Wayne asked me to "do something" with his computer which is just not working properly. Indeed when I turned it on it came up with a very apologetic message saying it wasn't going to happen.
I had offered to install linux on it for him. He thought that was an all right idea because he only uses it for the internet and email.
I decided to install Ubuntu which is about the easiest form of linux for new users.
I went to ubuntu.com and downloaded the boot CD image which I then copied onto a CD. Going to Wayne's computer, I turned it on and inserted the CD. It started up OK then it got very impressive. After a few minutes, it started a "Live CD" version which allows people to try it out before installing it. Obviously running from the CD is going to be slower than if you have it installed to your hard drive but still it gives you a taste before you commit to it.
On the desk top is an icon labelled "install". I double clicked on it and the thing did its magic. It asked a few basic questions like "Where are you?" "What user name and password do you want to use?". The questions were all asked on the non-threatening, even attractive, desktop. In a few minutes I had the whole thing set up. I think from the time I first put the CD in until the final step, it took about 20 minutes, and was so so easy!
People often say "Linux is only for computer experts". But Ubuntu is so easy to install almost anyone can do it, and have a far richer computing experience, and without the worry of viruses etc.
If you don't play a whole lot of games or use applications that are only available in windows, I would recommend that you give Ubuntu a try. There's a new version coming out next month, 8.04. The current version of 7.10 is very good, and from what I've read the new version just builds on that base.
That sounds great, we're looking it up now!
ReplyDeleteOne ting Lois- if you use specialist software, it's often not available under Linux, and some hardware devices, particularly built-in modems are a total no-go area.But for general usage such as internet, office software, image manipulation etc, it's all there.Some Windows software can be run under an emulation program called wine. Or you can do what I did when I first made the trasition and that's set up linux on one part of your hard drive (called a partition) and windows on the other partition... you then have an option to boot into one or the other when you turn it on.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be no problem if your existing Mac runs OSX:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromMacOSXIf you're in doubt, make the Cd and boot from it into the "Live CD" version. You don't have to install is straight away. Have a play with it, remembering that it will be much slower running from the CD than it would from the HD. Oh... don't forget to copy all your documents, photos and other important files onto another medium as when you do the install you may wipe out all the data on your HD. It will ask you if you want to keep your existing partition- that will make it possible to keep the existing OS as well as installing Ubuntu. But things can go wrong and it's best to backup your important stuff before trying anything like this!
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts. Thank you. However, I think I'll wait and have some maintenance done on the MAC first. This is the first MAC I've had. I put on several programs and everything ran just fine. Then I added a lot of data files and the hard drive ran out of room.I moved all the data files to two external drives and I'm still out of space. I can't find anything more to delete so I suspect there are a lot of files that I am not seeing. Probably best to find out what they are, where they are and move them out first.Anyway, thanks for the information. That will be the next step!
ReplyDeleteAlso this page is a good overview:http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/desktopeditionJust found this:Note to PowerPC (PPC) users: The PowerPC platform of computers is not supported by the newest versions of Ubuntu. However Ubuntu 6.06 is still supported and available for your machine. Please use the link above to view the complete list of download locations to choose a location near you.
ReplyDeleteWould that work with a MAC too? My laptop is windows, but the desktop that I normally use is a MAC.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDelete