As I said earlier I just built a 64-bit quad core woth 8 GB of memory so performance is not an issue. I do have the Ubuntu 64-bit installation disk. I installed it once but had a problem with it not recognizing my wireless network dongle so I use a wired connection when I use it. As an aside, there is an unusual issue with AVG running on 64-bit Vista. At least on my machine, when I install AVG Vista no longer recognizes my DVD burner. I had to use a different AV program. BTW, any recommendations for alternatives to AVG or possible solutions to the CD recognition problem? It is a repeatable issue BTW.
Thanks, Mark On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Alex Rufon <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Mark, > > First off, I agree with Oleg, had I the money to burn (I just bought a new > motorcycle last July and crashed it 3 days later and fractured my right foot > ... ehem good thing I took a comprehensive insurance) I would invest on a > Mac. I actually bought a PowerBook before but my Mom wanted it and she asked > nicely (won't take no for an answer ... hehehe) and she loves it. > > If you haven't partitioned your computer and your machine has lots of RAM, > I would suggest installing it on a virtual machine first. You can either use > Microsoft Virtual PC and Sun's VirtualBox, both of these software's are > FREE. Although I would suggest VirtualBox over the Virtual PC for a bunch of > reasons. You see, most of my friends who tried out Linux end up destroying > their windows partition or not being able to boot back into windows. > Particularly if you have more that 1 internal hard drives and not familiar > with Linux device naming convention. Also, depending on how powerful your > PC, trying it out first in a Virtual Machine would let you use your computer > on other tasks while installing, patching, or just plain mucking around with > linux. Afterwards, when your really comfortable with the new OS, then that's > the time you go the plunge and install it on physical partition. BTW, I've > met a lot of people who doesn't like the Gnome desktop. You do have an > alternative like KD > E and XFE but I'm suggesting that you give Gnome a chance first ... > there's a lot of customisation that you can do with it. Actually, my desktop > right now looks pretty much like Aqua/Mac. > > Since your using Ubunutu, I would assume that you got the 64bit version > (you have to select it at the option box in the Ubuntu download website > otherwise you'll get the 32 bit version). Also, I would suggest that you > visit this site and at least read up on some of its suggestions: > http://ubuntuguide.org > > Good luck! > > r/Alex > > ________________________________________ > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Mark Deardorff [[email protected]] > Sent: Friday, October 02, 2009 9:10 PM > To: Chat forum > Subject: Re: [Jchat] [Jgeneral] J64 on OpenSUSE 11.1 64bit OS (WAS: RE: > [Jbeta] 602 ebeta available for linux32 and linux64) > > Thanks everyone. Sorry Oleg, I have already invested in PC hardware and > cannot afford the Mac iron. I have the Ubuntu disk and will boot from it to > do some partition work before I install it. > > Mark > > On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:36 AM, David Mitchell <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > Mark, I have tried a variety of variety of Linux distributions over the > > years, > > including OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and RedHat. I first settled on RedHat because > > it was > > the only one at the time that I could get to support Sharp APL for Unix, > > SAX. > > > > Later, I switched to SUSE and then OpenSUSE as they were the only ones I > > could > > get to easily work on the hardware I was running. > > > > As Alex noted, I have discovered that the decision about which Linux to > > install > > is often driven by hardware support. The most iffy items I have found > are > > video > > drivers, wireless support, audio cards and laptop support in general. > > > > Given the low cost of gigabytes these days, my suggestion would be to set > > up a > > multi-partition, multi-boot system with as many versions of Linux and > IDE's > > as > > you are interested in evaluating. I have found that the installers for > the > > new > > Linux distributions are much simpler and more bullet proof than in prior > > years. > > > > You could even play around with X86 Solaris. > > > > I have had far better luck with Linux on desktops than with laptops. > > > > I regret to say it helps me appreciate one of Microsoft's major > > achievements: > > decent support out of the box for a vast assortment of hardware. By it's > > nature, Linux will usually lag in its hardware support. I find Linux > tends > > to > > run first time on systems that are older than a year or three. Running > > Linux on > > state of the art hardware often required that I get into beta drivers or > > use odd > > approaches like ndiswrappers. Often, I couldn't get one distribution or > > another > > to work satisfactorily at all on a particular hardware configuration due > to > > some > > quirk of the hardware support. > > > > At the moment, I find OpenSUSE works for my needs. I am using it with > SAX, > > J > > and an assortment of compilers. I have used it to work with the Fortran > > routines from Netlib and other web libraries. As an old-timer, I am > using > > the > > tools directly, rather than via an IDE. > > > > I was pleasantly surprised when OpenSUSE ran first time on my new > notebook. > > It > > was a low-end notebook, with the most generic hardware. > > > > Good luck, > > -- > > David Mitchell > > > > Mark Deardorff wrote: > > > Sorry for butting in here but I have a question you can probably answer > > for > > > me. What is a better installation of UNIX for software development and > > > general scientific and math computing? OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, Redhat or some > > > other? I am a Windows(ze) 7 user (well, as of 10/22/09) and want to > learn > > > Linux (used to be a Unix user). What will be better for me? I am > running > > an > > > AMD Phenom 64 which is a quad core box. Thanks, somuch, in advance. > (Alo > > > what is a good IDE?) > > > > > > On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 3:38 AM, David Mitchell <[email protected] > > >wrote: > > > > > >> I had a somewhat different experience with OpenSUSE 64 11.1. > > >> > > >> When the hard drive on my Gateway MT6456 notebook died a few months > ago, > > I > > >> replaced it with one twice as large. I configured it as dual boot > with > > >> Vista 32 > > >> on 1/2 of the drive and OpenSUSE 64 11.1 on the other 1/2. > > >> > > >> I used the the current NVIDIA support at the time via YAST and it > worked > > >> first > > >> time for me after the download and install. > > >> > > >> I don't use the other three features that didn't work for you. > > >> -- > > >> David Mitchell > > >> > > >> Alex Rufon wrote: > > >>> Well, although I got J to work with OpenSUSE on my Lenovo T61 ... I > had > > >> to give up on it after reinstalling the OS 3 times and switched to the > > 64bit > > >> Ubuntu 9. I should have done that in the first place instead of > wasting > > 2 > > >> days. > > >>> Here are some of the major problems which made me back away from > > >> OpenSUSE. > > >>> 1. NVIDIA driver installation - your system will refuse to boot > > >>> 2. NTFS write mode support - you really have to jump through hoops > just > > >> to write to NTFS partitions > > >>> 3. Support for Wireless USB network - just doesn't work. > > >>> 4. Support for 3G Network - intermittent > > >>> > > >>> When I switch to Ubuntu this morining ... everything worked without > > even > > >> opening the console. Just relied on wizards for the configuration and > no > > >> more problems. > > >>> r/Alex > > >>> ________________________________________ > > >>> From: [email protected] [[email protected]] > On > > >> Behalf Of bill lam [[email protected]] > > >>> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 10:24 PM > > >>> To: [email protected] > > >>> Subject: Re: [Jgeneral] J64 on OpenSUSE 11.1 64bit OS (WAS: RE: > [Jbeta] > > >> 602 ebeta available for linux32 and linux64) > > >>> nvidia driver is troublesome enough and I gave up. Now I just vesa > > >>> driver. > > >>> > > >>> You are welcome to post a record of how to fix the nvidia driver (may > > >>> be in jchat). > > >>> > > >>> On Mon, 28 Sep 2009, Alex Rufon wrote: > > >>>> Thanks Bill. > > >>>> > > >>>> I'll just edit the jwd script. Unfortunately, I broke my system > > >>>> after trying to install the NVIDIA driver (which for some reason > > >>>> installed a new broken kernel ... why?). Now X won't start. > > >>>> Grrrrrrrr. > > >>>> > > >>>> I'm going to reinstall and try it again ... if I don't comment on > > >>>> this, everything is fine. ;) > > >>> -- > > >>> regards, > > >>> ==================================================== > > >>> GPG key 1024D/4434BAB3 2008-08-24 > > >>> gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 4434BAB3 > > >>> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >>> For information about J forums see > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > >>> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >>> For information about J forums see > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > >>> > > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >> For information about J forums see > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > >> > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
