Ubuntu

[rjfvillarosa]

Do we have any Ubuntu users in the house?
I have played with Linux a couple of times but not seriously and so I am thinking of building a small machine just to play around with it, I heard that Ubuntu had good hardware support so I went to the site to maybe download it and they are posting free copies of the disk, I have ordered a couple of copies and I am going to have a play.
Does anyone have any knowledge of Ubuntu? what is the hardware support like and is there any software that will work with it?

[tireman]

I was running Ubuntu on the system in my sig (destroyed in a fire last week). The only system left in the house is pretty similar though, and I did end up installing Ubuntu on it also. Hardware support was excellent as far as I can see. Setup was absolutely painless. Plenty of software availabe in the form of rpm packages and such. Haven't booted into windows in several days now.

[surewhynot]

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back. A few days ago I decided to give Linux a try so I downloaded the Ubuntu live CD. I had no problems with hardware recognition at all. I was online in less than 5 minutes. my specs are as follows-
Soltek sl-915pro MoBo
Intel p4 2.8 w HT
80 gig maxtor sata HD
onboard sound and video
Rosewill dvd burner
asus dvd rom

I don't know if the Live cd differs from the installed version, but everything was detected on mine, even the cable internet connection. I am a novice user but I am now seriously thinking about linux. It was a good experience. I don't have any info on software tho. Jus my 2 cents
Tony

[ZeratulsAvenger]

I don't have the LiveCD downloaded anymore, so I can't test on the newer machine, but my older computer(500MHz or so) was recognized completely, and as far as I know the live CD worked on this computer as well. It was the only distro that detected the ethernet card right off the bat. I would say Ubuntu has pretty good support and you shouldn't be all that unhappy bout it. WIll probably get everything.

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by surewhynot Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back. A few days ago I decided to give Linux a try so I downloaded the Ubuntu live CD. I had no problems with hardware recognition at all. I was online in less than 5 minutes. Tony

Patience got the better of me and I could no longer wait for the CD's to arrive, after a near disaster earlier in the week when a shorting phone cable during my first Ubuntu installation caused my hard drives to crash, I have now successfully dual booted my XP machine with Ubuntu via "BOOT.US" and it is working really well, it took only a few seconds to get online via dsl and it updated Ubuntu immediately. It is very easy to use although I wasn't too fussed on the desktop theme and that was soon changed. It appears to come with an office program and a built in CD burner. I use msn messenger to talk to my children in the UK and I am believe there is a compatible version of messener for Linux at "amsn, so that will be my next project.

[nocturnx]

Just curious but does Ubuntu come with xmms or gaim? Im rockin mandrake right now but having a couple minor problems with it and thinking about switching.

[rjfvillarosa]

Ubuntu does have gaim bundled with it.
On another note, I am looking for drivers for a Soundblaster Live 5.1 card.

[catacon]

Does ordering the CD's work OK? I just ordered some and am wondering if it works.

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by catacon Does ordering the CD's work OK? I just ordered some and am wondering if it works.

Hope you have better luck than me. I ordered a couple of Ubuntu disks about 3 weeks ago and I'm still waiting.

[tireman]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Hope you have better luck than me. I ordered a couple of Ubuntu disks about 3 weeks ago and I'm still waiting.

I just downloaded the iso's. Had a few people tell me that they had about a six week wait on the cd's.

tireman

[catacon]

Well, the iso's are jumbo-supersized files (600+ MB's), so that is not an option. I guess the CD's are free so you can't expect them to have the best service in the world. Speaking of 'in the world', where are they located? That might explain some of the delays.

[nocturnx]

I just got the ubuntu iso 5.04, im guessing thats the newest one, but it was only one disc @600mb's, not so bad. Im installing it now after frustrating bouts with mandrake, suse, and mepis.

[Pounder]

ordered mine a week ago & received them in less than one week, two copies one install and one live, have not installed it yet

[nocturnx]

I got ubuntu installed and it seems promising although its missing a couple applications I like (xmms and xine). The darndest thing though, I cant seem to view my windows partition through the file system so i can play my mp3's. Do I need to manually mount the windows partition? Usually I just goto "/mnt/windows/music" and their there.

[nocturnx]

I figured it out, but i still cant play my mp3's, it says i need plugins........sigh.......its always something.....and i cant download plugins for it because it doesnt recognize my wireless card. blah!

[Panama Red]

Got impatient and downloaded the "Live" version and burned a cd. Booted to the cd and here I am! Interesting software. If I don't get the disks in the next couple days, I think I'll download the install version and try it on my dual boot (98se & 2000 Pro) tester machine.

[Karnevil9]

"On another note, I am looking for drivers for a Soundblaster Live 5.1 card."

You should be able to get the drivers for your card from the Audigy web site.

For those who ordered the Ubuntu free disks, it will take several weeks to get to you and they send you a Live CD and a bootable CD in a little folder. Pretty impressive since they are doing this for free and as many copies as you want.