Any Ubuntu Users?

[RoastedTiresX]

Any Ubuntu fanatics in this hizzy? I've been here for like... a week... mostly in hardware sections. I found this OS section and quickly realized just how many people use Vista. (insert sad face here). I'm on Vista as we speak, but only because it's my gaming OS and I'm about to hop on Ultima Online (classic) after I get this typed.

Who uses Ubuntu? If so, what version? What kind of things are you using Ubuntu for? I'd like to see what kind of interests some other people may have here.

I got started on Ubuntu based on sheer lack of logic. Basically, I built a computer several years ago... my first one... I was so excited, I completely forgot about an operating system. I remembered my cousin (big Linux fanatic) who told me about Ubuntu before. I went to my parent's computer, burned a LiveCD, came downstairs, installed it. I figured it'd be temporary, so I can at least get online a while until I got a copy of Windows. I learned more and more about Linux, Ubuntu, Open Source, etc... Now? I'm hooked. Completely hooked.

I boot to Vista to play games. When I'm done with a game, it's pretty much a habit to reboot back to Ubuntu for anything else... web browsing, office documents, multimedia, etc... It's my "happy place."

Anybody else?

 

[AMD_Gamer]

I used Ubuntu for a year on my old laptop then when i got my new one for school I have just used Vista64 since then. I plan to install Ubuntu and dual boot again here shortly.

 

[Archer75]

I can't use it. It just looks horrible and I haven't been lucky in making it look any better. Performance is no better than Vista x64.
Though this was all with a much older version. Ubuntu won't even install on my main system, not the past few versions. I heard it was something to do with my dual core cpu. But I haven't invested much time in it.
I also have OSX on here and do spend alot of time in that. But I still find I get better performance in Vista x64.
So really, linux offers me absolutely nothing but many lost hours figuring out how to do the things I want to do and then just using wine to run all the apps I use now(as I haven't found a native linux app that's worth a shit). So I can't see any reason to use it.

 

[tdg]

I use Kubuntu 8.10. I prefer KDE over Gnome these days, especially with KDE4 Kubuntu just looks spectacular.

 

[RoastedTiresX]

I can't use it. It just looks horrible and I haven't been lucky in making it look any better. Performance is no better than Vista x64.
Though this was all with a much older version. Ubuntu won't even install on my main system, not the past few versions. I heard it was something to do with my dual core cpu. But I haven't invested much time in it.
I also have OSX on here and do spend alot of time in that. But I still find I get better performance in Vista x64.
So really, linux offers me absolutely nothing but many lost hours figuring out how to do the things I want to do and then just using wine to run all the apps I use now(as I haven't found a native linux app that's worth a shit). So I can't see any reason to use it.

Really? Sorry to hear about your troubles. I've had issues here and there with Ubuntu, but it's no different than Vista. Vista 64 runs like ass unless you have 4 cores and 4 gig of RAM like I do. My laptop has 2 gig of RAM and a dual core and it runs awful. However, Vista on my desktop (again, a pretty beefy machine) runs decently.

And why in the world do you use wine for Windows apps? The majority of Linux native apps I've used are better than Windows.

Important Link:
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

Nero - K3B.
Nero = Decent program, runs nice, does what I need it to.
K3B = Faster, free, even kicks out MD5 sums of ISOs I burn.

MS Office - OpenOffice
MS Office = Overpriced by about 85%.
OpenOffice = Does the same thing. For free.

I don't mean to step on your toes, but if you ever try out Ubuntu again, please look at that link and try out some applications. I'm not trying to speak from a biased point of view, but I find I have much more luck with Open Source software (pretty much anything Linux offers) than closed source software offered by companies like Microsoft...

Also, I don't know why you had trouble with your Dual Core... Ubuntu has supported multi core platforms for quite some time now... I'm running a Quad Core currently and previous to this I was running a Dual Core for years. Sorry to hear about your trouble, BUT this is an area Ubuntu has support in.

And PS - Vista is sucking up 1.3 gb just to run firefox with 3 tabs and Pidgin instant messenger. Ubuntu is more streamlined, requires less RAM to offer worlds better graphic eye candy (Compiz Fusion - yeahhh!) than what Vista could ever dream of. This is true for my laptop as well as two of my desktops, in which all 3 have (or have had in the past) dual boot setups with Vista/Ubuntu. More comparably would be Ubuntu/XP than Ubuntu/Vista in terms of performance.

I hope you give it another shot some day. It really is a kickass OS. I do agree with you, the default theme though is so bland looking. Check out www.gnome-look.org. They have some sick themes there!

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Roasted/?action=view&current=Desktop1-1.png

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Roasted/?action=view&current=desktop4.png

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Roasted/?action=view&current=DesktopII-1.png

 

[Archer75]

Really? Sorry to hear about your troubles. I've had issues here and there with Ubuntu, but it's no different than Vista. Vista 64 runs like ass unless you have 4 cores and 4 gig of RAM like I do. My laptop has 2 gig of RAM and a dual core and it runs awful. However, Vista on my desktop (again, a pretty beefy machine) runs decently.

And why in the world do you use wine for Windows apps? The majority of Linux native apps I've used are better than Windows.

Important Link:
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

Nero - K3B.
Nero = Decent program, runs nice, does what I need it to.
K3B = Faster, free, even kicks out MD5 sums of ISOs I burn.

MS Office - OpenOffice
MS Office = Overpriced by about 85%.
OpenOffice = Does the same thing. For free.

I don't mean to step on your toes, but if you ever try out Ubuntu again, please look at that link and try out some applications. I'm not trying to speak from a biased point of view, but I find I have much more luck with Open Source software (pretty much anything Linux offers) than closed source software offered by companies like Microsoft...

Also, I don't know why you had trouble with your Dual Core... Ubuntu has supported multi core platforms for quite some time now... I'm running a Quad Core currently and previous to this I was running a Dual Core for years. Sorry to hear about your trouble, BUT this is an area Ubuntu has support in.

And PS - Vista is sucking up 1.3 gb just to run firefox with 3 tabs and Pidgin instant messenger. Ubuntu is more streamlined, requires less RAM to offer worlds better graphic eye candy (Compiz Fusion - yeahhh!) than what Vista could ever dream of. This is true for my laptop as well as two of my desktops, in which all 3 have (or have had in the past) dual boot setups with Vista/Ubuntu. More comparably would be Ubuntu/XP than Ubuntu/Vista in terms of performance.

I hope you give it another shot some day. It really is a kickass OS. I do agree with you, the default theme though is so bland looking. Check out www.gnome-look.org. They have some sick themes there!

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Roasted/?action=view&current=Desktop1-1.png

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Roasted/?action=view&current=desktop4.png

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Roasted/?action=view&current=DesktopII-1.png

My computer is 2+ years old, specs in sig. Runs Vista great.
I have a free copy of office so that's not an issue.
I don't even use Nero in windows so that's not an issue.

I haven't found any linux apps I like. Some people swear by amarok. I hate it. It's buggy and can't do what I do far more easily in itunes. So i'd have to use wine for that. I'm not happy with any linux personal finance apps, so again, wine. No good genealogy app for linux. My games of course, some I can get to run in linux but since I have a windows install why bother?

So I can see no reason to use linux. It doesn't offer me anything whatsoever over what I have in Windows or OSX.
I have been using linux off and on since 2000. I have several old boxed copies of SuSE and Mandrake. I had to deal with the days of no working winmodems and had to buy an external dial up modem to get around that. I have spent countless hours playing around with distros that don't even exist anymore.
I just can't see any reason to use Linux which will require me to dual boot for at least somethings when I could just stay in another OS and still have the performance and apps i'm after.

 

[RoastedTiresX]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. And uh *ahem* I happen to be one of those people you spoke about... you know, who loves Amarok? I also belong to the small group of people who swears that iTunes is atrocious. Nice layout, poor... "everything else."

But hey, whatever works for you man. I just prefer stability, security, freedom, and low costs. Er, no costs. (and this is coming from somebody who received a legit copy of Vista Ultimate for free)

EDIT - for future reference, my personal recommendation is to stay away from SuSE. I learned SuSE in a Linux class back in school. My gosh. I never wanted to stab myself in the temple so badly before.

EDIT AGAIN - Man. I suck. I didn't even see the Linux sub forum at the top of the page. Duuur.

 

[Gorankar]

I used to use it extensively in dual boot with Xp. After I built a new rig, I installed Vista and Unbuntu.
But, I game heavily, and found myself booting into Unbuntu less and less. Eventually I removed it since I was not using it anymore and wanted to reclaim the drive it was installed on.
Don't get me wrong, Unbuntu is a great distro imho. It's just that Vista was and is doing all I needed of it. Security is greatly improved in Vista over Xp with UAC, and IE being sand boxed. So, I felt no need to continue with the "Win for games, Unbuntu for every thing else" policy I used to adhere to. I do still try it out occasionally in a VM just to see what is new.

 

[kac77]

I haven't found any linux apps I like. Some people swear by amarok. I hate it. It's buggy and can't do what I do far more easily in itunes.

Huh? Okay I'm sorry but more buggy than iTunes? That's really laughable. Because of the way linux is Armarok runs about the same for everyone barring hardware. Version 1.46 is rock solid and farrrrr more robust than iTunes. It's not even debatable. I'm not talking out of my butt here. Amarok bolted to a MYSQL backend will run through your collection faster than any other music program out there. I used to use iTunes on my music collection which is about 80 Gigs. The main problem with iTunes is after a certain size the database falls to pieces. Sometimes music would be in the library. Other times it wouldn't. Sometimes I would have 28 days of music. Other times I would have 14. I'd reload music back by accident because I thought I didn't have the music in my library. Then I would have double entries of music in my library. The only way to solve the problem is reload the whole library all over again leaving out the dupes....yay!

There are things to fault linux for but playing music collections isn't one of them.

 

[Archer75]

Huh? Okay I'm sorry but more buggy than iTunes? That's really laughable. Because of the way linux is Armarok runs about the same for everyone barring hardware. Version 1.46 is rock solid and farrrrr more robust than iTunes. It's not even debatable. I'm not talking out of my butt here. Amarok bolted to a MYSQL backend will run through your collection faster than any other music program out there. I used to use iTunes on my music collection which is about 80 Gigs. The main problem with iTunes is after a certain size the database falls to pieces. Sometimes music would be in the library. Other times it wouldn't. Sometimes I would have 28 days of music. Other times I would have 14. I'd reload music back by accident because I thought I didn't have the music in my library. Then I would have double entries of music in my library. The only way to solve the problem is reload the whole library all over again leaving out the dupes....yay!

There are things to fault linux for but playing music collections isn't one of them.

By buggy, i'm not talking speed.

My music collection is 30gb. Itunes for me is fast and stable. Amarok would crash repeatedly. I couldn't use it. I'm not talking speed here. It crashed often.
Nor did I care for it's feature set and the GUI and fonts made it look like it was written by Mrs. Johnson's 5th grade class. I don't like it.

But mainly I use itunes for podcasts. In amarok you have to add the feed addresses one by one and it's a pain and the organization is bad too.
In itunes I merely have to search and click subscribe. It organizes them well and presents the info well.

 

[Pylon]

I dual boot Ubuntu 8.10 and XP Home on my older laptop. Started using Linux about 2 weeks ago and so far it's fantastic!
Laptop specs:
Northwood Celeron 1.7GHz
Mobility Radeon 7500C
256MB PC2100(Soon to be upgraded to 768MB)

 

[illuminate]

I use ubuntu. Love it to death, but sadly i have to use vista most of the time because of school.

 

[SuperSubZero]

Any Ubuntu fanatics in this hizzy? I've been here for like... a week... mostly in hardware sections. I found this OS section and quickly realized just how many people use Vista. (insert sad face here). I'm on Vista as we speak, but only because it's my gaming OS and I'm about to hop on Ultima Online (classic) after I get this typed.

....It's my "happy place."

Your happy place here would be the dedicated *nix forum which is a subforum of this one. The *nix people tend to migrate there, which is why the main forum seems to be dominated by Windows users.

If you are sad that people use Vista, since it's the OS that works for them and does the tasks they need and does them adequately, I don't know what to tell ya. I like Vista.

 

[RoastedTiresX]

By buggy, i'm not talking speed.

My music collection is 30gb. Itunes for me is fast and stable. Amarok would crash repeatedly. I couldn't use it. I'm not talking speed here. It crashed often.
Nor did I care for it's feature set and the GUI and fonts made it look like it was written by Mrs. Johnson's 5th grade class. I don't like it.

But mainly I use itunes for podcasts. In amarok you have to add the feed addresses one by one and it's a pain and the organization is bad too.
In itunes I merely have to search and click subscribe. It organizes them well and presents the info well.

Sorry you had such bad luck. Amarok has been running on my systems for days (and often a few weeks at a time) without any crashes.

Enjoy iTunes!

 

[kac77]

By buggy, i'm not talking speed.

My music collection is 30gb. Itunes for me is fast and stable. Amarok would crash repeatedly. I couldn't use it. I'm not talking speed here. It crashed often.
Nor did I care for it's feature set and the GUI and fonts made it look like it was written by Mrs. Johnson's 5th grade class. I don't like it.

But mainly I use itunes for podcasts. In amarok you have to add the feed addresses one by one and it's a pain and the organization is bad too.
In itunes I merely have to search and click subscribe. It organizes them well and presents the info well.

It crashed often? Hmm what distro did you install it on? Unless you compiled the distro yourself Amarok is pretty damn stable.

Feature set? It's got more features than iTunes waaaay more. There's thousands of plugins for that thing. I've been controlling Amarok with my mobile phone for 3 years now. And no you don't have to load each podcast individually. There's podcast scripts that load a whole bunch in a couple clicks. Organization is customizable as well. Either by straight search, by album, by genre, or just about any tag you want. Fonts and color of the application itself is customizable as well as is the OSD.

If it's a personal preference thing I would understand. But to describe it as some featureless, crashing mess is completely not true.

 

[Archer75]

If it's a personal preference thing I would understand. But to describe it as some featureless, crashing mess is completely not true.

It is certainly true.

I used it on ubuntu last. This was a couple of years ago. It crashed frequently.

I'm sure amarok has gone through updates since then but it was horrible when I last used it.

I would like to learn more about this amazing podcast script that puts a store like interface into amarok for browsing and discovering new podcasts, reading descriptions on them, subscribing and downloading with a single click form amarok, then organizing the podcasts and individual episodes with each episode description readily available.

 

[kac77]

It is certainly true.

I used it on ubuntu last. This was a couple of years ago. It crashed frequently.

I'm sure amarok has gone through updates since then but it was horrible when I last used it.

I've used Ubuntu for 3 years with Amarok. There's only one time when I had problems and that was the switch to pulseaudio. Other than that. No problems. The thing is with Ubuntu, unless you compile or tweak your system, everyone runs the same exact thing if you keep your machine updated. So to say I just had all these problems crashing when very few others did. I'm sorry I've installed it so many times I would have at least run into a series stability problems at least once.

I would like to learn more about this amazing podcast script that puts a store like interface into amarok for browsing and discovering new podcasts, reading descriptions on them, subscribing and downloading with a single click form amarok, then organizing the podcasts and individual episodes with each episode description readily available.

Sure here's one example Now this is with Amarok 1.:
http://amarok.kde.org/blog/archives/574-Podcast-directory-service.html

This is but one example there are more.

Amarok 2 which was released last month that supports podcast subscription services natively. No need to really download any script whatsoever.

That can be seen here:
http://maketecheasier.com/amarok-2-brings-fresh-changes/2008/12/18

Got any other requests?

 

[RoastedTiresX]

Your happy place here would be the dedicated *nix forum which is a subforum of this one. The *nix people tend to migrate there, which is why the main forum seems to be dominated by Windows users.

If you are sad that people use Vista, since it's the OS that works for them and does the tasks they need and does them adequately, I don't know what to tell ya. I like Vista.

Which is why I posted an edit up above.

EDIT AGAIN - Man. I suck. I didn't even see the Linux sub forum at the top of the page. Duuur.

Note - I've only been here a week. Beginners mistake.

 

[:LJ:]

It is certainly true.

I used it on ubuntu last. This was a couple of years ago. It crashed frequently.

If you're going to be an obstinate ass about Linux, at least try to realise that most Linux distros have been through two major revisions since you last tried it. For example, Ubuntu has been through two major and two minor version refreshes since then. Bringing up your experience from back then is kinda like marching into a conversation about Windows XP saying "I don't like Windows XP because I last used Windows 98, which was crash-happy and it's not possible that anything's improved since then". Not exactly rational, is it?

 

[/dev/null]

Windows simply sucks for software, and even worse: licensing & activation, localization....need I go on?

I have used OpenBSD since the mid 90's or so, linux for 3 or 4 years, and run ubuntu, freebsd, or openbsd on pretty much everything.

Have not used windows (unless I'm paid to) for about 2-3+ years.

Why does Ubuntu/Linux rock?

* better hardware support out of the box
* _MUCH_ better networking
* better server side software
* decent gui (if you turn all the compiz/3d stuff off)
* real shells to choose from (I automate alot of stuff)
* Fairly easy to roll your own automated install CD (even partitioning, raid, etc)
* LVM2/softraid
* more stable
* more tools that I need to use, easily available & installable over windows.
* better fs support
* _FREE_

 

[Ramp8g]

I use Ubuntu Ultimate 2.0. Great distro. Has some great dvd "backup" software. I've really just been diving into the nuts and bolts of the os, so I havn't tried alot of the apps out there yet. The more comfortable I get with Linux in general, the more I just despise windows.

 

[Archer75]

I've used Ubuntu for 3 years with Amarok. There's only one time when I had problems and that was the switch to pulseaudio. Other than that. No problems. The thing is with Ubuntu, unless you compile or tweak your system, everyone runs the same exact thing if you keep your machine updated. So to say I just had all these problems crashing when very few others did. I'm sorry I've installed it so many times I would have at least run into a series stability problems at least once.

Just because it was stable for you doesn't mean it is stable for all. I recall many people complaining about the same thing.
When I installed ubuntu at that time it wouldn't even load with my USB hub plugged. I had to remove it just for the thing to boot.
So hardware can certainly play a roll in stability of the OS.

I would try it again but last time I gave it ago early this year it wouldn't install on my desktop period. The live CD was painfully slow and the install would not complete. This is also true of the last 3 releases, so I gave up. It's not a big deal as I have never specifc need for linux whatsoever. Just wanted to play around. I do that with various linux distros every so often.

The podcast stuff is a step in the right direction. The article with the screenshots is almost a year old now so I would assume some progress has been made. Though I don't care for the look and layout compared to podcast browsing and organization in itunes.

 

[kac77]

Just because it was stable for you doesn't mean it is stable for all. I recall many people complaining about the same thing.
When I installed ubuntu at that time it wouldn't even load with my USB hub plugged. I had to remove it just for the thing to boot.
So hardware can certainly play a roll in stability of the OS.

A USB hub isn't exactly related to Amarok? As far as everyone experiencing the same problem, for software not related to hardware it's the same for everyone.

Let me explain since both you and I both used Ubuntu our software comes from the same repository. That means the version that you have is the same exact version that I have down to the last button or font. In the land of Windows that's just not true. However, in the land of linux the difference of experience is tied to distro and hardware that's it.

If you were experiencing crashes in Amarok, there's only one thing that would do it and that's the sound system and hardware you were using. If you were hearing sound than your sound system was working, which would mean that everything should be kosher. Unless you have some weird sound card that no one uses, which you would almost have to seek out in todays market, there's no other explanation, which makes your assertion that you were experiencing all of these crashes to be not very likely.

If you want to provide a link as a source that's quite ok. But I doubt you'll be able to find it since Amarok is updated pretty often especially if there was an outbreak of crashes.

I would try it again but last time I gave it ago early this year it wouldn't install on my desktop period. The live CD was painfully slow and the install would not complete. This is also true of the last 3 releases, so I gave up. It's not a big deal as I have never specifc need for linux whatsoever. Just wanted to play around. I do that with various linux distros every so often.

So since the last three versions didn't install for you that means you tried installing Amarok 2 years ago?? Hmm....

 

[steffan72]

I currently use ubuntu on my laptop and kubuntu on my desktop as i am trying to decide which one i prefer. I used to use xp on the desktop and vista on the lappy.

I found i also have some issues with amarok on the kubuntu install but i can't necessarily pin that directly on Amarok. I have found some general stability issues with kde 4.1. To put it simply i started with gnome on my desktop and never had any stability issues but when i put kde on it i have had issues. I also use amarok on gnome on my laptop and have had no issues.

I have found no complelling reason to go back to windows. I find ubuntu to be faster, less resource hungry and a little frustrating at times but there is a learning curve and the more i learn the more i like.

but hey.........what works for you is all good for you. Live and let live i say

 

[kac77]

I currently use ubuntu on my laptop and kubuntu on my desktop as i am trying to decide which one i prefer. I used to use xp on the desktop and vista on the lappy.

I found i also have some issues with amarok on the kubuntu install but i can't necessarily pin that directly on Amarok. I have found some general stability issues with kde 4.1. To put it simply i started with gnome on my desktop and never had any stability issues but when i put kde on it i have had issues. I also use amarok on gnome on my laptop and have had no issues.

Oh god yeah. KDE 4.* while very promising, it is not stable in any kind of way compared to other OS's. It's got great potential though. It doesn't matter what you run on it. I just wouldn't call it stable. But overall I'm all about letting people use what they want as well.

 

[steffan72]

Oh god yeah. KDE 4.* while very promising, it is not stable in any kind of way compared to other OS's. It's got great potential though. It doesn't matter what you run on it. I just wouldn't call it stable. But overall I'm all about letting people use what they want as well.

Agreed........kde 4 has some great eye candy potential and it's usage philosophy is a little more "windows" like which can be a defenite advantage for people like myself who migrated from xp and vista. Gnome on the other hand has something that i really love and that is a minamalistic look to it. I'm not a big fan of having stuff all over the desktop.

One of the things i really love though is the fact that i can use amarok on my gnome machine and i can draw from such a range of programs and really customise my user experience in a way i was simply unable to do in windows.

For me ubuntu is defenitely a winner. I will give KDE another shot in a few distro's time in all likelyhood and will probably find it rock solid stable.

Biggest problem i ever had with the migration to ubuntu was gettin me head around the file system and mounting drives and stuff like that. Still have some problems with my NAS drive but it's not a deal breaker for me so i'm not really fussed.

 

[Archer75]

A USB hub isn't exactly related to Amarok? As far as everyone experiencing the same problem, for software not related to hardware it's the same for everyone.

Let me explain since both you and I both used Ubuntu our software comes from the same repository. That means the version that you have is the same exact version that I have down to the last button or font. In the land of Windows that's just not true. However, in the land of linux the difference of experience is tied to distro and hardware that's it.

If you were experiencing crashes in Amarok, there's only one thing that would do it and that's the sound system and hardware you were using. If you were hearing sound than your sound system was working, which would mean that everything should be kosher. Unless you have some weird sound card that no one uses, which you would almost have to seek out in todays market, there's no other explanation, which makes your assertion that you were experiencing all of these crashes to be not very likely.

I never said the hub was related to amarok. Just pointing out that some screwy stuff has happened for me in linux. And one seemingly unrelated thing may cause various issues. I've seen it again and again.
Nor did I say everyone experienced the same problem. Just that a number of people did report issues at that time.

Everything about an OS is related to hardware. And the millions of different hardware combinations can have different effects just as each individual piece can.

I don't see how it's not true in windows. Same OS. Same as Linux. What the end user does to their OS differs. But it's the same OS. This applies to a specific linux distro, windows and OSX. How is linux the same but other operating systems are not? Windows code is the same across the board. Updates come from the same source.


Why don't you just come out and call me a liar? Is that what you're getting at? I can assure you that what I have said is true. Even steffan just a few posts up says he has some issues with amarok that may or may not be related to the app itself.

Yes, my sound worked fine. I have used onboard audio as well as various soundblaster cards.
I don't know how you can spend time in linux with blinders on and see that everyone should be having the exact same experience. You could look at the tech forums on ubuntus own site and see a myraid of issues affecting people. Some things work fine for one person and not another. It happens all the time.
Amarok was very buggy for me. Linux has always been somewhat buggy for me. The biggest issue i've come across no matter the distro was apps failing to launch. I have had lock ups and crashes. I know it's said that linux is very stable but that has not been my experience. It could be related to any number of things, hardware, software, etc.

I've spent time in Mandrake and SuSE years ago. I have used Libranet and Yoper, Red Hat, Fedora, Ubuntu, knoppix, xandros, lindows and more. I have installed Gentoo from stage 1 multiple times. I have spent time manually fstab and recompiling kernels more times than I can count. Seeing as you seem to be new to linux you came in with a modern OS with this things working for you. But I grew up on linux. I fought with all the little things to get my hardware to work. Network to go. It was never as easy as just installing the OS. There was always a great deal of work to be done afterwards.

You can have issues on your machine that I may not and vice versa. Chances are we won't have the same exact hardware. Or the same software installed on our systems.
Look at any linux support related forum out there to see this.


Look, all i'm saying here is that i've used Amarok and it was buggy for me. I don't recall which version. I was not saying anything more than that. Did you use amarok then? I get the impression that you are new to linux and thus may not have experienced the issues with different software if you haven't used it.
I don't know if it being buggy was an issue with the app itself, the distro, other software or hardware. I'm saying that my many years of linux experience has not been pleasent.
Ubuntu for whatever reason will not install on my desktop. Therefore I have not tested a recent build of amarok. Maybe it's all better now. I certainly expect that it would be.
To have an opinion on linux must one immediately load up a distro and test everything right then and there before commenting? I have had linux on an older system I have year this year but I never put amarok on it. Didn't really use it for long.

There is no point in arguing. For whatever reason you don't believe me so any furthur discussion sounds like it would be pointless. I'll just go back to windows and OSX and you can carry on in linux land and we'll all be happy.

 

[requiemnoise]

Give it some time. Gnome went through the same pain during the early 2.x era. KDE team just got nervous and rush the shipment without hitting the maturity, because every popular Linux distros ship with XFCE and Gnome now. Also, Gnome didn't do a major overhaul upgrades for a very long time. That might be a good thing since many corporations use Gnome.

 

[kac77]

Why don't you just come out and call me a liar? Is that what you're getting at? I can assure you that what I have said is true. Even steffan just a few posts up says he has some issues with amarok that may or may not be related to the app itself.

The post above that was referring to Amarok was talking about KDE4 which is a whole other ballgame. Which I also agreed with him because I know the issue...everyone does and it's directly related to KDE 4.

As far as Windows that's soo not the case. Windows has different version numbers even if you have Windows Home your version of it could vary wildly compared to another person. If you update Windows you'll experience something completely different from the next person.

I would recommend that you stay away from Linux considering that like you said no matter what you do you can't get a stable system even when you compile the kernel yourself. You using Windows or Mac doesn't bother me either. I'm glad you find that it works for you. I really would like you to have a pleasant computer experience which is why I wouldn't use Linux if I were you.

Also you should control your temper considering my views remain pretty squarely within the Linux thread. Considering your admittedly awful experience I find it odd that your here with such harsh comments from an OS that you didn't like from the get go much less Amarok.

 

[steffan72]

Give it some time. Gnome went through the same pain during the early 2.x era. KDE team just got nervous and rush the shipment without hitting the maturity, because every popular Linux distros ship with XFCE and Gnome now. Also, Gnome didn't do a major overhaul upgrades for a very long time. That might be a good thing since many corporations use Gnome.

I am happy to give it some time...i can easily switch back to it at a later date once it has matured a little bit more. It's really just a case of using the package manager to remove some applications and install some different ones (another one of the advantages of *nux i spose.......your system doesn't have to fall to pieces if the gui fails)

 

[Archer75]

The post above that was referring to Amarok was talking about KDE4 which is a whole other ballgame. Which I also agreed with him because I know the issue...everyone does and it's directly related to KDE.

An issue with amarok caused by something else. Which could have been the same thing I was experiencing. Other software interfering with amarok in some way. I really don't know.
Because you are aware of this issue it is acceptable to you? But because you are unaware of my issue it is not?

As far as Windows that's soo not the case. Windows has different version numbers even if you have Windows Home your version of it could vary wildly compared to another person. If you update Windows you'll experience something completely different from the next person. In linux that's not the case because we all share the same repository from a default install, which means from default I've got the same exact content that you have version numbers and all. The only differences are in the hardware.

It's the same OS. Same core. Same kernel, same network stack, etc. The difference in versions is software. That's it. XP Home and XP Pro are the same OS except for some relatively minor software differences.
If two people with XP home run software updates regularly they will have the same exact OS.
Software updates pull from windows updates. Same as every other windows user.


Different software will exist on a linux as well. It may be put there by the end user but there will be different software. Perhaps someone hasn't run updates in awhile while another has? Very different core components to the OS would now exist in the same distro. A default install only lasts until a person starts installing software or updates this or that. Completely removing things and adding others.

Also you should control your temper considering my views remain pretty squarely within the Linux thread. Considering your admittedly awful experience I find it odd that your here with such harsh comments from an OS that you didn't like from the get go much less Amarok.

My temper is fine. You started implying I was lying.

Keep in mind this thread started in the OPERATING SYSTEMS forum and was moved at a later time to the sub linux forum. Thus appearing that he was asking for opinions from users of other operating systems.

The op asked about those who have used ubuntu. I just stated that I used it and didn't like it. You got very defensive when I said amarok was buggy for me and I prefer itunes. As if my experience was a lie and it couldn't possibly be the way I said. I do not know why you are so sensitive. I don't jump on people if they say itunes is buggy. I really don't care what a person uses.
I also stated in my original post that I was using an older version(ubuntu, amarok). I was upfront about that from the beginning. The last time I use linux it was a buggy experience.

It was buggy the last I used it. Simple as that. End of discussion. Why the issue?

 

[:LJ:]

I also stated in my original post that I was using an older version(ubuntu, amarok).

Which, as people have tried to explain to you, means that your experience is irrelevant in a discussion about the state of the software now.

Let. It. Go.

 

[RoastedTiresX]

Archer - I just had to share this. I was browsing on another tech forum just now in the hardware section and they posted that they were having a problem with (what they believed to be) their motherboard. They said they get the splash screen but it doesn't further boot past that.

He is using Windows.

His problem? USB hub was plugged in. He unplugged it, bam, Windows worked.

 

[Archer75]

Archer - I just had to share this. I was browsing on another tech forum just now in the hardware section and they posted that they were having a problem with (what they believed to be) their motherboard. They said they get the splash screen but it doesn't further boot past that.

He is using Windows.

His problem? USB hub was plugged in. He unplugged it, bam, Windows worked.

Yep, hardware can cause some screwy issues alright. I have seen many odd software issues related to hardware over the years. In all OS's.
Power supplies especially can cause all sorts of crazy issues beyond the obvious.

 

[alex2792]

Imo Linux stinks as a desktop OS. The only time I would consider using it is for older machines that can't run windows effectively. The biggest problem is most open source apps attempt to copy more featured commercial counterparts and fail miserably. There's a reason why MS doesn't release Office for Linux and Adobe doesn't make Photoshop available. Most Linux users believe that EVERYTHING has to be free and open source but in order to produce pro. quality apps it takes millions of $$$ in R&D costs and programming/testing staff. Linux is great for servers but as a desktop OS it can't hold a candle to MS and Apple offerings.

 

[Deleted member 176933]

There's a reason why MS doesn't release Office for Linux and Adobe doesn't make Photoshop available. Most Linux users believe that EVERYTHING has to be free and open source ...

^^ I think they don't develop for Linux b/c there just aren't enough people using it. It's the same reason people don't develop malware/virii for linux. No point in trying to infect all 3 people on the platform.

Look @ the number of ubuntu users who are quick to add repositories to their apt sources so they can spin their screens some other direction and get docks so their desktops look like macs. Sooner or later, some of these "free screensavers" websites are going to start setting up their own repositories and really cause havoc. They will make it all look legit - but 2 months later, all hell will break loose...

...but not until there are significantly more users.

 

[requiemnoise]

Linux has 3 users? You must be smoking some serious CRACK. Linux adoption in USA is very low compare to other countries. It is more difficult for Microsoft apply bundle strategies to various foreign vendors. The force bundle requires more complicated foreign legal requirements. There are about 1.5% to 4% variations of Linux in the Desktop wordwide. That is huge chunk of the market. Enough to make few digit of million dollars at insane Adobe price. The issue why all these commercial firms don't develop high end applications for Linux is you can't write complicated DRM or various token authentications application over the web. Linux is open. It will be very difficult to hook the DRM into the OS. Also, Linux has a serious issue with unorganized package managers. There are just way too many package managers to deal with if you are planning to insert DRM protections.

 

[kac77]

Imo Linux stinks as a desktop OS. The only time I would consider using it is for older machines that can't run windows effectively. The biggest problem is most open source apps attempt to copy more featured commercial counterparts and fail miserably. There's a reason why MS doesn't release Office for Linux and Adobe doesn't make Photoshop available. Most Linux users believe that EVERYTHING has to be free and open source but in order to produce pro. quality apps it takes millions of $$$ in R&D costs and programming/testing staff. Linux is great for servers but as a desktop OS it can't hold a candle to MS and Apple offerings.

You are welcome to your opinion. However, I don't believe everything has to be free. I have a Cedega subscription which allows me to plays games that Wine won't run. There's a couple of other things I'm willing to spend money on.

 

[kac77]

^^ I think they don't develop for Linux b/c there just aren't enough people using it. It's the same reason people don't develop malware/virii for linux. No point in trying to infect all 3 people on the platform.

Look @ the number of ubuntu users who are quick to add repositories to their apt sources so they can spin their screens some other direction and get docks so their desktops look like macs. Sooner or later, some of these "free screensavers" websites are going to start setting up their own repositories and really cause havoc. They will make it all look legit - but 2 months later, all hell will break loose...

...but not until there are significantly more users.

Sorry that's not true at all. Any repositories I add are pretty universally known and pretty darn secure. The thing with open source is that most avid linux users catch bad repositories rather quickly, and blacklist them. It's happened before. Good software usually gets added by the distro, like Compiz which has been in the repositories for a very long time. Before you were seeing it on youtube actually.

And how many common users are really going to add repositories, if things like Open Office supposedly render them invalids compared to MS software? How the hell are they going to get the brainiac idea to actually add respositories and GPG keys?

 

[Deleted member 176933]

Any repositories I add are pretty universally known and pretty darn secure....The thing with open source is that most avid linux users catch bad repositories rather quickly, and blacklist them....

Good. Then I wasn't talking about you and your avid type. I'm talking about the rest of the population that the Ubuntu "movement" is targeting!

Go read through the ubuntu forums - you'll see the kind of people I'm talking about. The same type of people who open "naked girls.zip.com" files sent to their email. The same people who can't be on a windows computer for 10 minutes before getting a virus. The same people who are willing to cut and paste commands in the terminal w/o trying to figure out wtf they do.

And how many common users are really going to add repositories, if things like Open Office supposedly render them invalids compared to MS software? How the hell are they going to get the brainiac idea to actually add respositories and GPG keys?

I'm not sure I understand the "things like Open Office supposedly render them invalids" part...but whatever. I think the same kind of people who are willing to download a screensaver from some place on the web are the same people who will add a repository or sudo dpkg -i mostaweseomest_screensaver.deb.

IMO, the majority of computer users fall into this category - the platform doesn't matter (maybe my POV is skewed since I work in a support role) Getting a larger market share = getting more commercial apps/support....but it also = getting a larger idiot base = people wanting/trying to take advantage of this idiot base.

See where I'm going?