Comments on: Ubuntu first impressions http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/ Tom Raftery, social media consultant, speaker, blogger and podcaster Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:56:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Primal Sneeze http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110907 Primal Sneeze Mon, 24 Sep 2007 02:57:28 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110907 Sorry for appearing rude - I didn't get back to say thanks for the help. So, thanks all. Much appreciated. Sorry for appearing rude - I didn’t get back to say thanks for the help.

So, thanks all. Much appreciated.

]]> By: Philip http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110904 Philip Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:56:17 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110904 I've had a few reasons to go back into Windows since moving to Ubuntu last January, and each time it irritates me more, in part because it takes forever to load, the fan on my Acer notebook starts immediately, the antivirus has to be updated etc. I'm not saying that Ubuntu is plain sailing for a novice (I've had a few steep learning curves), but the help that's available from Ubuntu users is constantly amazing. So to second John, if I could sort out disk space issues, and get a workable OCR package, I'd wipe XP and never miss it. I’ve had a few reasons to go back into Windows since moving to Ubuntu last January, and each time it irritates me more, in part because it takes forever to load, the fan on my Acer notebook starts immediately, the antivirus has to be updated etc. I’m not saying that Ubuntu is plain sailing for a novice (I’ve had a few steep learning curves), but the help that’s available from Ubuntu users is constantly amazing. So to second John, if I could sort out disk space issues, and get a workable OCR package, I’d wipe XP and never miss it.

]]> By: John Ward http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110790 John Ward Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:52:52 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110790 Tom, I am sure you'll find yourself spending less and less time with windows. I did, to the extent I'm planning on removing the dual boot. If I need windows VMWare works just fine for the applications I need. John Tom,
I am sure you’ll find yourself spending less and less time with windows. I did, to the extent I’m planning on removing the dual boot.

If I need windows VMWare works just fine for the applications I need.

John

]]> By: Tom Raftery http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110787 Tom Raftery Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:49:47 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110787 By the way, now that Ubuntu is on a partition of its own and I have instituted John Ward's tip above, my start time is 1min 10 secs (from cold to displaying a web page). By the way, now that Ubuntu is on a partition of its own and I have instituted John Ward’s tip above, my start time is 1min 10 secs (from cold to displaying a web page).

]]> By: Tom Raftery http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110786 Tom Raftery Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:44:33 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110786 Jonathan - the problem I had took out the Windows partition as well so the laptop was completely bricked!!! Luckily the Vista repair tools got it back working again with no data loss. I decided at that point though that it would be better to have Ubuntu in its own partition so I uninstalled Wubi and installed Ubuntu from the Live CD using the Partiition tool on the CD to shrink the Windows partition by 32gb. I created a 2gb swap partition and a 30gb partition for Ubuntu. I installed, updated and am back up running again. Now I just need to look into optimising it (more carefully this time) once more. Primal Sneeze, I honestly couldn't tell you if Wubi is better on Intel. My machine is an Intel and it worked well. Having said that, I'm uninstalled Wubi and went for a straight Ubuntu install. Jonathan - the problem I had took out the Windows partition as well so the laptop was completely bricked!!!

Luckily the Vista repair tools got it back working again with no data loss.

I decided at that point though that it would be better to have Ubuntu in its own partition so I uninstalled Wubi and installed Ubuntu from the Live CD using the Partiition tool on the CD to shrink the Windows partition by 32gb.

I created a 2gb swap partition and a 30gb partition for Ubuntu. I installed, updated and am back up running again.

Now I just need to look into optimising it (more carefully this time) once more.

Primal Sneeze, I honestly couldn’t tell you if Wubi is better on Intel. My machine is an Intel and it worked well. Having said that, I’m uninstalled Wubi and went for a straight Ubuntu install.

]]> By: Jonathan http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110785 Jonathan Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:30:32 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110785 hmm comment took away the rest of my response. sudo apt-get install build-essential ./configure sudo make sudo make install then follow the instructions to install your driver... hmm comment took away the rest of my response.

sudo apt-get install build-essential
./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

then follow the instructions to install your driver…

]]> By: Jonathan http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110784 Jonathan Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:28:41 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110784 Primal sneeze: First make sure your card is seen by ubuntu lspci Primal sneeze:

First make sure your card is seen by ubuntu
lspci

]]> By: Primal Sneeze http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110783 Primal Sneeze Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:49:02 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110783 Tom, the Wubi distro doesn't come with ndiswrapper which means I can't install the Windows drivers for the Broadcom wireless adapter on my AMD64 laptop. Oh, and a download of ndiswrapper won't install for some other reason. Am I wrong in thinking Wubi works best on Intel? Tom, the Wubi distro doesn’t come with ndiswrapper which means I can’t install the Windows drivers for the Broadcom wireless adapter on my AMD64 laptop. Oh, and a download of ndiswrapper won’t install for some other reason.

Am I wrong in thinking Wubi works best on Intel?

]]> By: Jonathan http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110777 Jonathan Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:32:33 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110777 Tom, Restart the machine, then press escape to go into the grub menu. Chose the latest kernel option (recovery mode). YOu will log in as root into the base system. Type exit press return. You will then be at the main login graphical prompt. LOg in and fix your files. Not sure how you messed up the laptop, just review the files you edited and make sure you didnt make any additional changes besides the ones noted above... Tom,

Restart the machine, then press escape to go into the grub menu. Chose the latest kernel option (recovery mode). YOu will log in as root into the base system.

Type exit press return.

You will then be at the main login graphical prompt. LOg in and fix your files. Not sure how you messed up the laptop, just review the files you edited and make sure you didnt make any additional changes besides the ones noted above…

]]> By: Tom Raftery http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110776 Tom Raftery Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:44:52 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110776 Jonathan - just bricked the laptop! Messed up one of the files I guess :-( Jonathan - just bricked the laptop! Messed up one of the files I guess :-(

]]> By: Jonathan http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110774 Jonathan Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:38:59 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110774 @Tom: http://yoten.blogspot.com/2007/04/speed-up-ubuntu.html Enjoy a faster OS. profiling, doing boot processes in parallel and also changing how swap space is used will really make a huge difference. @Tom: http://yoten.blogspot.com/2007/04/speed-up-ubuntu.html

Enjoy a faster OS. profiling, doing boot processes in parallel and also changing how swap space is used will really make a huge difference.

]]> By: 73man http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110766 73man Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:28:29 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110766 Go Ubuntu! I have it on a P3 512mb RAM'ed Dell and while the boot is quick, the overall performance is sluggish. Still beats Windows generally speaking....I'm off to convince my boss to take the plunge. Go Ubuntu! I have it on a P3 512mb RAM’ed Dell and while the boot is quick, the overall performance is sluggish. Still beats Windows generally speaking….I’m off to convince my boss to take the plunge.

]]> By: Tom Doyle http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110754 Tom Doyle Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:27:09 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110754 I've been using it for quite some time now on a spare pc. I think it's a great operating system, much easier to use than some of the other linux flavours. I’ve been using it for quite some time now on a spare pc. I think it’s a great operating system, much easier to use than some of the other linux flavours.

]]> By: Rob http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110743 Rob Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:32:17 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110743 I have used Ubuntu in the Past the Ubuntu Ultimate rehash of it and have found it pretty good, but looking at this wubi Application i'm amazed, this is something every Linux distro should be using to try get into the public consciousness.. I have used Ubuntu in the Past the Ubuntu Ultimate rehash of it and have found it pretty good, but looking at this wubi Application i’m amazed, this is something every Linux distro should be using to try get into the public consciousness..

]]> By: Tom Raftery http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110741 Tom Raftery Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:50:39 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110741 @John - I edited the file as instructed in the article you link to and my startup time has remained the same. Remember, I am measuring time from cold start to displaying an external web page in a browser. If you think this is still excessively long (1min 50sec) it may be explained by the fact that I used Wubi to install Ubuntu. Or maybe the kernal optimisations Jonathan referred to might help. Jonathan, do you have any links for those? @John - I edited the file as instructed in the article you link to and my startup time has remained the same.

Remember, I am measuring time from cold start to displaying an external web page in a browser.

If you think this is still excessively long (1min 50sec) it may be explained by the fact that I used Wubi to install Ubuntu.

Or maybe the kernal optimisations Jonathan referred to might help. Jonathan, do you have any links for those?

]]> By: Tom Raftery http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110734 Tom Raftery Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:39:29 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110734 Guys, this is on my laptop and I mainly use wireless Internet access on it. It is a Sony Vaio 2ghz dual core with 2gb ram. The times reported were for startup from off, log in, double-click on browser and finish when Google displays. Guys,

this is on my laptop and I mainly use wireless Internet access on it.

It is a Sony Vaio 2ghz dual core with 2gb ram.

The times reported were for startup from off, log in, double-click on browser and finish when Google displays.

]]> By: Shane Mitchell http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110729 Shane Mitchell Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:20:25 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110729 Enable Desktop Effects for some compiz-fusion eye candy Enable Desktop Effects for some compiz-fusion eye candy

]]> By: Jonathan http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110727 Jonathan Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:52:15 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110727 You should check out optimizing the kernel. There are loads of tutorials for it. I have an 800mz machine and i am getting much better times than you...one or two changes will make all the difference. You should check out optimizing the kernel. There are loads of tutorials for it. I have an 800mz machine and i am getting much better times than you…one or two changes will make all the difference.

]]> By: John Ward http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110725 John Ward Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:33:00 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110725 Tom, By default Ubuntu initialises wireless networking at boot time. This is unnessary, as network manager handles this once the environment is up. Resolution is here: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix-slow-fesity-boot-for-laptops.html This should knock half the time off boot. My own experience of performance gains are dramatic, I have dual boot and scripts I run in windows vs ubuntu can be 6-7mins vs 20-30secs. Other aspect I noticed is wireless performance. I have 8mb smart broadband. In isp speed tests get the full 8mb on ubuntu but its maxed out at 4.5mb in windows. Only if I plug a wire in can I get the full 8mb on windows. Tom,
By default Ubuntu initialises wireless networking at boot time. This is unnessary, as network manager handles this once the environment is up.

Resolution is here:

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix-slow-fesity-boot-for-laptops.html

This should knock half the time off boot.

My own experience of performance gains are dramatic, I have dual boot and scripts I run in windows vs ubuntu can be 6-7mins vs 20-30secs.

Other aspect I noticed is wireless performance. I have 8mb smart broadband. In isp speed tests get the full 8mb on ubuntu but its maxed out at 4.5mb in windows. Only if I plug a wire in can I get the full 8mb on windows.

]]> By: Damien Mulley http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110723 Damien Mulley Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:42:26 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/ubuntu-first-impressions/#comment-110723 "From a standing start to being able to open a web page Vista took four minutes thirty seconds on this machine." Under 40 seconds on my machine and under a minute on the older machine. I've found each generation has a faster boot time. 1 min 50 for Ubuntu? Holy crap. Is it a 286? “From a standing start to being able to open a web page Vista took four minutes thirty seconds on this machine.”

Under 40 seconds on my machine and under a minute on the older machine. I’ve found each generation has a faster boot time. 1 min 50 for Ubuntu? Holy crap. Is it a 286?

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