Ubuntu works out of the box, but there is always a problem with the font sizes. They have to be set to ultra small values, about 6 points.
2009/10/2 Mark Deardorff <[email protected]> > 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
