Just installed Ubuntu 7.04 and I'm impressed.

Wow.

That's all I could to say for the first couple of minutes. After struggling through various XP reinstalls and even an attempt at Vista on my Inspiron 6000, I decided I was just gonna give up. I'm planning on getting a new laptop soon, so I wanted to at least spiffy up my current one to give to my younger sister in high school. So I ordered some 64 bit and 32 bit Ubuntu discs from their site (free of charge and shipping!) and popped it in. After a quick 10 minute installation, Ubuntu was up and running simply.

During the installation I noticed that Ubuntu was importing some of my Dell drivers for all my hardware to which I assumed they would be using for their own use. So happily, I explore the various features of my new OS. Instant internet connecting without a hitch. Right away, the Ubuntu network tool popped up and let me choose a network and after a some quick swipes on my keyboard to type in my WEP key, a quick plug-in installation of Flash, and I'm enjoying my favorite videos on Youtube within minutes of installation.

Later, I checked out the various open source Word Processor, some simple games, user interface and found it on par with windows if not better. My system began to run smoothly again as if I just bought a new one, instead of my previous spy-ware and ad-ware infested broken XP system.

Once again, props to the Linux Ubuntu community of which I'm sure to express my gratitude towards. And to everyone struggling with their installation, keep trying because it's well worth it. Although I didn't experience any difficulties of your sort, I'd still regret not knowing how useful Ubuntu is.

 

i might try it again once it's developed for the average user. its mostly people that visit a message forum like this that can figure it out. i had more problems trying to get Ubuntu working with Beryl than i ever had with Windows. in a few years when it's more user friendly (hopefully) i might give it another try. i'd rather wait for software manufacturers to catch up to it than mess with the hassle of MANUALLY making things work. Vista has been flawless for me so far. i'm sure the day Linux is compatible for millions of average PC users, it'll be the day we begin to pay for it.

 

Hardware compatibility tends to be a problem with HPs (especially AMD based ones), because they use a bunch of unsupported hardware like Broadcom wireless cards. Dells usually have great hardware support in Linux, which is probably why the OP had good luck. Also, I doubt that you'll see a day when you have to pay for all Linux; certain distros are already out there that require licenses, but distros like Ubuntu shy away from this on principle. At most, I would expect you to pay for commercial support.

To the OP, if you do have any issues (particularly with DVD playback, etc), you can use Automatix. It's pretty easy, but you'll need to do a fresh install of Ubuntu for every new version. Glad you had a great experience, and we're always here to help!

 

He is actually having Intel Santa Rosa with the latest X3100 GPU. I guess that GPU hasn't had any Linux driver released for Beryl yet. Same thing with NV 140M. Guys just need to learn patient.

 

Hey congratulation! I just recently made the switch too and am very happy. I don't know about you guys but I actually found manually fixing everything quite fun. I had problem with my wireless card, non-native resolution, sound, etc. It was daunting at first but it was rewarding when I was able to fix everything and have my Ubuntu running just the way I like it. Sure, it's hard to figure out things from scratch as a beginner but it's a challenge that I'm sure many people enjoy. I actually think that if Ubuntu runs perfect on your system then you are missing out on all the fun (This is not to say go break your Ubuntu and fix it ) Just my 2 cents

 

that's my new computer. i tried ubuntu a few months ago and i was gung ho about it. it was frustrating (not the initial install) and i'm completely ok with people that want to WORK at using their OS. it's a hobby for some, but for the rest of us, we just want an OS that works and doesn't require us to tweak and constantly search for online support. just like most people want a car that gets them from point A to point B and aren't interested in tinkering under the hood.

 

Yeah, I'm in the exact same boat as you. So I have a solid Ubuntu install, and then play around with Arch and Gentoo on a separate partition.

 

I had Feisty Fawn installed on my R60 with some help with the people here. I liked it quite a bit except for the tooltips which I found a way to get rid of in Windows. The only thing I could not get working was my scanner with Xsane which I need to work so I had to put Windows back. I'll definitely try Gusty Gibbon when it arrives, but am tired of installing for the moment. I definitely have learned a lot here.

 

What scanner? If you have a cheap scanner, it often won't work. But anything that's slightly older, or that's a higher-end model will generally just work, just like printers. My old HP scanner works perfectly under Linux.

 

Most HP printers and scanners/copiers work really well with Linux, so that's what I stick with. Both of my HP PSC all-in-ones have been immediately working under Linux. Much better than Windows, where I have to download 50MB+ of drivers and bloatware.

 

Yep, brother MFC 8820D scanner even works of top paper tray scanning.
Multiple pages scanned by one click, merge them to PDF in no time.

 

I like Ubuntu as well but for the last month 7.04 has left me without sound on my Asus W3J notebook (Intel HDA). Ubuntu 6.10 sound worked after implementing an easy one step fix, but the same fix doesnt work in 7.04, and neither does anything else I've tried.

 

What was the previous one-step fix? I've heard that alsa has bugs with whatever sound chip the w3j uses.

 

It's just hard to get all your hardware to work right off the bat with any linux distribution. Dells seem to be very compatible with most distributions.

 

I have a Canon Lide 30. From doing some research, I gathered that it has something do with the wake up features on the USB ports since the scanner is powered by USB. I tried a few different fixes, but to no avail. I also saw that the Lide scanners had good Linux support up until the newest version and that the bug probably won't be fixed until the next version comes out.