I spent the last few days working on my desktop computer and more specifically, installing and configuring Linux with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. It was more time-consuming than I anticipated, but well worth the effort. Months before I decided to make the transition, I set myself up to make it easier than I thought it would be, but it wasn't intentional.
Portable to Internal Hard Drive
As I mentioned in June of last year (2009), I removed the hard drive from my broken external hard drive enclosure and turned it into an internal hard drive. Between then and now, I had been using the full 750 gigabytes for storage of software, MP3s, AVIs, etc.
After I decided I would be dual-booting until I had everything set up properly, I commenced to moving what was necessary to the hard drive with Windows on it, which still had 250 gigabytes free. Amazingly, after deleting duplicate files and things I really didn't need, I managed to move everything left and still have nearly 100 gigabytes free on that drive.
Installing Ubuntu
Instead of dealing with a slow download from the "Download Ubuntu" page, I fired up µTorrent, searched for the ISO file on isoHunt and downloaded it that way. What would have taken me at least three hours using a traditional download only took me one this way.
Once I had the ISO file downloaded, I used InfraRecorder to burn it to a blank CD. Yes, I know there are other applications like it, but I already had it installed and it's lightweight.
There were a couple of hiccups when I first attempted the installation. The installation CD doesn't include all the files necessary to run Ubuntu, naturally, since a CD can only hold so much. The problem I had was trying to install it without having an Internet connection. Once I figured that out, I simply ran it as a live CD, enabled the Ethernet with the right settings for my DSL connection, and then started the installation. There was a long "pause" after the keyboard settings screen, but reading notes from various websites indicated the installation routines were examining my hardware. After about 15 minutes, the installation continued until it was completed. I, of course, had to tell it which drive to install it on.
Booting Up
Sometimes I forget that nothing happens automatically with Ubuntu (or even Windows for that matter). When I rebooted, the Windows installation booted as it normally would. I felt so silly. I then rebooted, intercepted the sequence by going into the BIOS and changing the boot order to start with the second, big hard drive. After that, I as presented with the boot loader and it gave me a few options – the first (Ubuntu) and the last (Windows) were the only ones that mattered.
I allowed the timer to automatically boot Ubuntu. Being the first run of Ubuntu, I expected it to take some time. It ended up being a LOT faster than I anticipated. I then looked at everything installed, fired up Firefox and a few other things and realized I need to do some fine tuning as well as add a bunch of stuff. At this point, I rebooted into Windows.
Getting Information
One of the things I noticed about Ubuntu is I didn't like the default font settings for Firefox. Since I knew I would be installing Thunderbird as well, I copied all the font settings for both applications to a sheet of paper. My memory isn't that good.
I also wrote down some of the things I needed to migrate from Windows to Ubuntu. I must have rebooted this machine 50 times in just a few hours to get everything into place. I downloaded a lot of things, including mscorefonts so that I could make things look similar to Windows (in some ways) in Ubuntu. I needed Times New Roman and Arial, to be specific, to match up Firefox and Thunderbird. Everything else looked fine to me.
Application Problems
Some of the problems I had with certain applications working was simply because I needed to install packages from the Ubuntu Software Center. Pulse Audio, for example, wouldn't recognize my headset until I installed the Pulse Audio Device Chooser.
I had to download and install Skype from the Skype download page for the beta Linux package. It works well and I've convinced my wife to stop using Yahoo Instant Messenger completely. Yahoo doesn't support YIM on Linux at all. There's a solution to this, but I refuse to use it. It's much better for me to get my wife to stop using more than one IM.
Windows Virtual Machine
A few hours ago, I installed the Sun VirtualBox software and Windows XP as a virtual machine. My Windows XP CD didn't have service pack 3 on it, so I had to wait for that to be installed. In fact, I waited for ALL the Windows updates to be installed – all 76 of them.
That's where I stopped. I'll be installing the few things I need from Windows, which don't run on Ubuntu, as soon as I catch up with everything else I need to get done. Eventually, and I give myself a week, I'll be wiping the original Windows hard drive and using it as another drive under Ubuntu. It will probably be a good place to store snapshot images of other virtual machines.
My Experience
As far as any distribution of Linux is concerned, I am a newbie. The last time was so many years ago that Ubuntu doesn't even resemble what I can remember of working with Debian. Computers themselves have come a long way since then, with much more available memory and drive space.
Yes, Ubuntu rocks! It boots faster than any version of Windows (even pristine new installations) ever did. Installation and removal of software packages is faster and easier than Windows. Everything is faster than Windows.
Memory consumption is ridiculously low in Ubuntu compared to Windows. Whenever running Windows, I always used more than 512 megabytes of memory or more if I did anything but look at a blank screen. I'm currently running multiple applications (and the Windows XP virtual box) under Ubuntu and the system monitor tells me that I'm using a whopping 550 megabytes of memory. Once I turn off the virtual box, it will drop to between 300 and 400 (I only have 192 megabytes reserved for the virtual box).
I'm very happy with Ubuntu and there really isn't any more I can say about it.
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This article is published as: Now Running on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS – Ubuntu Linux Rocks!
Congratulations, RT. Looks like you've finally come over to us :)
.-= My last blog: The divine flavour of Cassata ice cream =-.
Yes, I've gone to the dark side. :-)
Wasn't the dark side Microsoft? :D
I am not finding any major show stoppers. I had upgraded from 9.10 and I haven't seen any huge differences. Unfortunately, sound still doesn't work properly with Pulse Audio for me. Perhaps if I swap out my audio card…
.-= My last blog: First Impression after Upgrading from Ubuntu 9.10 to 10.04 =-.
Pulse Audio works fine for the normal audio. I'm having problems getting my headset to work right. My webcam video doesn't work, but the audio does!
I've tested Ubuntu, as well as several other flavors of Linux several times now over the past few years… and sadly, I'm still not swayed to move from Windows. Running Windows 7 now, and Microsoft finally got it right.
The last time I booted Ubuntu, it had clearly come a long way, and was looking more and more like Windows in ease of installation. But as much as I enjoy delving into DOS, and 'hacking' my way around, Windows is still simply quicker to do the things I want to do.
When freeware Linux gets to the point that the Mac or Windows 7 is at (in terms of ease of use), then there'd be no reason not to dump Microsoft… but I don't see it happening just yet.
Right now, the only advantages in terms of what I use my computer for would be the native server ability – running MySql & PHP natively… (in fact, I'm about to fire up 'LAMP' in order to move a Drupal database over to a WordPress database – and this would be much easier in Linux, I suspect!)
.-= My last blog: Laptop Features – Don't Make A Mistake! =-.
If it wasn't for the fact that I need to use my headset with Skype (which appears to be broken in Ubuntu), I would be in Linux all day. Unfortunately, my headset is on the fritz and I can't find a decent replacement right now. It works in Windows but not in Ubuntu. As far as Windows 7 goes, I'll never know because I'll never own a computer with it pre-installed.
I had same problem, you may try to edit some audio settings in System->Settings->Sound, and select appropriate input device. Don't let skype to auto-adjust input volume, and adjust microfone volume in sound settings in ubuntu.
The mike is definitely dead. I tested it on Windows as well. That's okay, I have another headset coming in a month or so. I'll then know for sure if I have to monkey around with settings again.
Welcome to the dark side =) I've updated today to 10.10 alpha, it's even slightly better =)
well done dude :) let windows go away , free stuff is much better lol
Just found out that you started in the same version of Ubuntu that I started in a couple of months ago. I knew there was a more recent version at the time but I already had Lucid 10.04 on a bootable USB stick so that made installation easier for me.
I didn't seem to have the problems that you had on setting up the programs (but I'm having different problems how). My Skype worked great even though I prefer to use Google Voice these days. Here is some of what made my transition so easy:
http://techsupporttv.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/getting-started-with-unbuntulinux/
Hope this helps someone else as well.
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Thanks for the Tips. I learned a lot! Right now I am using a WD external drive for running my linux. It runs great. It's much cheaper than an portable internal drive and much less delicate! keep up with the tips.
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