Brand new PC - shipped early December with Win XP Pro installed.
Oodles of hard drive space. Nice fast processor.
So, easy to install Ubuntu?
Well, not quite.....
First issue - yeuch - horrible screen scrolling when putting in live CD! Then came the partitioning part. I obviously didn't want to over-write the Win partition, but does the sliding scale indicate the size of the Linux partition or the Win one?! Doesn't say at all in the graphical installer. But from a check on Google it seems it's the Nux partition. Which could have been a costly mistake.
And if I tried to partition myself, the options that came up were completely non-understandable!
The install kept freezing too. Another quick search revealed that one should defrag the PC before trying install. So, did that, and....
Install thereafter went OK! But why did the USB mouse keep freezing? Simple unplugging and plugging in again rectified this, but hardly a long term solution. Googling revealed this site, and one firmware download later, USB mouse behaving AND horrible scrolling effect gone!
Then tried the Beryl install. Worked very well in comparison to my machine. And very nice it looks too!
Aim now is to install the latest release 7.04 when it's out of Beta!!!
Tuesday 27 March 2007
Monday 26 March 2007
Setting up Ubuntu
So, tried the live CD and liked it. Next step was install. Now, this SHOULD have been fairly straightforward, as my disk was already partitioned to allow for Libranet (so I naively assumed it would install over that).
Not as straightforward as that though. Oh no. Googling revealed there is an issue with installing on a partition that already exists, but I persevered and eventually got this working (can't remember exact error messages now).
However, install did then run smoothly, and the Ubuntu desktop turned up in all its glory. The next step was to follow the "13 things to do after installing Ubuntu" guide. This was very helpful, and all worked well aside from the Flash install, which continually brought up error messages. Again, this is a known bug, and I managed to remove this eventually (once again, I should have noted down where - oops).
However, I was very impressed that my Windows drives were recognised immediately, unlike Libranet. And the ntfs-3g install meant I could delete or modify files on those drives as well - this was a real essential for me, as my primary hard drive is only 15GB, of which 6GB is Windows.
Other distinctive pluses:
* Recognised my internet connection (via ADSL modem router) straightaway - could access Firefox immediately
* Connected devices (printer, digital cameras, MP3 player) recognised immediately
* DVD burner worked immediately
No fuss, no mucking about - brilliant!
I then did some further customisation:
Installed Thunderbird and removed Evolution (purely so I can use same e-mail client on Windows and Linux)
Installed F-Prot virus scanner
Installed iPodder (I use Juice, so works exactly the same way!) and set it to run at start-up
Looked at the Add/Remove Programs area and just snuffled around the programs available
Installed WINE and then used it to install uTorrent
Set up GAIM for instant messaging (not working with gmail yet though)
I've also experimented with system clean-ups and clearing TMP files at shutdown, and used Mplayer and LAME to capture streamed RAM files and convert to MP3 (for those times when podcasts are unavailable).
So, anything NOT OK?
Well, I was shown by someone at work the Beryl window manager. Very nice. However, after trying lots of ways to get my ageing NVIDIA card to work, it's pretty obvious that it cannot. So, I suppose I should be philosophical and say I haven't missed what I never had, but it WOULD have been nice!
The other thing is not so much a Linux thing, but does impact, and that's getting a torrent client working effectively. I'm now delving into the complex world of port forwarding, as mine currently don't do this. They probably have never done it in Windows either, so all this time I've been bemoaning torrent speeds was time I should have been fixing this.
So, that's a work in progress!!!
Next post - what happened in setting up Ubuntu on son's much more recent PC (funded courtesy of Amex!)
Not as straightforward as that though. Oh no. Googling revealed there is an issue with installing on a partition that already exists, but I persevered and eventually got this working (can't remember exact error messages now).
However, install did then run smoothly, and the Ubuntu desktop turned up in all its glory. The next step was to follow the "13 things to do after installing Ubuntu" guide. This was very helpful, and all worked well aside from the Flash install, which continually brought up error messages. Again, this is a known bug, and I managed to remove this eventually (once again, I should have noted down where - oops).
However, I was very impressed that my Windows drives were recognised immediately, unlike Libranet. And the ntfs-3g install meant I could delete or modify files on those drives as well - this was a real essential for me, as my primary hard drive is only 15GB, of which 6GB is Windows.
Other distinctive pluses:
* Recognised my internet connection (via ADSL modem router) straightaway - could access Firefox immediately
* Connected devices (printer, digital cameras, MP3 player) recognised immediately
* DVD burner worked immediately
No fuss, no mucking about - brilliant!
I then did some further customisation:
Installed Thunderbird and removed Evolution (purely so I can use same e-mail client on Windows and Linux)
Installed F-Prot virus scanner
Installed iPodder (I use Juice, so works exactly the same way!) and set it to run at start-up
Looked at the Add/Remove Programs area and just snuffled around the programs available
Installed WINE and then used it to install uTorrent
Set up GAIM for instant messaging (not working with gmail yet though)
I've also experimented with system clean-ups and clearing TMP files at shutdown, and used Mplayer and LAME to capture streamed RAM files and convert to MP3 (for those times when podcasts are unavailable).
So, anything NOT OK?
Well, I was shown by someone at work the Beryl window manager. Very nice. However, after trying lots of ways to get my ageing NVIDIA card to work, it's pretty obvious that it cannot. So, I suppose I should be philosophical and say I haven't missed what I never had, but it WOULD have been nice!
The other thing is not so much a Linux thing, but does impact, and that's getting a torrent client working effectively. I'm now delving into the complex world of port forwarding, as mine currently don't do this. They probably have never done it in Windows either, so all this time I've been bemoaning torrent speeds was time I should have been fixing this.
So, that's a work in progress!!!
Next post - what happened in setting up Ubuntu on son's much more recent PC (funded courtesy of Amex!)
Monday 12 March 2007
Ubuntu or not Ubuntu?
My home PC is a Gateway, bought new in 2000 (for a lot more than a far better model would cost now!) running Windows 98SE.
Fine though this was at the time, problems with USB connectivity persuaded me to upgrade to XP a few years back, and this was an altogether better experience.
I also upgraded many other features:
- DVD writer for CD writer
- More memory
- USB 2.0 slots
- TV card
- Additional 120GB hard-drive
- New flat screen monitor when original gothic monstrosity gave up
Reading technology columns and the like, I installed Avant over IE and found it pretty good, but then explored still further and took the plunge with Mozilla Firefox. A significantly improved browsing experience. This began to interest me more in open source software, and it wasn't long before I had moved to Thunderbird over Outlook (integrated newsgroups being a significant factor), and Juice (iPodder) instead of iTunes - why use a great bloated music program (all the features of which I had on other applications) when I could get the podcasting bit by itself!
So, having dabbled in open source, the next step was to try Linux. I did this first of all via a "live CD" of Knoppix, liked the look of it, and then went for Libranet 2.8.1 - partly because it was free, and partly because other reviews suggested it was relatively easy to get along with.
I used the Knoppix disk to partition my "C" drive, and then installed Libranet. This was pretty straightforward, though not all setup screens were intuitive.
However, what I did notice is that when - for example - I wanted to connect internet on my ADSL modem, it was a real bind with the Speedtouch script. However, I managed to view my Windows drives, access Firefox and Thunderbird with same settings in either mode (very useful, and another reason for moving to Thunderbird) and generally worked OK.
Two main things put me off switching to Libranet completely. One was not being able to write to NTFS (which is the format of my second hard drive) and the other was being able to run the odd Windows program. I countered the latter by installing Win4Lin, which required me recompiling the kernel. Whilst I can't fault the assistance I got via the Libranet forums, it wasn't exactly intuitive!!
Then, of course, Libranet was no more. And when I recently bought a router and it wasn't automatically detected, I thought "Do I really want to keep pushing this?" And I answered "No"!
However, Ubuntu has of course been getting good press for a while. Tried Live CD version - not bad. Spoke to some users of Ubuntu at work. Thought - yep, I'll go for it.
And in my next post I'll detail what happened!!!
(of course, I should have just got a cheap loan and bought a nice shiny Mac instead!)
Fine though this was at the time, problems with USB connectivity persuaded me to upgrade to XP a few years back, and this was an altogether better experience.
I also upgraded many other features:
- DVD writer for CD writer
- More memory
- USB 2.0 slots
- TV card
- Additional 120GB hard-drive
- New flat screen monitor when original gothic monstrosity gave up
Reading technology columns and the like, I installed Avant over IE and found it pretty good, but then explored still further and took the plunge with Mozilla Firefox. A significantly improved browsing experience. This began to interest me more in open source software, and it wasn't long before I had moved to Thunderbird over Outlook (integrated newsgroups being a significant factor), and Juice (iPodder) instead of iTunes - why use a great bloated music program (all the features of which I had on other applications) when I could get the podcasting bit by itself!
So, having dabbled in open source, the next step was to try Linux. I did this first of all via a "live CD" of Knoppix, liked the look of it, and then went for Libranet 2.8.1 - partly because it was free, and partly because other reviews suggested it was relatively easy to get along with.
I used the Knoppix disk to partition my "C" drive, and then installed Libranet. This was pretty straightforward, though not all setup screens were intuitive.
However, what I did notice is that when - for example - I wanted to connect internet on my ADSL modem, it was a real bind with the Speedtouch script. However, I managed to view my Windows drives, access Firefox and Thunderbird with same settings in either mode (very useful, and another reason for moving to Thunderbird) and generally worked OK.
Two main things put me off switching to Libranet completely. One was not being able to write to NTFS (which is the format of my second hard drive) and the other was being able to run the odd Windows program. I countered the latter by installing Win4Lin, which required me recompiling the kernel. Whilst I can't fault the assistance I got via the Libranet forums, it wasn't exactly intuitive!!
Then, of course, Libranet was no more. And when I recently bought a router and it wasn't automatically detected, I thought "Do I really want to keep pushing this?" And I answered "No"!
However, Ubuntu has of course been getting good press for a while. Tried Live CD version - not bad. Spoke to some users of Ubuntu at work. Thought - yep, I'll go for it.
And in my next post I'll detail what happened!!!
(of course, I should have just got a cheap loan and bought a nice shiny Mac instead!)
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