Re: Total Newbie

Michel Talon wrote:
Well, i have experience of several years using FreeBSD and Linux, and a little
WindowsXP, i like very much FreeBSD, but saying it is ways better than Linux

My recent experience in installing and using Xubuntu 6.06.1 on a laptop:
Xubuntu was very easy to install, and nearly everything was working out of the box. All essential hardware on the machine was working (graphics, Intel 3945 wireless, sound, etc.).

It was when I started to fix the non working items that I got some surprises. I do realize that some of the surprises may be a result of me having been out of touch with Linux (at least on the "hands on" level) since about RedHat 5.2.

1) wireless networking
Although the hardware was detected ok, the "Network wizard" thingy (Network Manager?) didn't have an option to setup WPA, only WEP.
I was surprised how much time I had to spend searching (both in man pages and other documents on the machine, and on Google) and reading documents before finding out which config files I had to edit in order to get WPA working. There were lots of generic docs on WPA and the Linux implementation, but specifics was limited to Red Hat, SuSE and a few others. When I finally found the right document, it was just a couple of minutes before the wireless network was up and running on the machine.


2) installation "overview"
Installing new programs that you need is very easy with Synaptic (the graphical sw mgmt tool). However, when it comes to source, it is very hard for me to know which parts I need.
I was very surprised to find out that both make and gcc was missing in the default install, accustomed as I am with FreeBSD very the development tools are in lace after the default install.
In the end, I had to find out what was missing by trial and error.
The same goes for other source packages; the documentation told me that I needed the kernel headers to compile a driver. Well, I have now installed the kernel-headers, the development version of a lot of libraries, but there is still a missing piece somewhere. Where is the complete "source" package that I can select and install?

3) user interface / machine reponsiveness
First I also have FreeBSD installed on this same laptop, and have used that with the same user environment (Xfce) so I am able to compare those two, from a user perspective.

My general experience with FreeBSD machines (this laptop not being an exeception) is that I can do things like starting a long download (cvsup, ftp or whatnot), doing a ports installation, and editing files in vi or browsing the net with Firefox all at the same time, with very little lag in the user interface.

Imagine my surprise when I started a download / install cycle in Synaptic, and then switched to another workspace yto edit some config files with vi?
In Xubuntu, if I do that, there is noticable lag. It is something I can live with, but I think it is strange all the same.
Note: I haven't yet checked if there is a technical reason for this lag, I have just installed Xubuntu, and are not finished tweaking it yet.

So why have I installed Xubuntu on this laptop at all?
Easily answered: FreeBSD does not work good enough on it. The laptop is an Acer Aspire 5672, and it has serious problems with acpi (not even the latest bios upgrade helps with that). This means that I can only use it for a short while (30 mins to an hour) before the laptop gets too hot, and parts cease to function properly.
Ironically, Linux (Xubuntu at least) is able to work around these problems, the laptop has been running for days now in Xubuntu. Occasinally the fan comes on and blows for a while, the temperature goes down, and the fan stops again.

Add to that (FreeBSD heat problems) that there currently isn't a FreeBSD driver for the Intel 3945, and that there exists a proprietary Xorg driver (fglrx) for Linux that supports the ATI X1600 chipset in this laptop which allows me to use the full 1280x800 resolution (initially Xubuntu came up in vesa 1024x768, the same as FreeBSD does), and you can see why I installed Xubuntu.
--
Torfinn Ingolfsen,
Norway
.

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