One of those traditional "I'm a user of abc, trying out xyz" articles. This time, a Mac user tries Ubuntu 8.10, and concludes: "Linux has come a long way, but it's not totally ready for the mom and pop folks, in my opinion. In the two days of testing, with two occasions it refused to load the graphic drivers and I could not enjoy Compiz. I found a tutorial which taught me how to modify xorg.conf to load XGL (I suspect that messing with the resolution of the second screen might have overwritten the xorg.conf file). Even so, I'd say Ubuntu 8.10 is a fantastic operating system. I guess it may take a while to tweak an Ubuntu installation to perfection, especially for more demanding users. I will recommend Ubuntu to everyone who can't afford a Mac, are not into heavy media content creation or hard-core gaming."
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Member since:2007-09-12
From the original...
Gone Fishing writes...
Ok, and since when do Mom and Pops mess around with dual monitor setups? :-)
Member since:2007-03-04
Member since:2006-01-10
Multi-monitor mode has come a LONG way in the very recent past. So it's a bit buggy still, and not all drivers (I'm looking at you nVidia and AMD/ATI) support the coolness of xrandr. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I have a nVidia card, and it has it's own Multi-monitor goodness that works quite well and is easy to set up. Compiz, for what it's worth, is still very picky on multi-monitor set ups.
Member since:2006-02-22
Don't get me wrong I think Ubuntu is a great OS. That why its my main OS, I'd consider myself a bit of a fanboy â but not a completely uncritical one, and yes multi screen support and changing screen resolution using the graphical tools has improved, however, if you go to ubuntuforums and search for resolution you will find 250 entries obviously this is not perfect and needs improving.
Member since:2005-12-15
Member since:2007-08-11
"Linux has come a long way, but it's not totally ready for the mom and pop folks, in my opinion.
Gone Fishing writes...
Ok, and since when do Mom and Pops mess around with dual monitor setups? :-) "
you may have noticed over the years just how much more mom & pop do with their computers now compared to a few years ago.
It seems that the more features linux gets and the easier it is to use, the longer the list of things that the "average" user STILL needs before linux is a possibility for them.
The real fact is, that linux has been fine for the average user (read: web/email) for years, but whether they would be as familiar with it as with windows/mac is a completely different story, and depends on many other factors.
Anyone can use linux nowadays, but they may not be as productive with it as with windows/mac. There is a difference.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2006-02-22
I thought a fair review Ubuntu is great most things work, some commercial apps are difficult to replace with open source, it doesn't surprise me the reviewer broke his video trying to the resolution right on his monitors. Getting two monitors to work properly at the right resolution can be a real pain and something that regularly crops up on ubuntuforums.org an area that still needs some attention.
Edited 2008-11-16 15:49 UTC