Blog Jones

WARNING: Geekiness Ahead.

Well, I finally installed Ubuntu, relatively user-friendly version of linux, on my new desktop. I picked up a new hard drive (found a 160 gig SATA drive for $40 at Circuit City) and popped in the install CD.

Since the last time I installed Ubuntu on an old 600Mhz PC, the developers of Ubuntu have upgraded to a new version which  makes the install process even easier than it was before. After I answered some simple questions (like “What time zone are you in?”), it formatted the new hard drive and installed itself.

When I restarted my computer, instead of booting into Windows directly, a menu popped up asking whether I wanted to load Ubuntu or Windows. Into Ubuntu I went, ready to install the drivers for my wireless network card. I knew from previous experience that the card needed a little bit of driver juju (in the form of the ndiswrapper program) to work with Linux, so I thought I was ready to get things going.

Things went downhill pretty rapidly. First off, ndiswrapper is not installed by default in Ubuntu, so you face the paradox of needing to get onto the internet before you can get onto the internet. So, I popped open my laptop, downloaded the file, and put it onto my USB keychain. But when I plugged it into the desktop, nothing happened. A good hour of attempted diagnosis later, I was ready to give up.

I decided to try Kubuntu, which is another version of Ubuntu. No luck. I had given up on the project entirely, but I decided to try one more thing. When I had first downloaded Ubuntu/Kubuntu, I had downloaded the 64-bit versions of the software, since my AMD Athlon 64 processor can handle that.

Turns out that the 64-bit versions of Ubuntu and Kubuntu aren’t quite capable as the normal 32-bit versions, as there are a number of programs that don’t work properly in that version of the operating system. As soon as I installed the 32-bit version of Ubuntu, my keychain drive worked fine, and everything seems to be in order now.

So, my advice is to avoid the 64-bit version of Ubuntu for now. Maybe when they fix the USB drivers, it’ll be better.

…

On the same lines, there’s been a lot of discussion lately about whether or not Ubuntu is user-friendly enough for “regular users” to use instead of Windows. I think this has a shot at being user-friendly enough, provided that a tech-savvy person installs it.

Right now, there are a lot of little things that most users would not be happy about. For example, MP3’s aren’t supported out of the box due to licensing issues. It’s easy enough to get them supported (using Easy Ubuntu), but most users expect to be able to play MP3’s right away. And if there are any problems (such as the wireless networking not working properly right away), expect to spend a while googling for an answer, especially if you are new to linux.

But, once the system is set up, it should be pretty easy to use. In addition, Linux is every bit as capable as Windows for most applications (with the notable exception of games). It even comes installed with the Open Office suite, which do the same things as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook, as well as with Firefox and a media player. There’s even a dictionary and Solitaire. Based on what you get when you first install the operating system, you actually get more from Linux than you do from Windows.

It’s also virus/spyware-free, so there’s no need to run security software every week.

All in all, there’s a lot of advantages to giving your grandma a computer running Ubuntu. You just tell her “click here to write a letter; click there to go to the Internet” and it will work, and you won’t have to worry about her downloading spyware onto her computer accidentally. You’ll probably still want to warn her about sending your inheritance to those nice people in Nigeria though.

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