What flavor of Linux do you use?

[Nitemare]

Slightly off topic but I had to reply...

Nitemare and Fulci, I think your avatars are scaring potential converts away!

Hey! That's a picture of my mom! (I am SO going to hell... and Mother's Day is less than a week away too)

[FulciLives]

Slightly off topic but I had to reply...

Nitemare and Fulci, I think your avatars are scaring potential converts away!

Hey! That's a picture of my mom! (I am SO going to hell... and Mother's Day is less than a week away too)

LOL

Salem's Lot scared the crap out of me when I was a kid ... I vividly remember watching it when it first aired on TV as a mini-series.

Freaked me out so much I thought someone was gonna come a tappin' on my window so I had this cross (Catholic upbringing) that I would lay on my chest (it was meant to hang on the wall ... wasn't a necklace) but as I would start to fall asleep and "shift" my body (I tend to sleep in any position but my back even if starting out that way) the cross would start to slide off of my chest and I would wake up all panic stricken and put it back in place. Would take me ages to finally fall asleep.

This probably went on for a week or so ...

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[dphirschler]

After I watched "Jaws" I was afraid to go to the toilet... but this is way off topic. LOL


Darryl

[tekkieman]

Yes, many computer manufacturers have specifically designed their systems to fail when non-Windows operating systems are installed on them. This includes BIOS vendors locking systems to Windows only, laptop hard drives that melt, and fans that fail to start until after the CPU explodes. Installing linux also voids most warranties. (links provided on request).

I would love to see those links... maybe in a new topic?

No problem, but before starting, the :P was left off your quote of my original statement. I purposely put that in there so people would not take the statements too seriously. I will also ruin your reading enjoyment by stating that after reading the provided links you will realize that the claims are complete BS. With that in mind...

Windows only BIOS

Linux kills hard drives

Using linux voids warranty

Note: I had the link to the fans not working for a thread on the Ubuntu forums, but the text in the thread were deleted by OP request. In fact, a quick Google search will show it is far more common for the fans to never turn off when using linux.

My original intent in posting the statement was quite tongue-in-cheek over the statement the the laptop hinge broke because the poster downloaded linux with that machine. I know the poster did not really believe this, but as someone who reads dozens (if not hundreds) of linux related stories and posts daily, I have found many people who actually do believe things like this (although the Windows only BIOS story is quite real).

[Number Six]

I have been trying to install Xubuntu 8.04 in this laptop since Thursday night - but it will not install!

Laptop specs are: Pentium 3 - 650mhz, 192MB SDRAM, 6GB HD.

The Live CD works perfectly. The install process gets all the way to the "Installing system" box - "detecting file system..." - Progress bar gets to 15% - then the system stops responding. I tried to let it use the available space left on the drive (75%), then I tried to let it use the whole drive (100%) - same results. I tested the drive by reformatting it to NTFS and doing a fresh Windows XP install - worked perfectly. I then repartitioned the drive to free up 3GB and attempted to install Xubuntu again in the free space - same results. I tried to install Puppy Linux 4.0 in the free space and it worked perfectly - creating a dual boot system with GRUB. I then tried to install Xubuntu in the Puppy space - same results. Finally, I deleted the Puppy space partitions and created 2 new partitions - 2800MB ext3 file system, and 200MB swap space and then tried to install Xubuntu - again same results !!

It is obviously having a problem with the partitioning - but what? It can obviously work on this laptop because the Live CD works.

Any thoughts before I decide to hurt this computer!!

[tekkieman]

@Number Six - The fact that Puppy installed fine for you should mean there is nothing wrong with your laptop, so no need to hurt it. More likely, there is something wrong with either the CD or Xubuntu (at least 8.04).

Did you verify the MD5 sum after you downloaded it?
Did you try burning the CD at a lower speed? (This is usually the #1 cause of install issues)

Does Xubuntu have an alternate install CD like Ubuntu? Did you try that?
192M is probably fine for Xubuntu, but may not be enough to handle the install after loading the LiveCD into memory. Can you bump it to 256M?

Disclaimer: Just some random thoughts before finishing the first cup of coffee. I could be wrong.

[freebird73717]

Yeah I would try the alternate install (text based) cd.

Also honestly I would install version 7.10 and not 8.04. 8.04 just came out and there are likely to be unknown bugs. 7.10 is rock stable for me.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/7.10/

[Number Six]

Tekkieman - I was installing from the boot menu - not from inside the Live CD Desktop - so all the memory was available. I did check the CD with the option in the boot menu - it verified OK. I just did a md5 sum right now - also OK. The laptop is maxed out at 192MB.

Freebird - I am downloading Xubuntu 7.10 as I am typing this - It was difficult to find. I will try installing it shortly.

The dual boot system with Windows XP actually is cool - I will keep the same config if I can get Xubuntu in there. This laptop is purely for experimenting purposes, so I can try all sorts of things with it :P .

Puppy is nice - but I can't get it to access the internet with this laptop. Xubuntu 8.04 was able to get on the internet via the Live CD Desktop. I also prefer Firefox to SeaMonkey.

[GMaq]

Yeah I would try the alternate install (text based) cd.

Also honestly I would install version 7.10 and not 8.04. 8.04 just came out and there are likely to be unknown bugs. 7.10 is rock stable for me.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/7.10/

Couldn't agree more freebird!

7.10 really IS stable. This is my only complaint with Ubuntu, a six month release schedule is kind of ludicrous. External package maintainers like Getdeb.net barely get caught up with the latest release and a new one is out. In fact Getdeb already has pulled updating packages for 7.10 likely because they will be scrambling to keep up with the latest and greatest cutting edge packages for 8.04, they used to update packages as far back as 6.06!

Also WineHQ has pulled it's 7.10 repo already. This is the kind of strong-arm tactics that have been demonstrated by another certain OS Company. While I understand Ubuntu has always done it this way, what's up with the third-party support being withdrawn for 7.10 so fast? I love 7.10 and have a lot of work tied up in customized and compiled programs, I don't really like being pushed from version to version.

This is one thing that makes "Rolling" distros like MEPIS and Sidux kind of attractive, you can quite easily keep a given version current for a couple of years at least with regular dist-upgrades.

I have also never had a computer balk at installing 7.10, I have already run into 2 machines whose IDE Controllers that don't like 8.04 at all. Trying 7.10 is good advice!

[freebird73717]

Freebird - I am downloading Xubuntu 7.10 as I am typing this - It was difficult to find. I will try installing it shortly.

Yeah I thought I was helping by providing the link to 7.10 but I forgot we were talking about xubuntu and not ubuntu
I need to pay more attention sometimes.

The dual boot system with Windows XP actually is cool - I will keep the same config if I can get Xubuntu in there. This laptop is purely for experimenting purposes, so I can try all sorts of things with it :P .

Yeah dual boot comes in very handy. While I personally havn't been in windows in quite a while it is nice to have the option if I need it.

Keep trying. If you need anymore help post back. We'll help where we can. Good to see more people trying linux!

[Number Six]

OK - I got Xubuntu 7.10 installed .

I installed 127 updates that it wanted.

I installed CD Player, Juk, and Kaffeine. It recognizes an audio CD and a DVD - but I can't get it to play - it says that plug-ins are missing or can't find device.

I can't find a list of installed hardware to check the sound card and DVD-Rom drive. Also, how do you add or remove hardware?

Update:

I found plug-ins for MP3 and WMV and MPEG - so the sound card does work. Also, WAV works but MID does not. Still can't get CD and DVD to work.

I installed VLC Media Player - CD now works - still no DVD.

[freebird73717]

Download vlc through synaptic package manager. Works much better as it uses it's own internal codecs.

[Number Six]

Freebird - I was installing VLC while you were suggesting it . I also installed Wine and Power DVD. Still no playback from a DVD.

How can I see if the DVD drive is being recognized as a DVD drive and not only as a CD drive? The drive does recognize a DVD and I can see the file structure.

DVD playback works perfectly when the laptop is booted into Windows XP.

Update:

OK - it will not play original DVD's that are copy protected, but it will play my discs that I recorded off of television !!

Any ideas?

[FulciLives]

This is something you should bookmark as it is an essential resource:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/

Type in "restricted formats" in the search box. Several links are presented. One of them says the following:

Playing Restricted Formats

Follow these steps to play most common multimedia formats, including MP3, DVD, Flash, Quicktime, WMA and WMV, including both standalone files and content embedded in web pages.

Ubuntu 7.10

Use Synaptic

Go to Applications ---> Add/Remove...

Set Show: to All available applications

Search for ubuntu-restricted-extras and install it. Note that there is also xubuntu-restricted-extras and kubuntu-restricted-extras

Or open the Terminal, and execute the following command:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Remember if you just do the "short cut" of the last part that you would type in sudo apt-get install xubuntu-restricted-extras

The docs for Ubuntu are pretty good especially under "community" where you find the how to do ... for all the "dirty" stuff like installing "non-free" stuff ... such as DVD codec player ummm stuff LOL

Good Luck

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Number Six]

Fulci - Thanks for the info - it worked great !

I can't believe it is 2am - I have to get up at 5am to go to work - but I had to get this working because it was driving me crazy.

There is a lot to learn with Linux - you really need to know programming, which is something I try to avoid at all costs :P .

Thanks to everyone for all the help!!

[freebird73717]

It's just different. You didn't just automatically know how to work windows. You had to learn how to use it. Same with linux. As before. If you need more help just ask. We have a good community with many willing to help.

Enjoy!

[Number Six]

I finally had a chance to take a desktop hard drive with Ubuntu 8.04 installed on it and move it to a different PC - Ubuntu reconfigured itself without even asking for the install CD, everything seems to work perfectly.

So it seems that you can move a system drive to another computer without any problems.

[freebird73717]

I finally had a chance to take a desktop hard drive with Ubuntu 8.04 installed on it and move it to a different PC - Ubuntu reconfigured itself without even asking for the install CD, everything seems to work perfectly.

So it seems that you can move a system drive to another computer without any problems.

Thank you for posting. That is good to know!

[joeboomer628]

It's the old "which linux distro?" question again. For general usage I use SuSE. I also amuse myself by trying out various distros frequently. I suppose if I was going to use one variety all the time I would probable custom build one off a minimal distro so I have the apps I like. I just can't seem to shake the kid in a candy store syndrome with all the free distros available. Yes, I confess I have windoz also. It came with the prebuilt boxes. Now that I do my own building I can't see spending the bucks for XP or Vista.

[edDV]

Linuxworld Expo is coming up in SF. Each year I look at Linux and beef up for the Expo but I admit that nothing excited me last year re: video.

Granted, serious Linux is deep into the industry for servers but at the consumer level is anything happening other than playing with the desktop to make it more like Windows?
http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/