Obligatory "Oh, Lord, not another Newbie!" post

[Scott]

David Smith wrote:
> 
> 
> What am I definitely gonna like?  What am I definitely gonna trip over?  

I think that comes down to individual tastes. It's a difficult question 
to answer.

> Did that whole WINE business ever turn out to be anything?

It's getting better all the time, but I've never been fond of Wine and 
fortunately I don't really need it.

 > Didn't that
> DOS emulator thingie they used to have actually turn out to work?

I dumped anything DOS-related years ago.

> 
> Is there a big three-inch-thick book that everybody gets but nobody thinks 
> to mention?  I used to like them books.

I'm not quite sure what you mean, but up until 6-8 months ago there were 
no Ubuntu-specific books.  I've always had good luck with non-distro 
specific books (e.g. Linux in a Nutshell, Linux Cookbook, Running Linux, 
  A Practical Guide to Linux.

In the meantime I just counted 7 Ubuntu-specific books on Amazon.com. 
I've not bought any of them though.  I don't really think I need to at 
this point.

One excellent book I got about 6  months ago was "The Debian System: 
Concepts and Techniques" which is more intermediate to advanced.  But 
since Ubuntu is the closest thing to Debian there is out there, I've 
found it most excellent.

> 
> What's the first thing you wish you'd known to do when you installed 
> Ubuntu that you didn't do cause you didn't know you should?

Open the volume control and turn it up.  It was at Zero by default (as 
it's been in every Linux distro I've used for years.

Since then it's now at a reasonable level from the start.  I think that 
came about with Dapper.

> 
> Would I be crazy to install Ubuntu on my laptop?  Would it be likely to 
> recognize and handle my 32-bit NetGear wireless PCCard with no problems, 
> or do I end up with a laptop I can't use and can't fix cause I can't get 
> to the web?

Just like any Linux distro, hardware success can vary from computer to 
computer.  But there are all kinds of laptop users running Ubuntu 
successfully out there.

> 
> I -really- don't want to have my life focused on getting my OS working 
> properly, rather than doing my email & such.  (Been there, done that, 
> repeatedly.)  I want this to Just Work.  

My biggest problem with Ubuntu (and any completely "free" OS) has been 
multimedia.  It takes some tinkering (sometimes a fair amount of it, 
depending on your computer) to get support for mp3, wma and wmv files. 
as well as the ability to play DVDs.  Some people seem to have better 
luck with various multimedia players than others.


> My desktop, well, that's for Mercury, and I don't necessarily have to have 
> a mailserver.  But I do need my laptop, I do need my mail, I do need my 
> webrowser to do my web-based Medical Transcription course.  And I'd like 
> my games.
> 
> Maybe I should just do the desktop, and do the laptop only when I'm more 
> confident?

I'd try both myself.  Dual-booting is a good idea.
I'm not a gamer, so I can't really speak to that.

Scott