# New to Linux thinking about Ubuntu



## Delta6326 (May 20, 2009)

Ok, so heres the thing i have been reading about linux and want to start using it im pretty sure i want to get Ubuntu was wandering a couple of things here they are

- Can i put it on a flash drive so i can just move to computer to computer?
- What version should i get? thinking of 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) release.  i dont know if its newest
- is winamp compatible or any of my hardware? and is a Logitech Mx revolution compatible?
- can i play games on it if not its ok thats what i have Vista for.
- will have to re format my hard drive? if so how will have to reinstall everything on my computer

Sorry thats alot but i want to know what my options are and how it will work


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## Melvis (May 21, 2009)

Delta6326 said:


> Ok, so heres the thing i have been reading about linux and want to start using it im pretty sure i want to get Ubuntu was wandering a couple of things here they are
> 
> - Can i put it on a flash drive so i can just move to computer to computer?
> - What version should i get? thinking of 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) release.  i dont know if its newest
> ...



If my brother was here he could give you the answers for all of those questions lol, he uses Ubuntu with compiz over the top of it.  But he has now changed to Debian, and says its better, so maybe you should look into thats instead? as he used Ubuntu for almost 2yrs now.

Flash drive thing i have no idea about sorry, Version im sure there is newer versions, 10.6 or something, your system might be compatible with it, only way to realy find out is to install it and see what happens, ATI isnt as good as Nvidia is for Ubuntu i know that much (easyer to install drivers) You can play a few games not alot, anything thats OpenGL will run on Ubuntu with out issues, like Unreal tournament 1,2,3 etc otherwise you will have to run wine, my brother used wine for World Of Warcraft it worked well for it, but otherwise linux and games not good idea. You can petition ya HDD to install it and still use windows as well, but it slows things down in windows.

Sorry thats all i can give you at the moment, when my brother comes home ill see about getting more answers for you.

Hope ive helped a little?


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## thraxed (May 21, 2009)

You can install it from a usb drive, or run a live version..  As for the hard drive, ya just need to repartition it.  If ya do it right, there is no need to reinstall Ubuntu boots live though so you can test it out with your hardware first.


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## Wile E (May 21, 2009)

I say grab Fedora instead. Much more standardized, and just as easy to use.


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## a_ump (May 21, 2009)

do you kno the syntax? i used ubuntu for alil bit and had a hell of a time getting everything installed as it's not windows where u double click and whatnot. To install some things you have to use ubuntu's "cmd prompt" and type in commands, which i never learned and had to google everytime almost. With time i'd have learned it but eh windows does everything i could ever want. As for all your games? probly not, but  alot do run though with less efficiency than in windows. Is your current windows installation your whole drive? i believe there are programs that can resize the partition to make room for an ubuntu install but i don't know them. Otherwise yes, and yep formatting deletes ALL data on the disk, so you'll need to back up what you want to keep such as important documents, and music/games/videos unless you want to re-install or download it all.


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## twilyth (May 21, 2009)

Rather than make a commitment to any distro, why not dl Virtualbox and run it in a virtual machine?  It's free so there's no risk and you won't have to worry about rebooting all the time.


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## angelkiller (May 21, 2009)

Delta6326 said:


> Ok, so heres the thing i have been reading about linux and want to start using it im pretty sure i want to get Ubuntu was wandering a couple of things here they are
> 
> - Can i put it on a flash drive so i can just move to computer to computer?
> - What version should i get? thinking of 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) release.  i dont know if its newest
> ...



- Yes you can put a flash drive in and it'll work fine.
- 9.04 is the newest version and is what you should get.
- I've had very few hardware issues. Nearly all hardware except for some obsecure wireless chipsets are detected and work automatically. Winamp isn't compatible natively, but there are many Linux apps that do the exact same thing? Have you tried Songbird? It works in Linux and Windows. I can't say for sure on your MX Revolution, but I can say that Ubuntu has worked with every mouse/keyboard I've used. This includes a wireless EX 100 keyboard/mouse combo. I'm pretty sure it'll work.
- Games?  Use Windows for games. You might hear about some people running games in Linux, but it's really not worth the effort.
- You don't necesseraily have to reformat anything. Normally, you have to resize a partition and create a new one for you Linux distrubution. (No data is lost) But Ubuntu has this really cool feature called, Wubi. Basically put, Wubi allows you to install Ubuntu _from_ Windows. But you don't run it from Windows, you run it like a regular OS. So when you start your computer, you boot straight into Ubuntu. But if you ever want to uninstall Ubuntu, it'll be in the Add/Remove programs list. This way, you get the full experience of Ubuntu without changing any partitions or anything like that. Pretty simple. And it's not slower this way either. Read up on it here. I'd recommend this method if changing/resizing partitions makes you nervous.

I've used Ubuntu as my primary OS on my laptop for nearly a year now. I like it. I think it's pretty simple to pick up and use. And help isn't hard to get. If you ever have an issue, just google it. 97% of the time, someone else has had the same issue. As for which distro to try, it doesn't really matter imo. As for one being easier than another... meh. Just pick one and try it out. You're not making a lifelong commitment, if you find it too hard to use, just switch. I find Ubuntu to be pretty Ubuntu very user friendly and I'd recommend it to new Linux users. Don't think that you're getting yourself into something really complex that you won't understand. Linux is as complex as you want to make it. Live CDs makes the process of picking a distro really easy. You can run the distro strainght from the CD without installing anything. Then you can see exactly how the OS looks and get some basics on how to use it. No permenant installation, so if you don't like it, just pop the CD out and move on.

In a nutshell, Linux isn't as hard to get into as you'd think. Just grab a distro and run with it.


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## Delta6326 (May 21, 2009)

i will try out Ubuntu being that i have started the download and im half way done i will try the Wubi but my computer has no partition its all just one big drive but i just got one doing a full system back up so maybe i will make it 3 partition one for Windows Vista, one for Ubuntu, and one for all my games and ect. would that work??


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## angelkiller (May 21, 2009)

Delta6326 said:


> i will try out Ubuntu being that i have started the download and im half way done i will try the Wubi but my computer has no partition its all just one big drive but i just got one doing a full system back up so maybe i will make it 3 partition one for Windows Vista, one for Ubuntu, and one for all my games and ect. would that work??


Yeah your partition plan would work. 

But with Wubi, you don't need to change any partitions. Wubi creates a 'virtual partition' (so to speak) inside Windows. Basically put, Wubi installs Ubuntu as a _program_ in Windows, but when you boot, you go straight to Ubuntu. (There's a choice at startup) I would use Wubi to install inside Windows because it's much easier to remove if you don't decide to keep it. If you do end up keeping it, then you can mess partitions. But for now, I'd just keep it simple.


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## Delta6326 (May 21, 2009)

was also wandering could i use Wubi on a mac laptop b/c are school is giving us all macbooks but they are way slow and want to use ubuntu


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## PCpraiser100 (May 21, 2009)

I sadly had never used Linux in years, however there is a program compatibility enviornment in development for many years called Wine, a program to keep users from whining over all the major program compatibility BS from Windows-written programs.


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## angelkiller (May 21, 2009)

Delta6326 said:


> was also wandering could i use Wubi on a mac laptop b/c are school is giving us all macbooks but they are way slow and want to use ubuntu


A school gives out macbooks? :shadedshu

Sell it, get a thinkpad, run Linux. You get a better OS, cash in your pocket, and still have a high quality laptop. 

Sorry, I'm not really a mac person. I doubt Wubi would work on a Mac. But tbh, I'd ditch MacOSX in a heartbeat for Linux. If I ever got/recieved a macbook, I'd install Windows so I can do stuff on it, and then I'd install some Linux distro for kicks. I wouldn't give up Windows because of it's compatibility. It's nice to have something to fall back on when Linux isn't compatible with something.


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## Delta6326 (May 21, 2009)

oh my mistake i meant they give them to us to use for 4 years in high school then we can ether buy them for what they are worth at that time or give them back when get done with school, but we have to keep the Mac os on them but then again i can just use Ubuntu live on a flash drive that will work 

and thanks for your help


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## Studabaker (May 21, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> - Games?  Use Windows for games. You might hear about some people running games in Linux, but it's really not worth the effort.



I disagree with the last four words there. There is no 'effort' needed if you get CrossOver.


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## angelkiller (May 22, 2009)

How well does CrossOver run the games? Is CrossOver compatible with all games? IMO, gaming with any kind of comparability layer isn't ideal. I should clarify what I said earlier. I meant that it may be possible, but the end result isn't as spectacular as expected. I don't think that gaming in Linux is something to really count on. Mostly because the _only_ way to game is to use some kind of compatibility layer. And there's a performance hit there. FWIW, I'd just stick with Windows for gaming.

Just my opinion. I didn't mean to say it was difficult, just not worth it imo.


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## Wile E (May 22, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> A school gives out macbooks? :shadedshu
> 
> Sell it, get a thinkpad, run Linux. You get a better OS, cash in your pocket, and still have a high quality laptop.
> 
> Sorry, I'm not really a mac person. I doubt Wubi would work on a Mac. But tbh, I'd ditch MacOSX in a heartbeat for Linux. If I ever got/recieved a macbook, I'd install Windows so I can do stuff on it, and then I'd install some Linux distro for kicks. I wouldn't give up Windows because of it's compatibility. It's nice to have something to fall back on when Linux isn't compatible with something.



Why in the hell would you ditch OS X, which is a *nix operating system to begin with? It's infinitely easier to use than *ANY* Linux distro, and has plenty of software available for it, is stable, and is relatively quick, as long as the machine has at least 1GB of ram. Use Boot Camp and load Windows along side of it, and the computer will do anything you need it to do. Loading Linux on the Mac really serves no purpose, as OS X can pretty much do what Linux does anyway.


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## angelkiller (May 22, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Why in the hell would you ditch OS X, which is a *nix operating system to begin with? It's infinitely easier to use than *ANY* Linux distro, and has plenty of software available for it, is stable, and is relatively quick, as long as the machine has at least 1GB of ram. Use Boot Camp and load Windows along side of it, and the computer will do anything you need it to do. Loading Linux on the Mac really serves no purpose, as OS X can pretty much do what Linux does anyway.


Well, that's kinda why. OSX feels _too_ simplified imo. Works ok for some, but I feel like it's been dumbed down too much. Plus, no right click drives me crazy!  OSX probably has better compatibility than Linux, but it still seems to be lacking compared to Windows. So, from my perspective, OSX and Linux will have about the same compatibility. 

That said, I haven't used OSX for an extended period of time, but I think I've used it enough to get the gist of it. To me OSX says "I just work, don't ask why" and Linux says "I work most of the time, make me awesome!". Being the tinker that I am, I'd pick Linux. So yes, replacing OSX with Linux doesn't get me very far, but I feel that Linux has much more room for growth and improvement.


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## Papahyooie (May 22, 2009)

OMG that wubi thing is amazing! I used Kubuntu for along time on my old gateway laptop and liked it alot but was just too much of a hassle. Doing wubi NAO!


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## Wile E (May 22, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> Well, that's kinda why. OSX feels _too_ simplified imo. Works ok for some, but I feel like it's been dumbed down too much. Plus, no right click drives me crazy!  OSX probably has better compatibility than Linux, but it still seems to be lacking compared to Windows. So, from my perspective, OSX and Linux will have about the same compatibility.
> 
> That said, I haven't used OSX for an extended period of time, but I think I've used it enough to get the gist of it. To me OSX says "I just work, don't ask why" and Linux says "I work most of the time, make me awesome!". Being the tinker that I am, I'd pick Linux. So yes, replacing OSX with Linux doesn't get me very far, but I feel that Linux has much more room for growth and improvement.



It does have right-click, and there's a whole slew of things to do in the terminal for those so inclined. There are also options for adding various repos in the form of BSD ports and things of that nature. Trust me, you can tinker on OS X, if you so desire. It just takes a little digging.

OS X has come a long way since the days of 10.0-10.3. It didn't become a worthy OS until about 10.3.9. 10.4 is still my favorite, but the current 10.5 plays nicer with SMB networks.

All in all, it's worth another look, if you have it available.


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## Studabaker (May 22, 2009)

Something everyone here missed, you can run X-Windows and also GNOME as your environment in OSX, pretty sure, and you can still use all ur OSX applications, I believe (not sure what else you would use).


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## angelkiller (May 22, 2009)

Wile E said:


> It does have right-click, and there's a whole slew of things to do in the terminal for those so inclined. There are also options for adding various repos in the form of BSD ports and things of that nature. Trust me, you can tinker on OS X, if you so desire. It just takes a little digging.
> 
> OS X has come a long way since the days of 10.0-10.3. It didn't become a worthy OS until about 10.3.9. 10.4 is still my favorite, but the current 10.5 plays nicer with SMB networks.
> 
> All in all, it's worth another look, if you have it available.


Really? Hmmm. You speak highly of OSX. I might have to give it another look. But no way I'm getting Mac.


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## Deleted member 3 (May 22, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Why in the hell would you ditch OS X, which is a *nix operating system to begin with? It's infinitely easier to use than *ANY* Linux distro, and has plenty of software available for it, is stable, and is relatively quick, as long as the machine has at least 1GB of ram. Use Boot Camp and load Windows along side of it, and the computer will do anything you need it to do. Loading Linux on the Mac really serves no purpose, as OS X can pretty much do what Linux does anyway.



Agreed, I'm not a fan of Macs, but the reason you'd buy a Mac is for the OS. If you want to run Linux you're better off buying a cheaper machine.


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## angelkiller (May 22, 2009)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Agreed, I'm not a fan of Macs, but the reason you'd buy a Mac is for the OS. If you want to run Linux you're better off buying a cheaper machine.


Actually, price aside, I'd like to have a Mac machine. Apple's build quality is very good imo. But not good enough to justify the price.

I only suggested Linux on a Mac because the OP got a Mac for free.


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## Killer_Rubber_Ducky (Mar 14, 2010)

a_ump said:


> do you kno the syntax? i used ubuntu for alil bit and had a hell of a time getting everything installed as it's not windows where u double click and whatnot. To install some things you have to use ubuntu's "cmd prompt" and type in commands, which i never learned and had to google everytime almost. With time i'd have learned it but eh windows does everything i could ever want. As for all your games? probly not, but  alot do run though with less efficiency than in windows. Is your current windows installation your whole drive? i believe there are programs that can resize the partition to make room for an ubuntu install but i don't know them. Otherwise yes, and yep formatting deletes ALL data on the disk, so you'll need to back up what you want to keep such as important documents, and music/games/videos unless you want to re-install or download it all.



Uh where did you learn to install from? I use the Terminal only when I can't use Synaptic Package Manager. If you dual boot Windows and Linux, Linux WILL NOT SLOW DOWN  WINDOWS!!!! They are two completely different partitions. AS for games, there are literally thousands of games for Linux. For running Windoze games, use Wine, this is where you would need to use the Terminal. You can install from the Synaptic package manager (SPM), but it would be a generic package. Download the source package from  http://sourceforge.net/projects/wine/files/Source/ . 
You then need to read on http://www.winehq.org/documentation for how to compile from source. It could take a while depending on Internet speed and cpu speed. But the upside is that when you compile Wine from source, it is configured for your machine. So if you have a dual core, it will use dual core etc. 
     Ubuntu will repartition your hard drive for you if you choose to install it. There is no need for third party tools to repartition. Ubuntu will do everything for you smoothly. All you have to do is move a slider bar left or right to show how much space you want linux to have.

You can install ubuntu on a thumbdrive and carry it from PC to PC. you should use a program called Unetbootin. 

Debian is more slimmed down than ubuntu so it can move smoother, then again, ubuntu is an offshoot of debain.


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## Killer_Rubber_Ducky (Mar 14, 2010)

Wile E said:


> Why in the hell would you ditch OS X, which is a *nix operating system to begin with? It's infinitely easier to use than *ANY* Linux distro, and has plenty of software available for it, is stable, and is relatively quick, as long as the machine has at least 1GB of ram. Use Boot Camp and load Windows along side of it, and the computer will do anything you need it to do. Loading Linux on the Mac really serves no purpose, as OS X can pretty much do what Linux does anyway.



I hate to break my foot off in your ass but, OSX is not a *nix OS. It is a form of BSD (UNIX). *nix refers to Linux. I have no clue how you would run gnome in OSX because the API is still APPLE. I just checked with a mac buddy and NO YOU CAN NOT RUN GNOME IN OSX!!!.


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## DirectorC (Mar 14, 2010)

Arise ancient threads, arise!  So this is the rapture eh?  Seems to me like baby Jesus has arrived, and he's taking all the good threads with him!


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## Killer_Rubber_Ducky (Mar 14, 2010)

DirectorC said:


> Arise ancient threads, arise!  So this is the rapture eh?  Seems to me like baby Jesus has arrived, and he's taking all the good threads with him!



You could say that. I'm just pissed that these guys say they use it but are so wrong about so many things


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## regexorcist (Mar 14, 2010)

Killer_Rubber_Ducky said:


> I hate to break my foot off in your ass but, OSX is not a *nix OS. It is a form of BSD (UNIX). *nix refers to Linux. I have no clue how you would run gnome in OSX because the API is still APPLE. I just checked with a mac buddy and NO YOU CAN NOT RUN GNOME IN OSX!!!.


I believe *nix refers to "Unix-like" systems to circumvent trademark issues and
the list of *nix systems goes on and on to include Unix, BSD, Linux, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, etc....

Gnome requires an Xserver to run which can be installed on a Mac,
in fact, I believe the Apple X11 server (based on XFree86) runs on OSX,
so it is possible to run gnome on OSX, but I'm not sure why anyone would.
Gnome is the most bloated desktop environment to run and there are
so many alternatives out there.

I know there are quite a few Linux distros for Mac hardware which
offer more GUI flexibility, and even a few distros which mimic OSX
for generic hardware, to each his own I guess.


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## regexorcist (Mar 14, 2010)

Yes it's good to see a normal Linux thread.

Some of the threads posted on here ask the strangest 
questions about live CDs or wine so I stay away from them.


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## Killer_Rubber_Ducky (Mar 14, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> Yes it's good to see a normal Linux thread.
> 
> Some of the threads posted on here ask the strangest
> questions about live CDs or wine so I stay away from them.



Thank you for clearing that up, i was wrong about the gnome thing but I got it from my OSX running friend. So I took it at face value. I try to sort out the strange questions.


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## Wile E (Mar 14, 2010)

Killer_Rubber_Ducky said:


> I hate to break my foot off in your ass but, OSX is not a *nix OS. It is a form of BSD (UNIX). *nix refers to Linux. I have no clue how you would run gnome in OSX because the API is still APPLE. I just checked with a mac buddy and NO YOU CAN NOT RUN GNOME IN OSX!!!.



As regexorsist said, OS X is, in fact, a *nix OS. OS X is capable of running anything linux or unix is, you just have to install the proper libs first. Doing it this way maintains compatibility with OS X apps, while adding the ability to run most nix apps.

It's a little complicated to get going, and requires the use of the console a lot, but it's worth it in the end. Note: I haven't done it since early 10.4, so I no longer know how to do it for the newer versions (or even remember how to do it for 10.4, actually. lol).


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## SundM001 (Mar 14, 2010)

Just started trying out Linux myself. The way i have been able to try different distros is to create a live usb. The universal USB installer from pen drive linux was the program that made it so easy to try different stuff. 
This will not format any drives beyond your USB unless you specify to do so.
This is how it worked-
1. Download UniversalUSBinstaller
2. Download desired version of Linux
3. Insert USB Drive (2GB or larger)
4. Copy-Paste USBinstaller onto drive then copy-paste linux onto same drive
5. Install USBinstaller and it will have a few drop down menus, follow directions.

Set USB to boot as first disk in bios. Restart required. If everything is successful there will be a few choices on what you can do. The top is to try the version you chose from the USB drive.


A few distros have been tried on an Asus eeepc 1000HA. 
*Ubuntu 9.10* - fairly easy to grasp from being used to windows. have a few compatability issues at start. Solved with a few updates and codecs.
*Ubuntu Netbook Edition* - Similar Style to regular Ubuntu. No real "desktop" Menus are similar to a cell phone layout.
*Easy Peasy* - Similar to Ubuntu Netbook Edition
*Linux Mint* - Similar to Ubuntu and felt a little more refined "out of box" Easy to navigate if used to windows.


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## Killer_Rubber_Ducky (Mar 15, 2010)

SundM001 said:


> Just started trying out Linux myself. The way i have been able to try different distros is to create a live usb. The universal USB installer from pen drive linux was the program that made it so easy to try different stuff.
> This will not format any drives beyond your USB unless you specify to do so.
> This is how it worked-
> 1. Download UniversalUSBinstaller
> ...



UnetBootin is a much more supported program. It even includes a distro selector which will download the selected OS and install it.


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