Ubuntu is a community developed, linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more. Ubuntu is free software. With Ubuntu Desktop Edition you can surf the web, read email, create documents and spreadsheets, edit images and much more. Ubuntu has a fast and easy graphical installer right on the Desktop CD. On a typical computer the installation should take you less than 25 minutes.
The Ubuntu Promise
* Ubuntu will always be free of charge, including enterprise releases and security updates.
* Ubuntu comes with full commercial support from Canonical and hundreds of companies around the world.
* Ubuntu includes the very best translations and accessibility infrastructure that the free software community has to offer.
* Ubuntu CDs contain only free software applications; we encourage you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on.
The Ubuntu Promise
* Ubuntu will always be free of charge, including enterprise releases and security updates.
* Ubuntu comes with full commercial support from Canonical and hundreds of companies around the world.
* Ubuntu includes the very best translations and accessibility infrastructure that the free software community has to offer.
* Ubuntu CDs contain only free software applications; we encourage you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on.

I have two more or less identical machines running Ubuntu in virtual machine environments, but for some reason the nvidia graphics driver will just not load on one of them - fine and dandy on the other tho :s I've struggled with the CLI (and I used to enjoy the glory days of DOS) and copy and pasted from websites and forums to my hearts content - but I just can't get it working, and I don't even know why. In Windows i'd know exactly what was going on and would have multiple solutions without ever having to think about typing obscure commands.
But then maybe i'm just a n00b!!
I have two more or less identical machines running Ubuntu in virtual machine environments, but for some reason the nvidia graphics driver will just not load on one of them - fine and dandy on the other tho :s I've struggled with the CLI (and I used to enjoy the glory days of DOS) and copy and pasted from websites and forums to my hearts content - but I just can't get it working, and I don't even know why. In Windows i'd know exactly what was going on and would have multiple solutions without ever having to think about typing obscure commands.
But then maybe i'm just a n00b!!
i gotta agree with you here, cause im pretty much the same
i dont think linux will be ready for mainstream for several more years.... my guess is it will never be as good/easy as windows is... cause unless they change it's complex commands to something more windows like... it will never take off in the mainstream if you ask me.
That CLI sucks for anybody that hasn't spent the majority of their life in front of a Linux box and is EXACTLY the reason I have to keep Windows on my machines! Otherwise, the stuff that you can do just like in Windows, is just as good as, if not better, in Linux/Ubuntu.
I have two more or less identical machines running Ubuntu in virtual machine environments, but for some reason the nvidia graphics driver will just not load on one of them - fine and dandy on the other tho :s I've struggled with the CLI (and I used to enjoy the glory days of DOS) and copy and pasted from websites and forums to my hearts content - but I just can't get it working, and I don't even know why. In Windows i'd know exactly what was going on and would have multiple solutions without ever having to think about typing obscure commands.
But then maybe i'm just a n00b!!
i gotta agree with you here, cause im pretty much the same
i dont think linux will be ready for mainstream for several more years.... my guess is it will never be as good/easy as windows is... cause unless they change it's complex commands to something more windows like... it will never take off in the mainstream if you ask me.
yep +1 some things in linux are just way more complicated than they need to be...
Still ill be having a play with this version
I have two more or less identical machines running Ubuntu in virtual machine environments, but for some reason the nvidia graphics driver will just not load on one of them - fine and dandy on the other tho :s I've struggled with the CLI (and I used to enjoy the glory days of DOS) and copy and pasted from websites and forums to my hearts content - but I just can't get it working, and I don't even know why. In Windows i'd know exactly what was going on and would have multiple solutions without ever having to think about typing obscure commands.
But then maybe i'm just a n00b!!
Virtual machines use a virtual video card, not the one in your system, and it usually ISN'T an ATI or nVidia. That's why it won't work. You have to install it in a real machine in order to get the FULL benefits. You can dual boot it along with Windows as long as Windows is installed first you can then install Ubuntu on a separate partition.
That CLI sucks for anybody that hasn't spent the majority of their life in front of a Linux box and is EXACTLY the reason I have to keep Windows on my machines! Otherwise, the stuff that you can do just like in Windows, is just as good as, if not better, in Linux/Ubuntu.
The CLI is still a major part of Windows as well. That is why they kept it in there when they removed DOS......
INSTALL PACKAGES!!!
You'd think after a millenium of development... the Linux community would create better install packages for Linux when it comes to singular installs. Just get the bloody installation AWAY from the Terminal. ( for you Window's newbs, that's Linux's "DOS" Command box )
That's it... that's all I ask.
Gamers: yeah, they'll be the ones lining up with signs screaming Windows is the best. Then pile up on the forums causing internet roadblocks asking questions as to why DirectX can't be found, BSOD's back to the desktop... or how one vid card's driver has been causing more issues than the last one.
This comparison/debate is going to go on until the computer is a faded memory....
INSTALL PACKAGES!!!
You'd think after a millenium of development... the Linux community would create better install packages for Linux when it comes to singular installs. Just get the bloody installation AWAY from the Terminal. ( for you Window's newbs, that's Linux's "DOS" Command box )
That's it... that's all I ask.
Gamers: yeah, they'll be the ones lining up with signs screaming Windows is the best. Then pile up on the forums causing internet roadblocks asking questions as to why DirectX can't be found, BSOD's back to the desktop... or how one vid card's driver has been causing more issues than the last one.
This comparison/debate is going to go on until the computer is a faded memory....
You dont need to use the command line to install applications. They have a GUI to do this. Synaptic or Adept depending on your desktop environment.
It's easy to install apps through Synaptic or Adapt, but there really should only be one way to install an app. Have it like Windows where you just double click it to start or stick with the right click approach that some apps have. That way you're not searching for the package you want or having trouble trying to remember the commands that do it.
That the only thing that's ever really bugged me about Linux. I'm over it now, but still see the new users getting aggravated over it and remember how it annoyed me the same way.
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