Ugh...

Things haven't improved. Further updates to come.

First off, yes it's my first late post

Unfortunately, events this morning conspired against my posting of the midweek update. The update, as it is, isn't an awful lot though: I'm getting sick of Ubuntu. Yes, that's it, just getting sick of the way it can't connect to the college network, sick of the fact that it crashes even more regularly then windows ever did, sick of the way it handles multiple monitors, sick of the fact that my bluetooth mouse works even worse than it did on Windows, sick of my inability to solve all these issues. Sick of Ubuntu.

I know there are good things about Linux, and particularly Ubuntu, and I know there are people who get by fine with linux as their main OS all the time, but there are too many things that it simply can't do. I've done some limited research on the college network issue and it's gotten me nowhere. Similarly, I haven't been able to find any way around the horrible multi-monitor support. 

So what is it, exactly, that's better about Linux than Windows? Why do people love their Linux boxes so much? I've no doubt that there are some important stuff that techie folk want to do that Linux allows easier access too, but isn't Microsoft still better? Right now the answer is a resounding yes, and if Windows Seven is anything like it promises to be that yes will just resonate all the more. 

I fully intend to stick with Ubuntu for the promised month, but I find myself more and more wishing that I didn't agree to. I just want back to Windows...

Compiz fusion

There haven't been a whole lot of things which Ubuntu has done better than Windows. One thing it does have in its favour, however, is compiz fusion.

Now I freely admit that I don't entirely get what exactly compiz fusion replaces, or where it fits into the whole OS. My understanding is that metacity is the default app which is in charge of certain effects, like the style of window and such like. Whatever the truth, compiz fusion is certainily a very cool piece of software, and ties in nicely with the whole OS. Its main use is in things like pressing windows+e to get all your workspaces onscreen at once - much, I believe, like exposé does. All very nifty, and while probably available in windows, certainly not as easily.

Efforts to connect to the college network continue to fail - if this isn't resolved within the month, it'll be the biggest reason for my returning to Windows, which is sad as it's more of a reflection on college IT than on Ubuntu as an OS.

By the next day I hope to have investigated WINE to some extent, and I'll report back my findings. Until then...

The learning curve

Less than a week in. Am I enjoying it? Not a bit of it.

First of all, and perhaps most significantly, I can't connect to the wireless network in college and I've been told that with Ubuntu I categorically can't. No way, no how. Bloody brilliant that is, doesn't make me miss windows at all.

To move away from that (and let's face it, it says more about the Trinity College IT staff than anything else) I have had some little moments of joy. After fiddling about with NVidia drivers I did eventually get my monitor to native resolution, and on mature reflection it was actually not all that difficult a process. Unfortunately that success has been more or less completely cancelled out by the fact that dual-monitor support is hopeless, absolutely hopeless. It works fine if you want to span your display across two equally sized screens, but who wants that? I want two seperate, self-contained monitors, thank you very much, or at the very least I want that option. Even worse is the fact that not only does a window span both screens when you maximize it, but because of the difference in resolution between the two screens you actually don't even see the bottom or top of part of the window depending on how you have the monitors physically positioned. In effect there's a box drawn from the bottom-left to the top-right, and that's your display. Never mind that not all of that is actually displayable on the given monitor configuration. As I say, hopeless.

There are other good points though. I've been impressed by the add/remove programs feature, which allows you to more or less effortlessly find and install just about whatever free Linux compatible softeware you like. In fact, if I do return to Windows I'm rather going to miss that feature. I'll also miss the workspaces feature, which I'm sure is available in some form for Windows but which is integrated and just works nicley on Ubuntu. You press control-alt left, or whatever direction, and you can switch between whatever number of workspaces you like. I think OS X may already have this, I'll have to check that out. See screenshot for a semi-descriptive image. Also did I mention that I quite like the default desktop? That's what the image at the top is - I do want to draw attention to as many positives as possible...

I do still have a lot left to discover about Ubuntu, and I do think it has a lot to offer. I haven't tried WINE yet, which will be a big test, and I was handed the name of an appareantly very cool app of some description in College the other day. The name of the app escapes me, but I'll talk about it a little more the next day. Also, I haven't given up hope of getting connected to the college wireless network, so I'll post back on that, and there must be a better way of setting up dual-monitors, which I'll also get on. The journey has only just begun.

First impressions

Well, I'm finally sitting pretty in my nice fresh Ubuntu install! And only a couple of weeks behind schedule too. So, what are the first impressions?

Well the first point of contact is the installation procedure, and if I'm honest it was a mixed bag. The previously mentioned problems with partitioning remain unresolved, which is certainly an issue if you want to dual-boot. There are other options available for creating the necessary partitions, so it isn't a deal-breaker, but certainly an annoyance. The rest of the process is utterly painless, however, and differentiates itself nicely from Windows by only requiring user input at the beginning. This meant that I could just leave the laptop in a corner while I got on with other things, but it also means that I have little or no idea how long the process actually took; at a guess it was no more than an hour.

Initially booting on to the desktop is a very satisfactory experience altogether. The startup certainly seems quicker than Vista, although I've yet to actually time it. I also quite like the sound on startup, for what little it's worth, although I'll undoubtedly disable that in the near future for stealthy library-startups.

One place where Ubuntu has a clear advantage over Windows is in the variety of programs available immediately after the install. Openoffice is in place, as is Firefox, GIMP, Evolution mail client, pidgin internet messenger, f-spot phot manager and a whole host of other bits and pieces. Whether or not you want these things installed from the off is obviously a personal preference, but I certainly appreciate not having to spend an hour or two installing software after a fresh install of windows.

I'll go into further details about the various features at a later date, but first some issues I've run into. Most significant is the fact that I can't set my resolution to anything but 640x480, 800x600 and 1280x720. I have got some ideas on how to get that sorted, but various things I've tried so far have absolutely failed to work. My wireless connection was a little dodgy initially as well, but has been fine ever since.

Playing MP3 files necessitated downloading some codecs which required me to accept that I was legally allowed to download them --- what? I claimed I was, but frankly I've no idea. So shhh...

Anyway, now that I've taken the plunge expect updates thick and fast. Right now I'm off to sort out my monitor. New year's resolution 1440x900 anyone?

Right this minute...

Right this very minute I'm enjoying one last meander through the green fields of Windows Vista. After some hassle with partitioning I've decided to bite the bullet and go full, all out Ubuntu. I've still got plenty of access to Windows machines, of course, and am forced to use OS X for my C++ course in College, but going straight to a single install machine will still be something of a shock.

Got to go now, will post again once I have wireless working again. As of 10:50 or so, my resolve is strong...

Last update before install - and that's a promise!

The 15litres of beer sitting in the corner of the kitchen have been distracting me somewhat for this past few days, but realistically that's no excuse, is it? Anyway, a proper update will be up on Saturday, in  the meantime have  a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCTn4FljUQ for some serious perspective about how good we have it now. Think about it - back then it would've taken you hours to find out that I haven't bothered my arse to install Ubuntu since three days ago when you last checked in.

Also, I hope nobody's paying a tenner to download my blog. If they were I'd feel terribly guilty; I really don't think this bi-weekly excuse-making is worth $10 a pop.

Obscure excuses, little progress

When the excuse is "I was brewing some beer", what criticism doesn't lose its bite? Well that's exactly what I was doing last night, when I had cancelled all arranged social engagements to bloody well get Linux on the hard drive. 

I wasn't expecting the various vats, airlocks, tubes and raw materials until at least Monday, seeing as how I ordered them on Thursday, but there they were when I arrived home on Friday, waiting to be put into service and far more alluring than the by now rather trying switch to Linux. For what it's worth, my first brew is to be a weißbier, brewed in what is apparently a Belgian style.  Also, brewing counts as studying Chemistry, so it's kind of like a double excuse, in a way. Isn't it? Oh hell, of course it isn't!

Anyway, the rest of the day is to be taken up by actual Chemistry study and watching grown men mud-wrestle (otherwise know as Six-nations Rugby), so it'll be tomorrow when I (hopefully) get around to formatting and installing Ubuntu. As always, my updates will be prompt, my progress less so. 

Until Wednesday.

Start of the month with Ubuntu

On Saturday evening I wrote this:

Saturday 31^st

Just back from another foray into Ubuntu. The re-partitioning part of the setup was most unfathonable, despite my having printed out instructions. On quitting the installer process I was dumped onto the desktop booted from the CD, which was very nice but wholly unresponsive. Even when it did wake up it was so  sluggish as to be unusuable, and Firefox wouldn’t open at all. I retreated to the safety of Windows and wrote up my report.

And since then? Well, I've done some more reading and considered my options. Another foray into the scary world of partitioning? Certainly I'm not going to attempt to use Ubuntu's built-in partitioner again. I also amn't going to attempt to run it from the CD for the duration of the test, as that is frightfully slow and simply not worth the effort. If nothing else, what I'm after from an OS is a speedy UI and if I'm running Ubuntu from a CD that clearly isn't going to happen. 

I'm not willing to abandon Windows entirely just yet either - the whole point of the test was to allow me to experience Linux without removing me too far from my comfort zone. Still, backing everything up and going Linux all the way might be easiest. At the very least I could start from scratch with two clean partitions and go from there.

Further progress will be reported on Saturday, I hope. If nothing else I feel I am at least providing a more realistic picture of the difficulty of switching OS than I might have had I written everything beforehand. These delays are, I can only imagine, typical of most people like myself toying with a new OS.

Until Saturday then.