I was sitting in a lecture hall one day when I noticed the person in front of me was using quite a unique OS on his laptop. When I inquired as to what it was, he said he was using Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an Linux operated OS which is open source and appears to have several extremely neat functions, one of which allows you to switch desktops. Has anyone tried Ubuntu before? I've never used any OS apart from windows, so I'm not sure whether or not everything will be compatible with it (as far as software goes)?
Ubuntu can be installed on your PS3 and you can use that to run emulators on your PS3. If your using windows XP or vista currently and you want to start using Ubuntu make sure you know what your doing before you start anything.
Yeah, I've used Ubuntu before, its most user-friendly of all Linux OSs You generally don't have to worry about software compatibility, because there's usually a free version of w/e software you use (MS Office, etc) that you can install. And if there isn't, you could use Wine, which is a Windows emulator to run .exe files and install Windows software. Linux is practically virus/adware/spyware free, but its not idiot-proof. The main thing you have to worry about is hardware compatibility, though 99% of computers should be able to work w/ Linux. You may have to do a little work though to get it to work though, but its only a 1 time thing.
Thanks your for replies! Do you know of any guides which teaches users with little/no familiarity with installing OS to look at?
Ubuntu is very user friendly with the install, the most user-friendly of all Linux distros IMO Linux in general has excellent community support (forums, IRC, etc) and documentation for almost anything you would ever want. Here's the documentation for Ubuntu: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation If you want to install Ubuntu on your entire computer, that's very easy, just use your whole HD during the installation. However, if you want to be able to switch between Windows and Ubuntu (I don't really recommend this because you're going to find yourself using Windows because you are used to it), you'll have to partition your HD. Its not hard, just make sure you defrag your Windows partition first. The Ubuntu LiveCD comes with a partition already on it, so you don't have to go buy one or anything.
i agree with zero 100%, ubuntu is like amazingly noob friendly. the installation and use can be as easy as windows if your ready for a little change. but if youre new to linux i strongly recommend not trying to install anything except ubuntu, it gets a little complex
Thanks again for your replies. The reason I asked this question was because I recently purchased a new laptop and wanted to try something new for it. I'm mostly going to use it for school, and occasionally, for some light gaming. The laptop itself comes with Windows Vista SP1 installed, so I would have to reformat and install Ubuntu instead. As far as functionality and ease of use for the purposes of my laptop, would you recommend Ubuntu over Windows Vista?
If you're sole purpose of the laptop is for gaming, I don't recommend using ubuntu. Most games are built for Window environment. Ubuntu is nice to use but i'll recommend you to dual boot if you want to look "cool" with those eye candy features. Anyway there's some 3rd party software that are able to turn your Window to have some features like the Ubuntu.
I've tryed Unbuntu and it is great with all the apps and such... It's really user friendly but I am a windows sort of guy. However, it takes awhile to get around Unbuntu esp if you arn't familiar with nix.
Yeaps... there is some 3rd party program that allows it... I'll post it here again when i get the program... However it does reduce the performance of the Window hugely... So it's either the visual effect or the performance of the pc...