So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

[Qqmike]

Re: So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

Whatever issues one may have with Linux/Kubuntu, it's difficult to imagine how, of all things, Windows 7 could be the solution to anyone's problems (except perhaps as a possible fix of sorts to some of their Vista problems).

[MoonRise]

Re: So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

Whatever issues one may have with Linux/Kubuntu, it's difficult to imagine how, of all things, Windows 7 could be the solution to anyone's problems (except perhaps as a possible fix of sorts to some of their Vista problems).

It's not. I deal with both Vista and Win7. Virtually the same except for a few Eye Candy tweaks. Runs the same and requires the same (if not more) hefty HW specs. Same headaches with updates, freezes, Spyware, viruses. Nope, no solution and this from first hand experience.

[Qqmike]

Re: So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

@MoonRise -- Yes, that's the impression I get reading the blogs and forums. And Microsoft has made the rules, pricing, and product packaging for qualifying upgrades and for new niche positioning all so complex, you need a lawyer to help you decide the optimal route into your own legal copy of 7. Even then, your printer may not work without more work/research/downloads.

[gregwalton]

Re: So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

I also learned last February that KK is a "bleeding edge" distro

Fine - that was the answer I was looking for, at last. How did such a troll become a "moderator"? You have blindly ignored the original question and the views of all those who concur to rant on about much better Linux is than Windows 3.1, or whatever the last version of Windows you used was.

To answer some of the other ramblings from the Kubuntu fanboys when I first used Kubuntu (Breezy Badger) the Linux press was full of articles about how good Ubuntu was and that it was well worth considering as an alternative to Windows. There were many posts on this and Ubuntu's forum giving much the same message. I'm not making this up.

As for Windows 7 I have the RC (Ultimate) on my netbook, and have had for a while, and have just installed Professional on my desktop. It runs very well, doesn't freeze (actually Vista, on my wife's laptop hasn't frozen since SP1) and was easier to install than some versions of Kubuntu. Win7 also uses less resources and runs faster than Vista in my experience - but then as the only Linux I'm running at the moment is Mint 7 as a Virtualbox client under XP I'm not omniscient as the fanboys who have come to infect this once-useful forum.

It is not a matter of my not knowing how to install and maintain OSs (I was building microcomputers and programming in *machine code* in 1979 and programming in Fortran 66 via Hollerith cards in 1975). It's certainly not a matter of my wanting to promote Micro$oft. I simply asked a few questions to see if Kubuntu was for me or whether they were continuing to be "bleeding edge". Some were kind enough to answer the question to my satisfaction but the resident trolls just seemed to want to throw a barrage of crap at me.

Moonrise: I think you're wrong - maybe you need to close that terminal window and use your PC to learn something if you ever want to venture a worthwhile opinion. You sound just like any Windows fanboy dissing Linux, or Apple fanboy dissing everything non-Apple.

Qqmike: I agree about the upgrade routes into Windows 7 - what are M$ thinking. My printer (Canon i560) worked perfectly straightaway with Win7 (and last time I tried Kubuntu), though.

Snowhog: "I wish you well, and express no ill-will in your decision to return to Windoze" - well, thanks a lot you pompous git.

And back to GreyGeek: please do one useful thing in your dotage and ban me from this forum. And maybe rename it - it certainly doesn't seem to be about support any more.

[GreyGeek]

Re: So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

......
And back to GreyGeek: please do one useful thing in your dotage and ban me from this forum. And maybe rename it - it certainly doesn't seem to be about support any more.

I noticed that you registered here on April 26, 2006, made a few postings through the following months till the spring of 07, when you disappear for 5 months. Your 36th post, out of 50, was on Aug 7, 2007. You disappear for OVER TWO YEARS and then make a posting on October 28, 2009, which is a rant which ends with:

So, I'd like to know - if I try Karmic Koala Kubuntu will it be a reasonably safe & reliable operating system out-of-the-box or will it be another useless, risky toy unless I'm prepared to make a full-time hobby out of setting it up and maintaining it?

as if that was a fair minded question and wouldn't insult folks, especially a dotting 68 year old who replied that KK is an EXTREMELY "safe & reliable OS", and gave you my experiences. You don't ask for help. You don't mention any specific problems. You come picking a fight and then express indignation when some oblige you?

You have been acquainted with Kubuntu for almost three years, and yet, some how, a very skilled and informed person like yourself doesn't know or hasn't heard that Kubuntu was and is a bleeding edge distro, IF someone wants to run it that way? And NOW you claim that is the "answer to your question"? You could have re-read the Kubuntu.org home page:

What is Kubuntu?
Kubuntu is a free, user-friendly operating system based on the K Desktop Environment and on the award winning Ubuntu operating system. With a biannual release cycle and at least 18 months of free security updates for each release, it is the secure, stable computing environment you've been waiting for.

which is absolutely true, because I have Kubuntu 9.10 gold running on over a dozen different computers run by others also "in their dotage", and they find it to be totally secure, stable and fast. Their systems are on automatic update but not bleeding edge.

The bleeding edge comes in when you continue reading the Kubuntu home page:

KDE SC 4.3.4 has been released.
Users of our new 9.10 release can install it from the Kubuntu Updates PPA
...
KOffice 2.1 Available
Submitted on Tue, 2009-11-24
...
Amarok 2.2.1 now available
Submitted on Mon, 2009-11-16
...
KDE 4.3.3 Available
Submitted on Wed, 2009-11-04
...

all of which are fresh releases. BUT, one doesn't have to install them. My "doting" friends who, as I mentioned, were continually having trouble with their XP and VISTA installations, which I grew tired of supporting because I was constantly repeating the same clean up techniques, even though they had active AV and Windows Firewall installed. So, I told them I wasn't going to support Windows any more. If they wanted my help they had to install Linux. All agreed. I originally put PCLinuxOS on them, when I was running that distro, but when KK came I installed KK on their hardware because I wanted them to run what I was running. KK installed "out-of-the-box" on ALL of those computers. Since installing KK on their hardware last spring I have NOT had to repair, clean out, or reinstall KK on any of them. I never had a single problem with them while they were running PCLinuxOS, either. Most of them are almost as, or more "doting" than I am, but NONE are having any problems with their KK installation or with running them. Why can they be problem free even though they are "doting" but you seem to claim that such is impossible?

I could have been lucky with those dozen computers. You also know that while one laptop can run KK (or most any copy of Linux) "out-of-the-box", there is some hardware that can't run Linux, so your question was moot to begin with, but you KNEW that. My Sony VGN-FW140E/H came with VISTA Home Premium Edition installed and VISTA would lose connection with the display panel driven by the GM45 chip, so hardware problems are not a platform specific problem. You KNOW that, too. which also makes your question moot. Interestingly, KK has NEVER had the display panel disconnect problem that plagued the VISTA that came with this box. To be sure, there Is an EDID problem in the GM45 chip, but KK works around it. VISTA couldn't.

Your insulting question also contains a contradiction. You are seeking a "reasonably safe" operating system, and as your safe harbor you are going to rely Microsoft and Windows? Win7 is just XP with more makeup and a new service pack, but both you and I know that Microsoft hasn't got a handle on "safe" by any stretch of the imagination. That's why you'll have to purchase additonal security software, and even that won't work, as one million Windows zombie bot farms testify. Microsoft will be setting on reports of security holes for God knows how long while you sit fat, dumb and happy running an OS that has your personal info hanging out on a line like so much laundry, free for any drive-by snatch. And you think you'll be safe. Good luck with that.

See ya around,
"Doting" old GreyGeek.

[MoonRise]

Re: So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

Moonrise: I think you're wrong - maybe you need to close that terminal window and use your PC to learn something if you ever want to venture a worthwhile opinion. You sound just like any Windows fanboy dissing Linux, or Apple fanboy dissing everything non-Apple.

?? What in the world are you even talking about? I "dissed" nothing. I state a fact of having been a MS administrator for 16+ years. If what I state hurts your feelings, I'm sorry for you. I USE my PC. I don't know about you. And truthfully you are starting to sound like a troll yourself. Anyway, my post was @ Q, not you.

[Snowhog]

Re: So... is Karmic Koala going to be usable?

gregwalton - banned per his own request and undeserved vitriolic comments.