Ubuntu for a newbie?

[kap]

decay wrote:
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/560173
Linux Mint 9 Desktop with VMware Tools

This is Ubuntu in mint green meaning it is more complete and has everything out of the box.

Linux Mint 9 Isadora image with VMware Tools

A new Mint bonbon has just been released. It is based on Ubuntu 1004 LTS and probably the last one with the "old style" Gnome environment. As usual, the Mint distro offers a rich desktop with some proprietary drivers and packages preinstalled that are missing in Ubuntu. Later we may have the LXDE version also, because the last one made a really good impression.

This Mint VMware image has VMware Tools installed and everything seems to work. So this appliance could be your formula one racer with the fastest "from out of the box to full desktop experience" your computer ever saw.

Will it a shot tonight on my Wife's Sawtooth G4. Cross my finger that the learning curve will not be too stiff.

[silvarios]

deckeda wrote:
If the variety of experiences noted here is any indication, Ubuntu still sounds more like a hobby, not to take anything away from the successes of course.

Hobby? Would you like me to compile a list of OS X bugs. Some are several years old and have no public time table or even acknowledgement from Apple.

Read through a similar thread after iTunes receives a major update. Complaints, command line hacks to revert back to an older GUI or behavior. Remember when Apple broke HDMI output via DVI to HDMI adapters on OS X? There was no intermediate fix, you had to wait for the next OS X release.

Ubuntu isn't perfect, but geez, a hobby? You probably didn't mean to be dismissive. Sorry to jump on the word hobby. Ubuntu is a place I can get work done. Just like OS X. Either I find preferable to Windows. All depends on your needs of course.

[silvarios]

kap wrote: Oh, I thought there would be a more Mac GUI like version.

I'm not sure if I understand. Download the iso, burn to a CD, boot computer into the normal Ubuntu interface for testing or skip right to the installation. Both have a GUI. There is an alternate installer that is not as pretty or focused on pointing and clicking, but that is not the default download option.

[silvarios]

kap wrote: Will it a shot tonight on my Wife's Sawtooth G4. Cross my finger that the learning curve will not be too stiff.

A VMware appliance will not run on your wife's G4.

[silvarios]

DaviDC. wrote:
Last night I tried to install ubuntu 10.10 on an old Dell but 3 times it froze a few minutes into the process.
I downloaded 9.10, burned it to a CD & it installed just fine. Afterward there were over 300 updates for it & it took another hour for those to download & install. Now I have a PC that's useable in less than 3 minutes after startup as opposed to 15 minutes when it was running XP.

Moral of the story? The latest isn't always the best.

I also had trouble installing 10.10. I went back to 10.04 LTS. Any reason you went all the way back to 9.10?

[decay]

neither will Linux Mint - no Mac version exists that I'm aware of.

[kap]

decay wrote:
neither will Linux Mint - no Mac version exists that I'm aware of.

My misunderstanding.