6G Celicas Forums

just google your hardware before you install, like 99% of all network cards are supported, probably more like 99.9, but just google "ubuntu +graphicscardname" or something like that. set up a seperate partition to mess with it before you make the switch, or download it and run it from the live CD, although it will be slow running from just the CD, but it wont even touch your hard drive or make any changes. its set up pretty sweet. If you do decide to do the switch, i can try to help you out as much as possible

yes and no.

its kind of like asking "will my windows apps still work if i buy a mac?".

they will work only if they have a linux version of that same app. there is a linux version of firefox that comes preinstalled. instead of AIM you have pidgn (actually better then AIM) and instead of photshop you have Gimp. most of these basic apps come preinstalled with ubuntu, so you have something that will cover ever task.

your best bet is to download the iso and boot up from the live cd. this will just run the os off the cd drive without installing so that you can play around with it and see how you like it.

if your a total computer n00b, this probably is not for you. but if you know your way around windows, and want to try something cool, then youll probably like it .

http://www.ubuntu.com/





different distros support different hardware. best way to really know what works is to download the iso and run it as a live cd. youll know right away if your graphics, audio and networking drivers are all detected or not without even having to install the OS.

yeah that is true, but like i said i ran it for months, and i never really had a bad time with it, Wine (Windows Emulator) can run most stuff, like... WoW, Counter Strike, etc etc. ubuntu is really really popular, and for the most part if you have a question or having a problem, just typing that string into google will give you some walkthroughs on how to fix it.

btw lagos, none of that was directed at you it was more of a broad statement to anyone thinking about trying it. i need to get another pc up and running to just run that on

oh i know... i just wanted to point out the coolness of a live cd.

I guess I'll dig this old thread up from the grave.

I recently made the switch to ubuntu 7.10. The install was quick and painless. I had a old hard drive lying around so I didn't have to deal with the partition mess.

First impressions:

Annoying. I had a very hard time to get my modem to work, it required me to change to a older kernal version and that made a huge mess. I bought a new modem, and solved the problem.

Second impressions? :

Wow this OS is really shiny with lots of cool graphics. I maxed out the visual settings and had jiggly windows to play with. There was definitly a increase of performance because I no longer needed to run a antivirus scaner in the back ground.

Compiz install made things even more pretty. But its impractical, I guess i'm old school and can only deal with task on a 2d plane.

Getting drivers and new programs are easy. Just a simple line in the terminal would make it auto download and install software. How nice is that?

If you ever wanted to play a video, you can make ubuntu get the codec with out worries of installing adware or malware.

End impression:

Ubuntu is nice and fast if you are a avid websurfer. But majority of what i do is game and surf the web at the same time. For example I play a round of counter strike between checking email and searching the web.
When i am on ubuntu i would get bored because the lack of game support.

^ glad you kind of dig it.
Its best to think of it like a mac. You can do a lot of stuff on it, but if your a gamer, its probably not for you. Would be great on a laptop for secure web surfing, and low hardware requirements.

The new version of ubuntu is coming out next month!

Can you have a choice on which OS you'd like to run. I have XP right now. If I download this can I switch back and forth ?

yeah you can dual boot it. you'd just have to restart and select whichever one you want. just make sure to put linux on after XP

Yes. As long as you have windows installed on there first, ubuntu will ask you if you want to keep your windows install. It will then partition the drive in half and give you a boot loader so that you can pick what OS you want to run at start up.

Glad I found the thread. I think I will try and make the switch this weekend. I installed Debian on one of my computers a while ago, but never got it fully setup.

Do you require any additional programs to set it up on a wireless network or does it have everything built in?

You might need to download Ndiswrapper. It lets you use your windows based wifi drivers inside of linux. but it all depends on what wifi card you have.