First off, for those that actually read this blog (all six of you), apologies for the tardiness of part 3 of this post, but truth be told I haven't been in the best of moods recently and the usual levels of joy I get from geekiness hasn't aided the mood swings enough.
Thankfully, all systems are, well, 82% operational in this ex guber and hopefully that shall suffice as I do want to finish this series of posts. Especially this one - the frustrations.
After falling in love with Ubuntu on my little netbook I decided I wanted to try it on a more powerful system and see what other possibilities were available. If I could find a decent amount of good software that I could feasibly replace all my work software with I could say goodbye to Windows once and for all!
Sadly, that's not the case.
Video Editing
This was the main one - video editing. Most, if not all my worky-work is based around filmmaking and video editing is the main thing I use my computer for more than anything else. With my first year of work load alone I killed a video card and my second one looks like it's going to die anytime soon. Now, whilst most people use Final Cut Pro on Macs for editing, I am not a fan - ever since I was introduced to Vegas 3.0 back when it was under Sonic Foundry I've been in love with the software. It makes editing so simple and intuitive I've managed to edit most of my jobs at breakneck speeds and most FCP users I know who watch me using it always end up asking if there's anyway to install it onto a Mac.
I knew Vegas was a Windows only software, but if there was a decent enough video editing software that would allow me to do the same level of work that I do at the same quality I wouldn't mind learning a new interface because the cost-difference would be huge.
Sadly, that's not the case.
Video editing on Linux systems is very much in its infancy. There are some that show promise, such as KDEnLive, but it's nowhere near the usability for professional video editing work. I would even settle for something that had an interface like FCP or Adobe Premiere or Avid as long as it was open source and free but right now it doesn't even seem like there are Linux based video editing software to match Windows Movie Maker and iMovie, which is really kinda sad. The most powerful Linux video editing software apparently is Cinerella but I've been having trouble installing the damn thing so still no tests on that yet. Sigh...
The first problem is the whole codec issue - video codecs are proprietary and not many companies are open to having their codecs out there for free. The other problem, I feel, is that I don't think there are any hardcore video editors who are working on trying to develop a decent video editing software for Linux and in a way, I can understand why - video editors are insanely loyal to the software they're used to using. I myself pledge allegiance to Vegas. But it would be wonderful if there was a Vegas-like software out there that was open-source. It really would be something. Hell, I'm even tempted to learn code and develop something like that, though I doubt I have enough patience to do so.
Audio
And now to the most annoying thing about switching to Linux - audio support.
After some research on what audio software was available for recording music I was surprised to find that, whilst video editing software wasn't that great, apparently there was a host of audio recording software for Digital Audio Workstations that apparently were just as good as their Windows and Mac counterparts.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't know. None of my high-end audio soundcards were supported by Linux. My ECHO Firewire 4, my EMU 1212M, no luck. I could get basic audio working for playing back regular sounds and mp3's out of my motherboard's on-board soundcard, but no luck with my pro-hardware. And Ardour, the software that supposedly matches Sonar and ProTools, won't open without a proper high end soundcard configured. Joy.
Finding out all this was indeed frustrating. I can kinda understand the video editing thing because it's software, but audio should just work. It shouldn't be so difficult to get a damn soundcard working. I didn't expect there to be any decent video editing software but from my research I was hoping to be able to turn all my audio recording systems to Linux. Dammit.
So there's the main problem - I can imagine switching to Ubuntu for regular computer stuff - documents, internet stuff, even graphics and web design - but when it comes to the things I work with that are my bread and butter, there's no choice. I have to remain using my Windows system and constantly get screwed over by the excess fat and bull-crap all over the Microsoft software systems.
And it's frustrating. Damn frustrating. I like the concept of open source software and Ubuntu has given the world a version of Linux that's well supported, well designed and simple enough to make the transition relatively easy. It's just too bad I can't use it for my professional work as well.
However, all is not lost, as the next part will show, because there's something else Ubuntu is still useful for - reviving older computers.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Switching From Windows to Ubuntu: Part 2 - What I Love
So here we are at part two - the electric boogaloo of this multi-parted posting of the joys (and later, woes) of switching from Windows to Ubuntu. In the last post I talked about why in the hell I decided to switch to Ubuntu in the first place and how I went about doing it.
Now? Now we talk of the loveliness of it all.
First Impressions
After the not-so-arduous-at-all task of installing Ubuntu onto my eeePC 1201T netbook I was greeted with a desktop that kinda looks like Windows, kinda looks like a Mac, kinda not like either.
The desktop has both a top bar and a bottom bar. At first I wondered what the point of having two was, being used to just one bar where everything was done. After fiddling about a bit, though, I understood why.
The top bar is where you navigate between your programs, your folders/drives and your preferences and system administration, as well as showing you the time/date, the shutdown button and your social networking apps (more on that later).
The bottom bar is where your open windows get minimized to a bar (just like windows) the thrash can and 'show desktop' button, and my personal favorite, the workspace area.
Mac users are used to this but Windows users probably aren't and it's one of the cool things I love about Ubuntu - the multiple workspaces. Imagine if you had four monitors which you could open different stuff on, except instead of having four monitors you just have one monitor and switch between them, either with a mouse or via some simple shortcut keys. The pic on the right has my music player in the first workspace, Chromium in the second, Ubuntu Software Center in the third and the fourth is empty.
It may not sound like much, but when you actually start using it it's a godsend, especially on a small netbook with limited screen space. Instead of minimizing and maximizing different windows I just open them full on different workspaces and switch between them.
Like I said, Mac users are used to this. They are also used to spending a lot more on their computers and laptops for functions such as this. This is FREE. Say no more.
After installing Ubuntu, I clicked around to make sure everything was working - sound, video, webcam, bluetooth and whether or not I'd be able to use my Maxis USB modem. Before installing Ubuntu I had researched around to make sure that the modem works since the software that Maxis uses is a purely Windows exe file, and whilst it had trouble doing so in Ubuntu 9, the latest version had no problems. I simply plugged it in before installing, went to the 'edit connections' section, chose my country, chose 'Maxis' and '3G' and Ubuntu did the rest. Simple.
Sound was working fine as well, as did video, but after installing it Ubuntu did an automatic check to make sure all hardware was compatible, detected that it needed to install a third-party driver and did so automatically.
The webcam and bluetooth connectivity also worked straight away but taking the laptop out to a cafe with wifi showed the first problem - the wifi couldn't connect properly.
However, after some researching on-line, I discovered that this problem only occured for this particular model of eeePC (all other models worked fine) and to fix it was incredibly simple as someone had the kindness of heart to write a program file to fix this which you could download easily.
This was one of the many things that began to endear me more and more to Ubuntu - since it's a Linux system and most software and hardware companies don't really take much notice of Linux (simply because, well, they won't make that much money in comparison to catering to Windows users) it is expected that you'll find issues with drivers for certain hardware types. But the Ubuntu community is so incredibly giving and it's a true community - if there's something not working on Ubuntu, there'll be someone out there who's either trying to figure out how to fix it or has already done so.
One quick install later, and my wifi was working wonderfully.
This brings me to the topic of installing software - Windows users are used to downloading a software file or sticking in a CD, running the installation software and picking where the software is saved, how to configure it, unticking the 'yes, I would like to install the 'Ask' toolbar' box, etc.
In the past, this was heaven in comparison to installing a Linux software - you'd download a compressed folder of all the different components of the software and literally put it together yourself.
Not with Ubuntu. It couldn't be simpler. You just open the 'Ubuntu Software Center', pick the software you want and click install. That's it. Done. It'll appear in your 'Applications' section under the appropriate sub-heading. And if there's a software you know has been made for Linux but it's not in the Software Center, just google for the software's 'deb' package. A 'deb' package is like an 'exe' file for installing software in Ubuntu without having to click 'next' all the time.
Pre-Installed Software
Ubuntu also doesn't come as just an operating system - a handful of software is already pre-included and installed together with the OS.
Amongst this package of software is Open Office, or as I like to call it 'Microsoft Office Free'. It pretty much does everything Microsoft Office does with added bonuses - for example, you don't need to have a paid version of Adobe Reader to be able to turn office documents into pdf's. You just click on 'export to pdf'. I actually used to have the Windows version of Open Office on my work computer purely to convert documents to pdf. It'll open all Microsoft Office documents and you can save your files in the same format too.
The rest of the software includes a basic photo viewer, a music player (which I'm using right now to listen to music whilst typing this. It's kinda like iTunes, just incredibly simple and light), a movie player, disc burner, basic video editor, audio recorder, etc. Simple software that most, if not all, regular computer users would use and simply work.
There are also a whole bunch of internet apps which I'll go into right now:-
Surfin' the Cyberspace
Since I had it installed on a netbook my main aim of installing Ubuntu was to have a light OS with adequate software to type, do spreadsheets and surf the net, but thanks to the simplicity of the OS I've found myself using the net a lot more than I used to.
Ubuntu comes pre-installed with a number of internet applications that you would use. The main browser is Firefox though I preferred Google Chrome so I went to the software center and downloaded 'Chromium' which was basically Google Chrome without the Google branding. But a browser's not all that's installed.
Ubuntu also comes installed with Empathy and Gwibber and both are made a part of the desktop experience. At the top right hand corner of the desktop you'll find your computer name but clicking on it will show your name and your options for opening either a chat client or update your social networking sites which is all done via Empathy and Gwibber.
Empathy is basically an all-in-one chat software - you just key in your Facebook, Google Chat, MSN account, whichever, and all your contacts pop up from all of these for you to chat to. No need for the browser.
I actually used to hate chatting online because I always found it so distracting but with Ubuntu it feels a lot more simpler and intuitive. As opposed to having chats pop up within my Gmail page they open up via Empathy. I used to hate that chats would clutter the screen and distract me but with Ubuntu I simply set up one workspace for all my chats and when I'm notified about a chat I just switch to that workspace then switch back to whatever it was I was originally working on. Simple.
Gwibber is pretty much the same thing but for social networking sites, so you simply add in all your accounts and when you update your status it automatically does it for all your sites - Facebook, Twitter, whatever - whilst also giving you the latest updates on your contacts. Personally, I don't actually use Gwibber because I'm not a Twitter freak and prefer to check out Facebook via the site, but for those that like to constantly update their daily bowel movements this is the app for you.
And then there's 'Transmission', Ubuntu's bitorrent client. With Windows, the fastest torrents I would get on average would be about 10kb/s with my connection, occasionally shooting up to 30 or 50 for short periods of time (usually between 2am and 5am, but only on certain months for some reason).
I'd always assumed it was my connection, but when I was thinking of trying out Ubuntu Studio (a different version of Ubuntu) since it was such a huge file I decided to download the torrent from the official site instead, assuming that the 1.7GB's would take a few weeks to download.
It took about a day and a half.
My torrent downloads have gone from about 10kb/s to about 25-50 kb/s on average, which really makes me wonder how much firewall bull-crap is going on with Windows. In fact, anything internet related in general just feels faster on Ubuntu, even though it's the same connection as when I'm using Windows.
It is, in general, fully of 'net-y goodness.
Other Software
After enjoying the pre-installed stuff n' stuff, it was time to download some other software that I might need.
One of the main things I needed was a script-writing software for my flicks. Unfortunately, there was no Final Draft for Linux... but there's always Celtx.
Celtx is free and it's not just a script-writing software but also helps you schedule, storyboard and do most of your pre-pro within the software. It wasn't in the Ubuntu Software Center but it was available to download from the Celtx site and they had some simple instructions on how to install it. But if you don't mind a slightly older version of Celtx, someone has already done a 'deb' package for it.
I also wanted a simple software to do a layout for a possible office. Bear in mind, all I wanted was an overhead 2D software to do so and was ready to use OpenOffice draw to do my layout.
Then I found SweetHome 3D.
SweetHome 3D is not only a simple layout software for figuring out how to design the space in your home/apartment/office/wherever, it also gives you a 3D render.
And I never expected to render something like this with a netbook:-
Again, it's not in the Ubuntu Software Center but there is a 'deb' package out there either from getdeb or softpedia. You can even render video tours of whatever space you design.
And I really can't imagine doing this on a netbook running Windows 7 Starter.
Another piece of software I really enjoyed was Kompozer, which is available in the Ubuntu Software Center and is basically a web-design software in the same vein as the old Microsoft Office Frontpage which now no longer exists. I always enjoyed designing websites on Kompozer and have always been a firm believer that most websites need nothing more in their design than html. If it's info, you want it to load fast and if someone with a slow connection is waiting for your flash site to appear for too long they're just gonna go some place else.
Other software I downloaded includes Gimp which is basically photoshop for Linux users and UFRaw, a software for viewing and editing the raw files from my Canon 5D Mark II. Finally, for video playback I downloaded VLC Player and my netbook was complete.
Preliminary Conclusion
After using Ubuntu on my netbook for a month I fell in love with it. These little netbooks are becoming more and more popular but so many people are putting up with slow and clunky speeds simply because they've accepted that Windows 7 Starter is pre-installed so might as well use it. There is another option and the differences in speed and usability are incredibly noticeable.
And for those that are using the small netbooks with the 10 inch screens, Ubuntu also has a netbook version of its OS specifically designed for small screens. It's in essence the same operating system except the interface is redesigned to make it easier to navigate around and maximizing as much of the screen space as possible.
I was so in love with Ubuntu that I researched about the OS even more. If all went well, I could give my older laptop a new lease of life and maybe even replace my main desktop systems with Ubuntu instead of Windows because, truth be told, I love the concept of open source software. Computer's have become an integral part of society now and they should be easily accessible to as many people as possible.
But, as the next post will reveal, some of my plans with Ubuntu worked, some didn't. It was only when I decided to spread Ubuntu through all my other systems that I realized the honeymoon was over and the process of give and take was about to sink in.
Tune in for the next post to find out what happens, peeps.
Oh, yeah. Almost forget. The cat pic:-
Now? Now we talk of the loveliness of it all.
First Impressions
After the not-so-arduous-at-all task of installing Ubuntu onto my eeePC 1201T netbook I was greeted with a desktop that kinda looks like Windows, kinda looks like a Mac, kinda not like either.
The desktop has both a top bar and a bottom bar. At first I wondered what the point of having two was, being used to just one bar where everything was done. After fiddling about a bit, though, I understood why.
The top bar is where you navigate between your programs, your folders/drives and your preferences and system administration, as well as showing you the time/date, the shutdown button and your social networking apps (more on that later).
The bottom bar is where your open windows get minimized to a bar (just like windows) the thrash can and 'show desktop' button, and my personal favorite, the workspace area.
It may not sound like much, but when you actually start using it it's a godsend, especially on a small netbook with limited screen space. Instead of minimizing and maximizing different windows I just open them full on different workspaces and switch between them.
Like I said, Mac users are used to this. They are also used to spending a lot more on their computers and laptops for functions such as this. This is FREE. Say no more.
After installing Ubuntu, I clicked around to make sure everything was working - sound, video, webcam, bluetooth and whether or not I'd be able to use my Maxis USB modem. Before installing Ubuntu I had researched around to make sure that the modem works since the software that Maxis uses is a purely Windows exe file, and whilst it had trouble doing so in Ubuntu 9, the latest version had no problems. I simply plugged it in before installing, went to the 'edit connections' section, chose my country, chose 'Maxis' and '3G' and Ubuntu did the rest. Simple.
Sound was working fine as well, as did video, but after installing it Ubuntu did an automatic check to make sure all hardware was compatible, detected that it needed to install a third-party driver and did so automatically.
The webcam and bluetooth connectivity also worked straight away but taking the laptop out to a cafe with wifi showed the first problem - the wifi couldn't connect properly.
However, after some researching on-line, I discovered that this problem only occured for this particular model of eeePC (all other models worked fine) and to fix it was incredibly simple as someone had the kindness of heart to write a program file to fix this which you could download easily.
This was one of the many things that began to endear me more and more to Ubuntu - since it's a Linux system and most software and hardware companies don't really take much notice of Linux (simply because, well, they won't make that much money in comparison to catering to Windows users) it is expected that you'll find issues with drivers for certain hardware types. But the Ubuntu community is so incredibly giving and it's a true community - if there's something not working on Ubuntu, there'll be someone out there who's either trying to figure out how to fix it or has already done so.
One quick install later, and my wifi was working wonderfully.
This brings me to the topic of installing software - Windows users are used to downloading a software file or sticking in a CD, running the installation software and picking where the software is saved, how to configure it, unticking the 'yes, I would like to install the 'Ask' toolbar' box, etc.
In the past, this was heaven in comparison to installing a Linux software - you'd download a compressed folder of all the different components of the software and literally put it together yourself.
Pre-Installed Software
Ubuntu also doesn't come as just an operating system - a handful of software is already pre-included and installed together with the OS.
The rest of the software includes a basic photo viewer, a music player (which I'm using right now to listen to music whilst typing this. It's kinda like iTunes, just incredibly simple and light), a movie player, disc burner, basic video editor, audio recorder, etc. Simple software that most, if not all, regular computer users would use and simply work.
There are also a whole bunch of internet apps which I'll go into right now:-
Surfin' the Cyberspace
Since I had it installed on a netbook my main aim of installing Ubuntu was to have a light OS with adequate software to type, do spreadsheets and surf the net, but thanks to the simplicity of the OS I've found myself using the net a lot more than I used to.
Ubuntu comes pre-installed with a number of internet applications that you would use. The main browser is Firefox though I preferred Google Chrome so I went to the software center and downloaded 'Chromium' which was basically Google Chrome without the Google branding. But a browser's not all that's installed.
Empathy is basically an all-in-one chat software - you just key in your Facebook, Google Chat, MSN account, whichever, and all your contacts pop up from all of these for you to chat to. No need for the browser.
Gwibber is pretty much the same thing but for social networking sites, so you simply add in all your accounts and when you update your status it automatically does it for all your sites - Facebook, Twitter, whatever - whilst also giving you the latest updates on your contacts. Personally, I don't actually use Gwibber because I'm not a Twitter freak and prefer to check out Facebook via the site, but for those that like to constantly update their daily bowel movements this is the app for you.
And then there's 'Transmission', Ubuntu's bitorrent client. With Windows, the fastest torrents I would get on average would be about 10kb/s with my connection, occasionally shooting up to 30 or 50 for short periods of time (usually between 2am and 5am, but only on certain months for some reason).
I'd always assumed it was my connection, but when I was thinking of trying out Ubuntu Studio (a different version of Ubuntu) since it was such a huge file I decided to download the torrent from the official site instead, assuming that the 1.7GB's would take a few weeks to download.
It took about a day and a half.
My torrent downloads have gone from about 10kb/s to about 25-50 kb/s on average, which really makes me wonder how much firewall bull-crap is going on with Windows. In fact, anything internet related in general just feels faster on Ubuntu, even though it's the same connection as when I'm using Windows.
It is, in general, fully of 'net-y goodness.
Other Software
After enjoying the pre-installed stuff n' stuff, it was time to download some other software that I might need.
One of the main things I needed was a script-writing software for my flicks. Unfortunately, there was no Final Draft for Linux... but there's always Celtx.
I also wanted a simple software to do a layout for a possible office. Bear in mind, all I wanted was an overhead 2D software to do so and was ready to use OpenOffice draw to do my layout.
Then I found SweetHome 3D.
SweetHome 3D is not only a simple layout software for figuring out how to design the space in your home/apartment/office/wherever, it also gives you a 3D render.
And I never expected to render something like this with a netbook:-
Again, it's not in the Ubuntu Software Center but there is a 'deb' package out there either from getdeb or softpedia. You can even render video tours of whatever space you design.
And I really can't imagine doing this on a netbook running Windows 7 Starter.
Another piece of software I really enjoyed was Kompozer, which is available in the Ubuntu Software Center and is basically a web-design software in the same vein as the old Microsoft Office Frontpage which now no longer exists. I always enjoyed designing websites on Kompozer and have always been a firm believer that most websites need nothing more in their design than html. If it's info, you want it to load fast and if someone with a slow connection is waiting for your flash site to appear for too long they're just gonna go some place else.
Other software I downloaded includes Gimp which is basically photoshop for Linux users and UFRaw, a software for viewing and editing the raw files from my Canon 5D Mark II. Finally, for video playback I downloaded VLC Player and my netbook was complete.
Preliminary Conclusion
After using Ubuntu on my netbook for a month I fell in love with it. These little netbooks are becoming more and more popular but so many people are putting up with slow and clunky speeds simply because they've accepted that Windows 7 Starter is pre-installed so might as well use it. There is another option and the differences in speed and usability are incredibly noticeable.
And for those that are using the small netbooks with the 10 inch screens, Ubuntu also has a netbook version of its OS specifically designed for small screens. It's in essence the same operating system except the interface is redesigned to make it easier to navigate around and maximizing as much of the screen space as possible.
I was so in love with Ubuntu that I researched about the OS even more. If all went well, I could give my older laptop a new lease of life and maybe even replace my main desktop systems with Ubuntu instead of Windows because, truth be told, I love the concept of open source software. Computer's have become an integral part of society now and they should be easily accessible to as many people as possible.
But, as the next post will reveal, some of my plans with Ubuntu worked, some didn't. It was only when I decided to spread Ubuntu through all my other systems that I realized the honeymoon was over and the process of give and take was about to sink in.
Tune in for the next post to find out what happens, peeps.
Oh, yeah. Almost forget. The cat pic:-
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