Topic: From Vista to Ubuntu - The story of a migration.

[Touti]

Warning - Long post ahead

I have to PC's at home, a "server" in the living room (Running Vista Ultimate) and a workstation in the office running XP.  This thread is about the machine in the living room which I will call my HTPC.

This machine is connected to my 42" Plasma TV and is using a Logitech diNovo Edge wireless keyboard.  I used the machine primarily to do things on the internet, do my emails, listen to music.  For the past year it also served a very important purpose as it was my personal mail server.

Running hMailServer, this machine which is up 24/7 would retrieve all my emails from the different email accounts that I have and place them all in a central mailbox.  I use Thundebird as a mail client and connect to this machine via the IMAP protocol.  That allows me to have access to all my emails from anywhere in the world.  This is very important for me because I run a small web hosting company and while I'm at work I need to be able to refer to emails from clients if I have to do follow up on support or information requests.

Now that the table is set, let's go on.

Last week-end I decided to install Vista SP1 to see if there was any noticeable improvement in speed.  When I got to the windows update page I couldn't find the service pack, I started checking on internet and found out that it because I had languages that were still not supported by SP1.  Since I wasn't using these languages anyway I decided to get rid of them to be able to install SP1.  Note that this was only a few days before they released the service pack in all languages 

I proceeded to remove the languages I didn't want and the process took many hours, when it completed it gave a screen showing that only one language had been removed and that all others had failed.  There was a link to show more information on why the other languages weren't removed, not to happy about having wasted hours I clicked on it to learn more.

The explanation was that some languages can't be removed if others depend on them and have to be removed before.  Ok, so I try again selecting only a few languages that I think would work as a "pack".  No help there, Vista again removes only one.  I try again with languages that seem to have no similar ones installed but again only one is removed.  Not too happy about the whole situation, I started searching on the web and it turns out that no matter how many languages you choose to remove, Vista will only remove the first one.  So be it then, if that's what it takes, that's what it will be.  I proceeded with removing all the languages one a time.  This is a very slow process in Vista, it takes about 25 minutes each time and one you've removed one language you have to restart before doing another one.  I figured it would take me 3 days to get rid of them because I couldn't do it "full time" and I had about 30 left to remove.

I am nothing if not persistent so I was going to do it.  On the 2nd day, after I had done about 10, I got fed up and decided to contact Microsoft's support on this to see if there's a hotfix or something.  After all this Vista installation is legal and there's no reason I shouldn't ask Microsoft to help me with their bugged products.  I went to support.microsoft.com and proceeded to place a request for support by email.  After filling a form with a bunch of questions I ended up on a page telling there was a server error and that I should try again later.

I thought then that it could be because I'm using Firefox so I tried again with IE and when I got the support page it didn't behave the same way.  The first difference was that it ran an ActiveX object that asked me if the machine I was using was the one that I was requesting "Vista SP1 (All languages)" support for.

I clicked "Yes", continued and ended up on the same error page as before................but wait a minute, was I dreaming ?  Did the first page say "Vista SP1 (All Languages"    Went back to check and yes, it did.  So they had finally released the service pack in all languages.  I'm of course all happy I won't have to keep uninstalling those stupid languages one at time because I can now install my service pack which will undoubtedly make my machine run much faster and, obviously, this stupid bug will have been fixed and I'll be able to finish removing all the unwanted languages in one shot and it's gonna be fast because this new service pack addresses performance issues.

How naive of me 

Performance improvement: Unnoticeable
Languages bug fixed: No

At this point I say to myself "That's it, I've had it with this Vista shit, I'm gonna try that Linux thing again".

(see ya in the next post)

[Touti]

I have tried many different versions of Linux over the years.  I was always interested to see if it could really replace Windows.  Every time my conclusion has been that it couldn't.  I always ended up proving the claims and arguments made by those who are willing to give their life defending Microsoft Windows.  These arguments are mostly.

"Linux is too complicated, it's not user friendly".
"There's not softwares for it"
"It's complicated to install new softwares, you always have to find th right build and compile and edit all kinds of config files"
"It's not compatible with Word and Excel, I can't open my friend's files"
"It doesn't have drivers for my hardware"
"My wireless keyboard and mouse won't work"
etc, etc, etc

I experienced all those issues, I'm an IT person, I have been in the business for 21 years and I wouldn't go through all the trouble of finding source codes and drivers, editing files and recompiling the Kernel just to make a stupid wireless mouse and keyboard combo work.  If I won't, I doubt anyone who's not computer savvy would.  In the end I always ended up getting rid of Linux and going back to windows.........until now.

I recently heard of a Linux distribution called "Ubuntu".  It's been out a few years, people seem to talk highly of it and it is said to be good.  As I was fed up with my Vista I decided to look into it.

First I had to find a solution to my mailserver, unfortunately I didn't find anything as easy to install and configure in Linux as hMailServer is in Windows.  Too bad, If I'm gonna through the trouble of making a Linux system fetch all my emails from everyone to put them in a single mailbox, I might as well do it on the servers from which I run my hosting business and stop using my home PC for that.

I'll spare you all the details, suffice it to say it works and that is covered so I was now ready to try that "Ubuntu" thing.  I went to Ubuntu's web site, downloaded the desktop version, burned the DVD and proceeded with the installation.

(See ya in the next post)

[Touti]

There is at least one nice thing that Microsoft added to Vista and that is the possibility to shrink a disk partition, freeing hard disk space to create new partitions.  This was nice because I wanted to keep my Vista and run it along with Ubuntu in a dual boot configuration.  I did that, recoved about 27 gigs of free space, enough to do what I wanted.

After backing up all my important files, I booted from the Ubuntu disk.  Fast boot, nice screen, enjoyable colors.........then I see a mouse cursor on screen.  I start rubbing the touch disc on my keyboard (which is the integrated mouse on a diNovo Edge keyboard)...............guess what.........IT MOVED .  My Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse combo works so I can continue.

After just a minute or two, I have a fully functional "Live CD" Ubuntu Desktop with a "Install" icon on it.  I started the install, selected my 27 Gig partition and let it proceed with the installation, I figured it's gonna take some time because OS' are always long to install so I go get a drink and sit down to watch TV for a while.  After about 20-25 minutes I decide to check how much of it is done..............it's finished.  The entire Ubuntu OS installed in less than 30 minutes, just about the same time Vista needs to remove a language    I like the screen, the colors are relaxing, the fonts are nice, let's login and check it out. 

My first reaction when I saw my full desktop with the control panel, status bar, etc was "Wow !  This is nice".  All the other Linux's I tried in the last few years always disappointed me in that regard, my first reaction was always "Windows looks much nicer".  Ubuntu's desktop however is different that the other Linux's I have tried, it's much more user friendly.  I spent the next few hours experimenting with it, downloading updates, installing new programs, setting it up for emails, it was all fun, easy and fast.

After all these years I finally found a Linux that I actually want to learn, use and work with.  That was last thursday and I had already ordered a new CPU for that machine.  It's a 64 bit motherboard and had a single core 64 bit processor, I had ordered a Dual Core processor.

I received it friday and when I got home I decided to reinstall Ubuntu but use the 64 bits version this time as I had originally installed the 32 bit.  This is quite interesting because I couldn't install Vista 64 bits on that machine.  In XP, you will sometimes get a message that a driver is not signed and you're asked whether you still want to install it.  Vista 64 doesn't allow that, it simply won't install unsigned drivers.  Because most companies didn't have signed 64 bit drivers yet I had to install a 32 bit OS on my 64 bits machines.

Ubuntu doesn't have that limitation.  When I got home friday night I installed my new CPU, booted the machine in Vista and check for performance improvements.  I have the sidebar running and I noticed that my CPU no longer goes to 100% all the time when I start an application, Vista runs faster but not much faster.

I downloaded the 64bit version of Ubuntu Desktop, burned the DVD and booted from it then reinstalled on top of my previous version.  It was of course a little faster with the new CPU but not much because my DVD reader is a bit slow on this machine. Once the installation completed I proceeded again with configuring my email clients and all those things.

It was not time to see if it only looks good or if Ubuntu can do the job.

[Touti]

First thing to check, is there a remote desktop client that allows me to connect to my windows machine at work.  This is important for me........and yes it does, it's included in the distribution, works wonderfully and is even faster than Microsoft's version.

I then decided it was time to see how to share files with my XP machine in the office.  On my Vista partition I have a folder in the C called "Data" which is shared, the "My Documents" folders on my Vista and XP systems both point that folder so whenever I look at "My Documents" I see and change the same files on both machines.  This is particularly interesting for my DVD Collection program.

I went on the internet, searched a little and quickly found an explanation on how to do this.  It took less than 3 minutes and that was history, I can now access my files on the Ubuntu machine from my XP workstation.

Ok, fine, but can I listen to my music ?  Of course, they couldn't call it a Desktop version if it couldn't play music.  There was however a small disappointment there.  The sound from this PC is played through my home theatre system via a S/PDIF connection.  I tried some MP3 files and I got no sound, it took me about 30 minutes searching on the internet and experimenting with stuff to find out that by default the S/PDIF output is muted.  I had to run a program called alsamixer to turn of the mute on this output.  The disappointment though is that there is no volume control on it.  In Vista the driver and/or application had the "intelligence" to let me control the volume through windows.  In Ubuntu I can't, I'm gonna have to do further research on this but in the meantime I have to use my amplifier's remote control

Everything else worked nicely and easily, the OS is simple to use, programs are easy to install (more on this in a later post), updates are easy to download and fast to install, much faster than Microsoft, I will also post about this later.

So yesterday in the afternoon, after playing with my new Ubuntu OS for 2 days I was very happy, liked it very much.  It does everything I want and I don't have to use all my IT knowledge and experience to use it.

When I get home I am no longer a programmer, I become a user and I want a user friendly computer.  I don't want to have to think hard and do complicated things like I have done all day at work.  Unlike any other Linux that I have tried before, Ubuntu gives me that.

There is finally a Linux out there that is easy enough to use to compete with WIndows.  I like it so much that yesterday afternoon I decided to get rid of Vista.  I reinstalled Ubuntu one more time, using the entire disk and I no longer have Windows on that machine.

I will use this thread in the future as a mini blog about how things go, I will post some screen shots later and keep you posted of how things go in my new world.

[Achim]

As this will be your mini-blog, you can delete this if you don't want comments here.

Very interesting read! Welcome to the non-Windows world; be prepared to be a happier person I have been exclusively using Mac OS X for more than 6 months now (well, yeah, I run a VM with Windows for my DVD collection program; I wish I could change that somehow...) and am quite glad with that new world.

Software is available for everything, we just have to find the new places where it's located.

[Touti]

As this will be your mini-blog, you can delete this if you don't want comments here.

In the spirit of open source and free software, let's make it a "collaborative mini-blog"

Software is available for everything, we just have to find the new places where it's located.

One of the things I liked most with my first steps with Ubuntu was the add/remove softwares option.  Thanks to smart people, you don't really have to find where it's located, you don't even have to download, decompress and install it.  You just have to go to add/remove softwares and it executes a local program where you can search for what you need by keywords,category etc and it shows you a list of softwares that comes from an online repository.  Once you've chosen the program you want you just click the "Install" button, it gets downloaded and installed for you.

[Touti]

About remote desktop

Sunday I was happy to find that Ubuntu allows to remotely connect to your desktop.  For years now I've been using services from dynip.com, yesterday I downloaded their Linux client but I can't install it, I'm getting all sorts of errors so I had to create a Dyndns.org account and install ddclient.  This was pretty easy and it works well.

This morning however I am a tiny bit less happy.  I wanted to capture a few screens to post here so I connected remotely from work and it worked well but then I logged out because I wanted to get back to the login screen where I could change the language from french to english.

After doing that, I lost the connection and I am now unable to reconnect.  It appears that unlike Windows, Ubuntu requires the user to be logged in for someone to remotely access the desktop.  At least there is a solution with a program called "nomachine nx" which I will install when I get home tonight.

[Touti]

Is this discussion gonna from "From Vista to Ubuntu" to "From Ubunto back to Windows" ?  I've had a few deceptions lately.

First: "Amarok" which seems to be the most popular and best music player and cataloger for Linux is very unstable.  It keeps hanging on me when I use its search feature.  I have to kill it and restart it very often.

Second:  The sounds from my PC go through my home theater sound system via a toslink (optical) digital connection.  In windows the driver has the "intelligence" to allow me to still control the volume from windows and any application.  In Ubuntu, this only works in Amarok and I had to map keystrokes to each event (Increase/Decrease volume, Previous/Next track etc) myself because those keys on the keyboard don't work.  This comes as a surprise because my understanding of Linux has always been that it was an OS that controlled all the hardware to avoid conflicts.  Maybe I misunderstood something but if this is the case then how come only 1 application can control the volume of the SPDIF connection

Third: Remote access to the desktop created many problems.  In order to do it securely through an SSH connection I had to install the "Nomachine" server on my Ubuntu machine and the client on my remote windows machines.  I don't know exactly how this works but this server seems to interfere with Linux' x-server which apparently controls the graphics card and keyboard.  A few days after intalling it I had to reboot the machine and ended up at a resolution of 640*480 with no possibilities of selecting a different resolution.  I found on internet that I could run a program that updates the configuration file so I ran it and was able to choose my resolution again.  Except that then it started giving me a warning every time I log in about keyboard, x-something and gnome and asking me which one I want.  It also screwed up again with my resolution and I had to remove the "Nomachine" server to get rid of this warning when I  reboot.

Is this discussion gonna from "From Vista to Ubuntu" to "From Ubunto back to Windows" ?