Thinking of Switiching to Ubuntu guys?

[Centrix]

Heres my PC Specs:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 (Dual, both are 1GB Each!)
OS: Windows 7 64bit (Currently)

So basicly I need the drivers for Mint for my Dell XPS 730x guys and I'll be gun ho happy any chance I could get help with this, I need to also get my Netgear Wifi adapter working to

 

[Centrix]

ok sweet found the nvidia driver I hope lol just need to figure out the drivers for my wifi too lol

 

[McHaggis]

The main thing you might have to deal with in Ubuntu is system instability. Updates have regularly broken things for me; for instance, since upgrading to 13.10 my laptop sometimes fails to go into standby mode or shutdown, I've been regularly asked to report display errors to the devs (usually on startup) although I don't notice any particular errors. Upgrading to 12.10 broke my WWAN adapter until I reinstalled it.

I use Ubuntu with the Cinnamon desktop environment (I'm not a fan of Unity). The two things that I miss from Windows are the stability and the UI/shell front-end. In my personal opinion, I think Windows looks better than any Linux desktop UI. Even though you can approximate the look and feel of Windows, most of it feels a little rough around the edges to me. If Microsoft switched to a Linux kernel for Windows 9 and made bash or zsh the default command line interface, I'd probably switch back (but that's unlikely to happen).

What makes up for the issues I have with Linux, however, is the freedom and raw access. You're free to do pretty much whatever you like on Linux. If there's something you don't like, you can change it very easily. I spend 95% of my time in a terminal or a web browser on Linux. I can't really say the same for Windows because the command line interface sucks.

 

[Pleng]

I'm going to have to disagree with you on the Win7/8 feel faster than Linux desktops. I find that Linux installations are so much faster for me. After installing programs on Windows it slows down after a while, startup, installs, etc. On Linux Mint for me it's very little of a slowdown.

I never said Windows was faster; I said the user experience was light years ahead. Linux desktop systems are a cobbled mish-mash of different parts. I *still* can't get my Ubuntu install to switch between Thai and English language for keyboard input, for example. Last time I tried it turned all my desktop icons to Thai (I did *not* set the system Locale to Thai) and even after switching back, some of my icons in my "U" menu are still labelled in Thai. On Windows this just works. Same with audio subsystems and getting anything hardware working.

Having said that, I haven't experienced the Windows slowdown syndrome since the days of XP. But then I'm not constantly installing and uninstalling games? Maybe that has something to do with it? I don't know

Linux is actually much farther ahead, imo at least. Where are the Windows updates that don't require a shutdown? Almost every linux distro has those. You don't even need to shut down your system for any update unless its a huge one. I find myself being kicked out of programs and games to complete the windows update without me checking 'yes shutdown now'. It gets annoying.

I'm not sure what you're doing wrong there. I'm always prompted before a shutdown and in fact I have automatic updates turned to "download and prompt". The one area where Linux does well is having ALL programs updating via the SAME system; as opposed to Windows where every application has its own way of dealing with updates. I gather this is slowly changing with Win8, though. Having said that, I've only ever had one Windows update fail on me - Ubuntu updates fail all the time, and they don't roll back nicely like Windows do.

Most of these open-source programs can be compiled for linux. Learn to compile and you'll be on your way.

...this summarizes why Linux will never be able to gain momentum on the desktop. The people who develop it are geeks. They think that "learn to compile and everything will be fine" is a perfectly acceptable response to say to somebody who is thinking of trying out their operating system. And the results of this mentality are very apparent to anybody who's ever tried to troubleshoot a problem with their installation.

 

[Taleweaver]

I have an old pc on which I've tried linux ubuntu and mint. Here's my findings:

-the installation is a piece of cake. Honestly...I'm kind of embarrassed in windows's name right now. All those versions (XP, 7, 8) want to overwrite each other. The linux distros just ask whether you want to overwrite them or add them to the multiboot option (and create a partition). It's as simple every OS should do it.
-I know this isn't universal, but no driver issues whatsoever thus far.
-I strongly prefer cinnamon over mate...haven't touched many of the other desktop environments, but I've gotta say cinnamon strikes a nice balance between eye candy and ease-of-use.
-ubuntu has gone commercial. Kinda sad, but it's very strange to have amazon shortcuts amidst desktop icons. Not sure if these can even be cleaned out. In any case, mint has my preferred gala of basic programs (firefox, thunderbird, VLC).

For emulator purposes...I'm currently messing with retroarch (pretty much all-in-one). I was just thinking of creating a thread when I figured the answer to very slow emulation myself (check the bottom of this page). Right now it's a breeze for the cores I've tested (note: with my rig, I don't even bother trying PSX or similar). It's certainly worth checking out.


Pleng: I can agree that windows is more refined. If things work fine, they're certainly cool. But if you deviate from the standard a bit, it can be a daunting task to find it. I tested 2 monitors with different resolutions. It 'sorta' worked...the results got kind of strange, though. And the abovementioned video example is something I'm no longer used to doing.
Still...I've gotta say that with distros like these, linux is steadily closing the gap. Windows is still better, but light years? No way.
I also thought installing hardware would be a problem. I was TOTALLY WRONG on this. On the contrary: on windows, a driver for a printer is seldomly the correct one and from the website it always wants to install more bloatware than drivers (HP, I'm looking at you here). On linux, it just installs my stuff and that's the end of it.
(yeah, I know: with all these different hardware being around, it's hard to chalk up a definitive result on better/worse. I'm just stating my findings)

 

[grossaffe]

...this summarizes why Linux will never be able to gain momentum on the desktop. The people who develop it are geeks. They think that "learn to compile and everything will be fine" is a perfectly acceptable response to say to somebody who is thinking of trying out their operating system. And the results of this mentality are very apparent to anybody who's ever tried to troubleshoot a problem with their installation.

huh? You can get pre-compiled binaries just like with Windows, plus it has an excellent repository system for installing programs that puts Windows to shame.

 

[Centrix]

I need help guys, so I figured out how to get my nvidia drivers but I just can't seem to get a solution to getting my Netgear N600 WiFi receiver installed so my desktop can get on the internet, right now I'm using my data on my galaxy s4 to get online, pls any help would great, I've been at this for hours lol

 

[3bbb7]

I need help guys, so I figured out how to get my nvidia drivers but I just can't seem to get a solution to getting my Netgear N600 WiFi receiver installed so my desktop can get on the internet, right now I'm using my data on my galaxy s4 to get online, pls any help would great, I've been at this for hours lol

Are you on a desktop or a laptop?
I had issues with Mint with my WLAN drivers only connecting to a certain network but not another.
Try ethernet and see if that works?

 

[Centrix]

Yes I am on a Desktop, the problem is I don't have any way to actually connect to the Ethernet the router is in the living room and my dad has his desktop out there so thats out of the question, I just need a .deb file or just something I can click on and run with out all the hassle! I find it hard to believe that theres nothing like that for my Netgear N600 wifi dongle I'm so close to having Linux Mint 16 up and running, just this last part, can any one help me or point me in the right direction

 

[3bbb7]

Yes I am on a Desktop, the problem is I don't have any way to actually connect to the Ethernet the router is in the living room and my dad has his desktop out there so thats out of the question, I just need a .deb file or just something I can click on and run with out all the hassle! I find it hard to believe that theres nothing like that for my Netgear N600 wifi dongle I'm so close to having Linux Mint 16 up and running, just this last part, can any one help me or point me in the right direction

how are you connecting to your s4? Are you using usb tether?

 

[3bbb7]

These threads may help you
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2116523
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2052594
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1964173

I'm not exactly sure of your issue but I believe your wifi dongle is not working with mint, correct?

 

[Centrix]

how are you connecting to your s4? Are you using usb tether?

Yes I'm connected via tether ☺

 

[3bbb7]

Yes I'm connected via tether ☺

read the post just above yours

 

[Centrix]

Wow that first post sounds like all things I've have read through and tried lol, I will try those thank you guys, I'm having one minor problem, so as I said I have my Nvidia drivers installed however the UI looks vastly different from the one on windows, you see my new TV has a stupid over scan issue, its a new 39inch Apex LED 1080p tv, normally i'd adjust the screen size in Nvidias settings but dragging the vertical and horizontal scales to where It looks good on the tv, but theres nothing like that on the nvidia ui for mint, I hope thats makes sense lol

I really appreciate all the help guys, thanks you so very much

 

[Pleng]

huh? You can get pre-compiled binaries just like with Windows, plus it has an excellent repository system for installing programs that puts Windows to shame.

Yes you can and yes it does.

That has nothing to do with what I wrote though.

Pleng: I can agree that windows is more refined. If things work fine, they're certainly cool. But if you deviate from the standard a bit, it can be a daunting task to find it. I tested 2 monitors with different resolutions. It 'sorta' worked...the results got kind of strange, though.

I never had problems with dual monitors at different resolutions on Windows, or Ubuntu.

Still...I've gotta say that with distros like these, linux is steadily closing the gap. Windows is still better, but light years? No way.

We'll have to agree to disagree there. Like I say, the gap appears to be increasing.

I also thought installing hardware would be a problem. I was TOTALLY WRONG on this. On the contrary: on windows, a driver for a printer is seldomly the correct one and from the website it always wants to install more bloatware than drivers (HP, I'm looking at you here). On linux, it just installs my stuff and that's the end of it.
(yeah, I know: with all these different hardware being around, it's hard to chalk up a definitive result on better/worse. I'm just stating my findings)

How many printers do you install??!

I've never had Windows install in incorrect driver for a piece of hardware. I'm glad Linux just installs your stuff. When I tried installing Ubuntu as my host OS it started up with buggy drivers for my GeForce (it actually chose used the unstable one by default - during the installation process!) which meant it was impossible to install as it would freeze the entire system half way through the process - I had to set my machine to use on board graphics as default, then after installing set it to use the stable driver for my GeForce.

 

[Taleweaver]

How many printers do you install??!

I've never had Windows install in incorrect driver for a piece of hardware. I'm glad Linux just installs your stuff. When I tried installing Ubuntu as my host OS it started up with buggy drivers for my GeForce (it actually chose used the unstable one by default - during the installation process!) which meant it was impossible to install as it would freeze the entire system half way through the process - I had to set my machine to use on board graphics as default, then after installing set it to use the stable driver for my GeForce.

I admit there are differences in numbers. It's only two on linux and nearly a hundred on windows. But for something as simple as installing a local printer through USB, there is simply no excuse for it not working, and that often happened. And not because the user didn't have enough administrative rights.