So there I was reading a copy of Linux magazine (i think!!) They were waxing lyrical about opensuse v11.0. I read the article with interest and got sort of carried away. As there was a copy on the dvd with the magazine. I decided to install it.
I followed the instructions and voila opensuse v11.0 with KDE v 4.1 (i think) was installed. I have to say i really liked the look and feel of it. It looked and felt very slick and far more user friendly than hardy heron. I was not convinced about the plasma applet on the desktop ( a premonition of things to come, i suppose).
A few things impressed me:
1 Adobe flash was available through the package manager and bang everything was working well with Firefox.
2 I found it quite easy to connect to my network using the wifi dongle.
So I was at this point further down the Linux road. It was going well.
With a little bit (well actually a lot) of help I managed to connect up to my windows network and printer. This was good and I was pleased. All was going well but I stiil had not manged to sync my phone to the evolution address book and or KDE mail.
Anyway, I carried on using it still not entirely happy.
I tried running Opera as a web browser and still had the same problems with flash. I gave up on Opera again!!.
Some weeks later open office v 3.0 was out and I wanted it. I ran automatic updates hoping it would come through but lo and behold something went wrong and i was left with a blank white screen - the error message related to the plasma applet. Aaargh!!!!
So there I was with another problem. I googled the error message and found a supposed solution to fix the problem. This involved using the terminal and typing in a command. I did this and phew I was back at a visible desktop. However none of the programs worked. I just did not know enough about unix to be able to fix it. I then decided to reinstall. The reinstall did not work. I was stuck with a non working desktop. Once again I had come to a halt on the Linux journey. However, I knew a lot more and had a better understanding of Linux than when I first started out.
By this stage the next version of Ubuntu (Intrepid Ibex) had been released. From what I was reading this seemed to be a huge leap over the previous version. I then decided to reinstall the new version of Ubuntu and see how I got on.
More about that later.
Thursday 4 December 2008
Tuesday 2 December 2008
Linux - Ubuntu (hardy heron) - 1st attempt
Well about six months ago i downloaded Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) onto my Windows XP machine. Made a live CD and then installed it on my laptop. Well easier said than done. The software gave me options that I did not really understand. I accepted the default settings and I had a fully working copy of Ubuntu on my notebook. I installed it with the Gnome desktop.
I started off using it for browsing with Firefox. I use Firefox on my windows machine so no difference or problems there. The first snag I hit was when I tried to play Scramble on Facebook. This uses a java application and I just could not get it to work on Firefox. After browsing the forums, I realised I would have to download Adobe Flashplayer. Great, till i discovered its not a simple case of download, double click on the execute file and follow instructions to install. At the time I had not figured out the importance and usefulness of using the synaptic package manager. As it transpires, installing Adobe Flashplayer using the package manager would not have worked anyway at the time as Adobe had not licenced the software to the opensource community. I downloaded the file and after a fair bit of googling managed to find out how to install Flashplayer using the command line. Once installed I noted that the clock on the BBC website was now visible but only after I had clicked on the icon on the website. That was a pain but temporarily liveable with. However, Scramble on facebook would still not work.
Then I had a brainwave (ouch!). I downloaded Opera using the package manager. I enjoyed using Opera. I think its lighter than Firefox and easier to use. However, I still could not play Scramble and get other flash programs to run in Opera. I hit a wall. I started drifting back to the windows xp computer.
At this stage I was accessing the internet with a network cable connected to the router. This was a problem as I was basically trapped in my bedroom as that is how far the cable would stretch from the study (where the router is located). Well then I decided to buy a wireless usb dongle. I had to do a bit of research to find one that was compatible with Linux. I found a Zyxel dongle. I managed to get this to work more by luck than anything else. I had to play with the settings for networking and then I got it to work. That was as far as I got. I did not know enough to try and figure out how to network this with my windows xp pc and print using my HP printer.
I also set up Evolution, the opensource version of Outlook. Then i hit another snag. I use a MDA Vario III (HTC Kaiser) to sync with outlook 2007 and I carry all my contacts and appopintments on the phone. I could not get all my contacts onto evolution easily. At best I could export the email address to a csv file and then import it into Evolution. This just did not work for me properly. Also if I was going to use Linux and Ubuntu as the main operating system then I needed to be able to have all my data on the machine. Otherwise i would have to revert to using webmail which defeats the purpose.
I could not figure out how to get my appointments into Evolution as I could not sync with my phone. Then I had another idea (these were coming in thick and fast!!!). I installed google calendar sync on my office machine. I then used this to sync with my gmail account. I then used evolution calendar to sync with the gmail calendar. Long winded but it worked.
However, I was not entirely happy with this state of affairs.
My problems as I saw it at the time were as follows:
1 Neither Firefox nor Opera were working properly. It was not imperative that i have flashplayer working properly, I could still carry on with my browsing. However, I knew it did not work and I could not get it to work. This just bugged me.
2 I had to reinstall Ubuntu a couple of times because the automatic update caused some kind of conflict with the Nvidia drivers (I think). The only way I knew to fix this was to reinstall.
3 I did not have all my contact details in evolution so I was not using that piece of software.
4 The calendar appointment workaround was also not making me happy.
5 I was not properly networked. I was unable to save files on the external hard drive attached to the windows computer.
6 I was not able to print.
5 I felt i had no control over the computer. I was having to work to its limitations.
I was going off Linux and stopped using the notebook. Till I discovered Opensuse. For what happened next you will have to read the Opensuse post which will follow in due course.
I started off using it for browsing with Firefox. I use Firefox on my windows machine so no difference or problems there. The first snag I hit was when I tried to play Scramble on Facebook. This uses a java application and I just could not get it to work on Firefox. After browsing the forums, I realised I would have to download Adobe Flashplayer. Great, till i discovered its not a simple case of download, double click on the execute file and follow instructions to install. At the time I had not figured out the importance and usefulness of using the synaptic package manager. As it transpires, installing Adobe Flashplayer using the package manager would not have worked anyway at the time as Adobe had not licenced the software to the opensource community. I downloaded the file and after a fair bit of googling managed to find out how to install Flashplayer using the command line. Once installed I noted that the clock on the BBC website was now visible but only after I had clicked on the icon on the website. That was a pain but temporarily liveable with. However, Scramble on facebook would still not work.
Then I had a brainwave (ouch!). I downloaded Opera using the package manager. I enjoyed using Opera. I think its lighter than Firefox and easier to use. However, I still could not play Scramble and get other flash programs to run in Opera. I hit a wall. I started drifting back to the windows xp computer.
At this stage I was accessing the internet with a network cable connected to the router. This was a problem as I was basically trapped in my bedroom as that is how far the cable would stretch from the study (where the router is located). Well then I decided to buy a wireless usb dongle. I had to do a bit of research to find one that was compatible with Linux. I found a Zyxel dongle. I managed to get this to work more by luck than anything else. I had to play with the settings for networking and then I got it to work. That was as far as I got. I did not know enough to try and figure out how to network this with my windows xp pc and print using my HP printer.
I also set up Evolution, the opensource version of Outlook. Then i hit another snag. I use a MDA Vario III (HTC Kaiser) to sync with outlook 2007 and I carry all my contacts and appopintments on the phone. I could not get all my contacts onto evolution easily. At best I could export the email address to a csv file and then import it into Evolution. This just did not work for me properly. Also if I was going to use Linux and Ubuntu as the main operating system then I needed to be able to have all my data on the machine. Otherwise i would have to revert to using webmail which defeats the purpose.
I could not figure out how to get my appointments into Evolution as I could not sync with my phone. Then I had another idea (these were coming in thick and fast!!!). I installed google calendar sync on my office machine. I then used this to sync with my gmail account. I then used evolution calendar to sync with the gmail calendar. Long winded but it worked.
However, I was not entirely happy with this state of affairs.
My problems as I saw it at the time were as follows:
1 Neither Firefox nor Opera were working properly. It was not imperative that i have flashplayer working properly, I could still carry on with my browsing. However, I knew it did not work and I could not get it to work. This just bugged me.
2 I had to reinstall Ubuntu a couple of times because the automatic update caused some kind of conflict with the Nvidia drivers (I think). The only way I knew to fix this was to reinstall.
3 I did not have all my contact details in evolution so I was not using that piece of software.
4 The calendar appointment workaround was also not making me happy.
5 I was not properly networked. I was unable to save files on the external hard drive attached to the windows computer.
6 I was not able to print.
5 I felt i had no control over the computer. I was having to work to its limitations.
I was going off Linux and stopped using the notebook. Till I discovered Opensuse. For what happened next you will have to read the Opensuse post which will follow in due course.
Linux
Before I start to talk about Linux, you should know that i have been using windows for a substantial length of time. I have not yet used Vista as i have had no reason to do so. If i am lucky i may be able to bypass it all together. I am a reasonably experienced user. I can do a fair bit without assistance though there are some who would disagree with that comment. You know who you are!!! Seriously, I wouldn't consider myself a super user but I know enough to end up fixing most things that may go wrong in Windows (a reboot usually fixes all ;-)
I first came across Linux some ten years ago. At the time I knew less about computers, software and hardware than I do now. At the time it was far too complicated and difficult for me to use. It did not have a desktop view and everything ran from the command line using Unix. Then and now I know next to nothing about Unix.
I got interested in Linux again some time last year. I installed Fedora on an old notebook. Got it running but then gave up on it as the notebook had hardware issues. I did not have the time to get going on Fedora probably which would involve me first having to fix the laptop.
Fast forward six months and my wife was and is hogging the main computer. At home, I usually need to do a little bit of browsing and check my mail through a webmail account. I got my hand on another old notebook (about 5/6 years old) which just could not run windows xp anymore. It kept falling over. So I installed Ubuntu on this machine and voila, I had a second working machine at home. I did have a few problems with Ubuntu (about which more later). I was reading a copy of Linux magazine (i think) and I found a big write up on the new distro from opensuse. Better still it was available on the dvd which came with the magazine. So I installed this on the notebook over Ubuntu. I enjoyed playing with that till I came a cropper on an automatic update. So its back onto Ubuntu.
Well now you know how I got here. I am going to write separately about my experiences with both Ubuntu and Opensuse in separate post's.
I first came across Linux some ten years ago. At the time I knew less about computers, software and hardware than I do now. At the time it was far too complicated and difficult for me to use. It did not have a desktop view and everything ran from the command line using Unix. Then and now I know next to nothing about Unix.
I got interested in Linux again some time last year. I installed Fedora on an old notebook. Got it running but then gave up on it as the notebook had hardware issues. I did not have the time to get going on Fedora probably which would involve me first having to fix the laptop.
Fast forward six months and my wife was and is hogging the main computer. At home, I usually need to do a little bit of browsing and check my mail through a webmail account. I got my hand on another old notebook (about 5/6 years old) which just could not run windows xp anymore. It kept falling over. So I installed Ubuntu on this machine and voila, I had a second working machine at home. I did have a few problems with Ubuntu (about which more later). I was reading a copy of Linux magazine (i think) and I found a big write up on the new distro from opensuse. Better still it was available on the dvd which came with the magazine. So I installed this on the notebook over Ubuntu. I enjoyed playing with that till I came a cropper on an automatic update. So its back onto Ubuntu.
Well now you know how I got here. I am going to write separately about my experiences with both Ubuntu and Opensuse in separate post's.
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