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.