Ubuntu

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:39 am

I am feeling pleased with myself. I have a trial CD with ubuntu on it and have successfully managed to boot my computer from it. Like the look of it so far may be my imagination but it seems a lot sharper than windows. I'll have to replace my computer soon I think and I have promised myself this year I am going to build myself a computer and run linux on it depnding on how this trial goes and whether I have the funds. need to be ure i can get the printer and scanner working etc etc.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:48 am

gmc;1415886 wrote: I am feeling pleased with myself. I have a trial CD with ubuntu on it and have successfully managed to boot my computer from it. Like the look of it so far may be my imagination but it seems a lot sharper than windows. I'll have to replace my computer soon I think and I have promised myself this year I am going to build myself a computer and run linux on it depnding on how this trial goes and whether I have the funds. need to be ure i can get the printer and scanner working etc etc.

I must admit I prefer Ubuntu without the Unity interface stuck on top of it but yes, far and away better than Windows.

Most printers are plug and play through CUPS. I'm running a Samsung laser that did require me to download a driver but, once loaded, it runs fine.

I've run into a bit more of a problem with the scanner I bought over Christmas though. It appears that there is a bug with this specific model and they're still working on the fix so it is worth doing a quick google on "model no, Ubuntu" and seeing if anything comes up.

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:06 pm

I like Ubuntu.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:12 pm

Good for you, gmc. If you need any assistance there are plenty of us here who can.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:15 pm

I have been dabbling in Linux for some time now.

There are lists and help all over the place for compatible hardware.

The latest are not always the best for begginers, visit a few Linux forums to see what is best for you.

I am using Cinnamon Mint a variation on Ubuntu at the moment.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:44 am

Thanks for that. I am gping to take spme time to pl;ay around with it see if i can get printers etc working. No point asking quetions till I know what i need to ask. Find myself looking at wiondows 8 thinking I can't be bothered with it.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:20 pm

gmc;1416025 wrote: Thanks for that. I am gping to take spme time to pl;ay around with it see if i can get printers etc working. No point asking quetions till I know what i need to ask. Find myself looking at wiondows 8 thinking I can't be bothered with it.

Feel free to ask any questions you need to - there's a lot of experience in the Garden to call on.

Windows8 is designed for those who want to integrate 'phone, tablet and desktop into a seamless computer experience. I do not know whether it will eventually succeed or not but, for a stand alone computer of any form, I cannot see the benefit.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:24 pm

This month's Linux format has mint as the free CD so I'm going to have a look at that as well. I can't see the point of widows 8 either. I'm atypical though. My Â£15 phone has 20 days stand by time and 19 hours talk time so I don't have the damn thing's battery going flat halfway through the day and I bought myself a small digital camera with what I saved.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:31 pm

Has anybody ever used the linux format discs? It has a folder that says install on it an I assume if i follow the instructions it will partition the disc and so on, is that so? Being a bit lazy, haven't signed up to any linux forums yet.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:38 pm

gmc;1416247 wrote: Has anybody ever used the linux format discs? It has a folder that says install on it an I assume if i follow the instructions it will partition the disc and so on, is that so? Being a bit lazy, haven't signed up to any linux forums yet.What discs? Can you supply a link to where you found them so I can look at exactly what you're referring to?

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:25 pm

gmc;1416247 wrote: Has anybody ever used the linux format discs? It has a folder that says install on it an I assume if i follow the instructions it will partition the disc and so on, is that so? Being a bit lazy, haven't signed up to any linux forums yet.
Many of the Linux variations will install from boot.

They will ask what you want, to keep the Operating System you have already, wipe it and install the new one, or if you want it to be installed beside your old OS.

I would suggest installing the one of your choice side by side with whatever you are currently using, weaning yourself off the old one, and when you get comfortable with the new one. That way you can download and try several until you find one that suits you.

Some can be trialed as 'Live CDs' meaning you just test them by booting into them, but they don't install, you can actually test the feel of them without interferring with your PC, the problem being they will be sloooow to use that way.

I am no expert believe me, but have never had major problems mucking about with Linux.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:37 pm

Ahso!;1416252 wrote: What discs? Can you supply a link to where you found them so I can look at exactly what you're referring to?

It's a british computer magazine

http://www.linuxformat.com/

Each month they have a free DVD (well not really free the magazine is pretty expensive). with various software including quite often linux distros. This month it's mint the one I have is ubuntu 12.04. There are user forums I can go on to but i was wondering if anybody had used one of them. I was a bit put off with linux forums - I used to play around with mandrake and asked for help - there were too many RTFM clever dicks that couldn't or wouldn't answer a straight question. I was having trouble getting the monitor to work in mandrake which made it rather difficult to RTFM. Patronising bastards basically. Did get it sorted eventually

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:50 pm

Ah! I don't know. As Bruv said the formatting will occur when you decide to install instead of running off the live-cd. I haven't used anything other than Ubuntu now for several years, so I can't comment on Mint.

How did the hardware go with the Ubuntu cd you were trying? Everything always works out of the box for me. I started using Ubuntu when it first came out and it took work to get things working back then, but now it's all pretty seamless.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:51 pm

OOh it might be banned in your country

Linux Format censored over 'Learn to Hack' feature | bit-tech.net

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:53 pm

Ahso!;1416257 wrote: Ah! I don't know. As Bruv said the formatting will occur when you decide to install instead of running off the live-cd. I haven't used anything other than Ubuntu now for several years, so I can't comment on Mint.

How did the hardware go with the Ubuntu cd you were trying? Everything always works out of the box for me. I started using Ubuntu when it first came out and it took work to get things working back then, but now it's all pretty seamless.

From the live CD it's not picking up my printer or scanner and I was assuming I need to actually install it. haven't had much time to play with it yet.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:54 pm

gmc;1416259 wrote: From the lice CD it's not picking up my printer or scanner and I was assuming I need to actually install it. haven't had much time to play with it yet.Just for the heck of it, you might want to go to Ubuntu's site and download the cd from there. That one will be pure for sure.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:03 pm

If you have a DVD burner on your PC, take look around and burn some disks yourself.

Many can be trialed before install.

Try a Linux chooser, there are several around Here and Here

I think the Ubuntu 12.04 is the other one on this PC...............I don't like it, but that is just me.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:43 pm

Bruv;1416261 wrote: If you have a DVD burner on your PC, take look around and burn some disks yourself.

Many can be trialed before install.

Try a Linux chooser, there are several around Here and Here

I think the Ubuntu 12.04 is the other one on this PC...............I don't like it, but that is just me.

It's a live cd and I have been running it successfully using the internet, e-mail. I can install it from the cd. I do have a cd burner as well. I need my computer functional I'm just loathe, at the moment, to risk it till I'm sure i know what I am doing.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:18 pm

Then dual boot it.

When you start up you get the choice of booting into Windows or Ubuntu, you can visit Windows for your emails or whatever important program you need, then reboot into Ubuntu.

Most Linux variations I have tried give a dual boot option when installing, if it doesn't, don't install it, I still haven't got right away from Windows

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:30 pm

Bruv;1416478 wrote: Then dual boot it.

When you start up you get the choice of booting into Windows or Ubuntu, you can visit Windows for your emails or whatever important program you need, then reboot into Ubuntu.

Most Linux variations I have tried give a dual boot option when installing, if it doesn't, don't install it, I still haven't got right away from Windows

I intend to, I'm going to get hold of mint as well, I used to use a computer a lot, paperless office and all that jazz, but generally once I get it doing what I want I tend to lose interest. I look at windows 8 and can't for the life of me see any advantage to it. I suspect many upgrade without really thinking about it because they have been conditioned in to buying the latest windows machine. Same with phones, guy in the orange shop couldn't get over me having a five year old phone

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:52 pm

gmc;1416483 wrote: I intend to, I'm going to get hold of mint as well, I used to use a computer a lot, paperless office and all that jazz, but generally once I get it doing what I want I tend to lose interest. I look at windows 8 and can't for the life of me see any advantage to it. I suspect many upgrade without really thinking about it because they have been conditioned in to buying the latest windows machine. Same with phones, guy in the orange shop couldn't get over me having a five year old phone

If you're going to try Ubuntu in anger it would be worth downloading the latest release, 12.10 from :-

Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal)

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:18 pm

What has been the feedback on the latest ?

I know sometimes they are a bit buggy, better to wait a while and get some others to test it, especially if you are a newbie

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:24 pm

I usually upgrade as soon as the newest version comes out but I didn't this time. 12.04 works just fine for me and it's a long term release.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:25 pm

Bruv;1416512 wrote: What has been the feedback on the latest ?

I know sometimes they are a bit buggy, better to wait a while and get some others to test it, especially if you are a newbie

12.04 is the Long Term Support release but I've been running 12.10 since November and they've cleaned up some of the edges brought out in the feedback and it feels better.

As I said previously, I dislike the Unity interface and use Gnome-Panel to re-install the classic interface. This is definitely better implemented under 12.10

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:35 pm

Got mint now as well. I;m going to try installing them so i can trial them properly. If you don't hear from me for some time you'll know I am in deep **** with my computer.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:39 pm

I upgraded to 12.10 a couple of days ago. There are more messaging features, but that's about all for users that like simplicity.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:46 pm

Quite like mint. My previous experimemnts with linux were disappointing tio say the least, mind you that was with mandrake which is french so maybe that was why.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 11:55 am

Anyone tried Manjero?

Have you guys g-had experience getting scanners and printers to work in linux? I use a lexmark scanner and a kodak printer :exmark don't seem to work with lonus - or didn't anyway.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:04 pm

gmc;1418354 wrote: Anyone tried Manjero?

Have you guys g-had experience getting scanners and printers to work in linux? I use a lexmark scanner and a kodak printer :exmark don't seem to work with lonus - or didn't anyway.

*Cough* You keyboards having some trouble too ?

Never heard of Manjero, Im off now to have a look.

I use a HP Photosmart combined scanner and printer, it worked out of the box with Mint.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:58 pm

Bruv;1418355 wrote: *Cough* You keyboards having some trouble too ?

Never heard of Manjero, Im off now to have a look.

I use a HP Photosmart combined scanner and printer, it worked out of the box with Mint.

I can spell I can type I just can't do both at ob=nce sopmetimes.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 1:16 pm

Manjero developed from Arch is more for experienced users it says, me personally would tackle it gingerly

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 1:29 pm

I took a look at the Mint website. Looks nice though I'm skeptical about KDE and Xfce. I've had problematic experiences with both in the past. It may have been me though and it was a long time ago on older systems. KDE is a pretty demanding flavor.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 3:31 pm

Seriously upset at the moment. My computer collapsed with a corrupted SSD and I've no idea whether it was the SSD or Ubuntu that did it.

Drive shows OK on the SMART test but would not benchmark and assess to it when I booted from a usb stick was sporadic.

Working OK now I've reformatted it so it was nothing physical but not knowing the cause I don't really trust the machine any more.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:12 pm

Bruv;1418367 wrote: Manjero developed from Arch is more for experienced users it says, me personally would tackle it gingerly

The blurb that came with it says they have been working to make it suitable for both beginners and experienced users doesn't say anything about numpties so I think I;ll heed your advice and start with ubuntu and mint first to see how I get on. So far just tried them off the DVD none of them pick up my printer or scanner.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:25 pm

Yes I agree....best to ignore Bryn with all that technical stuff (sounds like a drunken glaswegian at hogmanay....didn't understand a word)

If you are brave enough, install to a small partition, or better still just install as they advise but sharing with what you have already.

It may recognise your printer and scanner when it knows you really want it.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:36 pm

gmc;1418392 wrote: The blurb that came with it says they have been working to make it suitable for both beginners and experienced users doesn't say anything about numpties so I think I;ll heed your advice and start with ubuntu and mint first to see how I get on. So far just tried them off the DVD none of them pick up my printer or scanner.

What models are they - I'll look round.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:05 pm

The Mint website says some hardware will not work off the live-cd.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:15 pm

Bryn Mawr;1418397 wrote: What models are they - I'll look round.

Lexmark and Kodak.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:04 pm

gmc;1418862 wrote: Lexmark and Kodak.

They're brands, I'd need the model numbers.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:38 am

Bryn Mawr;1419015 wrote: They're brands, I'd need the model numbers.

lexmark x8300, kodak ESP C315

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:29 pm

gmc;1419046 wrote: lexmark x8300, kodak ESP C315

There's a driver for the Kodak on Sourceforge :-

CUPS driver / SANE backend for kodak Aio - Browse Files at SourceForge.net

but no driver exists for the Lexmark.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:42 pm

Bryn Mawr;1419103 wrote: There's a driver for the Kodak on Sourceforge :-

CUPS driver / SANE backend for kodak Aio - Browse Files at SourceForge.net

but no driver exists for the Lexmark.

Thanks for that. Both machines are scanners but the lexmark is a multi page one so long as I can get on working that's fine. Still plucking up the courage to install it on my computer. I've dual booted before but that was ages ago.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:37 pm

gmc;1419110 wrote: Thanks for that. Both machines are scanners but the lexmark is a multi page one so long as I can get on working that's fine. Still plucking up the courage to install it on my computer. I've dual booted before but that was ages ago.

You wont know till you try

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 2:34 am

Anybody ever used the ubuntu windows installer? I'm just sussing out how to partition my hard drive. I kniw it's easy in theiry but Il;ve never tried it bofore previous installation of ubuntu did it for me automatically.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:54 am

You are looking to install Windows on a machine that has Ubuntu already installed?

If I recall correctly, you'll loose GRUB and the ability to log into Ubuntu after Windows installs. You'll need to recover GRUB with the livecd afterwards.

grub2 - How to install Windows 7 after Ubuntu and dual boot? - Ask Ubuntu

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:55 am

Ahso!;1421670 wrote: You are looking to install Windows on a machine that has Ubuntu already installed?

If I recall correctly, you'll loose GRUB and the ability to log into Ubuntu after Windows installs. You'll need to recover GRUB with the livecd afterwards.

grub2 - How to install Windows 7 after Ubuntu and dual boot? - Ask Ubuntu

I want to run it alongside windows xp. The cd I got from linux format gives me a choice of erase windows altogether or do something else. which is different from what ubuntu say it should be, I am assuming i need to partition my hard drive which I was getting ready to try and noticed ubuntu had a thing called windows installer you could download, just wondered if anyone had tried it.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:38 am

When I have done the same as you, the installation recognises what is on the disc already and gives options.

You can partition manually, wipe and install to the full disc, or to share the disk, split as recommended.

I alway opted for the split they advise, on the bases they know better than me....................mainlt cos I don't know a lot.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 12:41 pm

Bruv;1421698 wrote: When I have done the same as you, the installation recognises what is on the disc already and gives options.

You can partition manually, wipe and install to the full disc, or to share the disk, split as recommended.

I alway opted for the split they advise, on the bases they know better than me....................mainlt cos I don't know a lot.

It's maybe the linux forma disc that's not offering. I might just burn one for myself

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 2:11 pm

gmc;1421696 wrote: I want to run it alongside windows xp. The cd I got from linux format gives me a choice of erase windows altogether or do something else. which is different from what ubuntu say it should be, I am assuming i need to partition my hard drive which I was getting ready to try and noticed ubuntu had a thing called windows installer you could download, just wondered if anyone had tried it.

Then check that you have enough contiguous free space to make into a new partition for Ubuntu to load into.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:32 pm

gmc;1421699 wrote: It's maybe the linux forma disc that's not offering. I might just burn one for myself
I haven't installed anything lately, and the details always slip from my brain of what exactly happens, so I can't relay them to you from memory.

I did go through an experimental period when I was downloading and trying different versions, sometimes as Live CDs, sometimes directly to various old knackered PCs.

Compared to Windows the process is as easy as falling off a log.

This PC has two versions of Ubuntu on it, when I installed the second version, the installation process told me what it needed to do to get where it is now......and I just followed its advice.

Linux has become much less elitist, you can now ask silly questions and get proper answers on the forums.