copperhead Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I ate another hard drive, so I think this time around I'm going to try a new OS just for shits. Right now I'm running Linspire Live so I don't have to use a broken hard drive, but once I get a new one, I don't know what to run. I'm liking Linspire due to its simplicity and since all my drivers seem to be working, but I don't know that I want to spend $50 for a full copy of it. I have an older copy of Freespire Live, but I couldn't get the wireless networking to work with it. I've heard that BSD would be good to learn to help me to learn Cisco, but I don't know how true that is. All that I am really looking for is something to use as an every day desktop, that I can run IM programs on, web browse and maybe play some music. I'd rather not have something that would take a lot of learning just to use the basic functions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I use Ubuntu. Very easy to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Ubuntu kicks Linspire's ass. In addition, Ubuntu supports everything under the sun, and the support you can get when you need help is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted September 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I used Ubuntu once upon a time but I couldn't figure out how to find and install programs. Do Linux programs come with installers these days, or do you still have to unpack tarballs and all that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillbot Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I haven't messed with Ubuntu in a while but as far as the distros go, it's probably one of the easiest. You could also get a Suse live eval CD and run it from a CD to mess with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supplicium Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I used Ubuntu once upon a time but I couldn't figure out how to find and install programs. Do Linux programs come with installers these days, or do you still have to unpack tarballs and all that? Sounds like Ubuntu is for you. It is simple to use. There is a program that is installed when you load ubuntu and you update your os with it aswell as all freeware software known to man. you search and click all that u want and hit install and it does all the work for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest evobound Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Yep, Ubuntu's a great distro, was voted distro of the year @ linuxquestions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Ubuntu has come a long way from it's early days. Access to new software for it is available through one of the options on the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted September 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Sweet, off to install I go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted September 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Ok, I got the .rar file, but I'm not sure how to turn it into a bootable disk since it's not an .iso or similar disk image. Any ideas? Or will burning the contents of the .rar directly to a disk work just fine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted September 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 well, I've got it up and running, and I'm liking it so far. I installed some extra packages, and now I just need to get them all set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Also install both of these... They will help you install almost all the software you'll want/need. I also reccommend a program called 'Crossover' if you want to run any Windows software within Linux. It's a little easier to use than Wine. http://www.getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php?title=Installation#Ubuntu_7.04_.28Feisty_i386.29 and http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 LMK if you have any questions.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 ubuntu is nice. If you run no games then ubuntu can work for everything you do. I run Darwin with special mods and XP. bsd is a good server os. But it's not the best choice for a user os. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted September 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Ok, my laptop is an HP and it has a button beside the arrow keys that is suppose to be mapped to "back". Well, it's mapped to page up, and it's annoying me because normally I use this key constantly while web browsing. Any idea how I can remap that to the right function? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 I would start here. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=528618 what model is your laptop? I'll see what I can find for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 This might help too..... https://help.ubuntu.com/community/IntellimouseMousemanBackForwardButtons I know it's not for your problem exactly, but still might help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 Do Linux programs come with installers these days, or do you still have to unpack tarballs and all that? Pretty much, yea. Very few programs that I've installed needed compiled before installing from a command line. Alot of what you'll want you should find with getautomatix and easyubuntu. Oh and don't for get about the Synaptic Package Manager after you edit the ect/apt/sources.list file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 I forgot about this one.... If you like desktop eye candy then you'll like beryl. http://www.beryl-project.org/ I have it running on a 2.4Ghz P4 HP laptop with no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted September 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 It's an HP dv1000 I'll take a look at those links once I've gotten some sleep, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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