Tuesday, October 30. 2007Goodbye Windows - Hello Ubuntu
There - I did it. I have totally shifted to Ubuntu. It's a breath of fresh air, and it has breathed new life into my old laptop (an HP Compaq nc6230). The latest release, Gutsy Gibbon is not exactly for the feint of heart, but with the right kind of browsing through the Ubuntu Forums, you'll get everything working. Well, it took me a sabbatical and a break from blogging - but I think it was worth it.
And if you think, graphics on the Vista are cool - check this video out - you are bound to be impressed (yes, the cube and the dock work on my laptop). About the best thing of Ubuntu are its repositories. With a click of a few buttons (just click on 'Add/Remove' in the applications menu), you have access to programs that:
Of course, popular applications seen on Windows like Firefox, VLC Media Player, BitTornado and Google Picasa work too. Take a day off, install Ubuntu, and let me know of your experience by leaving a comment below. You can download Ubuntu using normal download or a torrent (intel computers). You can even request for a FREE installation CD to be sent to your house by clicking here. PS> This post has been written in 100% Ubuntu :) Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Comments
Display comments as
(Linear | Threaded)
I tried to make the switch on a relatively new laptop to the previous version, feisty fawn. here are a few things that didnt work as well as I had hoped:
1. wireless card support (had to jump through a few hoops to get wpa to work, I hear gibbon handles this out of the box)
2. could not get the laptop to output to the tv (to watch streaming movies, etc): again seems to be fixed in gibbon
3. picasa doesnt have inbuilt support for web albums
4. no good software for video capture from my handycam
5. the in built card reader doesnt work
6. no linux support for some native software / services (netflix, amazon unbox, tvu player & sopcast for watching cricket matches.
these are the major reasons why i went back to windows. cant wait for the day that these are supported out of the box and I will kick windows permanently.
You'll be surprised to see how things have moved since Feisty.
1) WPA (in fact everything WiFi) works out of the box.
2) Never used this S-Video output to TV, but you're right - it is supported in Gutsy.
3) Instead of Picasa for uploading - try the default image management software - F-Spot. It uploads to a ton of photo sharing sites - including PicasaWeb. An upgrade to Picasa is in the works too.
4) Hmmm. Sony Handycams only work using a firewire cable :( and a software called Kino. I am sure someone is working on this.
5) I checked. My card reader worked the first time I plugged a card in. I guess this was resolved in Gutsy.
6) For sopcast - use http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=258049
Netflix - Works with Wine (http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-98863.html).
You could of course try MythTV (http://www.mythtv.org/) a native Linux streamer.
I never said it was perfect :)
Oh Yeh. This is what I am talking about. Installed gutsy. Man they have come close to an out of the box system. Was able to get the card reader to work (plug and play), now there is support for widescreen resolutions on laptops (intel gma 915 - which used to be a pain in fiesty), s-video out worked, now i can hook it up to the tv.
kino was working in fiesty, so it should also work. man i am also this close to swithcing, except the laptop is my wife's and she ain't to thrilled about ubuntu ;)
do you know if mp3 and restricted format support is built in (divx, avi, dvd, etc?)
Restricted format support (mp3, divx, wmv, dvd) etc. is not built in, but the moment you double click on any file, the default media player will ask you if you want to install it, and then does so painlessly. Alternatively - do what I do - install VLC (http://www.videolan.org) to take care of all your audio-visual needs. I recommend that even for windows.
|
participate in the blogEnter your email address here to receive new entries through email:
Click here to suggest topics for entries. You could write an entire entry. All submissions will be duly attributed. CategoriesRecent postsQuicksearchCalendar
supersized.orgSyndicate This Blog |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner login
