operating systems

[mrhacker]

Hi
How the hell is everyone doing?
I have a question about free os, just dled ubuntu does anyone use it?
It is completly different from windows.It will take some time to get use to it .but hey free is free.

[KnightStalker]

No, I have not used it, but I think I would give it a try once I am able to get a netbook.

On my desktop I am running win 7.

Keep us updated on how you like it. Love to get some real world perspective.

cheers,
ks

[Black_Dingo]

Yep. I do use ubuntu. I might be the linux guru of the clan, though I'm still a novice compared to anyone trained on unix.

Ubuntu is a very user-friendly distro, but you might wanna look into linux mint or opensuse if you want something very windows-like on the desktop.

Feel free to drop any questions or problems you have. The online community is very useful to solve anything. A simple google search and some patience can get you extremely far.

Edit: to clarify, linux mint (which is a modified version of ubuntu) comes with most the music/media codec package files installed at first boot, unlike ubuntu which you have to install them through the repositories on your own. OpenSuse I think works similarly due to Novell's broad ranging work range, Opensuse also uses KDE desktop (opposed to gnome desktop manager by default for mint and ubuntu- though you can get KDE running on them) which has more of a Vista feel.

[mrhacker]

great info Dingo thanks ,Do I need to put virus programs spyware and firewall software on it for security?
I'am not running this on my good pc that has win7 running pretty good.
KS you can burn an iso file and decide if you want to try it with windows I have it on an older back up pc.

[Black_Dingo]

Well, the paradigm of security is all based around the threat level. Malware authors don't code often for things other than windows.

An anti-virus program does exist in the form of ClamAV for linux. Generally you won't be targetted on open-source software, primarily because the system directories are coded vastly differently than Windows. Now you can pass on viruses to other people via email attachments and stuff you just won't be infected. Of course the common "download this plugin" vector will still work just like it works for mac users. So just be wise.

As for firewall, there's Firestarter. There's a few others but that's one that I have used and recall off the top of my head.

Just go into synaptic and search for firewall and virus and you should get hits for both.

[Black_Dingo]

Doing someWikipedia searching I realize that most the free Windows antivirus software (ie: AVG, avast!, Avira) has some form of linux version too. Go figure.

[mrhacker]

Hi Dingo I'am on line with ubuntu wirelessly with my pc ,it was very easy to get it up and running unlike windows which was a pain to configure. just dled avg and cc cleaner will instill them next. so far so good. Here's a question for you what kind of setup are you running with this?

[Black_Dingo]

Well, currently I don't have it on my main computer. I got lazy and didn't setup dual-boot after I formatted and installed Win7. I used to run it on my main PC when I was running winxp, which is a dualcore AMD 2.7ghz, 2gb RAM, 8600gts. I also used to use KDE instead of the gnome desktop. I do plan to reinstall when 10.04 LTS comes out in April.


However, I have an older box running default Ubuntu 9.10. It's a AMD single core clawhammer- 2.4ghz if I recall, 1GB RAM running an ATI 9550.

[mrhacker]

that is a very close setup to what i'am running for ubuntu.
single core sampron 1.8 with 1gig of ram on a biostar board with a nvidia 5200 card
runs ok the chip is faster then i thought it would be.
I can not find any support for avg, i tried 5 servers with no support.