Ubuntu, Few Questions Options

[Marcilo]

Anyone using Ubuntu? How is the interface? How big is the entire setup?

[Exon]

Anyone using Ubuntu? How is the interface? How big is the entire setup?

Have been using it for a few years. Earlier I was using few other distros of Linux. Left Windows about 6-7 years ago; don't want to go back to windows again. Initially, I was using dual boot system; because, I needed a few programs running on windows. Now, all my needs are met with Open office. Besides Linux, I have a few computers running Mac OS X.

I haven't checked exact disk usage. Very basic Ubuntu and Gnome GUI might need about 2-3 gb. I have lots of utilities and programs occupying about 15gb.

You can download and burn a 'Live CD' of ubuntu and get a feel of the OS.
All Linux distributions and updates are listed at DistroWatch.

I am not a computer expert; basically learnt by trial and error. Will be glad to help you with what ever I learnt by using it.

Exon

[Marcilo]

Anyone using Ubuntu? How is the interface? How big is the entire setup?

Have been using it for a few years. Earlier I was using few other distros of Linux. Left Windows about 6-7 years ago; don't want to go back to windows again. Initially, I was using dual boot system; because, I needed a few programs running on windows. Now, all my needs are met with Open office. Besides Linux, I have a few computers running Mac OS X.

I haven't checked exact disk usage. Very basic Ubuntu and Gnome GUI might need about 2-3 gb. I have lots of utilities and programs occupying about 15gb.

You can download and burn a 'Live CD' of ubuntu and get a feel of the OS.
All Linux distributions and updates are listed at DistroWatch.

I am not a computer expert; basically learnt by trial and error. Will be glad to help you with what ever I learnt by using it.

Exon

You are Champ Exon. wow, i must say if you are not into computers and you are heavy on unix/Linux.

i was looking for a netbook and was wondering if i should go for Ubuntu. Problem is, Best buy doesn't even has one for display.
if it was for me i would have tried playing with it. i plan to gift it to my Dad who is getting into issues with MS (runs XP)

so Ubuntu is overlay on Linux?

[Exon]

You are Champ Exon. wow, i must say if you are not into computers and you are heavy on unix/Linux.

i was looking for a netbook and was wondering if i should go for Ubuntu. Problem is, Best buy doesn't even has one for display.
if it was for me i would have tried playing with it. i plan to gift it to my Dad who is getting into issues with MS (runs XP)

so Ubuntu is overlay on Linux?

Marcilo,

Basically, there are three types of Linux distribution packages, RedHat (Fedora), Suse, and Debian. In Debian all programs are packaged in a certain way and have package names with 'deb' extension. Ubuntu is a popular flavor of Debian distribution. If you have ubuntu version of Linux, it will readily accept all program packages with 'deb' extension. There are also ways to install RedHat packages and compile programs from source in a Ubuntu system. HB, please correct me if I got it wrong. BTW, Mac OS X operates Linux (BSD) on it's backend.

Linux OS runs quite well on computers 4-5 years old. I feel, 15GB will be quite sufficient to run Linux. When one installs Linux OS, it will need minimum two partitions: Root and Swap. Generally, the swap partition takes up about twice the size of RAM memory.

Just now I noticed that Dell has a laptop with 8GB SSD, preinstalled with Ubuntu.

Exon

This post has been edited by Exon: Oct 22 2009, 04:06 AM

[hildebrand]

Basically, there are three types of Linux distribution packages, RedHat (Fedora), Suse, and Debian. In Debian all programs are packaged in a certain way and have package names with 'deb' extension. Ubuntu is a popular flavor of Debian distribution. If you have ubuntu version of Linux, it will readily accept all program packages with 'deb' extension. There are also ways to install RedHat packages and compile programs from source in a Ubuntu system. HB, please correct me if I got it wrong. BTW, Mac OS X operates Linux (BSD) on it's backend.

Actually Suse also uses rpm packages. In general, its not recommended to mix packages between distributions (or even between their versions) even if they are of the same kind because their philosophy of making the package and installation files may differ. RPM and deb are just two kinds of packages. There are quite a few other packaging systems as well. You can read about the need and different kind of packaging systems here:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system

Debian's system and portage are considered best by some although rpm has also improved quite a lot.

Ideally try to get softwares from same repo. In some cases you can use alien or other software/methods to install one packagee system in another one but it may occasionally cause problems. Mac has also started ussing BSD in backend since Mac OS X and you can install linux softwares in it using darwinports.com

This post has been edited by hildebrand: Oct 22 2009, 06:13 PM