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Any Linux Users Here?
- Thread starter Matthew Schenker
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Matthew Schenker
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Bru,
I think you'll like Kubuntu. It uses the KDE desktop, which offers much more customization. I am running Hardy Heron alpha 4 on my laptop, which I also use for experimenting. So far, it is very stable. Lots of great new features in 8.04. In my opinion, once you start using KDE, it's difficult to go back to Gnome. Of course, there are intense debates online about "Gnome versus KDE"! It all comes down to opinion. And as I mentioned, Ubuntu (Gnome) seems to offer better wireless support.
I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about Kubuntu.
Also, have you tried out the other KDE releases? MEPIS and PCLinuxOS are the most widely used ones, I believe, if you go by what's displayed on the Distrowatch page. There is also Mint, but that is actually a derivative of Kubuntu, which I don't really understand.
Matt
I think you'll like Kubuntu. It uses the KDE desktop, which offers much more customization. I am running Hardy Heron alpha 4 on my laptop, which I also use for experimenting. So far, it is very stable. Lots of great new features in 8.04. In my opinion, once you start using KDE, it's difficult to go back to Gnome. Of course, there are intense debates online about "Gnome versus KDE"! It all comes down to opinion. And as I mentioned, Ubuntu (Gnome) seems to offer better wireless support.
I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about Kubuntu.
Also, have you tried out the other KDE releases? MEPIS and PCLinuxOS are the most widely used ones, I believe, if you go by what's displayed on the Distrowatch page. There is also Mint, but that is actually a derivative of Kubuntu, which I don't really understand.
Matt
Played with Mint (liked it), PC Linux would not load (really screwed up with graphics),Mephis I liked didn't play with it very long. Have used Puppy Linux very basic. Kept returning to Ubuntu because I liked the set up, file system, and ease of use. Have tried 3-4 (Suse, Zenwalk,Sabayon,Knoppix)others, I'm not very good with terminal so backed away. Mint with Gnome seemed just like Ubuntu, Mepis with KDE I liked, tried it on a desktop. Had to reload Ubuntu for my granddaughter, she likes it better than Windows. I showed her a few things with Ubuntu and she swam like a fish. She likes her desktop at her grandpa's better then the windows laptop I gave her. I'm at 70% so I'll let you know in a few days how it is going. Bru
Boy its been a while since I played with KDE. I need to find my password book, have my wireless disabled. Having fun setting everything up. Love Amarok,K3b, Deluge, just to name a few. I need to set up Firefox the way I like it and my email. This should give me something to do.
First thing I did have to change was the splash art work and back round, the octopus blue screen was a little much. Thanks again I've been planning on trying Heron on the laptop anyway, the KDE just adds another level. Thanks Bru.
First thing I did have to change was the splash art work and back round, the octopus blue screen was a little much. Thanks again I've been planning on trying Heron on the laptop anyway, the KDE just adds another level. Thanks Bru.
Matthew Schenker
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Bru,
That's one of the things I like about Kubuntu -- all the ways you can customize it. I think Ubuntu has some advantages, but after using KDE, I was surprised to see how little one is able to change basic preferences and functions in Gnome. Sometimes, however, I wonder whether too much customization options can be a bad thing!
I am so impressed with all the great work that has been done by Linux developers. However, after three months of intense use in a Linux-only household, I must admit that I had to go back to having one computer running Vista. But I'm hoping that at some point in the near future I can really drop Vista altogether.
Keep reporting on what you see in KDE.
Matt
That's one of the things I like about Kubuntu -- all the ways you can customize it. I think Ubuntu has some advantages, but after using KDE, I was surprised to see how little one is able to change basic preferences and functions in Gnome. Sometimes, however, I wonder whether too much customization options can be a bad thing!
I am so impressed with all the great work that has been done by Linux developers. However, after three months of intense use in a Linux-only household, I must admit that I had to go back to having one computer running Vista. But I'm hoping that at some point in the near future I can really drop Vista altogether.
Keep reporting on what you see in KDE.
Matt
Mathew thought this might be a good link, was online pc mag.www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2256804,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03129TX1K0000625 Ubuntu Link to Wireless Network I'm so used to Gnome, KDE is like a new world lots to learn, a lot is similar. Bru
Matthew Schenker
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Bru,
Yes, I've seen that article. In the beginning, I had Ubuntu 7.10 installed on my laptop and wireless was not a problem. Then I switched to Kubuntu and really liked the whole design and all the customization options. But I was very unhappy about the lack of wireless support. I keep hoping that new releases will take care of the issue.
Matt
Yes, I've seen that article. In the beginning, I had Ubuntu 7.10 installed on my laptop and wireless was not a problem. Then I switched to Kubuntu and really liked the whole design and all the customization options. But I was very unhappy about the lack of wireless support. I keep hoping that new releases will take care of the issue.
Matt
Matthew I was wondering if you went with Ubuntu and then add the KDE environment to Gnome if that might give you your wireless and the KDE features you like? I'm really having a hard time getting into KDE, guess I'm getting to set in my ways. It just doesn't keep my interest the way it used to. Sorry I wasn't more help....Bru Been out in the shop to much lately, building storage and work benches. Remodeled the shop, one of those 2 week projects that you keep adding on to. Probably be done in another 3-4 weeks. Set up all new dust collection, new work bench with 12 drawers, new router table stand, storage and ext. table for TS, seems like you start with one or two projects and end up with 15 or 20.
Dave Ronyak
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Matthew Schenker said:Bru,
That's one of the things I like about Kubuntu -- all the ways you can customize it. ... Sometimes, however, I wonder whether too much customization options can be a bad thing!
Matt
Not Being a natural PC person, but one who was "forced" to self-learn to use one by my employer, and often very frustrated by Windows and MS' approach to different software, and especially MS Word (with its hidden formatting codes that generally are positioned after the text they are controlling), I wholly agree that too many customization options can be undesirable and arguably counterproductive. Too many options and too many ways of accomplishing the same PC tasks means that the underlying programs have to be larger. Eventually it becomes a time consuming challenge to find the right commands or even the right instructions to do various rather simple tasks. After >10 years with MS Word, I have yet to find it the equal of WordPerfect 5.1 running on DOS, and yet to find anything I need to do that the much older software could not do (faster and more reliably with fewer keystrokes).
Dave R.
Hey Matt,
Linux is awesome if you give yourself a few months to get to know the ins and outs of it (just like when a new windows version comes out). I particularly like KDE, but it is just a matter of preference as you try it out. Ubuntu is an awesome distribution...but no matter what you pick, you want to have online repositories. I may be dating myself here as the last time I touched Linux was a 2 years ago. I use to work for big blue doing Linux clusters, what an awesome feel of having 30 feet of server cabinets acting as one (simplicity speaking). Unfortunately I have relinquished my home Linux server and moved all my we hosting over to a domain hosting service.
May the force be with you.
--Jason
Linux is awesome if you give yourself a few months to get to know the ins and outs of it (just like when a new windows version comes out). I particularly like KDE, but it is just a matter of preference as you try it out. Ubuntu is an awesome distribution...but no matter what you pick, you want to have online repositories. I may be dating myself here as the last time I touched Linux was a 2 years ago. I use to work for big blue doing Linux clusters, what an awesome feel of having 30 feet of server cabinets acting as one (simplicity speaking). Unfortunately I have relinquished my home Linux server and moved all my we hosting over to a domain hosting service.
May the force be with you.
--Jason
Matthew Schenker
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Jason,
As I mentioned above, I really like the design and function of Linux, and I continue to use it on a mobile laptop. However, for my home computer, I recently had to make the difficult decision to return to Windows. The simple reason is that I could not get Linux to work with the new scanner and printer I installed in my home office. Also, I could never get wireless file sharing or printer sharing to work properly even with my old (Linux-compatible) printer.
It's too bad, really. But I will be keeping in touch with Linux developments, and using Linux on my laptop. As soon as they fix their driver issues, I will definitely re-adopt Linux full-time!
Matthew
As I mentioned above, I really like the design and function of Linux, and I continue to use it on a mobile laptop. However, for my home computer, I recently had to make the difficult decision to return to Windows. The simple reason is that I could not get Linux to work with the new scanner and printer I installed in my home office. Also, I could never get wireless file sharing or printer sharing to work properly even with my old (Linux-compatible) printer.
It's too bad, really. But I will be keeping in touch with Linux developments, and using Linux on my laptop. As soon as they fix their driver issues, I will definitely re-adopt Linux full-time!
Matthew
Matthew Schenker said:Jason,
As I mentioned above, I really like the design and function of Linux, and I continue to use it on a mobile laptop. However, for my home computer, I recently had to make the difficult decision to return to Windows. The simple reason is that I could not get Linux to work with the new scanner and printer I installed in my home office. Also, I could never get wireless file sharing or printer sharing to work properly even with my old (Linux-compatible) printer.
It's too bad, really. But I will be keeping in touch with Linux developments, and using Linux on my laptop. As soon as they fix their driver issues, I will definitely re-adopt Linux full-time!
Matthew
If your new scanner & printer is a combo unit; driver support is spotty with Linux but improving quickly as even more manufacturers are releasing Linux drivers. Wireless network card worked except for sharing files? Printer worked except for sharing over a network? Without more details; it sounds like you simply needed to setup Samba to get Windoze SMB/CIFS networking functioning.
Matthew Schenker
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Zaphod,
Yes, I was trying to use the HP 8180 all-in-one (a terrific printer, by the way). The funny thing is, I bought the HP because my previous printer was an HP 5200 and I was very impressed by how nicely it worked with Linux. HP seems to be one of the few manufacturers that makes their products compatible with Linux. Anyway, I checked the compatibility listings, and asked on the technical forums, and all evidence indicated that the HP 8180 is compatible. Well, scanning would not work. Drilling into arcane Linux documents revealed that the 8100 series is not 100% compatible. I installed and ran numerous tweaks and code to get it to scan, but absolutely nothing worked.
Regarding file sharing, also no luck. The irony is that it's easier to set up wireless file sharing if you have at least one Windows computer. I was running Linux on all my computers. I tried Samba, and so many other things I couldn't even list them all. I drilled into so many settings my head hurt. Still, file sharing would not work. What I learned is that getting Internet access from a network is not a problem because all you're doing is picking up a signal. File sharing requires a whole different set of requirements.
Bottom line: there are so many things I like about Linux, and I so wish I could run it full time. When I open Linux on my laptop, I really like how well it runs (quick startup and clean applications), the way it looks, and the repository system is amazing. I am very impressed with the variety of open-source applications available for Linux, and the ability to customize everything you want. The software itself, in my humble opinion, is superior to Windows.
The only problem is lack of hardware support. That's what forced me to return to Windows on my main computer. Believe me, I will re-install Linux in a moment when the hardware issues are resolved.
Matthew
Yes, I was trying to use the HP 8180 all-in-one (a terrific printer, by the way). The funny thing is, I bought the HP because my previous printer was an HP 5200 and I was very impressed by how nicely it worked with Linux. HP seems to be one of the few manufacturers that makes their products compatible with Linux. Anyway, I checked the compatibility listings, and asked on the technical forums, and all evidence indicated that the HP 8180 is compatible. Well, scanning would not work. Drilling into arcane Linux documents revealed that the 8100 series is not 100% compatible. I installed and ran numerous tweaks and code to get it to scan, but absolutely nothing worked.
Regarding file sharing, also no luck. The irony is that it's easier to set up wireless file sharing if you have at least one Windows computer. I was running Linux on all my computers. I tried Samba, and so many other things I couldn't even list them all. I drilled into so many settings my head hurt. Still, file sharing would not work. What I learned is that getting Internet access from a network is not a problem because all you're doing is picking up a signal. File sharing requires a whole different set of requirements.
Bottom line: there are so many things I like about Linux, and I so wish I could run it full time. When I open Linux on my laptop, I really like how well it runs (quick startup and clean applications), the way it looks, and the repository system is amazing. I am very impressed with the variety of open-source applications available for Linux, and the ability to customize everything you want. The software itself, in my humble opinion, is superior to Windows.
The only problem is lack of hardware support. That's what forced me to return to Windows on my main computer. Believe me, I will re-install Linux in a moment when the hardware issues are resolved.
Matthew
Matthew Schenker
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Zaphod said:Can you access shared Windoze folders from your Linux laptop? What about vice-versa?
Communication between a Windows computer and a Linux computer works. But communication between two Linux computers does not work.
Matthew
Do you mean NFS does not work across Linux machines ?
The documentation athttp://nfs.sourceforge.net/ might help you to set it up prop'ly.
The documentation athttp://nfs.sourceforge.net/ might help you to set it up prop'ly.
Matthew Schenker
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Good Morning,
Well, I'm not sure what was going on in my situation. But I'll tell you, I spent a lot of time going through documentation and asking questions on the Linux technical sites. Samba, NFS...couldn't get any of it to work for file or printer sharing.
It seems there are variations across the different distributions, with some of them doing a better job than others with network configuration. For example, it seems that a lot of people report different experiences with Kubuntu versus PCLinuxOS. I was using Kubnuntu, and I did not have enough time to look into other distributions. I'd be curious to know if someone has compared Kubuntu to PCLinuxOS or MEPIS (those are the distributions that I liked the most).
I was willing to live without file or printer sharing. What killed full-time Linux use for me was a lack of driver support. But every time I start up my Linux laptop, I wish driver support was not an issue, because I really like Linux.
Matthew
Well, I'm not sure what was going on in my situation. But I'll tell you, I spent a lot of time going through documentation and asking questions on the Linux technical sites. Samba, NFS...couldn't get any of it to work for file or printer sharing.
It seems there are variations across the different distributions, with some of them doing a better job than others with network configuration. For example, it seems that a lot of people report different experiences with Kubuntu versus PCLinuxOS. I was using Kubnuntu, and I did not have enough time to look into other distributions. I'd be curious to know if someone has compared Kubuntu to PCLinuxOS or MEPIS (those are the distributions that I liked the most).
I was willing to live without file or printer sharing. What killed full-time Linux use for me was a lack of driver support. But every time I start up my Linux laptop, I wish driver support was not an issue, because I really like Linux.
Matthew
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