DISQUS

doogald · 4 weeks ago

That's funny, I just spend a few days running Ubuntu on a 4 yr old Dell notebook and found it pretty good. Considering that it is 4 years old, with 512k RAM and a 40 GB hard disk, it really ran things well - I thought better than XP on the same machine. However, one thing that was particularly easy was installing new apps. I found it far easier than Windows, really; there is an app that lists a bunch of available apps in many categories - an app catalog, if you will - that is searchable and it's as simple as clicking the ones that you want and clicking Ok, and then the apps are installed.

I can only imagine that the next version will be better.

Zealot · 4 weeks ago

A lot of the problem was connected to people not being used to or understanding the repository system (even with more user friendly GUIs) and just not knowing how to find apps to do what they wanted. Every app on the lists seem to be things like PERL Code Compilers and what not.

Even Ubuntu has to go further to make the OS comfy for the non-technical, or they will lose out again.

Pony99CA · 4 weeks ago

Installing software is one thing, but even my barely-computer-literate wife can use my Asus Eee PC with Linux (although she doesn't really like Firefox).

Steve

dansus · 4 weeks ago

All very nice but pointless until manufactures offer driver support.

Pony99CA · 4 weeks ago

Driver support for what? Netbooks aren't meant to have tons of peripherals strung off of them. About the only thing I might attach to my netbook (besides flash drives) would be a DVD player/burner.

Steve

Queixa · 4 weeks ago

The only thing I've found that wasn't already supported in Ubuntu was my Linksys USB wireless network dongle that I'm using on my desktop computer. I installed the ndisgtk software, downloaded the driver from the linksys site, extracted the driver from what I had downloaded, started the ndisgtk software, and pointed it to the driver file. Once I learned how Ubuntu handles something like this, it took me less than five minutes.

Generally, when I've run into problems, it's been because I was trying to do things the Windows way. I have had to learn how Ubuntu works. But when I went from Win3.1 to Win95, I had to learn how Win95 worked. Had to learn how Win 2000 worked. Had to learn how WinXP worked. And, unfortunately, had to learn how Vista worked. And probably sometime in the near future, I'll have to learn how Win7 works. That's what happens when you switch systems, If I were not willing to learn new systems, I'd still be sitting around in DOS.

Queixa · 4 weeks ago

"needing to jump through code hoops to install"

I don't know what you're talking about there. Installing software in Ubuntu is easier than installing software in Windows, and you don't have to jump through code hoops. After you're connected to the Internet, you go to any of the different software manager options -- you can pick which one you like best. You chose the program you want to install. You mark it for installation. You hit the Apply button. You relax for a few minutes, maybe play some Solitare. Then, magically and without any code hoops at all, your software is installed. No punching in 23-character-long codes to unlock the license (which is VERY difficult for me, being somewhat dyslexic). Generally no 6-page-long license agreement that you're supposed to actually read and have to scroll through and agree to. I just started with Ubuntu this past spring, and I was amazed at how much easier pretty much everything is with Ubuntu.

Oh, and with Ubuntu, you don't have to research to find out what spyware, adware, or whatever you're installing.