Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Just playin' around with Umbutu

Jan 19, 2012 1:32AM PST

I've been following the forums on various Linux os's and have been curious for years, well I finally decided to go ahead and test the waters and downloaded Umbutu. I 'm running it right next to Ms Vista. Downloading was a breeze as Linux walked me right through the install process and gave me the different options . The download took15 minutes and Bang! There it was working on my laptop,when I re-boot, I have the option of running Vista or Umbutu(how cool is that!), I can see that Linux is a completly different animal and it's gonna take me quite awhile to figure things out but so far i'm having a blast playing around with this "new toy". I'm newly retired and have plenty of time to learn so Let's Play !

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Linux OS's
Jan 20, 2012 10:25AM PST

I'm also dabbling with various Linux Os's. I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 on an old laptop(Dell Inspiron 1100 1gig memory, 2.8Mhz processor. I also have Linux Mint which I do like their desktop better but whenever I install the upgrades
it locks up my laptop.
It's going to take a lot of strong arming to get me away from Win7 though. I'm finding the learning curve is easier with Windows than with Linux OS's.

- Collapse -
Believe it or not
Jan 21, 2012 2:39AM PST

Like I said in my original post I downloaded and played with Umbutu but didn't find it very user friendly, (i'm not used to typing in all of the commands and prompt)so I thought I'd also try Mandriva,(hmm same thing) there's things that I'm just not grasping so after many hours of playing with both os's I came back to this forum and investigated other options and discovered Linux Puppy. This Little Program Is A HIT! Puppy is so small it runs off of the computers RAM and is Real Fast not to mention being simple for a Linux Beginner to understand and learn the basics on and is easily customized. I think I'll go ahead and create a 20 Gig partition and install Puppy on my hard drive and later move onto Umbutu or another os.

- Collapse -
Command line?
Jan 26, 2012 5:08PM PST

I don't know what you are doing but you are doing it wrong. I been hanging around Linux for the last 5-8 years now, never have to use command line...unless I choose to use it.

- Collapse -
Command line optional
Jan 26, 2012 11:47PM PST

I've yet to use the command line also. It there if one chooses to dabble in it but why bother unless you plan on writing your own applications etc.

- Collapse -
Ha!
Jan 27, 2012 3:32AM PST

I never said that I knew what I was doing , I only said I was trying to learn Linux, i'm for sure going to do things wrong, thats part of the learning and part of the fun.

- Collapse -
Please don't take my comment the wrong way.
Jan 27, 2012 11:11PM PST

I was merely suggesting command line should not necessary to install Linux OS. But I am glad you got the right attitude, yes learning is part of the fun.

- Collapse -
No Sweat
Jan 28, 2012 1:17AM PST

I appreciate the feedback and i'm pretty sure i'm gonna be messin' up quite often and i'll be back here looking for advice, thanx Digger

- Collapse -
linux is it better than windows vista
Apr 22, 2012 12:57AM PDT

I have a sony vaio p11zr which runs windows vista very slowly, my other pcs run windows 7 which is ok but the vaio which is a beautiful little machine for travel but was grossly overpriced, never gets used becaus of its speed I could install windows 7 on it but it is a very expensive product and if it dos'nt work it is more wasted money. Do you think the linux os would improve matters.

- Collapse -
Linux better than Vista?
Apr 22, 2012 1:59AM PDT

From what I heard about Vista, anything is better, hehe. Actually, as far as windows OS goes, I am still using win2K; so..not a lot of experience on Vista.

You can always give linux a try (no cost except a little time). Personally I have maybe just an average computer and I found Linux works for me so far. I have use Mandriva, Suse, and now PClinuxOS; they all work fine for me. You could give Puppy a try first as the other poster indicated, very fast. Have fun!

- Collapse -
linux better than vista
Apr 22, 2012 2:56AM PDT

Thank you for your quick reply, believe me you do not want to experience vista. will try your suggestions as you say its an option that will not cost lots of money. If it dos'nt work the vaio can go on ebay but it is so good to look at and more versatile than a tablet at the same weight.

- Collapse -
Different amounts of learning
Feb 2, 2012 6:17PM PST

If you're familiar with Windows, then your Windows knowledge will help you learn new versions of Windows.

- Collapse -
try kde
Mar 15, 2012 4:07PM PDT

i recommend if you want to learn linux use kde, its the most customisable of all the desktop environments and will give you a chance to see the true power of the linux kernel.