Ubuntu Linux First Impressions
August 31st, 2006 by Joen operating-systems, ubuntu
I recently managed to successfully install Ubuntu Linux. Here’s a couple of impressions:
- Wow, the CD boots directly into the operating system! A Live CD!
- Cool, a link to an installer on the desktop. Feels much easier than I thought it’d be.
- Hmm. It needs a partition… and another one for swap memory. Do I trust the built-in partitioner to resize my Windows partition? I think I’ll skip the swapdisk partition for now.
- Ugh, why can’t they write “Drive C” instead of cryptic series of numbers and slashes. That’s what Windows does when I install that.
- Ouch, the partitioner made an error! I hope my data isn’t wiped. Phew, nothing
chkdskcouldn’t repair. - Finally, installed Ubuntu. This looks nice.
- Gah, it crashes every time I log out. According to Google it’s a conflict with the ATI driver and AMD64 processors.
- Why do I have to start the ATI driver installation from the commandline?
- Okay, it works now. Very nice, it already set up Internet for me! Firefox too! Not bad.
- Impressive, there’s a built-in update mechanism, seems to work great.
- Hmm. The “back” button on my Logitech mouse doesn’t work, neither does scrollwheel click.
- Ugh, how do I install Java, and what’s
apt-get? - Christ I didn’t think it was this hard to install Flash Player!?
- I guess I should set Windows to be the default option in the boot menu. Too bad.
Point of note: I haven’t given up on Ubuntu yet. It’s just become clear to me already that there are some things they need to fix before Ubuntu can ever be an alternative to Windows or OSX.
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Chris said:
Looks promising. Why is it an addon, and not part of GIMP ?
I won't accept that as any kind of apology for such a braindead name. If it hopes to turn just a single Photoshop user that uses other filters than "Fire", "Fur", "Glow" and "Drop Shadow" they have to change the name.
Unfortunately, I can assure you this IS still true. I don't think it's a power user thing to want to get the third mouse button to work, or just to install a software package that happens to not be in the Ubuntu repositories.
I think, maybe both of your above paragraphs. I've certainly learned a thing or two where I had preconceived notions of how things should work and then learning things were smarter on Linux. But I've most definitely experienced the opposite as well.
Those files are no longer part of Windows. (I know, they can be, but they aren't by default).
The day I stop expecting things to work (and hence stop whining about it) is the day I quit Linux and never look back, or the day the Ubuntu people deal with my gripes.
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Joen said:
That's the thing, the problems you're having are the same problems, for the most part, that everyone has had with Linux since day 1.
As for why GIMP doesn't use GIMPShop by default? It's an UI fork. Welcome to Open Source, enjoy your time at the bazaar, don't forget your t-shirt.
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Maybe you're right... then again... something feels different. Maybe it's a smell in the air like that of fresh rain. Maybe it's the silence before the storm. Maybe it's nothing.
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Chris said:
No ways dude :). It's a completely different kettle of fish. Why is Ubuntu making waves? Because it's being done in a completely different way. It's taken a multi millionaire to go ahead and invest his time and money into an open source project for the open source community. It's not a big massive company (Novell Sun, Red Hat), it's a guy investing and leading by example. Making a system that is more usable. It's a pendillum, watch it swing past the proprietary users :). I'm sick of feeling so closed, ubuntu definitely feels like I'm free, free as in freedom.
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as a relative scale of broken-ness, i don't think GIMP vs Photoshop is that bad.
3ds Max vs Softimage/Maya/Anything is far worse (just one example in a sea of millions).
everything else is a problem i've had myself with linux. i learned it because i wanted to. because i wanted a Free OS for my office server. self sufficiency is the price of real independence.
there are linux distibutions out there cough*SUSE*cough that include flash, java, proprietary ATI drivers right off the bat. but they aren't free (because they have to pay licensing fees). blaming ubuntu (or the greater community of linux devs) for the process being difficult is like blaming wp-plugins for not supporting non-GPL plugins. you're barking up the wrong tree.
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I know now that that's right. However, since learning about "easyubuntu" from Khaled, I no longer have huge gripes with those plugins not being part of the default distro. Do you think it would be possible to include easyubuntu in the default distro, and have a huge shortcut be placed right on the desktop, as in "EasyUbuntu: Install Flash, Java, Etc."? That would be good enough for me.
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definately. something like the windows tour, only for linux. shows you where to find basic stuff, and points you to some online resources like easyubuntu, kde-look.org, etc.
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adam said:
Exactly. Some things are so foreign and strange for a Windows switcher that the most basic introduciton would help heaps.
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