I've been using Ubuntu for more than a year now. It is very good. I don't understand how the folks at Ubuntu can afford to give away such a beautiful product absolutely free. I ordered 50 copies of Ubuntu via the internet. The product arrived absolutely free. Even the shipping was absolutely free. I have been sharing this operating system with everyone that I know. I regularly drop off some of these CDs at the local library for other folks to enjoy. Ubuntu comes with a much faster PDF reader, a very good Photoshop program called the GIMP, a free web browser, a complete Office package, database, spreadsheet, word, you name it, it's all there. The games section is pretty good also. It has a complete administrator tools section. This OS is one of the best I have ever seen and it is absolutely free. I connect my Nikon camera to it and a slideshow browser starts up immediately. I used to hate Linux because it was so hard to configure but with Ubuntu the installation was painless. It detected every bit of my brand new computer and all of the peripherals. When I install Windows XP, I usually have to installed mother board drivers, video drivers, network drivers, etc, etc, etc. When I install Ubuntu, it detects everything. Ubuntu has a new release every six months, just to keep up with the drivers for new equipment coming into the marketplace. And they do it all absolutely free. I think that Bill Gates should be very nervous about a company that does this on a global scale. Once the word is out, things will change.
--------------------------------------- Gunner Jan 21, 8:41 pm
Ive been playing around with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, via their Live CD.
Fuck me running but its good.
I simply stuck in the live cd which I downloaded the ISO file from
formatting link
and rebooted my old utility box. A 700 meg P3 (coppermine) box with a couple hds and 256meg memory and a small 15" HP monitor.
It found my USR 56k external modem, it found my network card, and it easily allowed me to stick my other networked computers on the desktop so I can access them easily with a single click.
It comes with a very decent assortment of programs of all sorts, the GUI is pretty intuitive and easily run.
I also tried this on 3 different boxes, incluiding a 250 meg Compaq laptop. With a single exception..Ubuntu configured itself easily very litte intervention from me. The single exception was with a FrankenPC with multipile harddrives, and multiple CD roms, and DVD players. It hung up on the CD probe at
92%..no matter what I did.
Next week, Ill download the full install version and install it here on my linux box, which is running Mepis at the moment, which, up until I discovered Ubuntu..was the best quick and dirty version Id found to date.
If you want to dabble with Linux....try the Ubuntu LIVE CD. It will NOT harm any of your existing system files, and you simply turn the computer off..remove the cd..and reboot to be back in your old operating system.
There are versions on the Ubuntu website for just about any machine archetecture, from 386s to Macs to Sun workstations.
Good shit Maynard!!
Gunner, Posting with Pan newsreader via Ubuntu