First time Ubuntu user!

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dave_2378

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I am going to be trying out Ubuntu because I don't feel like spending $100 for Windows 7. Since I have never used this OS I have some questions.

1. Can I run Microsoft Office. I know there are other free versions similar to MO but I'm still in college and the format is usually off with the other programs.

2. This will be going into a new pc build. Will my hardware be compatible with Ubuntu. Will I be able to download drivers from the web for my hardware.

3. Will antiviruses such as AVG, AVAST, and Norton's work with Ubuntu.

4. Will games such as Black Ops, Battlefield, Dirt 3, and other window games work with Ubuntu.

5. Finally, please explain why not to the questions above and how to fix the problem.

Thanks
 
LOL @ 5 - you already know the answers to 1-4! No, yes, unnecessary, no. WINE can be used to get some Windows games working (but very few - you're looking at the old id-based stuff like Doom 3, Quake 4 and earlier). Steam is coming, so there's Left 4 Dead. There's also free stuff like Blob Wars. Or SNES emulators, DOSbox etc. Otherwise, forget gaming on it.

EDIT: More detail on 1 - file formats actually work pretty smoothly with Libre Office, you're probably OK with it. 2 - internal components will likely be fine, but stuff like your smartphone, digital camera, scanner etc may not be. 3 - you can get Linux AV, but it's very secure anyway and very few Linux viruses.
 

nss000

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Hummm:

Welcome. No, no , no, no, & no. After the usual three year learning-curve -- from ignorance to bafflement -- you will not ask such silly questions. **REM** the 10,000 hr rule applies to *nix. RTFManuals. Carry on.



 

nss000

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My dear Ms. AMDgurl:

I similarly discipline my thermodynamics lecture when some precocious N00B advises he will be **trying out** the law of entropy increase.

"... oh my dear Sir/Madam ..."



 

stillblue

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Hardware compatibility - simply Google your hardware and Ubuntu for any issues, remember there are millions of Ubuntu users so most things have been tested. For games read the gaming thread here below. Word, after you install the mscore fonts, the installer is in the depot , LO pretty much covers it all except bordeart but you shouldn't be using that on school papers. For other windows program I recommend you install playonlinux, it's a frontend to wine that makes it much easier to use.
Finally, in general, the Ubuntu community is a friendly one and will help as needed. The earlier comment is absurd. I find that I can install Ubuntu and get a new user up and running faster than I can just install windows. I also find the upkeep of windows far more tasking than Ubuntu, say goodbye to virus attacks and registration Key's and the BSOD. Problems do come up but most end up having a cut and paste solution.
 

dave_2378

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Thanks for the support. I found that it is easy for people to take jabs at others online for the simple fact that they will never meet them face to face in the real world. Also people who make such remarks are usually the type of people who don't have the testicular fortitude to stand up for themselves in the real world so they get back at people by trying to make themselves feel superior to others one way or another.
 

nss000

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??? ... Distinctly I said "welcome" .... "carry on". Noting the good advice I have got from members of this forum a prudent person observes Linuxland never gets more gentle than an invitation! And of-course informed by my 22-years of running *nix systems my five (5) answers are/were correct.





 
Unfortunately, your 22 years experience seems to have taught you little.

The OP asks "Will Ubuntu run on my hardware?". Without even asking what hardware the OP has you answer "no". Almost certainly you are wrong.

The OP asks "Will antiviruses such as...work with Ubuntu?". You simply answer "no" without explaining that they are less necessary than on Windows but that many anti-virus vendors do provide Linux versions.

The OP asks about games on Linux. Again a straight "no" is misleading and incorrect.

And to cap it all, you tell the OP that his questions are stupid and imply that he will never master Linux.

I appreciate that you may have difficulty understanding Linux, unlike many other posters here, but if you don't know the true answers to questions there is little point in answering them incorrectly. Giving misinformation is worse than giving no answer at all. And it is just plain bad manners to tell a questioner that they are asking stupid questions, especially when they are very reasonable questions. Civility costs nothing.
 

d4rk0wl

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Hi,
I know some people have replied above me, but to shed some light on things that might of not been covered.

You can actually run MS Office on Ubuntu, it is through an add on to WINE called POL (Play on Linux). I am running Lubuntu on my netbook and use MS office 2010 daily. POL makes it very easy and smooth to install MS binaries without having to go through dependency hell. http://www.playonlinux.com/en/

Drivers are perty much universal, though for a select few features you are gonna need to do a little configuring of X. I just installed Kubuntu on my new build and everything worked great, though I needed to do some configuring for some simple things such as mapping mouse buttons or enabling duel monitors. Nothing a little google searching couldn't pull up, plus the Ubuntu forums are very helpful.

As far as anti-virus goes, it is really not that necessary as to Linux is very secure. People think that since it is open source the code can be reviewed and exploited easily. Though for everyone looking to do evil someone else is looking through that code and attempting to path it. Almost everyday there is an update in the Ubuntu repositories.

POL also offers an ability to install steam. Though I have never personally used it because I am waiting for the native Linux version to come out. The beta has been released but who knows when the actual port will be released.


I can relate you because some amount of years ago I was attempting to break all ties from M$. I hope I have answered some of your questions.
 
I'm not sure sticking to Office would break those ties :) Very good point though - I'd never considered Play on Linux for anything other than games. As for devices, how is Android on Linux? I tried mine (Sony Xperia U) on Xubuntu 12.04 and had no luck, but maybe I just needed to put in a bit more time and effort. I was hoping it would just open like a USB stick though as a folder, like it does in Windows.

My printer (printer/scanner combo) picked up flawlessly for printing, though didn't work for scanning (no scanners connected apparently!). Which is weird considering the model number of the printer was correctly identified, so whoever added in support must have known it's a printer too... again, maybe with time and effort I could have fixed it, but I don't often use the scanner part anyway.
 

nss000

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Not to worry. IJacks blustering enthusiast huff couldn't crucify a lark let alone a hard-bitten *nix lusr. Worry, rather, about the cow-eyed, cheery-cheek N00B and his encouraged skim of unrealistic expectations. IMVHO Linux obtains only 0.57% of the desktop audience in part because **initiates** expect facility in Linux within weeks. WEEKs !!! Not after years of persistent effort.

What happens when common **stuff** doesn't just work? As it does just work in MACLAND and M$ville. Spare me the DENIAL motif. I advise new *nix users to prepare for the worst, fear nothing and to enjoy the trip. A long and strange trip given the syntax and structure of the Unix shell, but nevermind ... . I ask who has misled N00Bs otherwise? IJACK will you speak up?



 

d4rk0wl

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You do have a point :p. I am aware that Libreoffice can do everything M$ office can and can even create .doc and .docx formatted files and I do use it as well. However I have just grown so accustom to using M$ office over the years it is easier for me to stick with it. Plus I already own office so might as well get my use out of my money :lol:



Not to add to the trolling of the thread because you are going wayyyy of topic of what OP posed, but if I may just lay in my $0.02.

I have been a long time *nix user, not 22 years but a long time. One thing that all new users to *nix must understand that it is very different then M$ or Apple. It is not different as it would be to buy a Mac and learn that when you have been using PC all your life, it is different as to the point that sometimes things just don't work the way you need them to. It may be due to the fact your hardware is not fully supported or the fact that nobody has developed specs for it yet. You need to remember it is Open Source so it is the community's responcability to create patches and updates for the ever growing differences in hardware. Though you can also look at it as a learning experience as I did and take what you have done to the community and create help for other users that may be having the same problem.
I can remember when I was in highschool sitting for hours in front of a bash prompt trying to get slackware to work on my iBook G4. Though many hours of patience I was able to configure Xorg properly and compile firmware for the wireless card.
However that is IF you run into problems. I was running into problems with YDL *nix and Slackware on my iBook back in the early 2000's, many improvements have been made to the *nix framework in between now and then. As I said prior my netbook is running Lubuntu, I had no problems on the install and everything works great right off the bat. (Which took me by suprise because the Acer I am using has a widescreen monitor when I surly thought I was gonna need to do some working in xorg.conf). Espically with Ubuntu and all its children being the most popular flavor you are going to have much more of a community behind you and much more support for hardware.
Though I must end this rant now, my girlfriend brought me food.

Regards,
d4rk0wl
 

stillblue

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Let me guess, Canon? While Canon has finally come on board with the printer drivers for Linux, which is greatly appreciated, their support for scanners not so good yet. Give them time.

Also my 2 cents. Saying Linux is on less than 1% of desktops is like saying the top 1% pay 60% of income taxes not ALL taxes you'll note (how he came up with that I don't know since so many versions are free to download). So, how about laptops? Netbooks? Phones? Servers? Tablets? Websites?
 

nss000

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D0:

No **rant** at all. You speak the simple truth. I suspect all who make *nix systems their own have an analogous **moment of enlightenment** after which the wood still needs to be chopped every day.



 


Kodak actually. Not my choice (it's actually my girlfriend's printer) and it's a pig. Constant paper jams, takes a month to do anything... damned good print quality though.

I actually have no clue what nss000 is saying... but I like it :-D He's like Gandalf or something! And can we please stop referring to Microsoft as "m$"? It was cute in 2004. But yeah, shame on them for trying to make a profit from their business! Those monsters.
 

d4rk0wl

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:lol: agreed, it is very interesting, made me think of Gandalf too. Also, regarding your thoughts of Microsoft I really thought you were serious the first time a read that and it took me a moment to realise it was sarcasm.

I guess I am just grumpy because I really don't like Windows, it may work for some, but it does not work for me. I have had an much easier time sifting through the bowls of *nix then I have on Windows.

Also, I don't want my previous post to sound if I am attempting to drive people away. I welcome anyone who wants to try the *nix world. We need more people, however I just want to prepare someone for a potential learning curve they might have ahead of them.

 

The Stealthinator

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Libre Office works fine on Linux. You don't need MS office. You can even use Google Docs if you wanted.

You need anti-virus on Ubuntu as much as you would on a mac. In other words, not needed.

Hardware that works with Windows will be compatible. No questions asked.

Games that run on Windows will not run on Linux unless there is a Linux version available or you run it under an emulator.

Hope this helps :D .
 

stillblue

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I live in the DR Congo. My objection to M$ is not that they wish to be profitable, more power to them, but that they are predatory which is hindering the third world from obtaining computers. When virtually every computer you purchase has the price of Windows included it takes many people out of the market. Ubuntu was developed specifically to address that issue, Mark Shuttleworth, a South African, felt that if he could support an alternative to Windows more people could profit from the use of computers because they'd be somewhat cheaper. Unfortunately the big manufacturers still don't offer computers without an OS so that we can take full advantage of Ubuntu or other free OS's. Now that M$ is in direct competition with the manufacturers maybe they'll change but I fear that M$ is telling them if they don't put Windows on all their hardware they'll pay more for their licences. Also, we see with each generation of Windows M$ seeks to prevent installing other OS's. Vista by putting unmovable files at the beginning and end of hard drives preventing the creation of new partitions. 7 by using 4 primary drives preventing the creation of a primary for Linux. 8 with it's boot loader crap. Fortunately the community has the best hackers in the world and solutions are found.

I can guarantee you that there are children needlessly going hungry in Africa (and other third world places) because of M$.

So I have this to say to M$ Hey M$, how dare you (deleted out of deference to Amdfangirl's sensitive and nurturing nature) forever?

PS: Prior to this post I have never used "M$" before, I shall refrain in the future but felt it appropriate to my rant.
 
Haha you certainly worked enough of them in there. I am aware of the 'secure boot' (or whatever it is) issues with Windows 8, but in my experience with Windows 7, Linux was dead easy to get set up. I was using a different drive though, which maybe made things easier.

I don't think it's wrong for Microsoft to want to see Windows running in Africa, but they should firstly charge a lot less (maybe 1/4 the price or something) and secondly, do a better job of making something lightweight for older hardware (Starter Edition was a joke). Though maybe Windows 8 fulfils that second need - apparently much more lightweight.

Or even charge next to nothing (like the equivalent of $5 or something), in the knowledge that in a few decades, or however long it takes for Africa to become wealthy and prosperous, they can start charging the same price to people who are already familiar with Windows. With all the charity work Gates has done and the fact he still has involvement in Microsoft, you'd think he'd force the company to be more reasonable in the third world.

d4rk0wl, I think it depends on what you want/need to do with your OS. The Mac/Linux guys say Windows is difficult, but for me, Windows 7 has been absolutely flawless in doing everything I need it to do, and doing it with style. The Mac/Windows guys say Linux is difficult to use. With one or two obvious exceptions (Gentoo, Arch), I've found Linux is dead easy to use also.

And although I find OSX a bit slow with its anti-keyboard nature and frustratingly dumbed-down, that's easy enough too. So maybe it's just people who are using their OS for less mainstream tasks (than the usual browsing, gaming etc) that would have difficulties with some systems and not with others?
 
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