The story of my transition to Ubuntu Linux
22.02.2010
When i first installed Ubuntu 8.10 without any Windows safety net to back me up i had a few problems:
- GSM USB modem drivers
- i couldn’t see any WPA encrypted wireless networks
- there was no wireless network detection tool so i couldn’t understand how to “scan for wireless networks” (as the windows equivalent would have sounded)
- open office vs. ms office (open office 2.6 could not open “docx” files) discrepancies
- gimp vs. photoshop discrepancies
At the moment i was not in that point where i would allow myself to understand that the same problem can be successfully approached from many angles, i was expecting that if a problem had a solution (be it present on my computer or not yet installed) it would have the same approach as it’s windows counterpart.
I lasted 4-5 months with those problems and frustration built up at moments when i could not use the internet in a WPA enabled hot-spot (at my girlfriends house for example) add to that the fact that my girlfriend needed SPSS on Windows and i needed Photoshop i finally installed windows.
Ubuntu 9.10 solved the following issues for me:
- ICON225 GSM USB modem (from Orange Romania) is automatically recognized (on windows you have to wait for the modem to install its own driver, Ubuntu has it pre-installed with no help from the manufacturers), K3520 GSM USB modem (from Vodafone Romania) needs a little nudge (the driver is pre-installed, you just have to hit “safely remove” for the attached memory-disk).
- WPA encrypted wireless networks are automatically visible no additional software needed (2 days before Ubuntu 9.10 was released i took the time to find out how to make Ubuntu 8.10 read WPA encrypted wireless networks and it was pretty simple really just installing “wpa_supplicant”, better late than never huh?)
- I got the point regarding wireless network detection tools there are some if you really can’t detach yourself from that concept but the standard Ubuntu approach is just plain different and there’s nothing wrong with that. More specifficaly, any action you take under GNOME refreshes the environment automatically, you don’t have to hit refresh manually, by analogy, the network manager tool GNOME provides doesn’t need a big old manual “SCAN FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS” button, it scans constantly and keeps the list up to date the selection menu can even show the connecting-to-this-network animation which means it can even show an intermediate status of your connection.
- open office 3.0 now knows how to open docx file (it still ruins complex visual formatting but when i need ms office i use a virtual machine install of windows)
- photoshop i just haven’t needed it that much (and when i did i use a virtual machine install of windows)
I now tried an USB-Bluetooth-Receiver and it instantly worked, i then tried an USB-Wireless-Receiver and it instantly worked; both items on windows would have needed an install disk with the driver plus some control software, on Ubuntu it’s pre-installed, integrated, and native (i conected to my phone via bluetooth and it got mounted as a network drive that you can acces with Nautilus the default GNOME filesystem explorer).
On the other hand my cousin recently installed Ubuntu 9.10 on his laptop (which does not have a wireless card), we tested the internet connection at my place and configured some stuff he went back home.
Unfortunately he was at his first attempt at using linux and he clearly didn’t have “that frame of mind” that allows you to accept 1) working for a necessary solution (that windows already solves) 2) to accept the fact that a problem can be approached differently, the look-n-feel may seam to be the same but the work-flow and order of operations needed to fulfill a task can be entirely different. His breaking point was configuring his home internet which used PPPoE (from his ISP, RDS Romania) so he bleached the Ubuntu install after just a few days. I found out that the problem was a known (and solved) bug in the network-manager.
So, why did i write this shit? Basically because i tested the USB-Bluetooth-Receiver and the USB-Wireless-Receiver and the friggin worked!
22.02.2010 at 00:02
I have used Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and other Ubuntu-based distros for most of my first forays into Linux, having known only WinXP before that. But almost every time I used it to introduce friends to Linux, I was embarrassed by Ubuntu. And I believe I now know why. Two reasons:
1. – In every release since Gutsy Gibbon (7.10), the developers have seen fit to include Beta software (like Grub2 and PulseAudio) by default. It’s great if it works. But when it doesn’t, even experienced Linux users find it frustrating to fix or work around. Newbies are not to be treated as unknowing laboratory rats, testing Beta software!
2. – Ubuntu is built on the base of Debian’s UNSTABLE branch. Lucid Lynx, when it is released, will be the first time any Ubuntu distro has been built on Debian’s TESTING branch. Which, while certainly less volatile than Debian Unstable, is simply NOT stable. And Lucid still plans to include Beta default stuff. I tested Xubuntu Lucid for several weeks. It was super fast and gorgeous. I’m sure a lot of people will be delighted by it, especially since Gnome3 is bound to tick a lot of people off. But it won’t be STABLE, because it is not being built on a Debian Stable foundation.
For newcomers to Linux, I always recommend Mepis (http://mepis.org) because it is a superb beginner’s distro built on Debian Stable (currently “Lenny”), and it’s implementation of the superb KDE desktop is awesome.
22.02.2010 at 04:02
LiveDistros i tried: Knoppix (when kde 2.2 was around), Slax (tried every version), SuSe 10, FreeBSD, OpenSolaris, GeexBox, LinuxFromScratch, Ubuntu 7.10;
Distros i installed: SuSe 10-11-12 (probably the first), SlackWare 11-12, Ubuntu (Studio) 8.10;
Most of the time i either saw livedisks with KDE or installed KDE-based systems, and I always felt helpless in that huge sea of menu options, configuration options, configuration programs.
That’s why i liked Ubuntu (Studio) 8.10, it was GNOME based, with a much simpler/uncluttered interface, the Studio version stripped down the menu entries and it all looked even simpler than classic Ubuntu.
The major advantage i saw in Ubuntu is the big wave of interest it has been given by noobs and the resulting 4noobs documentation that seams endless on forums and things like that.
I agree Ubuntu should not use noobs as guinea pigs but i must assume that taking advantage of the huge feedback that the sensitive noobs give probably speeds up development.
If Ubuntu didn’t jam after every hibernation and after almost every suspension, i could say i have felt little of the wrath of beta software; but these two issues on a laptop pretty frequent when i run out of battery or close the lid.
I’ll tinker with MEPIS in a Virtual Machine soon thanks for the tip. If
22.02.2010 at 16:02
MEPIS doesn’t seam very outgoing about Open Source.
It looks more like an Open Source commercial product than an Open Source community project backed up by a company.
22.02.2010 at 23:02
I am now in a MEPIS install and i must say KDE still has every bit of those things that made me feel uncomfortable around it.
There is something i noticed in GNOME that really hinges my work-flow: when (mistakingly) you right-click an item and want to right-click another item, you have to hit “escape” to eliminate the current context-menu and then right click the other item, otherwise the current context-menu will close when you right-click the second item and you’ll have to right-click again to open the correct context-menu.
Another thing i noticed about GNOME: when you hit a letter-key in order to narrow down your search for an item in a long list, it opens a tiny annoying little helper input-box that holds the letters used for filtering the content, and you can’t get rid of that damned box unless you hit “escape” or “enter” and only then you go on to hit enter again in order to open the item that was
highlighted.
These two things really bust my chops about GNOME and KDE doesn’t have these “features” it acts more like Windows (it’s not something i complain about just because i was used to doing it that certain way on Windows, it’s something i really think is a bad feature that hinges functionality).
Apart from these to major upsides of KDE, it just has something that makes me edgy, i can’t quite put my finger on it, maybe it’s what i said in my earlier reply, it has too many gauges, buttons, knobs and levers, GNOMES feels like i’m driving a car, KDE feels like i’m piloting an airplane.
Because of my GNOME vs.KDE inner war i could not use MEPIS with KDE.
Otherwise it seams ok in the sense of stability, i’ve suspended and hibernated the sucker and still no epic fail.
What i probably will personally do is grab a debian lenny cd and have the best of both Ubuntu and MEPIS which is their core, debian.