[ubuntu-us] linux newbie / convert, well, almost.:

[Mitchell McClure]

Hello everyone,

 

Well, I've finally reached my limit with Microsoft's BSOD's, and am
attempting to make the leap from Microsoft XP-MCE to Linux.  I have a fairly
mature system at home to test with.about 5 years old, and because of its
age, the makeup of this system would be considered rather generic.  I.E.,
all of its components have been around undoubtedly long enough for drivers
to be embedded in any Linux variant's installation packaging.

*	It is a Gigabyte, Intel P4-3GHz, Hyper-threading Northwood with 1.5
GB RAM, and a 20 GB drive for its OS & APPS, and a 160 GB drive for data and
document storage.  I also have an external 500 GB drive in a fireproof box
for backups.

 

I have successfully installed the latest version of Ubuntu.9.04 onto said
computer, and was a bit surprised to find, even though it found / recognized
ye' old Nvidia G-Force 5700, it did NOT install the "recommended" driver,
but instead, added it to a sort of "alternative" driver availability
listing.  Well, after struggling for an hour or so to shape-shift this
dialog box, so it would allow me to click the "activate" button.a real treat
at a driverless 640x480; I was finally able to usefully boot into the OS.

 

Wow!  Although the initial look of Ubuntu's GUI is fairly basic, I quickly
found that it could be easily customized to look and behave even more
elegantly than an Apple-Mac system.  OK, it runs so fast and it's so
beautiful, now I really don't want to turn back!

 

BUT.

 

My dilemma is I'm leaping to Linux / Ubuntu, at least trying to do so, but
I'm being held up "mid-leap", as it were, by what should be simple fixes for
simple problems.  There are four issues that seem to be standing in my way.
Again, I would have thought as old as these components are, driver support
would not be a current issue; and maybe it's not; maybe I'm just ignorant of
where to look or what to do.  Hence, thus, and therefore, I am in dire need
of some assistance.

 

1.	I have a three year old VersaPoint RF keyboard / integrated mouse
that is not working.

 

2.	The system does seem to see my Philips 50" plasma screen, but I'm
afraid to enable it for two reasons:

 

a. Even though the MFG lists the resolution at 1360 x 768, because of the
bezel, only 1200 x 664 pixels are viewable, and there's no apparent way to
customize / modify this.

 

b. When I enabled it the night before, the plasma screen made itself the
default display, so if I booted with the TV turned off, there was no way to
see the login dialog.

 

3.	Since this system was running XP Media Center, it also has a
slightly newer ATI PCI Theater 550 tuner card installed-(it's about 2 years
old), and I would like to know how to install the Myth TV application that
I'm hearing the Linux world is GA-GA over, along with the necessary drivers
for the tuner card.  Not only can I NOT find anything out from Google's Web
or Groups, I have no idea where to look to see if any of these devices are
already / partially installed.a "device manager" of some type.  Again, I've
only been playing with Linux for two days, so it may be that I'm not
familiar with where to look.

 

4.	I've always used Outlook at work and at home, and I realize there's
probably an Outlook-esc email client for Linux out there somewhere.  But
since my Contact list has grown to well over 300 entries, I don't want
synchronizing them with my Alltel HTC to be a "manual" process.  So, in
addition to an Outlook-esc client, I need some type of an ActiveSync-esc
application that will synchronize my phone's Contact & Calendar data?

 

Speaking of work, I haven't tested it yet, but I hope that the Linux RDP
client software works so I can connect to my work's desktop.  Let me know if
there's anything weird I need to do.their firewall is called a "FortiGate".

 

p.s., If you have recommendations on a replacement for Microsoft FrontPage,
that would be helpful as well.

 

  _____  

Thank You, Mitchell McClure, Information Technology Engineer

@ Medical Software Solutions

E-Mail:  <mailto:mmcclure at medicalcarellc.com>
mailto:mmcclure at medicalcarellc.com

Work: (423)431-0528, Mobile: (423)946-2551

 

 <http://webpages.charter.net/mswindoc/godstuff/> (|:-{)>+<)}-:|)

 

NOTE:  This message (including attachments) is covered by the Electronic
Communication Privacy Act (18 U.S.C. sections 2510-2521) and the HIPAA
Regulation (45CRF Parts 160-164) or other confidentiality information. If
you are not the intended recipient, any retention, dissemination, or copying
of this message is strictly prohibited; please reply to the sender that you
have received the message in error and delete it.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us/attachments/20090522/3be078c5/attachment.htm