Hi all:
Not getting off on a good foot here. I need to vent my frustrations with Ubuntu. It really is soooooo much trouble. Don't know how else to describe it - it's a flaky mess. I've been 'setting it up' since January. Every day it's another hassle, day after day after day. It's the most problematic OS I have every used. I feel like I have too much time and effort invested in it now to bail out. I just need to vent. In no way does Ubuntu compare to XP. I don't say that as 'Ford vs Chevy.' I say it because, though I'm still hammering and tweaking and configuring this machine, it still won't do what it did with XP. Of well... Who cares. Thanks for letting me blow off steam.
Peace.
F.E

oh no they found us.

What's the problem exactly? Is there anything specifically that you need help with? You mentioned that your computer running Ubuntu won't do what it did with XP. What do you mean by that? Is there some specific software you need to run or is it a hardware issue that's just not working out for you?

Because it's primarily a help forum, I'm reluctant to say this on the Ubuntu forums, but I have no hesitancy to say it here...

If you do not like Ubuntu, use Windows. Linux is not for everyone. No apologies or rants are necessary to justify moving back to Microsoft, nor is there any reason to knock yourself out over an OS that you apparently lose sleep over.

As long as you keep it secure, Windows is a fine operating system, that's very user friendly for both common and complex tasks.

Edit: Typo

I keep thinking I'm 'done' and it's finally set up. The touchpad was a struggle, the screen resolution was a struggle, the movie players have to be reconfigured with every major update, the microphone was a huge struggle, the modem was a massive struggle. I loaded Ubuntu Studio, but many of those apps don't work, and many others have zero documentation, and they really are not intuitive guis.

And now, it won't burn a music CD. I can write a collection of MP3 files to a disk, sure. But it won't write a music CD with those MP3 files, a CD that will play on a common CD player.

I tried Serpentine, but gave up after many attempts. I loaded and tried gnomebaker, and it got almost to the end, and then died. Another Ubuntu hassle.

Like I said, I have tons of time and labor invested in this OS, and I keep hoping this is the last hurdle. I keep thinking "if I can just get it set up."

Does anyone know of another CD burner application that might work better?

Does anyone have any experience with DeMuDi?

Thanks, FE

Or maybe I must convert the MP3 files to something like a raw format before creating the music CD?

k3b is a really amazing burning app...

replaces alcohol 120% for me

*moved to Open Source Talk*

I couldn't agree more.

I suspect most of the issues have to do with your hardware. What kind of laptop is it?

My experience was polar opposite. Aside from two minor lingering problems, everything has just worked, or been so easy to fix. If I'd had the kinds of problems you're talking about, I'd have ditched Linux (again) long time ago.

If it doesn't work for you why not stick to Windows or try out another distro? Presumably if you are prepared to spend five monthes (!?) configuring a system then Windows must have pissed you off pretty bad! The point is that noone is paying you for this effort, if you don't enjoy it why do it? It's not like their are legions of people hanging around forums just waiting for the opportunity to persuade you to stick it out because it's worth it in the end (which it is by the way )

Compating Ubuntu to windows can't be done. It can only be compared with forms of Linux. As far as that goes, Ubuntu is at the top of the list. They have a wonderful support community and many things work quite well. If you want trouble, try Gentoo.

ubuntu is a little behind in raid support, but they plan to cathup with gutsy.

I recently moved from Windows to Ubuntu and I understand a part of your frustration. There is a big learning curve initially but once you cross that, things won't be a nightmare anymore.

Configuring applications is still a hassle. Sometimes I think that a large amount of productive time is wasted on the figuring out things in linux. The irony is, even after spending lot of time over wikis, forums, irc etc one still have no guarantee that the things will work in your system or not.

FaringEagle I have felt this frustration and salute you for your determination.

Please consider Rasczak's post regarding your hardware. Some laptops can really be problematic. If you have access to desktop (as opposed to laptop) hardware you may find that hardware less painful.

Also consider trying another Linux distribution. A dated experience of mine: Dual proc P-90, scsi hd's and cdrom, would not boot Debian, booted and installed SuSE 7.2 w/SMP kernel just fine. Point; sometimes another distro does a better job with problematic hardware.

My first Linux box...oh gawd
Customer cast off during a basement remodel in '98. P-200, 64 M ram, 4.3 Gig hd. Win98 would not boot from hd, installfest started a RH 6.0 install. I took the beast home and spent 4 months tinkering with it until I figured out the hd was bad. New hd, yehaw.

Be glad it's 2007.

Try Debian

Eli

Yup. I think you're right. It's time for me to use something other than Ubuntu. I've got so much time and effort tied up in it, I hate to dump it now. But.... It seems that a fix to my problem is in the newest kernel update. But... Others have already posted that pieces of their system was killed when they installed that new kernel. Sheesh!!! I'm just too hard-headed and stubborn sometimes. It's a Dell laptop. I didn't think it would be such trouble.

Peace, FE

Try the kernel upgrade first. What have you got to lose with that? Maybe's, a bunch of maybe's.

Hope I'm not asking much here, but are your problems hardware-based or software-based?

I agree that laptops can be problematic. For example my Dell Inspiron E1705 took VERY little extra work to get it up and running with a XP - Ubuntu Dual boot (I have Windows and Ubuntu on my computer).

An example for problematic laptops is that I have an old laptop, that isn't the greatest thing in the world, but according to everything I found it should have been able to run linux, I tried my distros and none worked, but one, and it sort of was worthless. So Linux isn't for every laptop and Linux is most defiantly not for every person.

Ubuntu it all about learning - trust me. There was a time when I wonted to bin the PC but now I LOVE UBUNTU it is the best.

Because of two things: Automatix the interface software that allows you to install codec - I best to install each 'package' on the own with Automatix and a little money I installed CrossOver for all my Windows applications. Now I have an OS that much more stable then Windows really nice to use with a fantasic community.

Thanks

Toby

As many have said - Linux on Laptops is not for the faint-of-heart and not ready for prime-time ---- I've got Ubuntu Feisty on my Dell B130 - but really had to fiddle to get wireless to work.

On your standard PC most everything will work unless you've got some exotic hardware. I'm typing this on my Ubuntu PC which also acts as a storage server for our other 2 PCs and my iMac. It was very easy to set up Windows Workgroup sharing.

Best thing about Linux is you know that security wise you're pretty bullet-proof -- but doing dumb things can still cause a vulnerability.