Gave Ubuntu a Shot

Tags: , , , , , , ,

With all this talk about Windows Vista, it made me want to reach out and try something different and new.

So a few days ago, on a total whim - I downloaded and burned a live CD for Ubuntu. This Linux flavor seems to be all the rage these days so I wanted to see what all the fuss was really about.

Now I haven’t ever used linux for long periods of time. I did have a phase where I was playing with Fedora, but I never had a reason to use it - so I never did. With my good old reliable and easy Windows PC in the corner there was no need or urge felt to learn how to do things. That is my fault.

Back to Ubuntu though, it is nice. It might not be Vista candy-coated-shell nice, but it does look like something I could use from a day to day basis. The only problem I have is finding the time to switch over and learn how to do the simple stuff all over again.

I don’t use Windows because I love it, I use it because it is convenient. I grew up on Windows and everything I know thus far (as far as computers are concerned) is based around Windows.

Maybe one of these days though, if I can take a week off to dedicate myself to switch - I would. Overall I would say it was nice, but I don’t know if I am totally ready to switch over for my day to day activities just yet.

If anybody has an good suggestions for articles or books on making the transition a little easier I might give it a shot. Could always keep Windows on my notebook and Ubuntu on my poor old PC that would probably kick the bucket if I even whispered the word “Vista” in its ear.

Related Posts

 

Filed Under: Personal, Software Help on January 31, 2007 at 8:37 am

Comments and Feedback

Scott said on January 31, 2007 @ 1:54 pm

Hey, Ubuntu is awesome. And it can be candy coated pretty like Vista. In fact, it can look however you want it to look. Check gnome-look.org and also the Beryl project.

As far as advice on how-to’s to make the switch… if you’ve installed Windows XP before, then Ubuntu will be surprisingly easy to you. It is a million times easier to install, and as long as your hardware is fairly standard, you shouldn’t have any trouble at all. For help, check out the Ubuntu Forums http://www.ubuntuforums.org where there are tons of people who are ready to help you, and probably some who have already had the problem you’re running into.

As far as my personal advice on switching: just do it. As long as you’re not a gamer, then you’ve got literally nothing to lose. Ubuntu comes pre-loaded with a full office suite, internet tools, and pretty much everything you need for work or home surfing.

Jim Hamm said on January 31, 2007 @ 7:05 pm

Hi Mitch. I’ve not used Linux, but asked for and received their free Ubuntu CD - didn’t even have to download it. I’m not ‘anti Windows’, or ‘anti Macs’, but I realized a fair amount of my time using Win XP was reading about/worrying about/protecting against viruses/spyware/malware, et al. So, I’m gonna try Ubuntu to see if it fits my simple computer needs of emails and surfing the net. I’m not into gaming (nothing against it, I just don’t enjoy it), so I think Ubuntu will, eventually, make my computer life simpler. My main complaint against Vista is its size - it requires a huge increase in computer horsepower just to run it! Is this bloatware, or what? Good luck on your Linux adventure, and let us know what you think..Jim Hamm

Mark said on February 7, 2007 @ 10:48 am

If you’re still interested, the Ubuntu web site has some pretty good documentation geared towards people who are switching from Windows. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows .

The official help site is at https://help.ubuntu.com/ and there is a lot of community developed at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/.

For eye candy, I will second the suggestion to look at the Beryl project (http://www.beryl-project.org). If you’ve seen the 3-D desktop cube or “wobbly windows”, that’s what Beryl does. It installed easily and runs very well on my 1.2GHz AMD and 5 year-old Nvidia GeForce 4 MX440.

What I like about Ubuntu is its extreme flexibility. If there’s something that doesn’t look or work the way you want it to, it can almost always be changed. Just don’t expect Windows XP when you fire it up. With a little patience, it can be a very rewarding experience.

Merlin said on February 7, 2007 @ 1:30 pm

Hiya Mitch!

Ubuntu is a good one to try out. I’m running Xandros V4 Pro on my desktop and it’s set to dual boot with XP so I can go either way depending on what my needs are at that time.

You can do the same with Ubuntu too I’m sure. Although, to be honest with you…Ubuntu is free whereas Xandros is a commercial distro. Xandros is one of the easiest distros for windows users to make the transition over from XP too I might add.

I am in the process of adding yet another hard drive to test different distros on and Ubuntu will be the first. ;)

Dedicated Server Hosting provided by FastServers.Net
Mitch Keeler © 2008 - In Mitch We Trust!
Sitemap | RSS Feed | Privacy Policy | Go to Top