Installing Ubuntu - worth it ?

Hi All,

I am seriously considering installing Ubuntu 7.10 onto my laptop.
I had a bootable version of 7.04 on Cd and tried it and quite liked it.

However I have a few questions which I hope someone (ClubMan, perhaps?) may be able to answer.

Is it necessary to know Unix/Linux commands? It seems to be more geared to use them rather than wizards/menus to activate something...

Does 7.10 support WPA security on wifi networks? The version of 7.04 I have only included WEP which is about as secure as a wet paper bag.

Regarding media, how compliant is it with synch software for ipods,zen etc.?

I realise there is and will be more tweaking to get it running the way you need for your personal use but that the benefit is a stable platform. Do I need to be a Unix head to get to this point ?

I'm getting pretty fed up with XP and want to share the wealth out there.

Any opinions ?

Tons of stuff on the ubuntu forums

Having gone the distance and finally settled down with ubuntu I would recommend it.Don't ditch xp though keep a dual boot system because when it becomes too frustrating its nice to run back to the familiarity of xp.Correct installation is paramount,you MUST have your xp well defragmented I used jkdefragmenter.You then give it a definite partition size and install the ubuntu+swap file in the remaining FREE SPACE.I got partition commander9(not the latest version but thats not important)on ebay to sort out the drive.I'm using wpa with my laptop.I ran a thread with a final solution here on getting wireless up and running.Give it a bash.

Pique318 said:

Hi All,

I am seriously considering installing Ubuntu 7.10 onto my laptop.
I had a bootable version of 7.04 on Cd and tried it and quite liked it.

However I have a few questions which I hope someone (ClubMan, perhaps?) may be able to answer.

Is it necessary to know Unix/Linux commands? It seems to be more geared to use them rather than wizards/menus to activate something...

Does 7.10 support WPA security on wifi networks? The version of 7.04 I have only included WEP which is about as secure as a wet paper bag.

Regarding media, how compliant is it with synch software for ipods,zen etc.?

I realise there is and will be more tweaking to get it running the way you need for your personal use but that the benefit is a stable platform. Do I need to be a Unix head to get to this point ?

I'm getting pretty fed up with XP and want to share the wealth out there.

Any opinions ?

Click to expand...

Try the live CD first and see what you make of it and what problems with hardware recognition etc. might arise. If it looks OK then consider doing a dual boot installation in case you want to revert to Windows (if necessary shrink existing Windows partitions down to make space using the likes of PartedMagic).

Much as I would love to recommend it I cannot other than to those who have significant technical expertise and are willing to persist in dealing with problems that will probably arise with drivers, configuration etc. I am still having problems tweaking it to work on one laptop and a PC on which I installed it and when problems arise they generally need a lot of researching to solve. In my experience lots of basic OS/driver related stuff that will work straight off with XP may not work so smoothly with Ubuntu. Where the installation can be done and tweaked by an experienced user then there is no reason why the machine cannot be used by a user who is otherwise inexperienced.

caff said:

I got partition commander9(not the latest version but thats not important)on ebay to sort out the drive.

Click to expand...

PartedMagic is free.

I'm using wpa with my laptop.

Click to expand...

Lucky you! My card works no problem with XP but for the life of me I can't get anything other than open networking working on Ubuntu. At this stage the only alternative seems to be to buy a replacement wireless card that I know works (e.g. Intel PRO/Wireless 2200). I've spent ages trying to figure this out but this is the sort of stuff that many people won't want to do...

I agree with you clubman its ok as a hobby but it can become very frustrating.Some of the threads in the ubuntu forums end up as boasting areas for the "Experts" I certainly wouldn't put it on a machine without backing everything from the windows os.I have another laptop(medion from Aldi with vista) that has an Atheros wireless card that ubuntu doesn't even recognise!!! Never mind a restricted driver...........

I spent most of the weekend messing with Ubuntu on the old/second hand almost ultraportable Dell Latitude C400 that I got a while ago. I had to figure out a few problems and tweak a few things to get things running reasonably. And I've given up on getting the Dell TrueMobile 1150 802.11b (Hermes/Lucent/Agere chipset) cardworking with WPA (life's too short to try NdisWrapper...) so I've ordered a €15 Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 which I know works (borrowed and tried one out to be sure). Anyway the tweaking and problem solving certainly would not have been obvious to an average user. If you are able and willing to tackle this sort of thing yourself then go for it but otherwise, as ever, get somebody with technical expertise to set things up for you. Once I sorted some stuff out I am happy with the Ubuntu experience on this laptop and will continue to evaluate it for day to day personal work for a while to see how it goes.