Tips on moving to Linux?

[AmigaPixel]

@ral-clan

I am doing the same for now.


My main pc has Win XP pro but I intend to upgrade it to Win 7 Pro. I am concerned whether or not XP compatibility mode will really work with some of my older software. The other concern is there are no Win 7 drivers only Win Vista 32/64bit drivers. It seems from what I read in various forums and articles Vista drivers often work in Win 7 but not always. It is an older Compaq Presario I bought used for good price in 2008 at a pawnshop (not where I normally by used PC’s) It originally came with Windows Vista Home Premium but who ever pawned it had stripped that off and put a 30 day trial of Win Vista Basic, which already expired! I intended to install XP pro anyway so I bought it for the hardware. I am hoping the Vista drivers work or better yet Win 7 SP1 will find all of the hardware and the only thing I will have to install is the nVidia driver.


My Ubuntu experience:

In the mean time like others I trying Ubuntu mainly for my internet and emails. It ran fine from the DVD, very slow to load of course. Instillation went smooth until it was time to restart when Ubuntu froze. I had walked away for a while and when I came back it had gone into a sleep mode while the restart dialog box was up. Maybe that had some bearing on it. Anyway I powered it off and back on expecting to see a Grub screen, and…. Nothing! Straight to Windows XP wanting to run a check disk on the partition I installed Ubuntu. at least what Win XP could still see. After some quick research  I downloaded the Linux Grub/MBR boot repair ISO image. Rebooted with it and ran the fix utility. That did the trick! I now had a dual boot XP/Ubuntu machine.

Notice I say the word “had”. I just could not leave well enough alone. I thought hey lets install a Linux nVidia driver which screwed it all up. I got stuck in an endless loop of low graphics mode message. I could not even click on or tab to the OK button. I tried the Ubuntu recovery mode and steps I read to fix the issue but it didn’t work. To sum it up I had to delete the partition and use the Win install disk/Recovery console to fix the MBR. Then use a third party partition software to reclaim and stitch the lost partition back to the second partition. Whew! Lesson learned! Leave it be! Ubuntu works just fine without me mucking it up. I will try re-installing it tomorrow.

[AmigaPixel]

The Vista to 7 transition was far better than the 2000->XP or XP->Vista transition for driver compatibility, especially if you took the plunge and installed the 64 bit version.
 
Even if windows doesn't find all the drivers, somewhere like http://www.station-drivers.com/ is a good place to start. I mainly start off by googling for the device id from device manager and the name of the OS. If you're looking for a driver now it's very likely that someone has previously been looking for one as well.

OK that's good to know, thanks for the link and tips. I plan on installing the 64bit version since the hardware supports it. The system originally had a Pentium D 820 but I upgraded it to a Core 2 Duo E6400 since the MB supports it. Other than the Geforce card I am using the built in Network adapter and audio. I was able to find the XP drivers so hopefully Windows 7 will be straight forward.

[AmigaPixel]

Y'know, I ditched Linux once Ubuntu 9.10 ended support, but every now and then I think:"Lets see where its at, now".

And then I see a post like Amigapixel's, and all its starts to come back to me, and I realize its just Crazy Thinking.

Oh and if you want to know why it happened Amigapixel, I'll save you some time.  Man what were you thinking going nutso and installing a video diver like that!

"Its your fault".

Well yes and no! I have virtually no experience with Ubuntu, before now I only tried running version 9 on the CD. I assumed as with Windows the driver is out dated or not even the best match and needs to updated. It ran pretty good before I messed it up, although it would stop responding quite a bit. For example Firefox would turn grey for a few seconds intermittently.

[AmigaPixel]

TeamBlackFox

 No I intend to use Ubuntu as a safe way to use the internet and basic apps.  "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" Yes too bad I had to learn the hard way! Oh well now I know better. Do you use Unix at home? If so what version of Unix do you use?

[AmigaPixel]

I use several versions:

Arch Linux on a laptop
FreeBSD for desktop and servers
IRIX on SGI Octane
And I have a PowerMac G5 I need to rebuild the watercooler in, going to be used for something, yet to decide since it doesn't run at the moment.

 I had a brief time on one of the first line of Windows NT based SGI machines back in 1998. I was working at the Muscular Dystrophy Association, someone in their graphics department decided that they should have one with Maya version 1.0 installed. I worked in a different dept. but I had experience with Lightwave 3D, so they had me try it out. I have say I did not like the Maya interface at that time.

[AmigaPixel]

@Ral-Clan

Which version of Ubuntu did you install? I installed version 12.04 because I was pretty sure it would work well in a dual boot with Win XP. I got the impression that the latest version 13.10 doesn't play well with Windows but I don't know. I am curious about versions 12.10 and 13.04 if they work well beside Win XP. I got Ubuntu back up and running but I am a little hesitant of even doing the recommended updates within Ubuntu! I installed GIMP and Comodo Antivirus.

[AmigaPixel]

Does linux Ubuntu have the eqivalent to Task manger? Applcations mainly Firefox freeze up and I have no way to end the programs. Ubuntu even with the updates seems a little buggy rigth now, I am using version 12.04 for now.

[AmigaPixel]

Well doing a quick search I found this article which helps explain the Ubuntu system monitor, but it does not tell of any keyboard shortcuts in case the mouse is frozen. It  does'nt it mention if you can end specific programs.

[AmigaPixel]

This exact thing happened to me yesterday for the first time.  Firefox totally froze and locked my Lubuntu system, requiring a hard reboot.  Is that what happened to you?

I can't figure out how to update Firefox.  In windows it was from the "About Firefox" window within Firefox.  This is not present in Linux firefox (at least in Lubuntu).  I suspect it must be done from the main system updates panel for Lubuntu.

Yes for the last two days Ubuntu freezes before I even do anything. Before it would run for a awhile then freeze especially on FireFox but now the mouse pointer and entire desktop freezes. I downloaded ver. 13.10 so I was hoping your set up was still running smoothly.  I have not installed 13.10 yet. I was trying to see if there is a way to assign keyboard shortcuts to System monitor. However I am not sure that even if I could bring the system monitor up or the terminal to kill Firefox I doubt if that would make any difference since the whole desktop is frozen.

Also, Am I the only one who has had to run the Grub/MBR Boot-repair after each installation of Ubuntu? The install goes fine but when I reboot I get the BIOS/Splash screen then straight to Win XP, so I have to run this repair program to finally get a Grub dual boot screen. Nuts!

[AmigaPixel]

open a terminal window (ctrl+alt+t) then do killall firefox in the cli. If it complains the stick sudo infront of it. So long as you know the terminal command to run a program you can kill it the by apending killall infront of it. If not you can do a check using top or ps.
 
I reall like htop, which is a enhanced veriosn of top, for doing process management in terminal. It gives clear info on what state the system is in and gives a breakdown of running processes on both user and root. If you are on a debian/ubuntu system simply do sudo apt-get install htop and bingo bango it is done. To run type htop in a terminal and off it goes. If you need enhanced privlidges for something stick sudo infront of it.
 

OK thanks for the information, I will try that out.

[AmigaPixel]

When Linux just freezes at boot, it can be really offputting.
I have a fix... Go back to an earlier more stable version. The latest release with great features is not the best Linux. An earlier version that has all your drivers is the one to pick.

How far back would you suggest? I have 12.04 installed right now and freezes right after booting to the desktop.

[AmigaPixel]

Honestly, today, I'd try 14.04, it was just released and pretty slick in general.  You may actually find a newer version will fix something that existed in 12.04.  I'd try this first.

Failing that, you may want to try Debian Wheezy, it's not unsimilar to a 'core' version of what is in the *buntus.  

~S

Yes I may do that this weekend Ral-Clan did already and said it is running pretty good with only an issue with OpenGL