I got rid of my older MSI system which, I will never buy one again, too many problems and lackluster support. I have a Dell G3 3779. I'm not a power gamer anymore, I'm in my 50's now.

It's nothing to write home about and it does precisely what I need it to do. https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/dell-g3-17-gaming/spd/g-series-17-3779-laptop

But does anyone know if Ubuntu resolved the Dell WIFI driver issue?

Cheers!

How up?

A cool 1 billion.

http://diginomica.com/2016/12/19/adobes-gambit-pays-off-subscription-revenue-accounts-78-total/

I remember I wanted  to mod a video game  once. I needed photoshop. Then the next thing hit me in the gut, a 700$ price tag was associated with said software.

What adobe did different this last year was IMO brilliant. They introduced consumer pricing and subscriptions. 

Photoshop CS6 being the last software to use the previous license system came with a whopping $1500ish price tag.

This last year they pushed Photoshop out the door with another software called light room in a bundle deal they called the photographer plan. For only 10$ a month.

If I had any guess as to why they seen such a huge increase in revenue it is exactly this. People who wanted the product could actually now afford it. Something thats been majorly plaguing software giants for decades.

If I had one word of advice for industries and software companies. Low Price Subscriptions for consumers solves problems.

http://symplepc.com/

Left 4 Dead 2 running natively on Linux.... No Wine library or anything else for "fake" support. This is on an Ubuntu 11.10 installation with the AMD Catalyst Linux driver.

Here's the original post on Phoronix and some commentary from ExtremeTech.

Now I know this is Phoronix who are, shall we we say, 'optimistic' about all things Linux; but by the looks of things this isn't a leak or a 'source': it's straight from Gabe Newell.

- Gache

any other linux Distros feel free to add them here and i'll try them out

Windows 7 is slowly driving me to the point where i want to smash up the PC, creating textures and saving them into a folder that doesn't exist in explorer if i can somehow stop the white screen in ubuntu, i'll do everything in there. but for now. it's down.

but i see what you mean.

i think i'll leave the texturing out, or ask someone else, GIMP doesn't have a plugin if i remember correctly. and photoshop is only on one PC.

even dad has clicked on that since having to use windows, i'm not as cheery as normal but it's other things too

even Igor is an issue, i save something, and then when i transfer it to a windows PC all the saved work, has vanished and it's yet again, back to square one, yet they use EXACTLY the same zip compression.

all i get is not responding not responding not responding time and time again. i sort of feel sorry for you guys. but i will carry on as soon as one of the XP installation Phantom 4550 PC is running again or ubuntu is fixed. might just be a case of switching to ubuntu classic

(@person who edited the title, i was already on ubuntu, i just needed to find a way of getting GR to work on ubuntu )

http://www.untangle.com/

We are using the linux version with a p4 w/2gb of ram and 2 network cards as a router / filter.

I have to say it's awesome.

Virus protection (nice to have a 2nd layer besides endpoint on the desktop)

User web tracking and blocking of porn and other sites with logs

Anti phishing

Antispam

anti spyware

That is with the free open source apps. There are some paid apps but with this i see no reason for any of them lol.

We are using it to watch and protect roughly 50 users on our network.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

If you get tired of the limitations in partition magic, try get parted. Also includes a host of other tools for fixing moving and copying data. Boots from cd.

http://www.pfsense.org/

pfsense open source firewall is based on free bsd and can be installed on a pc containing 2 or more nics.

I used to use a hardware router but pfsense offers so much more configuration options and far better rule, port and protocol management. Anyone with a spare pc i suggest trying it.

Yup that's right, i am starting a comparison between the two OSs and as you can see, possibly biased.

Right were is a place to start?

okay what about how the OS initially Starts off.

Installation

Installation of Windows XP and Windows 7 was complex, especially if you are a first time user, well to me it was anyway, but on this, Ubuntu is no better if you are a downloaded installation user, and it is your first time, so confusing in fact i just gave up trying to find a decent virtual drive (when my favorite Phantom CD was staring me in the face )

Installation of windows XP was unforgiving for me when i first got it, there were scary buttons, and the delete partition button always makes me hesitate, even though i know what to do and i have backed up simply because of it's "scariness"

Ubuntu however, is much more forgiving, allowing you to use the mouse and select the partition size with a well visualized slider, it also allows you to choose to download available updates while the OS is installing. everything is well set out in the Ubuntu installation and it gives you reading material while you wait*

Compatibility

Ubuntu doesn't have much compatibility, not even Wine does justice a majority of he time, ITunes is one of the biggest Ubuntu Killers for me, and the family not because of music quality, but because we all have Ipods BUT Ubuntu does have it's own alternatives, Banshee Media player, works almost exactly like Itunes and it is able to connect with the Ipod to transfer music. AND you can use wine, if ubuntu has been installed over windows. but due to half of the PCs we own being infected With Kryptik.E Via the G-1 server. we couldn't even use Itunes in windows.

Windows, as you know has fantastic compatibility with games, programs and others including Viruses, which brings me on to my next subject

Security and Viruses

As you know, windows is a pain in the ass for Viruses and security issues, even with your anti-virus on and running, some sly little ###### still manages to get past the filter and embed itself into your file system, i think Kryptik.E proves how annoying windows can get for being susceptible to many Trojans, Backdoors and Hackers. along with Norton reporting over 140 attempted attacks on the back up G-1

Ubuntu, is fantastic in terms of security, and viruses, so much so that the devil Krypitk.E can be transferred into Ubuntu file systems, opened and by all means tampered with, and ubuntu shows no symptoms, that is because FAT/NTFS and EXT3/EXT4 are utterly different file systems, and because of the lack of Ubuntu usage, no one really bothers making viruses or Malware for it.

Speeds

I used my brain and counted how many seconds each OS takes to load on a Toshiba Satellite Pro A200 and an Emachine E520 both old and battered. this is a comparison on both with XP to make it fair.

Windows, Toshiba

Startup: 48 seconds[]Shut down: 35 seconds

Windows, Emachine

Startup: 62 seconds[]Shut down: 122 seconds

Ubuntu, Toshiba

Startup: 54 seconds[]Shut down: 12 seconds.

Ubuntu, Emachines

Startup: 47 seconds[]Shutdown: 4 seconds.

it is evident that Ubuntu certainly loads up quicker in one case and shuts down in a fraction of the time windows does.

along with that i also tired default internet browser loadup

IE8

startup: 22 seconds

Firefox

Startup: 5 seconds

Customization and style

Windows allows third party programs like Tune Up Utilities and Window Blinds that allow certain things to be changed. along with the default settings that can be changed without third party programs. custom settings work best in windows 7

Ubuntu allows allot to be changed without the need for third party programs, you can change all of ubuntu's looks (including icons) and mould it into your own custom OS. which is always an added bonus.

Usage Experience

The Picture shown above pretty much sums up what i go through on an average use, at windows, i am constantly effing and blinding at what it automatically does and it gets in the way of a good use, as ubuntu just gently drops a hint and tells me whether an new version of the system is out and what updates are available. so i can safely say, gaming aside, Ubuntu is my recommended choice, any day.

If you have anything to add or if you wish to comment feel free, but keep arguments and "bashing" to a minimal.

*doesnt apply when you are preparing the drive ready for install.

Image By Jacob Hulmston especially for this thread

<embed width="640" height="480" autoplay="false" wmode="opaque" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" name="mediaplayer" style="" src="http://video.linux.com/sites/all/modules/custom/os_video_player/mediaplayer.swf?file=http://video.linux.com/sites/all/files/videos_local/lcj11_linus_gregkh.flv" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="file=http://video.linux.com/sites/all/files/videos_local/lcj11_linus_gregkh.flv&enablejs=true&stretching=exactfit&fullscreen=true"/>

Source

anyway, i have been snooping about on GNOME.org and stumbled across the splash screens section, seemed intriguing. that's the loadup and shutdown screen am i wrong?

how do i make my own splash screen?

now the next one is, the logo; in the top left corner, the Ubuntu logo is visible, can i change this? if so how?

and finally, how do i change the logon screen.

i am hoping to rework it into Havok a simple Ubuntu based OS (just a few touch-ups here and there) in which the user of any PC we hope to be selling in the near future, if windows stops working for any reason, will have as a backup in which case they are not totally stranded.

hey Ubuntu says itself on the case, i can freely modify and distribute it if i want, so why not

surely there has to be some Linux guru who knows the answer

Closezilla looks like a good candidate. Are there any others suggestions?

lol that malware was up for a year and no one thought to check it. Good thing it wasn't business related. It seems by the description that it allowed root access.

If any of you gamers downloaded unreal you may want to check it.

... hmm ... in reading the comments it's an ircd... not the game.

made by the orignal devs not ported by a second company . If the game used OpenGL3 (Which is supported on Linux , Windows and Mac) then at least the graphics wouldn't have to be ported , making it easier for multi platform editions of games .

Then again certain current game companies are doing such a bad job of ruining game series by chaning it , dumbing it down , releasing buggy half ###### competed POS games , can we trust these current game companies in coding for Mac and Linux when the Windows editions have so many issues .

GR1 for PC is still the best of the entire series in my view , GRAW1 was okayish but GRAW2 just moved so far away its not worth supporting .

- Gache

A few headline features:

• New themes: the old 'Humanity' concept & themes have been replaced with two themes on a 'light'-based concept - Ambiance and Radiance.
  
• Faster startup: not only does it boot quicker (nearly halved the time on my netbook), but it's usable faster - no more staring at your desktop waiting for everything to load.
  
• Revamped Software Center.
  
• Social media,chat & email integrated into the Me Menu and Messaging Menu. (May not sound exciting, but combining Gwibber, Empathy and Evolution or Thunderbird with the new indicators really makes this stuff quicker & easier )
  
• Ubuntu One music store integrated into the music player.
  
• Improved & extended Ubuntu One sync for other stuff like bookmarks, contacts, notes & photos.
  
• Pitivi video editor (at last Ubuntu gets a video editor by default - and a pretty decent one at that).
  

That doesn't look a terribly long list, does it? But 10.04 Lucid is one of those releases where the little things make the biggest difference. The overall feel is that Ubuntu has moved up a level - it's time to take seriously Mark Shuttleworth's aim of competing with OS X on quality. We're not there yet, but Ubuntu is getting there.

- Gache

I've been using it for a couple of days now (I was downloader #39... guess I count as an early adopter ) - it really is seriously cool. Makes Spotify feel a lot more native.

Requires Ubuntu or a similar Debian-based distro using notify-osd.

My adventure with Ubuntu started more than one year ago keeping Ubuntu installed in dual boot with XP. XP was still my primary OS that I was using every time I had to do something fast as I was more confident with it.

When I changed laptop and I was "forced" to buy one with Vista I already decided to move to Ubuntu and bought the laptop with very basic configuration (since I don't play games any longer and I don't make CPU and memory intensive use) thus with Vista basic.

I kept both Vista and Ubuntu installed in dual boot for around 2 months and, then, 1 month ago during a Windows Update operation my Vista system crashed with no possibility of switching it on. Anywa I was not using it so I left it there without attempting to recover it.

After 1 month I can say I'm a very happy Ubuntu user and now all the space dedicated in the HD is for Ubuntu.

For those people who would like to try it but are a bit scared I invite them to do it, Ubuntu now is very much user friendly and can suprise you.

OFFICIAL PAGE

This new version of Ubuntu that is punctual as always is highly awaited by a large number of users.

I really feel the time for me to abandon Windows (now that I'm moving from PC to console for gaming, only GR is keeping me to Windows) is very close.