thinking of changing to UBUNTU ..

[cp[mike]]

how do i reformat the hard drive ? sorry im clueless to this

get used to "looking for" things that you want to do. so take a search on the net and see what people with linux use to format drives, and youll find that a common solution is an app called QTParted. you can run the command "apt-get install qtparted" and itll install for you to use.

[Raf99]

Well besides boot times, its about daily use. I've resorted back to:

Ubuntu Server - server
Windows 2000 - laptop
Windows XP - desktop
Windows XP - desktop

I did run Ubuntu on one of the desltops, and tried OpenSUSE, FreeBSD. These linux based OS are stable! Far more stable than windows due to their architecture. But I believe this decision comes down to what you do on a daily basis. You will have to learn a new way to do tasks and use different programs to perform the tasks you did on windows.

Personally i want back to windows due to the following beefs:
- movies not playing (plug and play procedure for finding codecs can be hard)
- not being able to find a powerful photo editing program equivalent to photoshop
- getting windows to perform actions I need. (extracting files, networking, file/photo organization)
- other tiny beefs (ex: html editors, messenger apps, lack fuctionality and plug and play with other apps)
- games = dead

Things I miss:
- multiple desktops
- not having to reboot
- ext3 FS
- not having viruses/spyware

I know i could of ran a virutal OS and I have tried many angles to make things work but its the whole experience that determines the decision for me.


But they're apples and oranges, they both taste good in my mind.

[Ralphie]

Well besides boot times, its about daily use. I've resorted back to:

Ubuntu Server - server
Windows 2000 - laptop
Windows XP - desktop
Windows XP - desktop

I did run Ubuntu on one of the desltops, and tried OpenSUSE, FreeBSD. These linux based OS are stable! Far more stable than windows due to their architecture. But I believe this decision comes down to what you do on a daily basis. You will have to learn a new way to do tasks and use different programs to perform the tasks you did on windows.

Personally i want back to windows due to the following beefs:
- movies not playing (plug and play procedure for finding codecs can be hard)
- not being able to find a powerful photo editing program equivalent to photoshop
- getting windows to perform actions I need. (extracting files, networking, file/photo organization)
- other tiny beefs (ex: html editors, messenger apps, lack fuctionality and plug and play with other apps)
- games = dead

Things I miss:
- multiple desktops
- not having to reboot
- ext3 FS
- not having viruses/spyware

I know i could of ran a virutal OS and I have tried many angles to make things work but its the whole experience that determines the decision for me.


But they're apples and oranges, they both taste good in my mind.

Hmm thats a pretty solid statement.

The only thing i disagree with is the photo editing. From my experience, GIMP can do about everything PS can do. I didn't have any problems getting used to it, i actually find that Gimps UI is a lot more friendly then PS.

Anyways thats a small issue on your list.

[Ralphie]

how do i reformat the hard drive ? sorry im clueless to this

Like Mike said, you can use QT.

If you setup your USB drive correctly, it should in theory work as the cd would upon rebooting.

When you reboot, it will ask where to install Ubuntu. At that screen, it should have the option of opening a partition editor to do advanced functions such as deleting and formating partitions.

At that point you would delete the entire partition, then reformat the partition, and then install ubuntu on that primary partition.

Ive done this numerous times and it usually takes around 15-20 mins from delete to finish.

Post back and let me know the end result. Sorry i didn't post back, i fell asleep. I deff owe you one for all the MT3G help.

[tear2wo]

okay im using gparted to format the hard drive and im really confused right now. it shows i have two hard drives ..

/dev/sda (149.05gb) has two partitions, one is fat32 of 5.85gb and the other is ntfs of 143.2gb

/dev/sdb (3.69gb) is a fat32

how do i format the whole thing so im left with one hard drive ?

im also confused.. i was able to run the bootable usb when i turn on the computer but not in boot mode, is it supposed to be like that?

edit** okay so the sda hard disk is the windows one .. i deleted it and when trying to format to ext3 it gives me an error saying
"mke2fs 1.41.9 could not stat /dev/sda1 -- no such file or directory" .. now what?

[tear2wo]

so i ended up reformating the 1st hard drive and i erased windows. tried to boot the computer up using the usb key and nothing ..

then i realized that the problem could be that i was using a memory card inside a card reader instead of a flash drive.. borrowed my friends flash drive, made the key, and it booted up fine. this time it gave me the option to reformat the whole hard drive and i did.. its installing now..

thank u everyone for ur help

[Ralphie]

so i ended up reformating the 1st hard drive and i erased windows. tried to boot the computer up using the usb key and nothing ..

then i realized that the problem could be that i was using a memory card inside a card reader instead of a flash drive.. borrowed my friends flash drive, made the key, and it booted up fine. this time it gave me the option to reformat the whole hard drive and i did.. its installing now..

thank u everyone for ur help

Hmm thats really odd.

I installed Windows 7 on my laptop via sdcard thru a card reader with no problems. Ubuntu might be slightly different though not sure.

Glad you got it up and running.

[tear2wo]

hey ralphie, do u know how i can partition my memory stick with linux swap on ubuntu? will gparted work fine?

[semitas]

ubuntu is the shiz, i uploaded it to my newly built computer and i love it, you can customize almost any aspect of it, and that cube is just ridiculous, you can do crazy things with that cube but i want to get to this level>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6oFlzJGRdo

[Nurega]

I have a partition of Vista and Ubuntu. I got Ubuntu after realizing what an idiot I was thinking Vista would be a good idea for my new college laptop (this was in 2007). Anyways, make sure you briefly understand some UNIX code, or at least have a good friend who does. My father pretty much did my entire install, and he's a software guru. I'm clueless when it comes to any computer programming, so any OS issue leads me to call him up.

End result? Booting up the computer was blitzkrieg-like in comparison. Literally went from 5 minute boot-ups to 25 seconds on Ubuntu. My only beef with it is the internet browsing; for some reason, it feels slower than it does in Windows. Also, wireless connection setup takes patience.

Transition from Windows to Ubuntu is entirely painless.

[Pandemic]

I used to use Ubuntu... 2 or so years ago. I've not used it since.

Networking is a lot easier in windows only because I know exactly what to do. Setting up a shared folder in Ubuntu takes some time. I did get it eventually (2 yrs ago) but it was a PITA.

I was running Ubuntu on a laptop of mine that I have here (in Japan) but I switched to windows because I could NOT get my tv out port to work properly in Ubuntu. Older hardware sometimes does not work right simply because there's no nix code for it.

Also, I can do a lot of that stuff from the youtube video on my death-top. I've got an older ATI Radeon All-in-wonder with some sweet software.

I think Ubuntu can be installed onto windows now which means it plays nice. I've not dabbled with it for a while though so I've no idea.

[rexload]

- Unless you enjoy spending lots of time with your computer, there is no reason not to use Windows. Everything ALREADY works on Windows when Mac/Linux systems you have to spend hours to get stuff to work. And then in the end you just realize it is much faster to just install Windows and double boot. A good example would be tuning your car, BAM you need Windows.

- IF your Vista is slower than Ubuntu, you simply don't know how to set it up. Vista is very fast when you don't have a gazillion things running at the same time which most computers do from the factory.... running multiple applications that serve the same purpose.

- Then there is Win7 which is far superior to anything. I can understand when people were complaining before Win7 came out because Vista does have some MINOR issues, but now there is Win7 and EVERYTHING works on it without any glitches. If something doesn't work on it, you are doing it wrong.

[Pandemic]

- Unless you enjoy spending lots of time with your computer, there is no reason not to use Windows. Everything ALREADY works on Windows when Mac/Linux systems you have to spend hours to get stuff to work. And then in the end you just realize it is much faster to just install Windows and double boot. A good example would be tuning your car, BAM you need Windows.

- IF your Vista is slower than Ubuntu, you simply don't know how to set it up. Vista is very fast when you don't have a gazillion things running at the same time which most computers do from the factory.... running multiple applications that serve the same purpose.

- Then there is Win7 which is far superior to anything. I can understand when people were complaining before Win7 came out because Vista does have some MINOR issues, but now there is Win7 and EVERYTHING works on it without any glitches. If something doesn't work on it, you are doing it wrong.

hehe.

Linux is far more secure, free, streamlined and has a lot more/better support available.

[Masamune]

Pros:

-More "secure" since it's still too small a target for 99% of hackers and such to waste their time coding for.
-Arguably better eye candy
-"Live" CD and USB versions of Linux let you run and experience Ubuntu without any permanent changes to your HD.
-Wubi lets you "install" Ubuntu inside windows. If you dont like it, then just uninstall it through Windows Program Manager.
-Ubuntu and it's variants tend to more "old system friendly. Xubuntu tends to work very well with Pentium 3 machines and up.
-Learning curve is becoming more gentle with each new release.
-Aggresive release schedule (every 6 months) means that you can always stay up with the latest and greatest.

Cons:

-This is not Windows, as such there is going to be a seemingly impossible learning curve at first (it'll get better, I promise)
-Installing programs in Ubuntu is not always as simple as Windows. A lot of commercial programs don't even have Linux compatibility.
-Wine. (This is an emulator for windows programs to run inside Linux) I list this as a con becuase it seems like no 2 people ever have the same experience with this program.
-Going Ubuntu cold turkey and killing windows will basically turn you off to computers completely.
-Be prepared to dig into your system more as the need arises to "fix" certain programs and settings.

[Pandemic]

I'd say at least 50% of major servers and server farms run a version of linux. The other 25% is windows and the other 25% is Sun microsystems. Quick guesses but the really important machines run linux. There's more to it than hackers simply not coding for it.