My two cents, newby

[llervero]

I'm fairly new (2 weeks old) to Linux world, been working with windows for years now. Anyway I do love the system and the graphics and most of all "free" programs. I have been working with kubuntu64 and 32 7.10 for about 2 weeks now, "my wife is hating me" trying to get it running smoothly. First was the java problem which I'm still working on "frostwire do not work" and the flash player "3 year old son website not working" issue. I like the OS so much I installed on both of my PC's. My few complaints are the flash player and the java issue and some of the software in the repos are not up to date in releases, example DEVEDE version 2.11 in adept , in their web site they are up to 2.14 or some like that. I have been fixing most of the issues by searching in the forums or goggle. At the same time since I'm new to Linux I have screw up the OS more than once trying to fix stuff 'big concern", having to reload everything again. In the installation package should include specially java or flash or a way to installed them properly or automatic 'like windows" without having to do all the search, research, console commands and workaround ways. I know if you use adept should work, well in my case it did not for the 64 or 32 systems and it looks that way for a lot of other people. I had the same problem with both of my PCs. I love the OS, but spending too much time could cost my marriage. Like I said I love the OS and already got rid of windows in my laptop. My PC I'm running dual boot, because java and flash player issues. Main point It should not take someone 2 weeks plus sitting in front of a PC to get it up and running properly. Specially married people. I'm sticking with kubuntu for now, hopefully this issues will be addressed. Flash and java a more streamline installation process (one that works the first time) and update software in the repos. Do not get me wrong you could see this is my second post I have done the research and my own fixing, but it should not be as difficult or time consuming to install an OS.

[eggbanjo]

Re: My two cents, newby

I have sympathy for you, its more of a hobbie than an OS, but the sense of accomplishment you get when you've beaten it into submission is great however.
As with you issues with flash and java, odd really those are probably the only 2 things that i seem to have gotten to work 'out of the box'. Networking/wireless is a bigger issue i think.

Keep fighting the good fight....


p.s Reference to the Wife - at least your OS will get upgraded

[marshallbanana]

Re: My two cents, newby

Couple of things. Firstly to placate your other family members it might be a good idea to change windows to the default OS in the grub menu, at least on one of the computers. If you want to do this just ask how and I'll put it up here. It's easy so long as you know what to do (which I can tell you)

Flash: My method for installing flash is simply to point firefox at a site that needs flash (but not youtube as its too smart for its own good and instead of loading some flash it tells you that you don't have it, myspace sites for bands are a reliable one to use) and you will be told you are missing a plugin and if you click you can install it. Click the relevant buttons. Done. (same trick works for konqueror).

Java: Try the following in the command line, the first line installs it (using command line instead of the adept gui) and the next two lines are creating links in folders so it will work with firefox:
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /etc/alternatives/mozilla-javaplugin.so
sudo ln -s /etc/alternatives/mozilla-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/mozilla-javaplugin.so
(see this thread for more info)

As for the time taken, that has more to do with having to install a new and unfamiliar os than with any actual weakness in the os itself. Once you get the hang of it a new install plus adding all the bells and whistles takes just a few hours. Most of which is spent off doing things while programs are being installed. There are reasons why some of those things are not included by default, eg. flash is not foss and so there are idealogical as well as licensing reasons for that being left out of the basic install.

[MoonRise]

Re: My two cents, newby

.......placate your other family members it might be a good idea to change windows to the default OS in the grub menu, at least on one of the computers. If you want to do this just ask how and I'll put it up here. It's easy so long as you know what to do (which I can tell you)

Good point to make here. Tried to "Cold Turkey" everyone on my end and it just about back-fired. After making WinXP the default OS for their, I have slowly but surely won them over.

[elizabeth]

Re: My two cents, newby

Ah... the time. I sure wasn't planning on spending days on end getting my system tweaked the way I want it, but I have! And it's starting to get on my nerves too. That's one good thing about Windows - when it's broken, you curse Microsoft and work around the problem, not try to fix it. :P

[blackjack72]

Re: My two cents, newby

I'm still not sure if the time I spend is because of the flexibility of the OS, it's buggy-ness, or me trying to change my paradigm from "Windows World" to "Linux Land".

[trident_2008]

Re: My two cents, newby

My few complaints are the flash player and the java issue

Mostly 64-bit issue, not Linux issue. Despite constant user requests, Adobe has no 64-bit Flash player for ANY OS. And 64-bit Java is fairly new.

As for stuff in repositories not being cutting-edge, - well, there are real people and real company behind those repositories, and their reputation depends on things being reasonably stable, malware-free etc. If something goes wrong there, it's distro maintainers, not project devs who would be held responsible. .

So, allowing anything just because it's new in a distro is not a good idea, some screening is needed, and distro mantainers can do only so much at a time.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: My two cents, newby

I'm w/ ya, my wife's abc.com doesn't play I even installed ie4linux hoping that would make it work. It's definitely a learning curve but even w/ m$ I spent hours fixing problems on a regular basis.