Ubuntu!!!!

I've been using Ubuntu since Ubuntu 5.04 (released in 2005) and I love it!

 

11.04 a great release but Unity is going to need work. I still prefer Mint running a light weight GUI called Fluxbox.

 

Flux ROCKS! I've used it in the past. Also used OpenBox and LXDE.

I don't like Unity, it's place is on netbooks not desktops in my opinion. The sad part is that GNOME 3 will be moving to a similar shell (gnome-shell) so some of us will be migrating to something else - possibly back to fluxbox.

 

Sorry guys Open Suse is the way forward!! Much better UI and better integration with the KDE interface!!

Have got Ubuntu netbook remix running on a small DELL lappy, and that's pretty smart and my 9 year old sons' pc is running Edubuntu.

Back to the OPs' question:

sudo apt-get install gimp (image editor)

sudo apt-get install thunderbird (Mail client)

sudo apt-get install gtkpod (ipod manager)

Also ditch open office for LibreOffice - Oracle are in a right mess with it!

 

PCLinuxOS
PCLinuxOS-Forums - Index

Radically Simple.
The Distro Hopper Stopper.

The nicest Linux forum in the world. Absolutely no n00b bashing. Actually refered to as New Friends not "n00bs".

 

If I had more time, I would give you a whole list of things I normally do on my new installs, but since time is short and you seem to be relatively new to the Ubuntu world, I'd recommend this Try this instead it's basically a customised version of Ubuntu that comes with most of the common tweaks and programs installed.

It's targeted towards newbies, but I actually find myself using it myself, due to the fact that by the time I take my standard Ubuntu install and set up all my customisations, it's pretty similar to what this has. So these day's I just start from this, and spend 5 min changing a few things and I'm good to go.

 

Note: you will be prompted for your own password, not the root (admin) user's password. sudo does two things: it authenticates to make sure that you're you, and then it checks to see if you have the proper privileges to do what you're trying to do.

Out of the box I think Ubuntu doesn't have a root password (which means you can't login as root and you can't use su to change to root). Because of sudo you shouldn't need to set one, unless you're doing heavy lifting (configuring Apache comes to mind). To do that, go here:
CLUG Wiki - How do I reset my root password?

No matter what you need, never ever ever allow root to login...not to the GUI and especially NEVER to ssh. Use sudo wherever possible, and su when you have to.

 

Since upgrading my system to the 2nd generation i3 CPU and SandyBridge based mainboard my video in Linux (tried Mint and Ubuntu) is really choppy. I know it will get fixed however, it'll be W7Pro until then.

I've used linux a lot in the past 12 years. As a power user, not an admin (eg; configuring servers, etc) and as a desktop linux is excellent compared to what it used to be. I remember installing Redhat 4.2 (circa 1998) and wondering why would anyone use this as a desktop. About the first time (for me) that linux was fully functional, meaning hardware and apps was Mandrake 7 (circa 2002). I used it at work and home. I skipped the Vista era altogether (2nd to ME; the worst OS MS has ever released) and as good as XP was I still preferred Mandrake. Once W7 came out the ballgame changed. I don't carry over what MS used to be, I see what they have now and W7 is the best OS they have every released.

 

I use W7 with a Pentium Dual Core E2140. Soon to be upgareding to i5 661. I use Ubuntu 11.04 in Windows Virtual PC. It is pretty good and I use it sometimes for browsing. It is very good but not enough to change my using Windows.

 

Does this include 11.04 (Natty Narwhal)? I thought this was supposed to be fixed. I was thinking of building an Ubuntu only Sandy Bridge system, but not if the iGPU doesn't work right.

 

I have the i3-2100 (3.1GHz) CPU and Asus P8H61 mainboard. I tried Ubuntu 11.04 and Mint 10.

1. on-board LAN was not supported in Mint 10.
2. video in 11.04 (which detected the NIC) things were laggy.

I know things will get sorted but for now I'm happy with W7Pro.

 

This seems interesting to me. Can somebody point me to something that explains this stuff as if I was like 12?

 

Introduction to Linux This may help.

 

Unfortunately, Sandy Bridge is not supported. It has been promised in an upcoming kernel release (not necessarily the next one, but soon).

I have to say, I hate Unity. It is just counterproductive (at least for me). The interface seems too simple. I was perfectly happy with Gnome 2.x. Then again, Unity is not bad...it is actually very good from what I have seen. Just not my style.

-Nkk

 

Damn. Oh well, probably better for my wallet anyway.

No offense, but now I'm really optimistic. I've always hated Gnome; I don't know how to explain it but I've always hated it. I used to always get the Kubuntu distributions because I couldn't stand Gnome (and I wasn't particularly in love with KDE either). Part of it may be my work experience on a stripped-out Army-approved version of RHEL 4 (bear in mind, we were using that in 2008-2009). That's how I got hooked on OSX; it has the command line and overall power of Unix but a GUI that I could live with and eventually came to like. But now I'm tired of paying the Apple tax, not just for lax hardware but for the accessories, too. $30 for an adapter to plug in an external monitor (and having to buy another one every time you buy a new Macbook, because they change the port)? $80 for a second power cable? FU, Steve.

 

Mint 11 will not include Unity. Thank the Developers!

 

No offense taken whatsoever...that is the amazing thing about linux. Two people can run the same (base) OS and have it operate in vastly different ways depending on their workflow and preferences.

As I said, Unity was what I would call nice, not efficient. In Gnome, I had my widgets that notified me of whatever I needed, and I just enjoyed the very upfront look of it (non-animated menus (KDE ) were a big hit for me). This is the same problem I fear I will have with Gnome 3, but I have not actually tried it (Fedora downloading now...) so it is early to say. So...I guess I may have been a bit strong in my first post. I could use unity if I had to, but it is not my preference.

Nkk

 

You can count me in with those who think that Unity is a mess. I much favor Mint main edition over any other distro, and Gnome 2 over any other desktop environment. That said, with Gnome basically abandoning Gnome 2 (no the "classic" desktop in Gnome 3 is not close to being the same thing), and ubuntu moving to unity, I currently find myself in a bit of a lurch.

For me, If unity continues the way it is going, I will not be adopting it. A ton of suggestions have been made. Lets see how many are accepted and worked in. Personally I would suggest that they allow the Launcher (ie, the dock) to be unstuck from the left hand side and placed wherever the user wants it. also when opening the main menu, it would be nice to see categories or all my apps. instead what you see is a limited selection of apps and a bunch of suggestions of stuff to install? who thought that up? I don't want to be advertised apps by basic operating system functions. In a very un-linux way, unity is not terribly customizable, and I really hate that. On the plus side, I love the floating scrollbars and think that they out-did even apple with the global menus (brilliant!).

Don't get me started on Gnome 3. Boy what a mess that is. Sure, it is much pretier than Unity, but it too is unecessarily rigid and overly complex, for no apparent reason (other than to provide eye candy that is). I do like their approach to the apps drawer (a format Ubuntu should consider adopting) As well as the integrated search and notification features. whoever came up with the idea of getting rid of max and min buttons should be taken out back and drop kicked. Don't get me wrong, activating the feature by dragging and dropping windows to the edge is fine, but if you aren't going to use the space for buttons, than why is there a giant chunk of unused frame at the top of every window?

Meh.

IMHO Mint does the UI better than anyone, especially once you apply a few personal mods.

That said, come this fall, when Ubuntu drops gnome2 entirely, mint will need to have a valid replacement. at this point, I don't think Xfce is it, but f worse comes to worse I might be adopting it. Maybe the will have worked the bugs out of LMDX by then.

 

I just run Fluxbox on Mint. Super light weight WM (window manager) with no fluff. Just like an AOSP build No frames around the window and the top of each window is very short in height meaning more desktop real estate. I've used FB for about, 10 years now

right click on any part of the desktop gives you the Menu with links to app, utilies, etc. good example of what Fluxbox looks like:

 

+10000

-Nkk