you can still work with word, excel, etc. without paying MS a dime.

http://download.openoffice.org/other.html#en-US

Also funny (not) is my main home machine went down on me two weeks ago. Working with a backup to try and recover my 2 TB raid 5 array. I have four new 1.5 TB drive already here, waiting on my Dell server and will have it running Free NAS off a thumb drive. This way I won't be motherboard dependent. Of course my computer couldn't wait another couple of weeks to crash because then I would have moved my entire array over. Once I get the array backed up with some pretty slick software from DiskInternls, I'll attempt to find out what happened to my machine.

Edited December 5, 2009 by FTJoe

[FTJoe]

Smokin' - preping for my Dell Mini 10V coming and I ran across this...

http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/09/install-snow-leopard-106-on-amd-pc-hackintosh/

I referenced in my earlier note.

[Gazoo]

Funny - I've resisted that for so long but once my Dell mini 10V comes in a week, I'll probably put Ubuntu on it along with XP, Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. Speaking of Snow Leopard, I see you have an AMD processor, Snow Leopard supports Intel processors but I thought I saw some hacks for AMD out there in the Ether. Snow Leopard is sold as an upgrade for $29 at any Apple store, $5 cheaper online. I won't get into the ethics of it, there are arguments for and against loading it on a non-Mac machine. I had it up on a Gateway mini, but returned it because the 10V runs SL great right out of the box.

So after all that, my answer is no...sorry. LOL

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Also remember that you can still work with word, excel, etc. without paying MS a dime.

http://download.openoffice.org/other.html#en-US

Also funny (not) is my main home machine went down on me two weeks ago. Working with a backup to try and recover my 2 TB raid 5 array. I have four new 1.5 TB drive already here, waiting on my Dell server and will have it running Free NAS off a thumb drive. This way I won't be motherboard dependent. Of course my computer couldn't wait another couple of weeks to crash because then I would have moved my entire array over. Once I get the array backed up with some pretty slick software from DiskInternls, I'll attempt to find out what happened to my machine.

i thought this would be so cool id have somthing to talk to hubby about then i started reading and

I mean this in the kindest way but I need a geek translator lol

[SmokinHammer]

Smokin' - preping for my Dell Mini 10V coming and I ran across this...

http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/09/install-snow-leopard-106-on-amd-pc-hackintosh/

I referenced in my earlier note.

Thank you FTJoe. After considerable research and lots of reading, I've made a decision. Mostly based on the fact that the wireless card in my laptop is not easily supported by Linux (Ubuntu is what I was most interested in) I will go "Cool Hand Luke" and do nothing. Sometimes I forget what a wonderful option that is. When this Compaq finally dies, I'll buy a MacBook.

[FTJoe]

What is this 'nothing' you speak of? If I ain't playing I ain't breathing.

[FTJoe]

i thought this would be so cool id have somthing to talk to hubby about then i started reading and

I mean this in the kindest way but I need a geek translator lol

LOL. Suffice it to say one of those cute little 10" netbooks will arrive tomorrow and I will play with it by installing the Apple operating system and the windows operating system, and a free operating system. These things make me happy. In between playing with that, I am trying to restore my main computer and the huge amount of that was attached to it. It's going a little better, but not as well as I had hoped and this makes me sad. So some manic depressive days coming up for me.

[SmokinHammer]

FTJoe, please keep me (us) updated on this 4 OS install. I don't understand it (your reasoning, that it, I get the computer stuff) but if it makes you happy, what the heck do I care. All I know is, "Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand."

[Gazoo]

LOL. Suffice it to say one of those cute little 10" netbooks will arrive tomorrow and I will play with it by installing the Apple operating system and the windows operating system, and a free operating system. These things make me happy. In between playing with that, I am trying to restore my main computer and the huge amount of that was attached to it. It's going a little better, but not as well as I had hoped and this makes me sad. So some manic depressive days coming up for me.

see that i understand it sucks I am one of those people that cannot stand not knowing things people actually come to we with questions all the time I am a plethora of useless information. but tech stuff flies right over my head that and ebonics. but there is a translator for ebonics. lol So thanks for translating and good luck

[FTJoe]

FTJoe, please keep me (us) updated on this 4 OS install. I don't understand it (your reasoning, that it, I get the computer stuff) but if it makes you happy, what the heck do I care. All I know is, "Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand."

Reasoning is it's cool. Also I like to help folks with computer issues so would be nice having several OSs installed. But more than that, did I mention its cool??

[elem187]

I run Ubuntu on my desktop at work, I highly recommend it over any other distro as far as user OS goes.

What wireless card do you have that it will not run on ubuntu? My advice is to download the live-cd iso, burn it, boot up on the live-cd and see if it detects your wireless card and if it doesn't google the ubuntu forums, I guarantee someone has come across the issue.

and if you can get it to work with the live-cd, then you can decide to install it.

btw, Mac OSX is ripped from *nix anyways (BSD).... I prefer to use the real thing instead of Apple's attempt at *nix. also Ubuntu looks far better and has cooler effects.

as far as windows 7, I Don't think its bad at all, it actually fixed a few of my problems I was having with vista and xp, but I honestly only use it on my gaming pc.

Edited December 10, 2009 by elem187

[NeRo9k]

I always thought this was an interesting Test. Good luck with your journey.

Edited December 10, 2009 by NeRo9k

[Travis798]

I run Ubuntu on my desktop at work, I highly recommend it over any other distro as far as user OS goes.

What wireless card do you have that it will not run on ubuntu? My advice is to download the live-cd iso, burn it, boot up on the live-cd and see if it detects your wireless card and if it doesn't google the ubuntu forums, I guarantee someone has come across the issue.

and if you can get it to work with the live-cd, then you can decide to install it.

btw, Mac OSX is ripped from *nix anyways (BSD).... I prefer to use the real thing instead of Apple's attempt at *nix. also Ubuntu looks far better and has cooler effects.

as far as windows 7, I Don't think its bad at all, it actually fixed a few of my problems I was having with vista and xp, but I honestly only use it on my gaming pc.

Lol I guess thats why there are so many distro's out there. Personally I can't stand Ubuntu. I much much prefer PCLinuxOS

[Christopher]

I run Ubuntu but I agree with Travis PCLinuxOs is a pretty nice Distro I'm just not much for the GUI but it's been a while since I've used it, not sure how the new interface is.

[FTJoe]

I always thought this was an interesting Test. Good luck with your journey.

Cool test, bookmarked...I'm still UBUNTU. Gave up text based OSs a long time ago being totally lazy at heart. Edited to add still what I'm going to use on the netbook, I've only seen it in passing.

OSX slipped right on, looking up how to triple boot right now but I'm still trying to revive my home server, hard drive failed miserably running XP (can't tell you the number of errors I had). No backup that works, trying to repair but that never works out real good.

Sorry for the apparent thread hijack but smokin' said to update...

Edited December 10, 2009 by FTJoe

[elem187]

Cool test, bookmarked...I'm still UBUNTU. Gave up text based OSs a long time ago being totally lazy at heart. Edited to add still what I'm going to use on the netbook, I've only seen it in passing.

OSX slipped right on, looking up how to triple boot right now but I'm still trying to revive my home server, hard drive failed miserably running XP (can't tell you the number of errors I had). No backup that works, trying to repair but that never works out real good.

Sorry for the apparent thread hijack but smokin' said to update...

Ubuntu has one of the best gui's i've seen from any OS.. the new version of Gnome window manager is smoking balls as far aesthetics go.. and when you add the 3d effects its beyond sick.

but my all time favorite will always be old skool Gentoo... something about compiling your compiler before compiling the base OS is appealing... and using all the gcc and g++ flags to custom taylor code to run optimal on your exact hardware adds cool points

[Christopher]

Ubuntu has one of the best gui's i've seen from any OS.. the new version of Gnome window manager is smoking balls as far aesthetics go.. and when you add the 3d effects its beyond sick.

but my all time favorite will always be old skool Gentoo... something about compiling your compiler before compiling the base OS is appealing... and using all the gcc and g++ flags to custom taylor code to run optimal on your exact hardware adds cool points

ha ha so true

[SmokinHammer]

What wireless card do you have that it will not run on ubuntu? My advice is to download the live-cd iso, burn it, boot up on the live-cd and see if it detects your wireless card and if it doesn't google the ubuntu forums, I guarantee someone has come across the issue.

I always thought this was an interesting Test. Good luck with your journey.

It's an Atheros AR5007. I did run the live cd, and Ubuntu did not find it. I then read tons of stuff about how to make it work, including lots of posts about having to continually monkey with it to keep it working, and decided that it's to much of a pain. (For me and my skill set, anyway.)

Now I'm thinking of getting a Dell mini 10V, just so I can try Linux on something that runs it well. I think I'll PM FTJoe and see how he likes his.

Thanks for the link to that test, NeRo9k, maybe I'll try some of the other live cd's.

[FTJoe]

It's an Atheros AR5007. I did run the live cd, and Ubuntu did not find it. I then read tons of stuff about how to make it work, including lots of posts about having to continually monkey with it to keep it working, and decided that it's to much of a pain. (For me and my skill set, anyway.)

Now I'm thinking of getting a Dell mini 10V, just so I can try Linux on something that runs it well. I think I'll PM FTJoe and see how he likes his.

Thanks for the link to that test, NeRo9k, maybe I'll try some of the other live cd's.

Yeah - guess what, Ubuntu still doesn't bring up the wireless without tweaking. Everything else is very nice. I started over though after taking everything apart to replace the 160GB drive with a 320 I picked up and 1GB to 2GB. Bear in mind I've seen people saying the memory upgrade isn't worth it. And trust me, check the video or pics on how much the machine has to be disassembled to get to the memory...the drive ain't that bad.

http://www.jrin.net/2009_07_23/how-to-upgrade-dell-mini-10v-memory

I think the wireless is a simple issue, jack into an ethernet connect and then install some drivers...I'll stop hijacking the thread and start a new one with pics of my baby. Still no joy with my real machine and my new server just got delayed until Jan. So I've saved the data off my old raid but my music and movie server is still down...