[uzziah]

ok, so awhile ago i tried gentoo and gave up rather quickly; but now i got myself a nice older ibm x30 laptop with pIII-m 1.2ghz, 512mb ram, 40gb hdd; so i figure to try linux again, get myself a little extra use out of my hardware, and i just installed ubuntu, mainly because it simply is the highest regarded distro at the moment

and **** me, i'm amazed; i thought things might work well but i'm just really blown away with how everything works so seemlessly, and i must say SO much better than windows; i mean VASTLY superior; i'm still getting used to it but i can't believe how easy it has been to start using, how everything works, with more stability, much better designed programs (read: simplicity, efficiency), and an unbelievable community; i'm ****ing sold; it just makes me happy that WE the community can do better than one great huge corporation and all their money; power to the people baby

 

[krmathis]

GNU/Linux sure have evolved nicely the last couple of years.
From a "barely usable" OS for geeks, to a fully blown OS for most people...

 

[Singapura]

I guess you're lucky. The problem with Linux that it is so inconstitent. I had a very nice installation on my old laptop which is indeed much faster and user friendly then Windows. I tried to install it on my new PC and have had nothing but trouble. Drivers don't work, network is quirky and my Soundblaster doesn't give a peep. Vista installed without any problems (except the "usual" ones). I tried Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Knopppix, nothing works well.

 

[uzziah]

that's been the biggest "wow" for me; i figured i'd have to spend weary months getting familiar with it, ****ing things up, resetting, etc. but ubuntu seems to just work for everything i've needed it to do so far


to above poster: yep, it certainly needs to be said that the fact that i'm using an IBM thinkpad helps a lot; they're generally very linux-friendly; i'm sure soon enough i'll have an "oh ****" moment where i can't get the printer to work or some such

 

[nelamvr6]

If you really want to catch a cool distro check out Linux Mint!

You can burn a live CD and try it out without installing, get the "Full" edition of "Cassandra" (Mint 3.0). You can get it here: http://linuxmint.com/download.html

Another thing you might want to consider is to make a separate /home partition, this makes it a lot easier to upgrade or check out other distros. There are a bunch of how-to on doing this on the Ubuntu forums.

 

[PiccoloNamek]

I'm glad it worked out for you. Every time I've tried it, however, it has been pure ****.

 

[SK138]

I have the exact same notebook, except with 1gig of RAM, 80gig HD, and docking station. I had Ubuntu on it for about a year now, and it's been flawless. Matter of fact, I replaced all the Windows computer in my house to Ubuntu (and Macs). I don't do Windows any more

 

[003]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm glad it worked out for you. Every time I've tried it, however, it has been pure ****.

x2

And I recently moved to XP x64 -- couldn't be happier. Never had a single crash so far.

 

[Honken]

Well, I preffer the OS itself but I just can't find any programs on Linux that are superior to Foobar, µTorrent or Miranda.

I never had anything but trouble with Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Fluxbuntu though, Arch worked much better for me.

 

[Jigglybootch]

If it weren't for the fact that my PC acts as my audio system, I would make a full-time switch to Linux. At some point I'd like to get a stand-alone CDP and connect that to my DAC so I can free up my computer for something else.

 

[jbloudg20]

Welcome. I have been on Linux for about 3 years, and I absolutely love it!

 

[hembergler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm glad it worked out for you. Every time I've tried it, however, it has been pure ****.

x3, I've tried many installations, each to no avail. Glad it's working out for you though, Uzziah.

 

[Jigglybootch]

I can understand why he gave up on Gentoo. I tried Gentoo once and it was a major PITA. When all was said and done, I ended up trying Ubuntu and not looking back (at least until I found Mepis and Fedora).

 

[Kuroyume]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honken /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I preffer the OS itself but I just can't find any programs on Linux that are superior to Foobar, µTorrent or Miranda.

amarok
ktorrent
kopete

KDE apps are, imo, awesome...

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif GNU/Linux sure have evolved nicely the last couple of years. From a "barely usable" OS for geeks, to a fully blown OS for most people...

It's not even remotely yet a fully-blown OS for most people. Especially Ubuntus appearance has helped here, but it's not just people inexperience with Linux that's keeping it from being the best choice for most users. Windows is pretty bad (and a great training for the better features of any other OS), but at least most are able to fumble around with it. Linux doesn't lend itself to fumbling. I'm much more optimistic for the future than I have been for the past, but I caution against creating cheerleading expectations that Linux isn't going to live up to.