Author Topic: Alright, Ubuntu gurus  (Read 1749 times)

makattak

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Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« on: April 28, 2011, 03:36:57 PM »
Alright, my anti-virus subscription is expiring and I'm tired of the resource hog that is Vista.

So, I'm ready to make the jump to Ubuntu for my laptop.

I have a few concerns, first though.

1) I will be backing up all essential files: pictures, movies, music, documents, etc... Will they survive the switch to Ubuntu? (Whether they will or not, I'll still be backing up on CDs, but I'd still like to know)

2) How will my DVD-writer, Video card, and Wireless internet drivers fare? Will I need to download new drivers to make use of them? (and, therefore, have to physically plug into the internet?)

3) Ok, it's not really important, but still: What about my GAMEZ?? What's the best way to run windows games on Ubuntu?
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

mtnbkr

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2011, 03:46:37 PM »
Pictures, music (assuming mp3 and not some proprietary format), movies (if not proprietary), docs (not latest MS versions, but a couple versions back ok) should be fine.

Ubuntu is pretty good about supporting common devices.  The last couple times I installed it on a laptop, everything worked fine (installing Slackware on a laptop circa 1997 was a nightmare).

Dunno about games.  I'm not a gamer and generally don't use Linux on non-servers these days.

Chris

CNYCacher

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2011, 03:53:43 PM »
1)  The file system for windows isn't robust enough to run a unix system on.  Therefore part of installing ubuntu on your PC will involve you doing one of two things:
 a: Shrinking your windows partition and creating a new partition to host the linux system
 b: Replacing your windows partition with a linux partition (or many partitions).

If a: then the files will survive.  You will also be able to choose at boot time whether you want to run ubuntu or windows
If b: The files will be wiped and you must restore from backup.

2) That depends on what hardware you have.  The vast majority of computer hardware is automatically detected and put to use during the install process.  You should know that you can use the ubuntu install CD to run ubuntu on your computer without installing it on your hard drive.  Just put the disk in and boot up.  If everything works there, it's a pretty sure bet that everything will work after you go through the process of installing it on your drive.

3) Some games will work by themselves if you install the linux program called "Wine"  Others may work inside a virtual PC which you can install by installing the program "VirtualBox"  Others may only work on a native windows system.  It depends on which games we are talking about.
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mtnbkr

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2011, 03:59:58 PM »
CNY, I think he's asking if the files will be functional/readable under Ubuntu.

Chris

makattak

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2011, 04:22:55 PM »
CNY, I think he's asking if the files will be functional/readable under Ubuntu.

Chris

Actually CNY has it right. I'm backing them up, but was wondering if Ubuntu overwrites everything. Your answer was something I should have asked, though.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

lee n. field

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2011, 04:41:58 PM »
Alright, my anti-virus subscription is expiring and I'm tired of the resource hog that is Vista.

So, I'm ready to make the jump to Ubuntu for my laptop.

I have a few concerns, first though.

1) I will be backing up all essential files: pictures, movies, music, documents, etc... Will they survive the switch to Ubuntu? (Whether they will or not, I'll still be backing up on CDs, but I'd still like to know)

If you back them up they will.

Quote
2) How will my DVD-writer, Video card, and Wireless internet drivers fare? Will I need to download new drivers to make use of them? (and, therefore, have to physically plug into the internet?)

Boot the Ubuntu install cd, and select to try Ubuntu.  Then, try it.

DVD burner, prob. no problem.

Video card, prob no problem, but if there is, it will be difficult to fix.

Wireless, try it and see.

Quote
3) Ok, it's not really important, but still: What about my GAMEZ?? What's the best way to run windows games on Ubuntu?

Virtualbox.  Install Windows into a virtual machine.  Your Mileage May Vary, as to the quality of your gamezing experience.

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At thy right hand pleasures for evermore.

AZRedhawk44

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2011, 05:10:23 PM »
Just about all major hardware is supported on Linux now.  I've not had a linux driver issue in... 6 years perhaps?

Most of it is modular against a generic single-cpu kernel.

The problem you'll run into is a need to recompile the generic single-cpu kernel to optimize for your CPU architecture and SMP capabilities.

Otherwise, your extra cpu cores will sit idle.  I don't know why they don't just optimize towards SMP nowadays, since an SMP kernel can run on a single CPU system, but a single-cpu kernel will not work at full capacity on a SMP system.

Games?

See above with CPU cores, especially if VirtualBoxing.  I find VirtualBox performance to be lackluster for any game made in the last 3 years.

There are ways to run Windows binaries on linux.  Wine, and many derivatives.  You can try those.  Then you can run natively in the Linux OS rather than in VirtualBox.

If using VirtualBox, you'll need a LOT of RAM.

I actually took a VMWare physical-to-disk snapshot image of my current computer running Windows XP x64 edition, saved the image elsewhere, wiped the drive and installed Ubuntu 10.10 and VirtualBox.  I can now re-start that EXACT same machine as it was before (bookmarks, crap on desktop, all my litter all over the file system, etc) inside of the linux environment.
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AZRedhawk44

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2011, 05:24:44 PM »
Also, just have to say:

"The Battle For Wesnoth" was way more addictive than I would have thought.  I think I spent DAYS playing this game when I discovered it.  There's a lot of caveat to it to figure out.  Strategery.
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist."
--Lysander Spooner

I reject your authoritah!

zxcvbob

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2011, 05:33:49 PM »
Create a set of install media for Vista in case you ever want to go back.  (maybe your system is so slow because it has several years of barnacles built up and a clean install would be OK)

Your media files should be fine.  (don't forget to save them off to an external drive.)  MS documents will be OK.  Games and other apps *might* run under "wine" but don't count on it.

Device drivers generally are not a problem unless your hardware is really weird.  Well, except for some printers that have proprietary win drivers only  [ar15]
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roo_ster

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Re: Alright, Ubuntu gurus
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2011, 03:11:56 PM »
I actually took a VMWare physical-to-disk snapshot image of my current computer running Windows XP x64 edition, saved the image elsewhere, wiped the drive and installed Ubuntu 10.10 and VirtualBox.  I can now re-start that EXACT same machine as it was before (bookmarks, crap on desktop, all my litter all over the file system, etc) inside of the linux environment.

Pretty impressive.

It has been a while, but I have virtualized via qemu/kqemu, VMWare free, and VMWare $$$.  All did what I wanted, but I never asked them to do tough visualization/games/etc.
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roo_ster

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