UBUNTU linux is cool and FREE and EZ 2 use

Hey: I'm here in Linux land. If you ever wanted to check out Linux as an OS but were afraid of it or intimidated or just too plain lazy to configure it all by hand or maybe u r a point and click person. UBUNTU Linux is for you. I have mainly used Debian/Gnu Linux and learned the basics of it all. Thanx to a fellow hippie/geek I know in Daytona Beach Florida. I got some disks from the web and ordered Debian but it was a package deal and I got a Ubuntu/linux disk as well. Well, once I tried the Ubuntu version I don't hardly need the Debian. Ubuntu is built on a Debian core so you can use all of the Debian software. Like some really cool games. But it has a lot more features for the point and click types. Its designed to basically replace Windows.
It has all the nice things without a lot of the bad. Yeah there are still a few buggy programs here and there but less than Windows. It runs on this old dinosaur much better than Windows did.
Now I don't get no kickbacks from them. I just love my computer instead of cussing it and lord knows any help to clean up my mouth is a good thing.
I just want to share the joy. You can download it or better yet they will send you a 2 disk set for free. If you want to get 5 or 10 sets to give to your buddies then they will send them to one address for distribution. UBUNTU is an african word which means: Humanity to others. Isn't that what we hippies are all about?
The set consists of a live CD and an install CD and your choice of i386 arch
or AMD or PowerPC versions too. All they ask is to contribute something to the magic hat. Cash, involvement etc. Which I ain't got much cash so I am spreading the word and disks to others. Plus I plan on being more involved online in the Ubuntu community. There are loads of Documentation and step by step help for those of us who are not quite experts or for the non-geeks. The install is easier than for Windows. Unless you got a weird setup and then just go online cuz someone has had your problem already and if there is an answer it is there on the wiki or the forum. Or contact the support team as they are very helpful. Just don't bug them unless you need to of course. Plus the big point of it all a clean system. There are several good anti-virus programs for Linux and Ubuntu and they don't get viruses and other bad gunk as often as most are written in Windows only format. Plenty of good security programs to make your system as secure as you need it to be. Thats why I like Linux. Ubuntu just makes life as a Linux user Peaceful and Serene.

contact info: www.ubuntu.com or www.ubuntu.org either will work to check it out.

PEACE in your Network of beingness: Cricket Shadowolf

 

Yeah, Ubuntu is cool, isn't it? =)

 

right on....
Ubuntu is verry userfriendly and easy to install....

 

Yeah, I totally forgot I'd ordered the cd's until they came in the mail. Very nice. I'm new to Linux ('bout a year now) but this has made it easier to show my friends/family that Linux isn't going to eat them ... or me

 

I've used Kubuntu (ubuntu with KDE) recently. it's definitely one of the best linux distributions out there today

 

Yeah, Ubantu has potential. True newbies should start from LiveCD distributions though.

Very interesting how Linux is getting more mature and easier to install. For example, I had to help my friend install a USB modem in Windows using the offical CD and instructions, and it took nearly an hour, and some calls to their tech support (they required plugging, unplugging all components in different order). Just for fun, I put in my Knoppix CD and the thing just worked, with no configuration.

 

Errr.. RH9 represent. Haha I'm so out of date.

 

i`m installing ubuntu 5.10 today,fingers crossed,looks good on forums i`ve visited,,very quick download (bittorrent) in fact i`ve downloaded kubuntu and edubuntu but will see how ubuntu fares...
file system looks complicated (compared to windows)

 

It can be a bit strange comparatively, but it makes sense once you get used to it.

 

Hey: Thanks for all the replies. Just trying to spread the word as my contribution to the cause.
It is a cool system. It is such a nice alternative to Windows. I'm running it on a trash find old DEC box. I am in the process of moving and won't get to take this box with me right away so I'll be running of the Live CD on my boyfriends Windows system. How much you wanna bet I get to install it fairly shortly once he tries it? If on the install you get a wacked out screen once it boots into X which is the Windowing system, all you gotta do is try to boot into the command line(DOS) part and type dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and hit enter it should retake you through the config process. If not then reinstall and when the screen comes up to configure your video resolution try unmarking the highest one that is premarked. It should go ahead and work. I had to do this on a couple of installs. The first thing to do once you log in to the Desktop go to System>Administration>Users/Groups and set up Root and your username as per password and permissions and groups. If you check show all users and groups user will show up. Click on root and for each user on the system and then on properties. Set up the password and user privileges, etc. Do this for regular human users not programs. Root is the superuser or administrator. Now click on the groups tab. Same thing only these are system groups. Click on each group and add root and the sys admin (yourself) as a member of all groups. This means if there is a glich and root password somehow gets screwed you have permission to alter anything. Right clicking on any file should bring up a menu and you can set up file permissions with a mouse click through Properties. Then setup the internet through your System menu and Networking. after that click the world icon to get online and go to the Ubuntu site and the wiki. Go to documentation and go to The Unofficial Ubuntu Guide and then download it. It will give a lot more tips and help to finish up. Synaptic Package Manager is where you get your programs. Go to Settings and Repositories and click on the choices and add everything. Now for Universe and Multiverse packages to show up on your menu you must add "menu" and "menu-xdg" . You might have to log out or reboot for some programs to show up. These are the tips for newbies to get started and start exploring the wonderful world of Linux and UBUNTU. If you don't have superuser priviledges at the get go it can cause you to have to have headaches later and not be able to access all the system files. Also it sometimes resets the password to a default one so reset it on first login. This is the number one priority after you login to a new system. If sound is not working properly go to the wiki and type in sound into the search box or look on the Unofficial Guide as there are some tweaks for some systems. Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine. I am not a computer geek, just one in the making. I am a granny and only been messing with computers at all since 2001. My Rainbow friend gave me a bunch of parts and Linux CDs and said BUILD INSTALL and then he left town to go to Berkeley and to Atlanta. Believe me Ubuntu is a cake walk compared to straight Debian. I nearly reinstalled it over 50 times before i answered all the questions right. I had a computer by the time he got back. I had problems but I figured out the last one as soon as he got there to help. Happy Computing.

Cricket Shadowolf

 

found this site very handy,"ubuntu guide"

 

well i hate to buy a OS everytime i built a PC to be honest. and a royal pain in the ass to register your microsoft software with some indian "from India who bearly speaks english and a 20 digit number if not longer. The problem with linux is compatible with other software and games. im totally ignorant about linux but my fear is compatible issues since everything was meant to run with XP.

 

Is Linux compatible with other software and games? Nope. If you run an emulator like WINE you can run any windows software through Linux, but you're emulating so it will be slow and there will be problems. Games? Forget the latest and greatest. Actually forget games in general.

As for hardware, lot of problems there too. Especially for notebooks. For desktops, you'll probably be OK. That's why Linux "Live" CDs are a great way to test your system. If it runs on a Live CD it will almost definitely run when installed.

It can also depend on how much compatibility you need. Almost everything (apart from games) will have a Linux equivalent. They just came out with a some new office packages, all of which can work in Microsoft document/spreadsheet formats. As for other programs, there's a linux equivalent for everything, in fact you'll have several versions of everything to choose from. Check this table of linux versions of common software: http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

But the real compatability solution is to dual boot. Its about as easy to set up a Windows XP/Linux dual boot as a pure Linux machine, so why not? You can still access the whole hard drive from Linux so you wouldn't need to duplicate all your files.

Plus there is a learning curve with Linux, so you're better off having windows as a backup when you run into problems or on the rare occasion when you can't do something in Linux.

One last thing, check these screenshots. http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/screenshots-dev.php

 

I just picked up an Ubuntu CD at my university (I know it's free on the internet, but it's cool to have a pretty and official disk) and installed it on one of my spare machines (a PII). I must say that this has been the easiest Linux installation I've ever seen. Actually, make that easiest installation, period. Unless there is some sort of weird hardware incompatibility, a blind monkey could install this OS.

I really like the idea of having good defaults. Personally, I love to tweak and configure but some people have no time for that. A free OS that has everything you need built in is a great idea.

 

dude i thought you were the BSD guru

 

I still have FreeBSD installed on my laptop and on an older machine, but this computer is my brother's, who is no Linux user. I wanted a system that will be fast to configure (in this case, there was no configuration at all), easy to maintain (it's easier to install software on this than on Windows) and visually appealing (graphical logins, and all the other stuff that I'm too lazy to install in my other systems).

I don't think this is the distribution for my main and geeky system, or for the system of anyone who enjoys tweaking and configuring things. For example, I would never use a bloated manager like GNOME, but would instead use something simpler that can be configured through text files (Fluxbox, IceWM).

But for the average user, Ubuntu is simply perfect.

 

So the Ubuntu install comes only with GNOME?


I'm picking up a copy next week at a Linux User Group, so i'll try it. i ran the last version of the live CD but it wouldn't run my wireless, still it looked pretty good. Hoping the new live version will work better.

Anyway i'm impressed you got FreeBSD working on a laptop.

 

Seems like it only has GNOME, but they're also working on a KDE version (KUbantu). I doubt any of the more advanced/efficient/cool window managers will ever be supported officially. My guess is that it's still possible to configure something like Fluxbox, but you'll have to do it by yourself.

FreeBSD on my laptop wasn't too difficult to configure, even though X and the sound drivers took some of my time. Wireless was also a bit messy, but works now. There is still one issue that I couldn't solve and didn't find on any forums, but it's not major.

 

Cricket here again! Yeah the standard install does automatically install Gnome but once it is up and running you can change that by adding another window manager from Synaptic. Then in your graphical login you change your default window manager to the one you like. I like Xfce or Ude/UWM. Just make sure you install "menu" "menu-xdg" to have a Debian menu. The window managers are listed under Miscellaneous-Graphical Universe and I don't recall where menu and menu-xdg are but you can just click on All under how to list packages instead of Sections and just scroll down the list alphabetically. Or use the search feature.

 

Me again: Just make sure you enable the repositories for Universe and Multiverse. Universe is all your favorite Debian packages. Like Fluxbox, etc.