30 Essential free programs

[Triple Zero]

just switched to ubuntu a few days ago.

wine is for another day, at the moment it's time to figure out how to play a DVD (with sound) .. but the forums explain everything very clearly, plus you get the advantage of actually having some idea of how the system works.. i used to have that with win98 and DOS, but ever since i got win2000 i kinda lost track of that.

[Jasper]

On the subject of OS'es, is there a good way to put a windows partition onto a Linux machine?  I know it works the other way around usually, but I just don't want to do another nuke and pave on Igor.

[Triple Zero]

yes there is software/packages/drivers/whatnot that does this.

i'm probably going to find this out somewhere in the next few weeks, in the process of getting all the shit back together (no better reason to make such a switch than when your old HD refuses to boot win2k)

but in other words, i think if you spend a few minutes googling around for stuff like "ntfs for linux" or "windows partition under linux" or something similar, you're bound to find the things you need.

[l0c0dantes]

Yea, its not to hard at all.
1 partition your harddrive as you want it.
2 install windows on a seperate partition (it doesnt take the whole HD, you can choose what you want)
3 Windows does kill your bootloader tho, so you need to reinstall that (just use a live CD or a system recovery disk)

And, windows WILL not recognize linux (You can probally do it, but I never bothered because I didn't want to screw things up), and linux can't write to NFTS (safely, from my understanding), so it might be a good idea to set aside a few gigs as a buffer zone of FAT32, which you can use to swap files from partition A to partition B

[Triple Zero]

these are things i've heard (but not looked at or tested myself)

- you can in fact mount linux filesystem under windows, there are tools for this. probably read-only, but i'm not sure.
- you can in fact mount NTFS for linux also for writing
- FAT32 is indeed no problem

the thing is these tools/libs/packages are still under development, so new things get added all the time and some things may or may not work.

i really think your best bet is just to fuckingoogleit, because linookspeople on forums constantly write about their gripes and solutions with whatever opensource software is out there and this will give you a clear idea on what the current state of the art is.

also, felix, once you find something, please report back here? cause i think there's one or two people who might also be interested in your findings :-D

[rygD]

Wow...kinda surprised that my anti-microsoft comments kept this thread alive.

The Ubuntu forums are a bit slow for responses.

My wife sometimes has issues with the computer at the house, so can I put her in contact with one of you who is decent at troubleshooting and familiar with ubuntu?

Stuff I want her to be able to use is VMware or something (she is having microsoft withdrawal issues, plus she may like a different os better.)

Also she is having web browsing issues, and said she can't watch pron she downloads.

[Triple Zero]

no i'm an ubuntu n00b

anything i know about it, i know via google

[saint aini]

Wow...kinda surprised that my anti-microsoft comments kept this thread alive.

The Ubuntu forums are a bit slow for responses.

My wife sometimes has issues with the computer at the house, so can I put her in contact with one of you who is decent at troubleshooting and familiar with ubuntu?

Stuff I want her to be able to use is VMware or something (she is having microsoft withdrawal issues, plus she may like a different os better.)

Also she is having web browsing issues, and said she can't watch pron she downloads.

Using automatrix or EasyUbuntu or the Synaptix package manager, you will want to install the codecs for mpeg.  Be sure to edit the repository list to allow you to get the nonfree packages.

I do not recall where it is in the other package managers, but Synaptix has a function that allows you edit the repositories it checks.  Basically you want to check all the repositories because the native ubuntu settings do not include the non-free codecs.

Install the VLC media player and any required codecs.  I think it was some flavor of gstreamer for me that worked.

I do not use VMWare on my ubuntu box because I like having two computers: one for work and one for music.  That way I'm only half as pissed if one crashes, I have a clean version of each environment so I can test in each.  Also, I run the server edition of Ubuntu with the Ubuntu-Desktop so that I can do some development work locally if I have to.  However, I have a friend who loves VMWare.  He will tell you to go to http://www.justfuckinggoogleit.com/search.pl?query=VMWare+ubuntu

[rygD]

She bought a new laptop and threw feisty on there and is not having nearly as many issues, as now for the most part it finds and installs everything for her.

[Bogus Magus]

Hey thanks for that selection, Cain.

I have to work with Microsoft whether I like it or not - so a few cool extras cheered me up...

[Cain]

NP.

If you like this sort of thing, and have Firefox on your personal PC, download StumbleUpon.  http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Thats where I find the majority of interesting stuff on the web, and if you have to be stuck in front of a PC for whatever reason, its a good way to pass the time.

[rygD]

This thread makes me sad.  I am sure you can figure out why.  Will be seriously massing with BSD in the near future.  Any suggestions?

[LMNO]

Nuke it and give it to the Jews.