Total Newbie Questions

joe_dunne

I have an older pc (2.6 ghz, 512mn ram, decent graphics card) that I wanna use soley for watchin dvd's, stuff that i've downloaded and listening to music.

With that in mind i'm thinkin of using Ubunto as the os as I've heard its lighter on resources and boots faster than xp.

This true?

Willl I be able 2 run windows apps (like vlc player for example) or are there linux versions that do the same job?

Will I be able to conect to an existing wireless network and transfer files to / from the Ubuntu machine?

If anyone can help i'd really appriciate it
Many thanks

Joe Dunne

StephenHogan

Hey Joe,

You may indeed install VLC on Ubuntu - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ubuntu.html.

But remember that even though Ubuntu is the easiest of all Linux's to get a grip on and it is way lighter than XP, it does work very differently to Windows when you get down to the nitty-gritty. Also, you may not be aware of this, but the setup discs and files that you have for windows (e.g. Microsoft Office) would now be completely redundant.

Essentially you will have to download and install the Ubuntu (and sometimes Debian) Linux versions of yur favourite apps, if they are available.

Ubuntu has a way of creating a "Live CD" - basically you download an image of Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download) and burn it onto a CD. Put the CD in your machine and so long as the BIOS is set to boot off the CD first, you can actually run Ubuntu off the CD and try it out without installing it or affecting your XP installation. Should you like it, then you can install it onto your PC.

You also have the option of Dual-Booting - basically XP and Ubuntu can be installed and when you start your computer, the first thing is that a boot manager will load asking you which you want to boot into.

An alternative to all this is to instal VMWare on your XP system, and use the aforementioned CD that you just burned to install it - although I am unsure as to your technical expertise, it is good to get your hands dirty.

Hopefully this has not confused you! Any questions feel free to ask!

Stephen

Khannie

Welcome to boards.ie StephenHogan.

joe_dunne: Give ubuntu a lash. If you don't like it, head back to windows. No harm done. You will need to carry out some extra configuration to get .avi and mp3 files working on ubuntu, but it's straightforward enough.

henbane

joe_dunne wrote: »

Will I be able to conect to an existing wireless network and transfer files to / from the Ubuntu machine?

Yes, but it would be a good idea to have a read through the ubuntu wireless guide. It might make more sense to figure out what you will need to do to get your wireless card up and running before you start the install.

If you post the make and model of your wireless card here, someone should be able to help.

Tony H

joe_dunne wrote: »

I have an older pc (2.6 ghz, 512mn ram, decent graphics card) that I wanna use soley for watchin dvd's, stuff that i've downloaded and listening to music.

With that in mind i'm thinkin of using Ubunto as the os as I've heard its lighter on resources and boots faster than xp.

This true?

Willl I be able 2 run windows apps (like vlc player for example) or are there linux versions that do the same job?

Will I be able to conect to an existing wireless network and transfer files to / from the Ubuntu machine?

If anyone can help i'd really appriciate it
Many thanks

Joe Dunne

I have just installed the latest release candidate of ubunutu on an old desktop with an Athon 64 2800 processor and half a gig of ram on it and it it really running very well , i have it connected to a flat screen for watching vids and listening to music , it connects to my existing wireless and wired network easily , i use it to share music and video files with xp and vista with no problem , i have found equivalent programmes for most software that i use on windows , if i could find a really good media player i think i would install it on my laptop instead of vista .Have a look at the ubunutu forums if you want any help
http://ubuntuforums.org/index.php

dhaddock

StephenHogan wrote: »

Also, you may not be aware of this, but the setup discs and files that you have for windows (e.g. Microsoft Office) would now be completely redundant.

Stephen

this is not technically true, i got office working under wine in ubuntu

witnessmenow

openoffice.org for the win!

Surely it preforms better than MS office through wine?

at least some of it(word proccesor anyways) comes preinstalled on ubunutu

FruitLover

joe_dunne wrote: »

Last edited by joe_dunne : 11-04-2008 at 12:08. Reason: I forgot to sign it

You don't need to, as both your signature (bottom of your post) and username (side of your post) both have the same information

joe_dunne

Thanks for all the reply's lads much appriciated.

I installed it on my 2nd pc which is a much better spec that the one i had origionaly wanted to use, but seeing as that one is used by the family I was told that if i broke it I was dead.

So far im very impressed over all, the instalation was quick n painless (I used the guided / whole disk option ) and the os itself is everything I need.

Its gonna be used to play music n watch dvd/avi type stuff so with vlc on it im set.

Anyone know of a good music organiser/player similar to itunes? I'm totally humorless when it comes to my music collection and need a way to browse and play etc.

Im conecting to the internet using a clear wire box at the min but a 3meg package from bt arived in the post today with a Voyager modem, anyone have any problems setting these up before?

Cheers
Joe

NotMe

Try out Amarok for your music player. http://amarok.kde.org/features

stereo_steve

To setup your modem

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=140010

The great thing about ubuntu is the size of the community. IT doesn't matter what you are doing, someone has done it before!

You asked for a music player? I like amarok as NotMe pointed out. What I normally do though is look in the package manager. Click Applications and the Add/Remove. You can click on the topic that you want on the left hand side and sort by popularity. This will list all the best programs available