My experience with Ubuntu...not great

[Ishwor Gurung]

Hi,

2009/11/4 Microbe <xxxmicrobexxx at gmail.com>:
> Hey folks,
>
> I thought I would share my experience installing Ubuntu.  As
> background, I am the guy friends, family and neighbours call when they
> have trouble with their Windows PC and am pretty good at it.  I can
> also find my way around a Linux terminal OK.
>
> Having read about how good desktop Linux is nowadays I thought it was
> time to give it a go.
>
> The install of 9.10 was easy as you could want.  The whole thing works
> well and boots and shuts down quick smart.
>
> I should add that the computer I was experimenting on is in my shed
> (don't ask!) so not much at stake.  All i do is listen to music, Skype
> sometimes and look up something about my latest tinker project.
>
> Well, the first problem was listening to music. MP3s were associated
> with the movie player.  I managed to sort that out easy enough but
> even when I pointed MP3s at Rhythmbox, no go...it can't play layer1
> MP3s or something.  Not a good start.

libmad - http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/ (Choose one you like
down the bottom). Use Ubuntu's package manager called Synaptic to
install any software that are provided by a particular software
repository. http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/libmad0 has mad so you
need to install libmad0 using Synaptic. If you prefer command line
then -
$ aptitude install libmad0; as root.

> OK, let's get Skype going.  I downloaded the proper version only to
> have the install fail with the friendly message about a dependency
> needing dbus >= 4.3 I think it was.  At this point I can imagine the
> average mug giving up and I wouldn't blame them, but I was
> determined.
http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/libdbus-1-3. That's in Karmic. I
don't know how/why its asking for >= 4.3.

> It took me a while to find dbus to download but I did it.   Oh shucks,
> it depended on something or another XML.  I grabbed that and guess
> what...on and on it went.  It was just too hard.
Yep. Always try and use a package manager _unless_ the need be for
source install.

> The long and short of it is that I never did get skype or music
> working and can only assume that the idea that Linux is ready as a
> windows replacement for the average punter is someone's fantasy.
Ubuntu software repository should have Skype.

> It is a shame really because there needs to be an alternative (apart
> from a Mac) but right now, this isn't it.
>
> This is not meant as a troll, I am genuinely disappointed and look
> forward to hearing from people about what you think...maybe even some
> solutions, but I fear it is going to be ongoing dramas every time I
> try to install something.
Most of the time, if you don't screw around manually with dpkg, it
should be fine unless you take some time to read man pages. Use the
packages provided by Ubuntu always as a first means unless source
installation is needed.

> Which reminds me, a couple of games I from the built in installer?
> Guess what....
>
> Over to you, penguins.

I thought we became tuz already. ;-)
-- 
Regards,
Ishwor Gurung