30 Days with Linux

consumer.hardocp.com

Many people, daunted by Vista's hardware requirements and product activation issues, claim on various boards how they plan to "switch to Linux." We spend 30 days using nothing but Ubuntu Linux to find out if this is truly a viable alternative for the consumer.http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI5OCwxLCxoY29uc3VtZXI=

very interesting article considering I just setup a Ubuntu machine to take another stab at leaving windows.

I was pleasantly impressed with the upbeat, optimistic tone of the article. I would think that someone wanting to do the same kind of Linux experiment/switcheroo should print out that article as a tour guide.

I also appreciated how the author specified who his intended audience is meant to be. Given the nature of Digitalhome, many of you reading this fall into his category too. :)

I personally have preferred the KDE desktop environment over Gnome for a long time because of its much more customizable and full feature set, and for a distribution I prefer Mandriva over Ubuntu, but when it comes down to it I'm delighted when people switch to Linux and see what they've been missing all along. Next comes their realization that what they thought was normal about home computing (viruses, trojans, vendor "lock in", corporate abuse of consumers, etc.) has been wrong for the most part.

My attitude is, with a Live CD distribution that costs you nothing, where's the harm in trying it out?

Hi there Stampeder,

Kubuntu is quite good (Ubuntu with KDE as the default), not sure if you've given that a try.

If you want to try KDE with Ubuntu you can install it by typing sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop (this is the same thing you would get as installing kubuntu directly.)

Their distro for schools is also very nice (edubuntu).

Thanks, I've tried Kubuntu but I'm comfortable with what I've got now. If I was a newcomer to Linux and was going to switch to Unbuntu it would definitely be to Kubuntu however.

I started with Slackware in 1995 after years working in the UNIX world and have been a big Linux fan ever since then. :)

If someone tries the standard Ubuntu (Gnome) setup and wants to try KDE that's a great tip you gave on how to do it.

So you can run both Gnome and KDE in the same Ubuntu install? Because I'm interested in both and thought I'd have to install each on their own.

How does that work for installing/running apps? I assume you can only start one desktop or the other at a time, and that Gnome apps won't run in the KDE desktop and vice versa. But can you easily switch back and forth? And use the Ubuntu/Kubuntu app installer to install each app in its own native desktop environment?

Thanks.

A couple of years ago the Gnome and KDE teams made their libraries compatible, so when you are in either desktop environment you can run apps from either, provided that you did the install properly first. As notsure says, it is a seamless install for the end user now. This applies to any modern Linux distribution.

I've got quite the mish-mash of KDE and Gnome on my home systems, because I'm always comparing app capabilities and enjoy the freedom to find the right tool for the right job.

In short, you can use the best of both worlds provided that both desktop environments have been installed.

Thanks, I've played with the Live CDs for both but this is one more reason for me to give it a serious try as a permanent install.

The only thing I would add is that it is still a good thing to find which desktop environment itself is better for ones needs. Yes you can run each's apps in the other, but when it comes to the fundamental stuff (screen savers, window behaviour, 3D, transparency, multiple desktops, hotkeys, etc. etc. etc.) they are configured differently and offer different options to the power user/tweaker.

I've been MS free at home for a little over a year now. I always had a debian server running but my desktop took a little longer. Ubuntu Dapper was just the ticket and Edgy Eft is even better now (imho).

I'd stay away from Fiesty Fawn for a little while longer but it seems to be getting there for their April release.

Where do they come up with all these funky names? I expect a "Katanga" soon :D

After Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft, and Feisty Fawn comes something with G G, then H H, and so on until the entire alphabet is used up and Ubuntu suddenly vanishes! :D

Here is Ubuntu's official response to that article:

http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MjQ0OTEsLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdCwsLDE=