Hi Paul, Heh - I know the issues involved in swapping over a family myself. And a year ago I would have agreed it wasn't quite worth it. But my family is basically all Ubuntu now with XP and win98 lingering on in a subordinate capacity.
The work/kids' machine is quad boot (win98, XP, Intrepid, and Jaunty alpha 1). A vast number of children's games that we had never been able to get working in XP work flawlessly in win98. Most of the rest of the time is in Intrepid (with Compiz etc which the kids love). My main development machine is Intrepid with XP under VirtualBox (XP is only activated as and when needed). The notebook and my wife's computer are both pure-play Intrepid. My wife is happier with the Ubuntu machine than with Windows XP (although I know about the piercing stare issue from when I was smoothing out a few rough edges at the start). Additionally my grandfather, parents-in-law, and mother are all using Ubuntu (dual boot with XP in the latter case). Given I am effectively the support person for everyone I much prefer working with Ubuntu. One of the things I especially like with Ubuntu is the greater safety wrt the Internet. Plus I prefer the interface to XP/Vista. And everything we use just works and was very easy to install (Open Office, Inkscape, GIMP, Firefox etc etc). Some links: http://p-s.co.nz/wordpress/?p=208 (Win98, WinXP, and Intrepid Partitions) http://p-s.co.nz/wordpress/?p=105 (Upgrading from Windows XP to Ubuntu) http://p-s.co.nz/wordpress/?p=35 (Windows XP Infested, Replace with Ubuntu Hardy Heron) I found medibuntu solved all my media format problems; my old Powershot G2 camera is fine; but I agree about video editing and games. Of course, the kids play all the Ubuntu games as well as the existing ones so they are pretty happy! Even resurrected Cosmo (anyone remember that?) using Dosbox on Intrepid. I finally got robust folder sharing and network printing to work - something I had always failed at with XP. So people will have different experiences depending on their circumstances. All the best, Grant Paul Bennett wrote: > > > On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 1:20 PM, Harvey Kane <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: > > > OK, looks like I managed to figure this one out myself. > > Damn, getting software to install on Linux by yourself is such a good > feeling, it's like winning a good hand of poker or hooking up with > a hot > woman. Those windows installshields take all the excitement out of it. > > Harvey. > > > Haha! Classic! > > That's because it's so damn hard! I annoyed the heck out of my family > by playing with Ubuntu earlier this year: > > Wife: "Hey, this doesn't work anymore - oh, because it's *Linux*" > (insert piercing glare here) > Wife: "Can't you just leave things alone - it worked fine on Windows" > Kids: "Dad, why can't we play games any more?" > Me: "OK, I'll just grab some video from the camera. Oh....Man, where > are those XP backup discs?..." > > http://thingsilearn.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/windows-to-linuxand-back-again/ > > :) > Paul > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ NZ PHP Users Group: http://groups.google.com/group/nzphpug To post, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
