I've had Windows 7 less than 3 months, but I think that it's taken that time off
my life expectancy.  I can't figure out how to do things, it makes too many
decisions behind my back, it's always second-guessing me, and Micro$hit seems
adamantly opposed to the principle of least surprise.  And to tell the truth, I
miss all those unix finds and greps and seds.

But when I started looking into Linux, I found out about these things called
"distros."  My confusion may go up before my exasperation goes down.  Ubuntu
seems to be the big thing.  Any words, good or bad, about Ubuntu?  Any other
recommendations?

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On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:05:51 -0400, Cousin Ricky wrote:

> I've had Windows 7 less than 3 months, but I think that it's taken that
> time off my life expectancy.  I can't figure out how to do things, it
> makes too many decisions behind my back, it's always second-guessing me,
> and Micro$hit seems adamantly opposed to the principle of least
> surprise.  And to tell the truth, I miss all those unix finds and greps
> and seds.
> 
> But when I started looking into Linux, I found out about these things
> called "distros."  My confusion may go up before my exasperation goes
> down.  Ubuntu seems to be the big thing.  Any words, good or bad, about
> Ubuntu?  Any other recommendations?

openSUSE.  We see a fair number of Ubuntu users converting to openSUSE 
over in the openSUSE forums.

Jim

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I love Ubuntu, have been using it for many years.  OpenSuse is another 
sure bet.  I don't think you can go wrong either way.

Only annoying thing in the Linux world:  updates.  Either you keep up 
with software updates, or you see newer Linux software not running in 
your distro.  It's annoying, but I guess it helps keep up security 
tight.  It happens because Linux apps use libs present in the system. 
In Windows, apps are usually packaged together with the particular libs 
it needs, in Linux it's centralized.  Just keep up and you'll be fine.

Other than that, Linux experience today is smooth and a far cry from the 
hackish state in the early 2000's... :)

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Cousin Ricky <rickysttATyahooDOTcom> wrote:
> But when I started looking into Linux, I found out about these things called
> "distros."  My confusion may go up before my exasperation goes down.  Ubuntu
> seems to be the big thing.  Any words, good or bad, about Ubuntu?  Any other
> recommendations?

  OpenSuse.

  Although if you have an ATI display card, you might encounter problems
getting it to work properly. Installing the ATI proprietary driver (which
doesn't come with the distro because it's proprietary) usually solves the
problem nicely, but it sometimes has bugs with some cards. You'll have to
try older versions until you find one that works.

  I hear there are much less problems with NVidia cards.

  (OTOH AFAIK this isn't a problem exclusive to OpenSuse, and basically all
distros suffer from them.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:29:45 -0400, Warp wrote:

> Cousin Ricky <rickysttATyahooDOTcom> wrote:
>> But when I started looking into Linux, I found out about these things
>> called "distros."  My confusion may go up before my exasperation goes
>> down.  Ubuntu seems to be the big thing.  Any words, good or bad, about
>> Ubuntu?  Any other recommendations?
> 
>   OpenSuse.
> 
>   Although if you have an ATI display card, you might encounter problems
> getting it to work properly. Installing the ATI proprietary driver
> (which doesn't come with the distro because it's proprietary) usually
> solves the problem nicely, but it sometimes has bugs with some cards.
> You'll have to try older versions until you find one that works.
> 
>   I hear there are much less problems with NVidia cards.

As you say, it depends on the video controller.  I have a couple of 
laptops with ATI controllers embedded in them, and a desktop with an 
integrated nVidia controller.  Both work OK, (the ATI controllers are the 
same) but the nVidia controller no longer handles XGL/Compiz effects (but 
it used to).  The OSS nouveau driver works for many people with nVidia 
controllers as well.

ATI's drivers are a little weirder because it's not a unified driver, so 
you have to make sure you install the proper one.  In my experience, 
openSUSE does a good job of autodetecting and installing the proper 
driver once the ATI repository is added.

>   (OTOH AFAIK this isn't a problem exclusive to OpenSuse, and basically
>   all
> distros suffer from them.)

Yep.

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On 9/27/2011 3:05 PM, Cousin Ricky wrote:
> Any words, good or bad, about Ubuntu?
>

Mark Shuttleworth who started the Ubuntu Foundation is the same one who 
did this:

http://www.povray.org/posters/

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