Ubuntu hassle?

I've never used ubuntu before, but I'll be building my brother's PC real soon (waiting for power supply to arrive this wed). Since buying an OS puts a strain on our budget, I was thinking of using Ubuntu for the first time as his primary OS if I don't win Gophn's OS giveaway. He mainly plays mmorpg games and sometimes other games not related to mmorpg. He also does Adobe CS4 stuff (he uses a wacom tablet for drawing). Would these things be compatible with ubuntu? Unlike me, he's not very saavy in computer and hates to look up workarounds. Is it possible for a windows-influenced average joe like my brother to be able to pick up ubuntu easily? Right now a lot of the software is oriented towards windows and mac, but not so much for linux

 

Well, the main issue with Ubuntu or Linux in general is that games and CS4 doesn't work well. You'll need wine or cedega (free and non-free respectively). Some games work brilliantly in wine, some not.

Other than that, Ubuntu is an absolutely great OS

 

I'm gonna get flamed putting this here, but the Windows 7 RC1 has been released today and it's usable till June next year.

 

Why would you get flamed? For CS4, Win 7 is probably a better choice than Ubuntu at the moment.

 

Ubuntu is a good distribution of Linux. I'm not a computer expert and I find it easy to use for everything I do day-to-day.

However, to cut to the chase, if you need to run CS4 decently, you have to have Windows on the computer whether in a virtual machine or free-standing, so you're going to have to pay for it anyway. There's a great Linux native image manipulation program called GIMP, but it's different from Photoshop in many ways. And it's not CS4, you'd need other Linux programs to do the same jobs as other applications in the Creative Suite.

It seems you can get Wacom tablets working under Ubuntu, but it takes a little effort.

There are Linux native MMORPGs. Vendetta might be the best known commercial project. I've heard WoW and EVE run very well under Wine. However, not every MMORPG is going to work under Ubuntu. Most probably wont.

The other thing I've found about Linux after using it for a few months is that I can solve almost every problem, but I need to ask questions or search on the Ubuntu boards. If your brother isn't willing to do this, maybe he's not ready for Linux, yet.

On the other hand, Linux is free, so if his hard disk is going to be pretty big, why not dual boot with a small Linux partition and let him decide for himself.

 

Touting windows in the linux forum

 

The problem with windows 7 RC is that it's set to expire next year (there's a reason why I italicized the word "primary" in my post). He can use it as his secondary OS if he wants to, but I should warn him about the expiration date. After that he'll need to buy the official final copy of Win 7, which costs money.

Ubuntu is free so I asked if it was a good choice as his primary OS. But if software compatibility problems arise, we'll probably be forced to buy win 7.

 

Adobe CS4 doesn't completely work in Wine, so I would not suggest it, especially not for someone who isn't tech-savvy. The only real workaround is to run Windows (preferably XP, for the low resource usage) in a VirtualBox virtual machine, which is also not preferable if one is not tech-savvy.

Unless your brother's willing to learn about Linux, you should just install XP on there. As exciting as it may be, it's not a good idea to install an RC (especially one that will expire in a year) on a PC for regular use.

 

Solution:

Dual boot ubuntu with windows 7.

two free o/s.

Your brother will be able to use Adobe CS and Ubuntu and all of the wonderful free programs it has, as well as get his bearings while still being able to do his essential things when the clock is ticking. He can check out the Gimp and the other free programs that replace CS.

I forced ubuntu onto my girlfriend because she managed to virus her Desktop and her Laptop.

At first she hated it almost as much as she hates Apple, but eventually she realized that she could do anything she did on Windows for free and then some.

Her laptop (which I am typing on) has been running Ubuntu for years now, and thousands of files downloaded with no worry of getting a virus. I believe I installed ubuntu 6.06 or somewhere around that timeframe and now it's at 9.04.

She never complains about it any more and prefers it over Vista which is running on her new laptop.. and she is probably not as adept with computers as your brother probably is considering he has more than one symptom of "geek" that most of us on NBR are fully contracted with (I know I am 110% geek for sure).

Good luck and remember:

You wouldn't know anything if you didn't have to learn it at some point.

 

OP: Good choice on Ubuntu...you change distro's later (haha)

Window 7RC1? Man, they'e trying to get Vista behind them as fast as possible...I may have slap that sucker on....been any write ups on gaming performance?.....

 

Just like in Pulp Fiction....I just "bring out the GIMP" LOL

 

I'll try dual booting with Ubuntu and Windows 7 RC. If many software makers jumped on the linux bandwagon and it became mainstream then linux would become the most epic OS ever. But that time hasn't come yet unfortunately. Wouldn't have to rely on Wine in the first place...

Well I'll talk it over with my brother and see what he decides. At this time we don't know how much windows 7 (and its many versions) retails for.

 

Sage advice. This is what I would do if I were you.

 

Check out the software database once you install ubuntu... you'll be hard pressed to find many programs that aren't free that work as well as their windows counterparts.

 

If you're building his computer, can't you get an OEM copy of Windows? It'd be the cheaper version.

I would suggest dual booting like everyone else here is. However, if your brother does NOT like to look up 'workarounds,' he will NOT like Linux. That's the truth. Not sure why no one else is mentioning this. Perhaps, they don't want to admit it but see, I'm objective. Linux is great when things work but there are times when you have to look things up. The Linux user's best friend is GOOGLE. Trust me.

 

For the win.

But, just as a warning, you may have to look up some "workarounds," as you mentioned. But you've got a good support knowledge base here and all over the Internet... it would be good.

However, as also mentioned, the Win7 RC is out, and usable for a year. A good solution would be to dual-boot, so you could get acclimated to Ubuntu, while having Win7 to use for a standby. If that's what you're going to do, be sure to ask any questions here!

Cheers...

 

Finished burning Ubuntu onto dvd. Windows 7 rc is almost done.

Question: which should I install first for sake of convenience? Ubuntu or windows 7 rc?

 

Install Win7 first, as you'll want Ubuntu to set up GRUB bootloader. If you install Win7 after Ubuntu, it'll not give you the option to boot Ubuntu, I believe... and then you'd have to fix it.

-pixelot

 

ok thanks!

Does anyone know how to dual boot from a single dvd?

 

*Sound of $0.02 dropping*

I would install W7 and then go with Wubi to install Ubuntu inside Windows safely. Your bro might appreciate that.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I finished installing win 7. Looks great! I couldn't boot ubuntu because it gave me a boot error. Then I took a look at the original iso file with a m5dsum tool. Didn't match. Now I have to redownload the iso file again.