Finally crossed over to Ubuntu

[pokerfan]

I realized that I had replaced virtually every Windoze application with something open source and free, so why not ditch the OS as well? I was already using....

- Firefox and Chrome instead of IE
- OpenOffice instead of Office
- GMail and Thunderbird instead of Outlook
- VLC and WinAmp instead of Media Player

I'd even replaced notepad with metapad. And since Ubuntu comes with Firefox and Open Office anyway, it really isn't that big of a change.

So yesterday I downloaded Ubuntu 8.10 and burned the Live CD. Last night I took it for a spin. Liked it so much I installed it as dual boot for now.

I used the Firefox FEBE extension to bring my browser profile over. Now Firefox looks exactly (almost) like it did on Vista and I have all my bookmarks, extensions, history, settings, passwords, etc.

So, it looks like I've become one of 'those' types:

[RoyGBiv]

1. Commie

Welcome to the Dark Side.

[pokerfan]

2. thank you, comrade

It's different but really not any more so than getting used to any piece of software.

One of the things I noticed immediately is that it isn't constantly yakking at the internet. Unless I'm browsing or downloading, the internet connection stays quiet.

What is a good bit torrent application? (Legal sharing, of course!) It seems that the only option for utorrent is to run it under wine.

[qnr]

3. here are some you might explore - there are others too -FWIW, I use transmission

azureus-bin:
http://azureus.sourceforge.net
bittornado:
http://bittornado.com/
bittorrent-bencode:
http://www.bittorrent.com/
bittorrent:
http://www.bittorrent.com
bnbt:
http://bnbt.depthstrike.com/
createtorrent:
http://www.createtorrent.com/
ctorrent:
http://ctorrent.sourceforge.net/
deluge:
http://www.deluge-torrent.org
fatrat:
http://fatrat.dolezel.info/
ktorrent4:
http://www.ktorrent.org
ktorrent:
http://www.ktorrent.org
mldonkey:
http://www.mldonkey.org/
podcatcher:
http://podcatcher.rubyforge.org/
rtorrent:
http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no
transmission:
http://www.transmissionbt.com/

[pokerfan]

4. thanks

ktorrent seems fairly popular and utorrent-like.

[RoyGBiv]

5. KTorrent is what I use ...

I think ... I forget what I use sometimes. :)

Yes, KTorrent. I don't do torrents a lot, so all I can really say is that it works as it should.

[pokerfan]

6. I didn't realize that the live cd came with a torrent client

So I'm using Transmission for the time being.

After a weekend getting it up and running, my thoughts as a complete Linux noob. Keep in mind that I did this all on my own with no guru leading me. I think I'm the guru of my group and it looks like I will be the one encouraging friends and family to make the switch.

1. It was much, much easier than I thought it would be. I don't think my system is going to remain dual-boot for long as I see myself partitioning everything to linux in the not so near future.

2. Everything was seamless for the most part. I don't have Java Runtime environment working yet but that's pretty low on my priority list. Flash is working and that's the important one for me.

3. If you have a lot of Firefox bookmarks and add-ons I highly suggest using FEBE to bring everything over. The Fox came up looking exactly as it did under Vista.

4. I'm not personalizing the desktop yet as I will wait until I understand what does what.

5. The packaged software gets one up and running but I will probably be looking for replacements to the music player and the torrent client. I was already using Firefox and Open Office so no complaints there.

6. I really like the way the Synaptic Package Manager finds and installs software. Much, much better than the Windows wizard approach, IMO.

7. I really like that when I'm not doing something on the internet, my connection stays quiet. It always seemed that Windows (or some program) was always yakking away without my knowledge or consent.

8. No crap sitting in my system tray (there ain't no system tray) and trying to figure out how to control that mess of icons.

9. Things are different but no more different than learning to use a different word processor or spreadsheet program. It looks a lot like Windows but only in areas where it makes sense. For example mounting/unmounting external media seems more straightforward to me than having a remove hardware icon sitting in the system tray.

All in all, a very pleasant experience.

[RoyGBiv]

7. Good to hear ...

I think your past point hits the mark well. If more people would approach it exactly like that -- learning to use a new piece of software -- they'd have fewer problems. The biggest roadblock for many people, imo, is a psychological one. Change is difficult. Just look at the continued resistance among so many to using anything other than Internet Explorer. There's no reason for that resistance. Neither Opera or Firefox are any harder to use than IE in any way, and I'd argue that they're easier in some respects.

Nowadays, Linux, for the most part, is just as complicated as you want it to be. I won't lie and say that problems won't arise because they will. There is no such thing as perfect software. However when you do a realistic side-by-side comparison with the problems people have with Windows, are the problems with Linux *that* much more difficult. It's hard not to get amused at the people who in one breath will wail and scream and swear about their Windows boxes, sometimes to the point of getting mad at the people trying to help them, and then in the next breath they'll say they won't try anything other than Windows because it's just easier for them to use.

Oh really ... :)

Anyway, when you hit that first roadblock, I imagine there's someone around here who can help. Linuxquestions.org is also a good place to find guidance. I rarely post there except to offer advice, but when I need help I can usually find what kind of info I need by reading other conversations.

[pokerfan]

8. I think people are gradually becoming more receptive to change

The browsers are leading the charge. Once people get used to the idea of alternative software, they likely become more receptive to changing the OS. IE continues to decline in market share (down to 66% from 95% just a few years ago) despite the recent rollout of IE8. There are a lot of people who only use IE for one thing and that's to download a different browser.

I wonder how many linux users actually exist. Since it's free and can be freely copied (I burned several Live CDs to give to family/friends) and coupled with the fact that Windows is included on virtually every new machine, there's really no way to really know.

I don't think that I'll hit any roadblocks that I won't be able to overcome simply by googling as it's a brand new box with fairly generic components. But I'll keep you in mind if I do get into trouble.

Thanks.

[pokerfan]

9. 10. No registry!

Hence no registry messes. Just a path order... /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

I'm liking it a lot!

[RoyGBiv]

10. The Windows registry makes me believe in God ...

Because ... the registry was a created deep in the bowels of Hell by Satan himself, and for there to be a Hell or a Satan, there must be a God.

In case you're interested in these sorts of things, here's a link to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) for Unix. Different Linux distros mess with this sometimes, which is irritating, but once you figure out what they do, then it all makes sense.

http://www.pathname.com/fhs/

[Mojambo]

11. I liked it when I had it

I had two persistent problems.

The sound card would occasionally stop working until I did a re-boot. Minor problem.

There was no way to sync my iPod touch. MAJOR problem that eventually chased me back to Windows.