Switching From Windows to Ubuntu: Part 3 - The Frustration Begins

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.

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:-

Switching From Windows to Ubuntu: Part 1 - Why I Switched

For those that are used to me using 'clever' titles for my blog posts (by 'clever', I mean 'retarded and confusing') the basic simplicity of the title of this post must appear odd and out of character.

Well, there's a reason - whilst I would recommend switching from Windows to Ubuntu to most of the regular computer users out there, most of the 3rd party literature available on-line of Ubuntu - reviews, praises, etc - are written by people who are already Linux users and can be quite daunting for those that have no frickin' clue what an operating system is, much less what GNOME is.

The hope is to write a post that might aid in no small part to the switching to Ubuntu for those that it'll benefit the most in my own special, rambling way of explaining things.

(And at the same time hopefully generate enough hits on this goddamn blog so that I'll finally get a check for displaying ads on this thing. I swear, I'm giving it another couple of months and if I don't see a check, Nuffnang can suck it. If I'm not gonna get revenue from this blog then those that do read do not need to be inundated with ads about Cornetto contests.)

So here it begins - the first of God knows how many parts. I was originally going to write it all in one post but after realizing how much I'd written up to the point of installing it I figured it would make more sense to split it up. I mean, seriously. Look at how much I've written for the introduction.

I just ramble. Uncontrollably. Pointlessly. Just for the sake of it. I guess it's all rooted in that one event that happened so many years ago, across the moors of Scotland where a red-haired thing of beauty caressed me in ways no other farm animal ever did...

...crap. What the hell was I talking about?

Oh. Yes. Of course. Ubuntu. Right. Back to the plot.

Rambles aside, the fact of the matter is I do strongly believe that Ubuntu is ideal for a lot of people out there and I'd like to get the word out there because there are a ton of people out there that it could benefit but because the switch appears so daunting it puts people off.

Please don't be put off. Please. Ubuntu is your friend. Let it caress you and fondle your nether-regions with glee. Please.

How It All Began

It all started, simply enough, with my search for the ideal laptop.

From the age of 17 I'd been using a laptop. As a student in England, constantly switching from boarding school dorms to university dorms to apartments, a laptop was essential - surfing the net for 'research', checking e-mail, recording and playing back music and, most important of all, writing. Almost every script I've ever shot was written on a laptop. It made sense - the evolution of the typewriter, as it were.

But as I got more into filmmaking, I switched to a desktop to edit my videos and as time went by my laptop was relegated to the corner to pick up dust.

Over the past three years I've bought and sold a number of laptops, trying to find one to replace my old laptop for the purposes of mobility. I bought one of the first generations of eeePC's from Asus, only to be eventually put off by it's tiny size, tiny keyboard and numerous people saying it looks like a girl's laptop.

After selling that, I bought a 15" Acer which would've been a very powerful laptop... if it didn't come with frickin' Windows Vista.

Recently, I bought the Asus eeePC 1201T, a kind of hybrid between a regular laptop and a netbook - 12" screen, AMD processor with 2GB of RAM and an ATI graphics card. Slick and slim enough to bring around without causing shoulder-ache-y-ness, yet powerful enough to do everything I intended to do on it - writing scripts, doing up spreadsheets and powerpoints, surfing the net and showing videos to clients.

However, like every netbook out there, this came with Windows 7 Starter.

When I was first introduced to Windows 7 I instantly fell in love with it - lighter than Vista, more aesthetically pleasing and since it was the Ultimate 64 bit version, my PC was fully maximized which was perfect for video editing.

But if Windows 7 was the souped up sports car of the Windows lineage, Windows 7 Starter was like a cheap local car kitted out with a fancy body kit - looks like a sports car, runs like a retard.

To this day, I still don't understand the logic of Windows 7 Starter. Whilst I understand that it's meant to be a stripped down version of Windows 7, when you can't even change the desktop background, something every OS in the entire world has pretty much allowed you to do in the past decade, alarm bells start ringing.

And forcing someone to have to put up with a light blue background of your logo is one thing. Making the use of any software or hack that changes the desktop image as grounds for voiding the warranty is just plain petty.

The whole desktop background thing was just the tip of the iceberg - snooping around Windows 7 Starter made me realize just how much it won't let you customize, change or fix yourself. There was no way I was gonna use this and I honestly don't believe anyone should have to put up with it, even those who are using their laptops for the most minimal of things.

Unfortunately, for some reason ALL Asus eeePC's in Malaysia come with Windows 7 Starter and nothing else. You literally can't buy the laptop without the OS (and bear in mind, the cost of the OS is included in the cost of the laptop so if you didn't have Windows 7 Starter on it the laptop would be about two hundred ringgit cheaper).

I knew I wanted to remove Windows 7 Starter after about half an hour of using it. But what OS to replace it? I could switch back to Windows XP but I was curious to find out if there was something lighter, simpler and user friendly.

I also didn't want to pay a damn thing and the pirates are getting less reliable (I swear, their not even trying now).

After giving it a lot of thought and researching on-line, I decided to finally give Linux a go with their most popular version at the moment, Ubuntu.

Got A Lust For Linux

I remember always wanting to try out Linux in the hopes of one day converting to it, going way back to when I was a teenager and wanted to learn how to hack. Something about the thought of possibly sneaking into the pentagon mainframe and renaming all the cool missile code names into Simpsons characters put a smile on my face.

When I first entered university I discovered that out of the many computer labs there was a dedicated Linux room. I went in with such high hopes...

...until I switched on one of the computers and wondered what the fuck I was looking at.

Ever since then, there's always been that feeling that Linux systems weren't within reach - they were in another world, the elite geeks who knew code and programmed complex algorithms for fun in between bouts of three-dimensional chess.

And I just couldn't be bothered to learn code.

Earlier this year, however, I got myself a brand new phone as I figured it was high time I got a smart phone knowing I'd use it to its fullest. However, I knew two things for certain:-

1. I wanted the phone to have a keyboard
2. Under no circumstances whatsoever did I want an iPhone

(I'll get into my feelings about the revered Mac products later on in one of the other posts).

After trying out a bunch of phones I finally settled on the Nokia N900 - only RM100 more than a Nokia N97 mini and packed with a lot more features. The phone was so new on the market when I bought it I had to wait a couple months before I could find a shop that was selling a screen protector for it.

What attracted me most to the phone, however, was the operating system - the phone ran on Maemo, which was based on Linux. The phone even had a terminal to write code and commands in, for God's sake! The thought that there was a phone running on Linux really intrigued me and, after using it for a week, I fell instantly in love with it.

The Linux bug was back, and with the new laptop, perhaps it was time to try out Linux 'for real'.

Googling for information on different Linux operating systems, however, feels infuriating for the uninitiated - all the sites on different OS's have so little real and understandable information. It's as if everyone who creates Linux OS's know everything there is to know about code but hardly anything about communicating information to the regular human being.

(And, in quite a few cases, it also looks like they have no clue on how to design a website in a manner that's both attractive and understandable).

It's also annoying to find that a lot of the Linux OS's websites are very obviously written with Linux users in mind, making it very difficult for a non-Linux user to step in and discover it's fruity goodness.

Ubuntu, however, isn't like that.It probably has the most understandable and attractive website I've seen yet, though still a bit vague in areas. Nonetheless, from reading the website you know this is a community that wants you, the non-Linux-y person, to give it a try.

And for those that can't be bothered to click this link to find out more, in a nutshell all you really need to know is this:-

1. Ubuntu is an operating system for a computer
2. It's simple to understand after fiddling with it for a bit
3. There's a ton of free software to suit (most of) your needs
4. It's free and regularly maintained and updated

After looking at a number of other possible operating systems with either incomprehensible or vague websites, I decided to give Ubuntu a go.

Installing Ubuntu

There are a number of ways one can install Ubuntu, but for a lot of people (myself included), the thought of completely deleting an OS that I understood but didn't like in order to install a new OS that sounds great but I've never tried is kinda scary.

That's where the wonderful Wubi comes in.

Wubi is a software you can download at the Ubuntu website that allows you to try out Ubuntu within your Windows computer. You basically download the Ubuntu iso image (an iso image is essentially the file equivalent of a CD or DVD that you can download and burn to a CD or DVD in order to have your very own installer) and use Wubi to install Ubuntu onto your computer in Windows and when you re-start the computer you are given the choice of either running Windows or Ubuntu.

If it turns out Ubuntu isn't the OS for you or it simply won't install on your computer (I'll get to that in a bit) then all you have to do is uninstall Wubi by opening Windows, going to your programs list and uninstalling it like you would any other software.

Pretty simple, right?

After trying out Ubuntu through Wubi for a while, I decided why not - let's jump into the deep end and install the lil' bugger.

The version of Ubuntu I downloaded was the latest one - Ubuntu 10.04, or Lucid Lynx as it's also known. Unlike earlier versions of Ubuntu, the installation process for Lucid Lynx is via a rather attractive and easy to understand graphical interface, much like how you'd install Windows.

And if you're still worried about how the whole process of installing Ubuntu, don't be - the website shows you how to do it in very simple steps. And if you still don't get it, just google 'how to install ubuntu' and you'll find a number of sites telling you exactly how to go about it.

After less than twenty minutes, Ubuntu was installed on my laptop.

And after a week of fiddling around with it, I was in love.

Next up: Using Ubuntu, the software I love, the dark side of Linux and my personal opinion of operating systems in general.

Oh. And a picture of a cat doing something cat-like.