Register at www.shipit.ubuntu.com, they would send you a free CD

Ubuntu is cute, but i was dismayed to find some of the same issues I left behind with slackware 10.1 still existing, despite all the hype.

initial boot of live CD = black screen of death and NO keyboard control whatsoever = HARD REBOOT and me looking like a complete fool in front of the person I was trying to convert.

turns out that the default radeon driver in xorg.conf is idiotic and does not like the 9200SE. solution? special boot to runlevel 3, pico /etc/X11/xorg.conf, search for ATI, change to vesa, launch runlevel 5.

every frickn time you boot (live cd)

all in front of some dude laughing his head off and claiming 'i told u. all this rubbish DOS nonsense u have to do in order to use linux, '

damn! I'd have thought they would have at least fixed X by now, or come up with some sort of recovery mode a la windows.

*shaking head*

I guess ubuntu isnt for me. I'll stick with CentOS for serious work and abandon so-called desktop linux once more.

i don't agree with u. send a mail to chxta, i think he can help u, he did me and i have no problems even if am still a linux novice

Thanks for the mention Giorgio, real sweet of you.



Based on the title of this treatise of mine you are, likely, safe in your assumption that I am about to tell you all, using the bestest words my mind can muster, why I stopped using MacOS X and switched over to Linux.

Now, there have been a few other various blog postings along a similar vein as this and, by no means, do I wish do beat a dead horse (unless said horse is into that sort of thing). But I have a sneaking suspicion that this will prove itself of interest to some of you.

Let me start by schooling you on the topic of myself, so that you can best understand the points I’m attempting to make.

I have used many operating systems in my day. A few of my personal favorites include OS/2 Warp 3 (Warp 4 just didn’t do it for me), OpenStep and AmigaOS 3 (gotta love that Workbench). Some might call me an “OS LovePeddler”. I prefer to think of it as being “Technologically Agnostic”.

That is, until Apple purchased NeXT and released the original iMac. I fell in love. Sure I had used Macs before, but I’d never really lusted after one. From the day that original iMac came out… I was hooked. Sure, it was an, arguable, underpowered machine… but just… LOOK at it.

And that changed the next several years of my life. I sharpened my development chops under MacOS X Server 1.0 (before it had that “Aqua” look and feel) and, a few years back, quit my day job and started a Mac-specific software company. Over the last few years I have poured my heart and soul into developing, supporting and marketing software for MacOS X. This is how I have paid the bills. This consumed the bulk of my waking hours.

Recently (as in, within the last few months) myself and a good friend took over the operations of a rather popular (and long lasting) Mac-specific theme-ing / modding website known as ResExcellence.com. The previous owner was going to close it down, so the opportunity came up for us to take it over.

I was crazy excited. I was at the apex of Mac geeky-ness. I ran a known Mac software company, hosted a big Mac website. I was all Mac.

So why, with all this glorious Mac-ness around me, would I drop it all and switch to Linux? Well that, my friends, is a good question.

Allow me to break my reasoning down into a few key points:

1) The Mac Community

It has been my experience that the Mac “community” (ie, the most vocal and active of the Macintosh enthusiast and power users) tend to be incredibly negative and expect much more than they deserve.

Now, I know how that sounds. It sounds like I’m being a big cry-baby. That some Mac users was mean to me so I’m whining about it. Well, I may be whining a bit… but I’m not the only one who’s noticed this…

Through my Mac adventures over the years I have come to know many Mac “celebrities”. Webmasters and editors of some of the bigger Mac websites and developers of some of the most popular Mac third party software. (I’m not going to name names as that would adversely affect many individuals ability to make a living.) And many have noticed the same thing.

It’s almost amazing really. If you go to many seasoned Mac developers (especially ones who have also developed and released software for other platforms as well), and you say something like…

“My Mac users tend to get upset if they don’t get a good enough product… even if the product is free and nobody makes them use it. They assume the product is dead if it hasn’t been updated in the last week. And they don’t act like users of other platforms when they get upset. They get… mean. Personal attacks. Outrageous demands.”

… you’ll, often get a laugh or a sigh followed by a “tell me about it”… followed quickly by an anecdote.

In my own Mac experience I ran a free Mac website and was greeted with an absolutely immense amount of hostility. I have also release free (and, in some cases, incredibly inexpensive) Mac software and was greeted with hostility there as well.

Now, you might say… this is just the way it is. Sometimes people get mean and I should just get tougher skin. Except… it’s not.

I’ve also released Windows and Linux applications and the response overwhelmingly positive. And, oftentimes, this was for applications that were direct ports (of, often, lower quality) of the Mac versions I’d already gotten hell about.

Likewise, I began co-hosting a Linux-centered Podcast (www.linuxactionshow.com) recently. Myself and the other host are amateurs. We are learning as we go. And what was the response? Overwhelmingly positive. Heck, even the criticism we received was good natured and constructive (unlike what we received when attempting to run a Mac free website).

2) Apple and their practices

This is a simple one. Apple has a long track record of directly copying 3rd party application developers (most notably small shops) and including almost perfect clones of those, usually shareware, apps in their next version of OS X. Watson & Konfabulator are the two most high profile recent examples.

And I am in the software business. If Apple clones one of my apps… I’m out of business.

Sure, you could say that Microsoft does this too. Except they have a tendency to just straight up purchase the technology rather then re-make it. They find it easier. Apple likes to copy. There’s a big difference there when you’re looking at it from the point of view of trying to pay for food.

3) Apple’s software quality

I’m sure I’ll get plenty of flack for this one (then again, I’m sure I’ll get plenty of flack for all of this), but Apple’s software quality has gone into the toilet.

Case in point. Apple released iLife 06 this last January. My friends and I were all excited. Apple added Podcasting specific features into Garageband. And they made a new web publishing application called iWeb. We were determined to use them to make a great podcast (which ended up being www.castablasta.com for those interested).

So we literally rushed to the local Apple store the MOMENT it was in stock and picked up iLife 06. Over the next few months we struggled, on an almost daily basis, to keep Garageband (which we were using to record and edit the podcast) from crashing. We lost a LOT of data. And a lot of time. And an even greater amount of patience.

We wanted to use iWeb to create our Podcasts website and publish it to our newly purchased .Mac account.

That was a nightmare. iWeb crashed a lot (not as much as Garageband… but a lot). It was slow to use. And the .Mac service was too slow and buggy (and feature-free) to run a podcast from… despite Apple’s marketing claims.

Now, before many of you chime in and say how great those apps work for you… I just plain don’t care at this point. We tried multiple updates of these apps on multiple different types of Macs (G5’s, G4’s and Intel with may different configurations of Ram and audio equipment). None of it proved any more stable for long-term use. And Apple’s support was almost useless in this.

So we moved to using Audacity under Linux. Did it crash? No. Is it harder to use? Yes. But, you know what? At least we can get the job done.

And this example is just the surface of the software problems. OS X itself is becoming more and more buggy in my usage. Apple’s bundled web browser, Safari, renders many pages I visit incorrectly (often in weird ways)… and, when it doesn’t, it often crashes (or at least hangs for a minute or more at a time rendering my system almost unusable).

So. There’s three of the primary reasons I left. I didn’t list games, specific applications, etc that I needed on another platform. I was just focused on whether or not I could use what Apple was providing me in a, relatively, simple way and in a community that was pleasant to be around.

And, in those regards, the Mac has failed me.

To be quite honest the community problems was the real killer. If all the other problems existed… but the community was fun to be around and work with… I would have stuck it out. I would have made it work (no matter how much productivity or hair I lost).

But I had to quit. To move on to something that made me happy. An OS, and a community, that was, in general, positive and helpful. Linux has that community.

The distro I settled on at this point is Ubuntu. I like it. It’s easy to use, cool looking, flexible… and it works. And when I have a problem, an idea or a solution there is a massive community out there to share and work with.

Now I’m sure some of you will notice that I claim that Mac users tend to expect too much for free… and you might argue that Linux users expect things free and open source. But, you know, that’s not my experience so far.

Sure, Linux users have come to expect open source and free software. And many of them balk when presented with commercial software. But, amazingly enough, the Linux community at large seems to be much more open to the concept of paying for your software than the Mac community. Of course that will be put to the ultimate test as I begin to release software for Linux.

That is my rant. If you have questions, please feel free to post them in the comments here and I will do my best to answer.

Source

yo Giorgio.

dont need help.

read my post. problem is fixed.

the issue is not that i need help with a problem. The issue is that THE PROBLEM WAS THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE and IT HAD A NONTRIVIAL SOLUTION THAT WAS ONLY POSSIBOLE BECAUSE I HAVE LINUX EXPERIENCE AND LOVE THE COMMAND LINE.

I had lots of fun battling slackware because of my radeon 9200se. Fun before that battling red hat 9 on my geforce2 mx with the horrible nv driver.

Linux is great for techie heads, but NOT for end-users.

true

Hello Everybody,

I have just finished installing Ubuntu Linux on my system. The Installation when went  on smoothly. After I  login in with my username and password, i was given commandline (I am expecting the graphical interface just like Redhat Linux and the live Ubuntu CD that comes in the package)..

Is there anything I might have done wrong? or what command do i need to execute to get the graphical interface?
Also I will like to know what i need to install inorder to configure this system to internet gateway for my local network.

Larufa,

Confirm if you installed the X package i.e GNOME or KDE. Type 'X' on the commang line and hit enter. I haven't used Ubuntu before so i can't tell you how to edit it's network interface using the command line.

can anyone please send me a download link where i can get my own linux cds need one badly or if you can send one to me be glad my email is screamuzor@yahoo.com

uzomaeze,

Linux image files are pretty large. I will recommend you start with fedora, http://fedora.redhat.com/. If yo have a fast internet connection, buy 4 blank CD-Rs, get access to a CD-RW. After downloading all the linux image files, burn each of the image files on a CD.

That all there is to it. If you don't have access to fast internet connection, I will advice you go to computer village and get one.

I will try to service this thread more due to Esquire's demand. Any questions you have on Ubuntu Linux, throw them here. I'll answer to the best of my ability.

But please I may not be too regular. I am currently a student, and holding a job as well, so time is a premium.

i use a motorola l6 i installed ubuntu 6.06lts and it refuses to recognize my phone- motorola l6 it sees it as a "e398 GSM phone" and doesn't see it as a modem. even the 'dmesg | grep USB' command doesn't locate the phone all i get about the phone is ACM stuff whats that about even when i try auto detect it doesn't even work should i revert to my old redhat or is there anyway i can make it find the phone if it were windows i know plz help A.S.A.P

What program does RedHat use to identify the phone?

If the program comes as an RPM package, then install alien first before installing that program:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install alien

Tell me when you're done.

Some people want to know if Ubuntu can work on a Mac. The answer is yes. While I am not a Mac user, so I haven't tried it, this makes interesting reading: http://desrt.mcmaster.ca/macbook.xhtml

Chxta,

You can install other OSs with OS X on the new intel chip but it is not possible with the old Power PC processors. The question is this - why would I need another OS when MAC can do it so much more? Besides, MAC comes with a BSD kernel anyways, that means you still have 2 in one for us Unix lovers.

http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/releases.ubuntu.com/6.06/ubuntu-6.06.1-alternate-powerpc.iso

That being the link to the Ubuntu OS made specifically for PowerPC. . .

Go on, try it.

Canit co-exist with OS X on the pc processor?

Yes.

Please send me some resources so that I can check that out, preferably from Apple or other authoritative sources.

Linux is open source, Apple and Micro$haft have all made concerted efforts to put it down so how do you expect Apple to give me some resources?

If you have problems email me. Other than that, read the link I posted before: http://desrt.mcmaster.ca/macbook.xhtml

Chxta thats better, let us Ubuntu or Kubuntu user keep the flag flying and never 2 come down again. been steadily going with me KDE no problem all my hardware was detected and all that, was really great all my new convert will start posting in this very thread so look forward 2 them. Can the package manager install application directly from a cd or flash drive without compiling know what i mean, like how it find and install software from the net. Need 2 know.

I have read your post already but like I said give me some good reference point, post the instructions on the forum so that I can check it out.

Contrary to what you stipulated, Apple encourages open source technologies i.e. Apple has a BSD Unix kernel based on the FreeBSD kernel, apple comes installed with apache, php and mysql. Most opensource tools runs on apple without special porting. If Ubuntu can run on Apple power PC processor with OS X installed, please guide me in the right direction to see how I can do it.

@Chxta
am just new to using this ubuntu i downloaded wine then transfered it to the linux hard disk i tried installing and said gc not found even if i download this alien will it ask for the same, my only means of connection is through this motorola l6. when i first used linux that was red hat 9.2 it saw my phone as a motorola l6 and even a modem, it it that UBUNTU can't recognize it
thanks

Adewale you and this your phone wahala well na your only means of connection be that i have not tried my phone on Kubuntu yet hope 2 try it 2morrow will holla you on how it goes. By the way how did you download the WINE and the alien you wrote? Bout gc not found i recollect i saw somethin bout that in Chxta's earlier post in this thread read em and see if that solve the problem or allow Chxta 2 come out with something later. Cheerio

gcc is your c or c++ compiler, make sure you have all your development packages installed, do a

ps aux | grep gcc and see whether you have any result or just type gcc or cc at the shell promt, if there is a reply then you have it installed, if not, install it from the CD or download it and install it.

How can one configure a starcomms phone used for internet with USB Cable as the connecting interface instead of COM1 Interface connector


Linux

Saddam, you did not specify the kind of OS with which you want to set up the dialup with, if its windows i may be able to help but if its linux guys in the house will help since have not done it before in Linux

@ adewaleafolabi
Download alien from here

Install by using the command[i] tar xzf[/i] to install this one.

Hey i just discovered that KDE does not play mp3 by default with its players even AMARAK i had 2 convert audio cd 2 ogg before i can save it on the system these are my questions 1. Can Ubuntu play mp3 by default without installing any plugging or codec. 2. If yes i love KDE very much is there any way i can install Kubuntu from Ubuntu through the cd rom cos i don't have internet access on my pc. cheerio.

If you put the CD in, it should give you the option of installing seperate packages. For mp3s, I recommend Rhythm Box music player. In the meantime, should you be unable to directly install the software, open the CD in a folder and locate the software you want.

Hey, Adewale how are you coping with Ubuntu you know it is when have already like Kubuntu that i have 2 change it reason: most of my files are mp3s and i can't afford 2 be converting ordinary cd 2 ogg cause it time wasting and all that. It seems am going 2 join the league of Ubuntu user but will only have sufficient current of light on monday for seamless installation. Adewale since you have use Ubuntu before let me know some of the problems am likely 2 come across so that i will brace up for it post them right here. Cheerio

@esquire
there's no difference btw ubuntu and kubuntu they both can't play mp3 by default. my vmobile seized for two days it just started