I can't recommend Windows to anyone

[T-Rexx]

Don't get me wrong. Windows 7 is a more or less okay OS. But it's my humble opinion that Windows is JUST AS BAD AS the competition. I tried installing Windows 7 on a nice PC that I have. But, after hours of downloading the release candidate and burning it to a DVD (talk about bloat - it's almost 4 GB!!), it failed to recognize my USB adapter card and would not give me any sound whatsoever. After even more hours of trying to find proper drivers and finagling with the settings, I finally gave up. And the best part? It seeks out and destroys your boot loader, refusing to cooperate with any other OSs on the machine!

I suppose I could live without USB ports, but I need sound. I formatted over Win 7 with Ubuntu, which installed flawlessly and configured all the hardware properly. I even had sound!

Windows 7 is just too complicated for ordinary human beings. I can't recommend it. In fact, no one should ever try to install a new OS on a computer. Seek professional help (or maybe you could just use Linux).

BTW, Ubuntu 10.10 was release yesterday!

 

[sd1989]

Ha I think this is in response to the other thread, Im using Ubuntu 10.10 now and love it, I still like Windows, anything is better than Apple! But I will say I prefer Ubuntu now, but Windows 7 was flawless for me as well as Ubuntu!

 

[Willie Boy]

I think we be seeing a reigniting of the OS Wars (could make an almost decent Reality TV show... ).

 

[ThreeCrows]

I have a question for Ubuntu users who've also used Windows:

Does Ubuntu have a media center like Windows Vista? I was poking around the Ubuntu website and didn't see anything - if it is there, point me in the right direction please! Thanks.

 

[Corny]

^ there is a shitload of programs shipped with ubuntu.

they all run pretty fine

 

[Willie Boy]

Does anybody know how well Windows based PC games will run with Ubuntu. I've been thinking of trying it out, but my partner loves his PC games. Any thoughts?

 

[T-Rexx]

I have a question for Ubuntu users who've also used Windows:

Does Ubuntu have a media center like Windows Vista? I was poking around the Ubuntu website and didn't see anything - if it is there, point me in the right direction please! Thanks.

Mythbuntu is a special media center version of Ubuntu. It comes with the MythTV home entertainment application already installed. However, Mythbuntu leaves out a few of the applications normally included in Ubuntu (presumably to make room on the disk for MythTV). Mythbuntu also uses the XFCE desktop, which is not as full-featured as Ubuntu's Gnome. You might do better just to begin with stock Ubuntu and install the MythTV application software yourself. Here is a good discussion of MythTV installation options.

In addition to MythTV, there is also XBMC (X Box Media Center), Boxee, Moovida and Enna. The latter two can be installed directly from Ubuntu Software Center.

 

[T-Rexx]

Does anybody know how well Windows based PC games will run with Ubuntu. I've been thinking of trying it out, but my partner loves his PC games. Any thoughts?

IMHO, if you want games, you should use Windows. Many games will, in fact, run acceptably well on WINE on Ubuntu. But there are no guarantees, and the experience is not always as satisfactory as running the games natively on Windows.

If you want the best of both worlds, install Ubuntu as a host OS to a Windows virtual machine, and run both. You will need a multi-core processor for that, however, and lots of money (to purchase Windows).

 

[wooffy]

But, after hours of downloading the release candidate and burning it to a DVD (talk about bloat - it's almost 4 GB!!), it failed to recognize my USB adapter card and would not give me any sound whatsoever. After even more hours of trying to find proper drivers and finagling with the settings, I finally gave up. And the best part? It seeks out and destroys your boot loader, refusing to cooperate with any other OSs on the machine!

LOL - so you downloaded the RC (in other words likely pirated, the RC is no longer available and expired a while ago - I know, I used it legally). Hint: retail Windows 7 with current patches is what you should be using, RC copies are better than beta but may still be buggy or miss some things included in the final retail release (like drivers).

And did it ever occur to you to run the Windows Upgrade Adviser, or check your hardware for compatibility?

I've installed every version of Windows from 3.1 to 7, skipping only the dreaded ME. XP, Vista, and 7 are generally easy and smooth installs (though XP is so old that the endless upgrades post-install are a pain). I always build my own systems from scratch, so I know that unless hardware is new I may have compatibility issues unless I check.

 

[T-Rexx]

LOL - so you downloaded the RC (in other words likely pirated, the RC is no longer available and expired a while ago - I know, I used it legally). Hint: retail Windows 7 with current patches is what you should be using, RC copies are better than beta but may still be buggy or miss some things included in the final retail release (like drivers).

I don't pirate software. I downloaded the RC when it was free (and legal). The RC is the release candidate. It's not supposed to lack drivers that will be in the final version.

And why would I pay $200 for an OS when the free trial version didn't work? I appreciate that Microsoft is fond of releasing products that aren't quite ready for release yet (which is why everyone says wait for SP1 for everything MS before you upgrade). But I've never been comfortable spending hundreds of dollars for something in the hope that I will be able to use it some day.

Windows is useful when someone else has pre-installed it for you on particular hardware, with all of the necessary drivers. It can be a particularly difficult OS to install otherwise.

And did it ever occur to you to run the Windows Upgrade Adviser, or check your hardware for compatibility?

The Upgrade Advisor only runs on Windows. So, if you don't already have Windows installed, it cannot tell you whether or not you can run Windows. Besides, the Upgrade Advisor is really supposed to tell you if you have the minimum hardware necessary. It can't tell you if Windows has all the drivers your need. The PC in question was a 64 bit quad-core Pentium with 8 GB RAM and a graphics accelerator card with 1 GB of its own RAM on the card. I think the hardware was adequate.

I did once run the Upgrade Advisor on another PC of mine that had Windows XP on it --- and the Upgrade Advisor BSoD'd on me! I thought it was a fluke, but every time I tried to run Upgrade Advisor on that computer, it BSoD'd. Perhaps Microsoft was trying to tell me something?

 

[cityboy-stl]

I don't know. I keep them both running at the same and have the best of both worlds.

 

[ace3316]

LOL, that is a good comment!

I think we be seeing a reigniting of the OS Wars (could make an almost decent Reality TV show... ).

 

[ace3316]

Yay for virtualization!

I don't know. I keep them both running at the same and have the best of both worlds.

 

[oliver92]

Story time! Windows Vista died, so I tried to install Ubuntu and then Mint Linux from LiveCDs! Neither of which worked! So I installed an annciiiieennt XP, which is a lot more gracious about my 1.5GB RAM than Vista was.

I really want to move to Linux, honest, but it took me long enough to find an driver for my sound card that worked with XP once I'd reformatted the drive. Plus I can't tell the difference between them.

 

[T-Rexx]

Story time! Windows Vista died, so I tried to install Ubuntu and then Mint Linux from LiveCDs! Neither of which worked!

We need more information in order to help you, oliver. What didn't work? Did the installation program crash, or did you just lack drivers for your particular hardware? What hardware are we talking about? What kind of computer is this?

If the Live Linux (Ubuntu and Mint) CDs ran okay, then your hardware is not the problem. The live CDs could not possibly have run if the hardware was not supported. (That is one of the beauties of the live CDs - they let you explore compatibility before you install). If the live CDs would not run, you may have some unusual piece of hardware for which we can try to locate a driver.

So I installed an annciiiieennt XP, which is a lot more gracious about my 1.5GB RAM than Vista was.

If you have a working XP installation, that is good! You can install Linux alongside XP, and have the best of both worlds.

I really want to move to Linux, honest, but it took me long enough to find an driver for my sound card that worked with XP once I'd reformatted the drive. Plus I can't tell the difference between them.

I don't understand. You can't tell a difference between XP and what?

It's kind of unusual to encounter hardware these days for which there is not a Linux driver. Let us know what hardware you have, and we'll see what can be done.

 

[oliver92]

Did the installation program crash, or did you just lack drivers for your particular hardware? What hardware are we talking about? What kind of computer is this?

Booting from the hard drive gave me the Vista-error that said I needed to reinstall it (it was a factory-packaged PC and if I ever had the Vista disc I don't any more), so I opted to boot from the CD drive from the bios, in which was the live CD I'd burned at an internet café. After reading the live CD it just refused to do anything with it. I used the XP cd similarly but the XP cd worked. It may be that the hardware wouldn't support booting the linux cd, it was a runofthemill package PC that was probably never created to have its OS ripped out.

If you have a working XP installation, that is good! You can install Linux alongside XP, and have the best of both worlds.

It is good! I am abstractly planning to do something like this soon! Although I am quite enjoying XP and feel no particular rush to migrate.

I don't understand. You can't tell a difference between XP and what?

It's kind of unusual to encounter hardware these days for which there is not a Linux driver. Let us know what hardware you have, and we'll see what can be done.

Oh I didn't make it very clear, I meant I couldn't tell the difference or decide between the different linux distros. (I've had a similar problem with choosing a programming language but that's for another forum )

I'm not too worried about, it was the soundcard that took some hunting for but everything else plugged and played. Thanks for the offer of help.

 

[Purplebic]

If youre having trouble simply installing ubuntu, using it won't be any easier

And be careful where you let the installer put your bootloader, the first time it tried to put grub to /sda when it should have been /sda1 (if you do want a blank screen on bootup).

 

[Ambrocious]

I downloaded and dual booted Ubuntu 10.10 with my already installed Windows 7. I was surprised to see that it found my wireless usb connection and it began working right off the bat, the previous versions of Ubuntu DID NOT DO THIS, nor would it even work (the wireless usb connection).

I am having a few problems that are annoying me to no end:

Every time I do anything that involves multitasking, my mouse freezes up. I could have Firefox open and attempt to play a song and BAM! my mouse freezes up. Playing music and movies especially causes my mouse to freeze up pretty much instantly, my keyboard still works though.

It also refuses to update and it tells me this:

The action would require the installation of packages from not authenticated sources.

Im a noob to Ubuntu pretty much and I have ALWAYS ran into some issue that detoured me away from it. Maybe if I got a mentor I'd use it. It looks really nice but the constant issues I am having (freezes, refusal to update because the packages are supposedly not authentic, sound only comes out of 2 of my speakers).

Does Ubuntu get it's updates from authentic servers and if not, why they heck not?
More importantly, how do I allow it to update anyways, regardless that it tells me that it's not authenticated?

T-Rexx, can I ask you to be my tutor please?

 

[T-Rexx]

I am having a few problems that are annoying me to no end:

Every time I do anything that involves multitasking, my mouse freezes up.

I had not heard of that issue, but I googled. As best as I can tell, it seems to be a problem mostly with some Dell computers. It seems to be a bug in the video driver for some video chipsets.

I will try to find a workaround. What computer and what video display card/chipset are you using? What kind of mouse?

When you installed Ubuntu, did you install any proprietary video drivers? (Ubuntu will inform you of the presence of any such drivers, and offer to let you install them if you want - it does not happen without your intervention).

It also refuses to update and it tells me this:

"The action would require the installation of packages from not authenticated sources."

Does Ubuntu get it's updates from authentic servers and if not, why they heck not?
More importantly, how do I allow it to update anyways, regardless that it tells me that it's not authenticated?

Yes, Ubuntu gets its packages from authenticated sources, of course. In fact, that is the problem. Ubuntu needs to authenticate a software source, and something is preventing it from obtaining a GPG key. The easiest thing to do is just to install without verification. It's not that unsafe, since Ubuntu will only go to secure repositories, anyway. You just aren't verifying that fact. (By comparison, software installation in Windows is almost never done securely).

Alternatively, there are ways to obtain and verify a GPG key manually, if necessary.

T-Rexx, can I ask you to be my tutor please?

You are very kind. But I know almost nothing about Linux or computers, so I would not make a very good tutor. Also, I do not expect I will be able to come here much longer. But there are many good people here who know much more than I do, who will help you. JUB can be your tutor!

 

[Ambrocious]

I CAN'T install without authentication, it just wont let me.

By the way I don't have a Dell, my computer is custom Built. Windows 7 has had no problems at all with finding everything on my computer and downloading the updates. My graphics driver (it already updated the first go around when it was installing, good thing for that I suppose). My mouse doesn't freeze unless I start to do more than one thing. I could be o Ubuntu for like 30 min just surfing the web and no freezes...until I open up a video on my PC it's self or open up some music or try to update or pretty much try to do anything else.