Ubuntu

[Jonathan]

I am posting this from the Ubuntu Live CD. Ten second review: best OS I've ever used. I will be installing it soon.

Nice features include the ability to switch between users with just two mouse clicks, autodetection of all my hardware including 3D graphics and wireless drivers, painless connection to the internet through my WPA enabled router, and a total lack of need of to drop to the command line for any of it.

[Jonathan]

I'm posting this from my Ubuntu Live CD session on my brand new C2D machine, immediately before clicking the install icon. Ubuntu didn't seem to have any trouble with the new hardware (and so far the new hardware hasn't given me any trouble).

[Jonathan]

I'm now posting from a fully patched and installed Ubuntu system, including 3D acceleration and wireless. The wireless worked out of the box, but the 3D acceleration did not because the 8800 GT is newer than the binary driver that ships with Gutsy Gibbon.

[Jonathan]

I spent far too long playing Battle for Wesnoth (Linux, OS X, Windows, BSD, BeoS, etc, etc) yesterday. It's not just a great open source game. If you happen to like turn-based high fantasy strategy games on hexagonal grids with long, varied campaigns and unit experience, then Battle for Wesnoth is just a plain great game.

The list of applications and games in the Ubuntu repository, whether Ubuntu packaged or community packaged, gives one a good first filter for what is worth installing. I'm sure I'll find interesting packages not provided by the community eventually, but for now I'm enjoying just poking around and clicking on what looks fun.

[skanks]

Ok, I'm going to be moving over to Ubuntu next week. But the last thing I need to figure out is what to do about the music collection. How do you handle iPod integration with a linux machine?

[Jonathan]

There are tools out there, but I haven't investigated them because I just sync with Amber's MacBook.

[Jonathan]

freenet:USK@GSQgFDoeQUG0cSkbUVYYkB-ssqEEavRdo-RDVEAm0jk,rVvV3LjSZq3UNdGJrrup~~ZBPq4ohBhJeKkREXDLULw,AQACAAE/requiem/-1/

That link is Mac only. However, it may contain useful data.

[skanks]

Got around to installing Ubuntu yesterday. I needed net access to get my wireless working which was annoying. Otherwise it's so far so good. A bit more sluggish than I'd prefer, but ok. I'm going to ditch Evolution and stick to Thunderbird. I'm open to all Ubuntu recommendations.

[Jonathan]

I noticed my machine was running in the lowest power state all the time; something about the power saving module was busted. After I uninstalled it my clock speed went up 50% or so. Might be worth checking; I'm not sure if it was an Ubuntu bug or something that went wrong with a dist upgrade.

I'm gonna try iTunes under wine when I get the chance.

[skanks]

I managed to boost responsiveness quite a bit by installing the NVidia drivers. I'm going to prowl around to find other fixes.

[Jonathan]

It's weird that it didn't install the binary Nvidia drivers automatically. It did with my old 6800. Maybe your video card is too old?

[skanks]

My impression was that it didn't install the NVidia drivers automatically because the NVidia drivers are non-free. Ubuntu did recommend that they be installed, but it did not actually install them.

[Jonathan]

Quick reference for changing AA and aniso settings for games:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... er-11.html
http://forum.compiz-fusion.org/showpost ... ostcount=9

[Jonathan]

I'm gonna try iTunes under wine when I get the chance.

Plays mp3s but not iTunes Video which is what I wanted it for.

[Jonathan]

I did a fresh install of 10.04 on my new SSD on my new X58 with my new Core i7. So far I am most pleased that I can make a new mobo POST on the first try. The OS seems to be working OK.

[Jonathan]

I should add that I didn't make the post above last night until I had successfully logged onto my corp's vent server and spoken using PTT while Eve was making sound. That is, I got a fully functional system at 1 am after about five or six hours of dicking around: first changing motherboards, second installing the SSD, then OS installation, and finally Eve installation. I think my MBR is slightly confused because I'm booting off my HDD but my OS is fully installed on my SSD. I'm still deciding whether I want to fix that or not; it really only affects boot time, and that by a small amount (most of boot time is loading the OS off the SSD or loading BIOS from CMOS). I am using Mangler for vent now; it's a vast improvement over Ventrilo on wine.

GNOME moved the window close decoration to the left side of a window. Weird. Eerie.

[quantus]

I don't know why, but as an infrequent user of gnome in the past, I often got confused by their icons in the top right for some reason. Perhaps because the default skinning was messed up or weird at the time. These buttons would confuse me again... http://www.gentoo.org/images/shots/desk ... sshort.png

I'm actually using the Sun Java Desktop System for solaris and apparently it uses gnome underneath, but they've skinned it with non-confusing icons that seem to be the new default.

Here's a dude who put the window title bar and icons on the bottom... http://www.gentoo.org/images/shots/snap ... -small.png

[Jonathan]

Why?

Our project’s motto is: “No one should use our software… ever”

There are 100% open source alternatives to Ventrilo. We highly recommend Mumble for those that are looking into setting up this type of server. Mangler exists to bridge the gap for people who don’t have that choice. Ventrilo is the de facto standard for guild/clan conversation and Linux doesn’t have an implementation. The official Ventrilo client for Linux has been “in development” since 2005. Since it seems they have no intention of releasing a Linux client, we have taken up the task.

Many people ask if a server is the next step. Our answer is no. If you’re setting up a server, you should check out Mumble. The Ventrilo protocol includes a call home feature that checks the server’s license every time you connect. These tactics are anathema in open source ideology.

Reasons you should use Mumble:

* The server is free and does not have any of the bizarre limitations of Ventrilo servers
* It’s open source and is actively developed for all major platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux). iPhone and Android clients are currently in development
* It is truly low latency. Compared to Mumble, Ventrilo’s latency is astronomical
* The CELT codec is far superior to both speex and GSM
* Mumble does not have a forced call-home check.
* The Ventrilo network protocol itself is atrocious. It looks like it was written as a bad highschool programming project.

These Mangler devs are OK by me.