As a Ubuntu Forums member trying to help new users out for the past two years, I’ve seen it happen too many times: A long-time Windows user hears about how great Ubuntu is, downloads the ISO, burns it to CD (or “burns” it to USB), installs Ubuntu, tries to use it, finds the hardware isn’t configured properly and the applications she needs don’t work on Ubuntu. She gives up and leaves (or attacks Ubuntu as being “not ready for the desktop” then gives up and leaves).
Were she and Ubuntu just never meant to be together? Possibly. But at least one problem may have been the migration strategy she and hundreds (if not thousands) of frustrated potential users have—dive right in!
While I acknowledge that the dive-right-in strategy may work for some people, I don’t think it’s the best one for most potential Ubuntu users (potential ex-Windows users) to adopt. Here’s another approach:
How to migrate from Windows to Ubuntu
- Examine your motives. Ask yourself why you want to migrate. Is it out of curiosity? Do you want a free version of Windows? Do you want to try something different? Generally, the most successful migrations usually do not expect Ubuntu to be a drop-in Windows replacement and recognize that a little bit of culture shock and learning may occur during the transition.
- Take it slow. It’s quite possible that you may migrate slowly over a few months or even years and then regret taking it slow (If only I’d just installed Ubuntu and started using it right away…), but, really, what’s so bad about that? It’s a lot worse to accidentally delete your Windows installation, realize Ubuntu’s programs don’t suit your computing needs, and wish you’d just stayed with Windows.
- Start with open source Windows applications. As a practical extension of the take-it-slow philosophy, don’t even bother with Ubuntu just yet. Ubuntu won’t run all Windows software, and so you’d better see if you like the kind of software that is made with the same Free/open source philosophy that Ubuntu is made with. Switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox. Try OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office. Use GIMP instead of Photoshop. Test out Audacity, Inkscape, and Frostwire. You can find a more complete list of open source Windows applications at www.opensourcewindows.org .
- Get to know the live CD. Once you’ve gotten used to using open source applications in Windows (and supposing you have 256 MB of RAM or more—I’d recommend 512 MB), download and “burn” Ubuntu to a USB stick and play around with the live USB (if you have an older computer that won’t boot from USB, you can also do a traditional burn of the Ubuntu CD). The live USB/CD allows you to use a fully functional Ubuntu operating system without affecting your hard drive (it works off the USB/CD itself and your computer’s memory). The live USB/CD has two major benefits for you at this point. It allows you to try out Ubuntu in a noncommital way, and it allows you to get a preview of any hardware recognition problems you might run into (and have to fix) should you later decide to install Ubuntu. I’d say you should play around with the live CD for two to four weeks, if not longer.
- Consider Waiting to Purchase New Hardware. If you have a difficult ATI card, Broadcom wifi, and a Lexmark printer, your Ubuntu experience may not be that pleasant. You’ll have to spend a lot of time working the command-line to get certain hardware components working properly. You may decide you want to roll up your sleeves and go for it. But I think it’d be best to stay with Windows, and if you are still interested in Ubuntu in a few years, buy Linux-compatible hardware or buy a Ubuntu-preinstalled computer.
- Set up a dual-boot. If you don’t want to wait on getting compatible hardware or if you aleady have compatible hardware, go ahead and set up a dual-boot with Windows. That way, you’ll be able to customize Ubuntu (the live CD settings don’t get saved) and run it at native speeds (the live CD runs more slowly than a full installation), but you’ll also have access to Windows if you need to run back to the safety of familiarity. The Ubuntu installer is fairly user-friendly, but if you’re still scared of messing around with partitions and boot loaders, there’s a project called Wubi that allows you to install Ubuntu from within Windows. It sets up Ubuntu as a removable application in Windows and uses Windows’ boot loader to pick which operating system to boot into.
- Set aside some time. If you’re one of those “time is money” people who would rather pay for a translator than learn a new language and would rather eat out than cook yourself, then don’t bother migrating. Even if you buy Ubuntu preinstalled, the Linux desktop experience is so radically different from Windows that there will necessarily be a learning curve (yes, even if you don’t have to configure hardware and even if you don’t have to use the terminal). Software installation is different (some would argue that it’s better). Theming is different. Updates operate differently. The user interface is different. The culture of the community (if you choose to get involved with it) is different.
- Enjoy the move. If you’ve gone through all these steps in this order, you’re likely going to end up a happy Ubuntu user. If you got stopped at one step along the way, at least you didn’t invest too much time in a futile (and failed) migration.
May 25th, 2007 at 22:21
this is good advice. funnily enough I must’ve done at least half the things you said not to do. I’m going to recommend this to all my friends even if I didn’t follow it, because I’m going to try to get them to switch.
May 26th, 2007 at 10:34
Like Bob, I have followed most of these steps myself without a master plan.
The ‘use open source software on Windows’ suggestion is the one I currently try with people at work – the USB pen versions of the GIMP and OpenOffice allow us to use the applications on an administered network.
May 26th, 2007 at 15:35
Thanks for the comments. I just kind of stumbled upon these steps myself, but I would have been grateful for such a guide two years ago.
July 11th, 2007 at 19:07
My reasons for ‘diving right in’ are common. I think that the M/S Monpoly is growing more greedy and restrictive. Their embrace of DRM as well as their restrictive anti-piracy moves make my PC enjoyment more stressful as time goes on. I have toyed with Red Hat and Knoppix and win/apps like Firefox and Open Office but I got lazy and didn’t follow through. My Socket 754 system is getting long in the tooth (I just had to replace the motherboard and it cost me $44 including tax & shipping). Now that I will have a somewhat workable PC for the time being, I have been researching Ubuntu compatible hardware for my next build. I will keep my xp set-up until I have somewhat mastered the new system under Ubuntu, then it will be relegated to back-shelf status. If I don’t ‘dive right in’ I won’t master the terminology, community, culture, or software structure. I like to think of it as immursion as a learning process. I don’t want to have to ‘upgrade’ to another O/S with all the ‘benefits’ of Win ME and no advantages. It was the ‘vista’ ahead of me that convinced me I have to do this. Wish me luck.
July 11th, 2007 at 20:29
I’d say the very fact that you’re toying with Knoppix, using Windows open source apps, and researching compatibility for hardware means that you are not “diving right in.”
It sounds as if you’re on the right track!
July 28th, 2007 at 00:05
Your suggestions for a successful migration certainly seem prudent. I got to your site through a link from a ubuntu forums thread. I am a newbie to ubuntu that has migrated over the ages from DOS 2.1 through windows xp. My original request via a forum thread was where do I look for a list of terminal commands and their functions ala driver installations, updates etc. Maybe you could point me in the right direction?
P.S. Sorry to put a request on a comment page, but you sounded like you might know which direction. Thanks
July 28th, 2007 at 00:18
The list of commands I found most useful when I started out using Ubuntu were on this page:
http://www.ubuntuguide.org
If you’re not looking for useful commands, and you just want to get more familiar with the terminal in general, try this page:
http://www.linuxcommand.org/
August 29th, 2007 at 14:11
I agree with most of your points. I kept my old Windows computer running and bought a nearly new desktop from ebay to practise Ubuntu Linux. It took me a long time to learn to use, and I’m still learning. It’s worth the effort, Ubuntu is a lovely os, and it’s free. I still have a Windows XP puter, mainly for my husband’s use. He is learning how to us Linux now.
September 19th, 2007 at 20:22
[...] Fuente Link [...]
April 24th, 2009 at 16:11
Well, looking at the dates on these posts (2007) I can see there have been some early migraters to Ubuntu.
I haved been experimenting with Ubuntu for about 6 months using VMware Server (it’s free) and VirtualBox (it’s free, too). In the end, I found Virtual Box to be better as VMware Server didn’t work so well (the guest OS tools) after I upgraded from Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10. Virtualisation has been a good way to try Ubuntu without any loss of my Windows XP environment. It makes it easier if, like me, you have things that just can’t be done in Linux, e.g. my favorite music synth, games, etc.
Within XP I have been using OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird for a few years now. I only use MS Office when my son needs it for his school work. Otherwise, OpenOffice does everything I need.
I found your migration guide via a link from your Partitioning guide. I’m at that stage now, aiming to have a dual boot set up. Ubuntu 9.04 has just been released, so it seems a good time to take that next step.
Long term, a move to Ubuntu (or other Linux) is definitely the way I will go, but I still have those Windows apps that need somewhere to run… perhaps Wine or a virtualised Windows machine running in VirtualBox.
Anyway, thanks for a great reference source for us Linux newbies.
April 24th, 2009 at 19:42
Thanks for the great advice. I have been an Ubuntu user for 2 years now. I kicked the M/S habit cold turkey and never looked back. (I still have an install of XP on a small computer so my kids will have it for school work, but I never touch it.) I have been trying to get some friends interested in migrating over to Linux, but have not been very successful. After reading this guide, though, I think I may have a better strategy. Thanks again.
May 6th, 2009 at 00:11
My mother-in-law is a novice computer user. I bought her a laptop and installed dual-boot Ubuntu on top of the preinstalled, popping with junkware Vista. Good thing: she does not need to relearn, she hardly ever used computer before.
Bad thing: she is a novice, and now i slap her with two operating systems on dual boot.
I would not risk going all-buntu at this point because she might need to install… sorry for cursing… software on that computer. (duh, windows binary)
May 6th, 2009 at 00:48
I’ve been a PC forever but since Vista came out i had a change of heart I wanted to try a live cd of ubuntu but every time i used it my computer locked up at boot. ive been looking all over the internet for help but cant seem to find any answers. its too bad i really thought it was time for a change. I like the videos i see of ubuntu it looks great! but i guess im stuck paying MS all my hard earned money so I can look at the bsod all day :(
May 6th, 2009 at 13:34
If you’re having trouble installing Ubuntu, I’d recommend starting a thread over at the Ubuntu Forums to ask for help.
May 7th, 2009 at 02:52
Well, as a Windows user since ver 3.1, I have “played” with various flavours of Linux over the years. When Ubuntu hit 8.1 I gave it a good shot and decided it was ready for me to get serious with. It has been running my work horse desktop for six months now. Admittedly I have called on Wine to run a couple of old programs I just can’t do without, but a bit of tweaking got them running smoothly. Overall I think I can now safely say that Ubuntu Linux has replaced Windows for me.
But the main thing I wanted to say about it is that, for the first time in some years, I am once more having fun with my computer. Terminal takes me back to my old DOS jockey days, and, while I have trashed the system a few times, reinstalling from scratch is not the hassle it is with Vista – and no activation of course.
It’s been a long time since my computer was more than just a work tool – now it’s something I thoroughly enjoy using once more.
Thanks Ubuntu!
May 23rd, 2009 at 07:48
Good Sound advice, I kind of went a different route Installed Ubuntu personally because of 2 things I think
Vista is a worthless option that Microsoft came up with.
I love WinXP but it wasn’t completely 64byte comapatible.
Here is Ubuntu compiled for the 64 byte processor(AMD)and when I tested it out was Smoking Fast. Hmmm So what options were availible to me. 1. Cross Dos Great program of course not Free and 2 VMware again not Free
but between the two I have a system that can run any (to my best recollection)WinXP software as well as introduced me to the World of Linux (the intial install of VMware a few years back was tough) Today I find I use the VMware less and less and the Cross dos only pops up from time to time any more. So we can all say that one of 2 things happened. Either I got very comfortable with Linux or Linux matured to the point where I am super comfortable with it. either way I love
it Ubuntu is the best Thanks to all you programmers working to make it even better…
May 26th, 2009 at 02:20
I just switched over to ubuntu from windows vista (came pre-installed on a laptop I had to buy before I left the states.) I am a “dive-right in” user- I had heard about ubuntu before, and friends who had ubuntu or linux showed me around their computers a bit, but the switch came when vista completely stopped functioning except in safe mode.
Luckily, all I use are word processing systems for school, which was Open Office while I was using Windows (I definitely wasn’t going to pay for Microsoft Word), and internet. The only disappointment was Itunes- I can’t access the music that I had put on my computer earlier because Itunes automatically converts cd’s into Itunes-only files, and all those cds are back in the states.
Still, I am much, much happier. A functional operating system is my new luxery in life.
May 26th, 2009 at 17:36
I wanted to add my 2 cents about my experiences as an “older” person,not a computer nerd or technical person. Over 20 years ago my son,Ted, got my husband and me into the computer world, when it was DOS,before Windows. Since then I have been through every version of
Windows and have had all the problems that are so common.
Several years ago Ted began using Linux at work and got so excited about it that he began a campaign to get me to change. The first round with Linux (Ubuntu 6.10) was a disaster as he had worked with it but never installed it, etc. I tried it for a few days and got rid of it
(not easy to uninstall at the time) and went back to Windows XP.this after his constant prodding to use this “wonderful, safe, free,yahdahyahdah” system. Then, Ted discovered the VMWare Virtual Machine technology and began talking that up. My husband has limited knowledge
of the computer and is and was VERY resistant to change because of previous failures. But we gave it a try anyway and my son installed
Ubuntu 8.04 (without any problems this time).
We entered a “learning curve” of using VMware Player 2.0 (now 2.5). We did most of this with a combination of him coming to our home (120 miles) and remote desktop. After a while I was (to be honest) fed up with it and wanted to get out but he had spent so MANY hours on it that I felt too guilty to quit.
Now I am so happy that I stuck with it no matter the reason. The virtualized Windows gave me a comfort zone to know that “it [Windows]was there” to go back to, whenever we wanted to. It also helped my husband gradually accept it. As we worked out things like finding ways to use either alternatives or real Windows programs, I found myself rather quickly using Windows less and less…even my husband. Now I even do some of my own system administration things myself.
Open Office satisfies me because I absolutely hate Word 2007, but my husband had written thousands of pages of documents in it with lots of tables, charts, etc., which did not transfer well to Open Office. So…I
transferred all his stuff back into our Windows VM with a little program that shows both OS’s and allows you to copy back and forth, and he can simply click on the desktop workspace box in the bottom toolbar designated, “WinME, and he’s there. (We’re using Windows ME
since it’s ‘lightweight’, malware-resistant, and we only need to run Word 2000.) I absolutely love the workspace switcher because it is so easy to go from one project to another, i.e., Documents, Picasa, Windows, Skype, games for my husband, and Games for me without having
to open and close anything.
Anyway even my husband doesn’t go to Windows anymore unless he wants to do something with his papers. We also took the virtual machine off the Internet to make it safer. As far as applications go, the only thing we haven’t found a workaround for is my Hallmark Greeting card program…no huge loss. Ted even a way to install the Windows “Solitaire Plus” program that my husband and I spend far too much time using inside Ubuntu (using WINE).
I did have a problem with an All-in-One Lexmark printer that a friend gave me and ended up returning it and buying an Epson which is completely compatible with Linux. We use TurboPrint to run the printer. There is a website, http://linuxappfinder.com/ that is
useful, too.
Anyway I wanted to encourage any of you who are frustrated with this to find someone like Ted who will help you, or just keep plugging. If an old person like me can do this, any of you certainly can!! Just be
positive!
May 27th, 2009 at 00:22
Re: ‘Ted’s Mom’: I should point out that the “After a while I was (to be honest) fed up with it and wanted to get out but he had spent so MANY hours on it that I felt too guilty to quit” does NOT refer to problems with Ubuntu!
Ubuntu installed, configured, and ran just fine. It refers to the many problems we had figuring out which *VMware* product to use — and getting those bugs worked out. (To be fair, they didn’t claim to fully support Ubuntu at the time, mid-2008; now they do.)
We started with VMware Server 1.0 (based on reading others’ experiences; it was our first time with virtualization), but ended up hawing to rebuild one of the installer files to overcome a bad file reference. Then, about the same time, VMware released a major upgrade..to Server 2.0, which offered USB support.
It was still a free product, only the interface in Server changed from a regular window to a web browser — and it, too, had bugs and wouldn’t run. Aside from that, Server is just too complex for typical home use. (But it’s great for running multiple VM’s on one box, which is more of a commercial need.)
So out with VMware Server and in with VMware Player 2.0 — another free product, which is now up to version 2.5, is stable, and now has USB support, too. THAT did the trick, but it was not without its own installation issues:
With VMware Player, you have to change the permissions on the ‘.bundle’ file you download and launch it in a terminal window in order to get the GUI installer to launch. And the “VMware Tools” are inexplicably not included with Player… But can be (legally) extracted from a trial version of VMware Workstation and installed as a virtual CD on the VM.
Was it worth it? YES. And the good news is that all the speed bumps with VMware are at the beginning. Once installed, it’s almost bullet-proof and trouble free. Now if the company would just put in the effort to iron out these installation issues! It’s a good product, and makes a huge difference in migrating from Windows to Ubuntu.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:07
I have used Ubuntu for the last two years and certainly I am still new. The best reason to move to open source is ,” open source, opens our minds, it opens our minds to learn and ask questions”. I have learned so much from the free documentation from Ubuntu and open source in general. I would only ask that Ubuntu would push further to make Ubuntu the desktop of choice.I dual boot with window but use Ubuntu 90% of the time. I have very few problems working with window files at work etc.
June 4th, 2009 at 02:34
I have been trying different linux versions for years and yet no distro could get around a kernel panic when using an add in ati graphics card on the standard pci bus. Ubunntu couldn’t even get it right, so much so that I had to switch to a much crappier PCIe ATI card and somehow it started to work, however it was still buggy with my dual displays(probably ATI’s fault) and in the end I had to remove the card. I still happily use ubuntu with degraded graphics performance after having to rely on my crappy intel integrated chipset.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:34
@jamke femmson,
I’ve read in many places that ATI doesn’t support Linux very well. They publish drivers, yes… but they don’t really put in the effort to make *good-quality* drivers. Other comments say that their performance is lacking, too.
Nvidia, on the other hand, has good Linux support, and makes good-quality, high-performance drivers. In addition, they have a very nice GUI that lets you configure multiple displays (stretched desktop or separate desktops, as X11 allows) that some say is better than what Windows offers.
So I would say yes, it’s probably ATI’s fault. Tell them about your displeasure in the best way possible: Buy a different video card!
June 13th, 2009 at 12:01
All good advice. Especially dual booting: it means you can carry on using windoze for urgent tasks & take your time to learn how linux works. It is a different (& better!) world, so everyone needs time to learn how it works.
June 29th, 2009 at 02:12
Well I was forced to dive-in. I was trying to keep Win98SE going, but of course, supporting things like a free firewall and free virus-checker (I’m tight) became an impossible situation, and be damned if I was going to pay for XP, and my platform at the time was too small/slow to support it anyway.
And then I read of Canonical’s free offer to send you a CD. I get very flustered with computereze, even though I design and build electronic apparatus. Printing/publishing a book and running a library are two completely disconnected operations.
I find many computer functions devoid of intuitive understanding, and frankly, I’d like to wring the necks of the clowns who misuse generations established terms like “drivers” etc. A driver is a powered interface from instruction to enactment.
Whatever, I received my Ubuntu 8.04 CD in the mail…and I was immediately struck at how *inviting* the interface was! (Computereze term now). I’d seen many earlier Linux OS, and was not impressed. Though a functioning engineer, I’m no computer geek, and when I design a control panel, it must be clearly usable and understandable to the novice.
Ubuntu 8.04 is at that stage! And it ran like a rabbit on my old Dell steam powered donkey. It also found all the hardware, like magic compared to the sluggish methods of Plug and Pray in Win98.
I was sold! (at no price).
I suspect it is more difficult to migrate from XP to Ubuntu (and I’m running XP right now as a learning experience, since I just bought a refurbished Dell Optiplex with it installed, but I’m getting desperate to load my Ubuntu 8.04 HDD again. I was tempted to run Ubuntu inside of XP, just to see what VM is all about, but I do have better things to do with my brainpower. I’ll leave XP on this HDD and Ubuntu on the other. That load of Ubuntu, btw, was done on my old Dell steampowered platform. Booted up with absolutely no probs on the much later Optiplex, all drivers found. More than I can say for XP! (It had trouble with the upgraded DVD from CD player I installed, fixed by downloading the driver off the web). Ubuntu 8.04 had it onboard!
There was a point of severe distress, however. Before I bought the Optiplex refurbished, I tried to run Ubuntu on an IBM platfrom. It had the guts and speed to run 8.04 with no problem, but the ACPI and other systems (prob IDE and perhaps video) caused it to keep freezing, a well documented problem. 8.04 even has a key (F6) to use at initial load to defeat some of the functions that glitch. Work well until you do an update. And then it is overwritten, and boom, you’re frozen again.
Be sure to use a machine that has no proprietary code that clashes with Linux. You can edit the boot commands, but it is only a temporary fix. It always seems to get overwritten somehow.
The IBM goes back tomorrow to exchange for RAM. The Dell Optiplex has performed flawlessly with Ubuntu. My recommendation though: Load VLC, and don’t bother fighting with the commands to get Totem to run. VLC is loaded, it just needs enabling through the Synaptic Whatever.
Typing in commands is a past-time for geeks.
When you drive your car, even if it is a stripped dwon sport’s car, you still want to turn the key to get it to start. At the very least, use a push button to engage start.
Typing in commands is a job for techies, not users.
Ubuntu has mastered that, and done it very well indeed.
How much longer can MS get away with charging for an OS that is more flawed than freeware?
To find out if Ubuntu is going to run on your machine, try the CD, but be aware that it will give no indication of power command glitches. Check online via Google before buying a second-hand machine to run Ubuntu. It will run on most machines, but not all, and some machines it will run on are very modest and cheap second-hand (well under $100 reconditioned).
June 29th, 2009 at 12:26
I just became a linux user recently – I am working with an Ubuntu server to run the CiviCRM program for work, and I also installed the desktop version of Ubuntu on my personal laptop. My laptop runs slowly in windows due to lack of memory, plus I find that antivirus software and Windows updates are a headache. I was just in Haiti, where antivirus software and windows updates are a huge headache (people who have computers and internet connections have slow computers and slow internet connections, AND limited access to electricity too). Made me think there HAD to be another way! My experience with Ubuntu so far is that I’ve run in to problems that weren’t hard for me to solve, but that would have been hard for your average computer user. Sound didn’t work in YouTube until I manually installed some software; Ubuntu wouldn’t install for lack of memory until I manually created a swap partition. And Firefox is a memory hog on low memory machines, no matter your OS. I’ll see if I can get a bunch of Haitian friends using Ubuntu anyway!
July 10th, 2009 at 07:09
response to comments, and..
Supposedly xp x64 drivers have improved. (i use xp 32 on 2008 vista PC which could run 64bit, but i haven’t upped the ram yet anyway)
Big problem with switching (or starting) on nix is likely similar to starting on any os these days. OSes have become very complex. But imo, linux needs to be more generous with context-sensitive help/info. googling often finds something *similar* to one’s goal, but not close enough to figure out the needed difference (to achieve one’s goal).
i began with DOS, some time on system 7 (mac). win9x.. winxp. as of now, I’ve spent little time using os x (not impressed by osx, but perhaps I only need to edit some config files)
Have been trying linux livecds for a few years. I now have decent 512mb pcs, to perm install various distros. before this, no way was i going to risk messed data by trying dualboot.
so far:
ubuntu 9.04 is sluggish on 700mhz, 512mb. i think because default nvidia drivers don’t do acceleration. I then tried envyNg the proprietary drivers, but they fail. (googling) i read that current xorg is incompatible…
July 10th, 2009 at 07:21
Windows ME?
“lightweight” True, relative to the me’s good UI. Be sure to shutoff winme’s “new” features because those tend to cause the troubles. probably best to stay off the net, too. avast is free av for win9x (98, me). If on the net, run thru modern router and kerio2 and probably others are decent firewalls.
“we only need to run Word 2000″
yep. office200 is a good ver. I’ve had a taste of “the ribbon” (as in ofc2007) in autocad, and hmmm.. I have doubts.
workspace switcher
makes no sense for single user. but it should be faster than xp’s user switching?
being paranoid, i’ve pretty much kept ahead of windows’ infamous troubles.
July 24th, 2009 at 23:04
i just installed ubuntu 9.04 through the wubi installer.now i have a dual boot laptop (Win XP pro and Ubuntu).so far,i like it,except i am having trouble upgrading Firefox to 3.5 (my default in windows).i still have alot to learn,but i’m tired of Microsoft dominating my pc life.i cant afford Apple,so this is the best choice for me.any suggestions on upgrading Firefox would be greatly appreciated.
July 27th, 2009 at 14:15
Hmmm, take it slow and set aside some time – just what I don’t have! Have had Dell mini netbook with Ubuntu for two weeks and the money-back return period is only 30 days. Dell shipped it with a disgusting Yahoo version (out of date, by the way) of Firefox which I’ve told my husband I will not use. Wish we’d both tried Ubuntu sooner to learn our way around it.
July 31st, 2009 at 20:33
After two weeks of using Ubuntu, I see why there’s a reason for supported business-friendly distros such as Red Hat. I have 9.04 and I couldn’t see using this as a full-time OS for a small/mid-sized business
August 2nd, 2009 at 15:34
Then stick with the LTS versions for enterprise business use, that is when stability matters more
August 6th, 2009 at 07:41
great advice for novice like us. for just sheer excitement we migrate without understanding the system and its use.
August 7th, 2009 at 14:33
Hehe, I didn’t even consider to have a test period.
I felt like nothing worked and that windows was hindering me to do what I wanted. I felt like I wanted to throw my compu out the window ‘cuz of windows ;)
When I installed Ubuntu Linux everything just worked, except my bt-mouse. After 20 minutes of searching it worked too.
The rest of my family uses windows and they have trouble with their devices, I test ‘em on my compo and they just works ;)
August 8th, 2009 at 15:52
Great advice. So many times I have had to reinstall a bricked windows installation. I set up a spare pc with ubuntu 6.10 when it first came out, been an avid fan for many years now, skitted across many distros and recently ubuntu has really set itself apart. I love the flexibility of linux. My now 7 year old laptop stopped running windows recently, an update to far it seems, and I made the move to ubuntu completely, no windows at all. It was the best thing I have done, I no longer rely on the apps I ‘needed’ in windows. What’s more is that because of the nature of linux, I hand picked my desktop enviroment to suit my lagging hardware and still benefit from the brilliant compatability of ubuntu. And a word to the wise for those with old hardware, kubuntu runs faster than ubuntu or xubuntu due to the much improved KDE 4, not a widget fan myself but performance tweaks are really noticable.
August 9th, 2009 at 09:05
Hello,
I have installed windows xp service pack-2 in C drive and now i want to install ubuntu 9.04 in partition G [total memory space is 20 GB] now problem is i have important data in remaining partition D, E and F. If i install ubuntu in partition G…will my data be lost? I want to dual boot my system.
Please help me.
August 24th, 2009 at 10:13
I just installed Ubuntu and removed Vista. On my first install of ubuntu which seemed like it installed properly I had no sound on somevideo sites and it would not play sound on all espn or other popup sports radio sites. I tried to download sound drivers from the free ware but nothing worked. I then reinstalled the software and the flashplayer and the sound loaded this time and it is a beautiful operating system to use. I still don’t know if i need an antivirus. i tried to install threatfire and i could not. I think its better than clamwin.
September 1st, 2009 at 04:49
A great tutorial and some good advice in comments too.
Been a freeware user for years and have turned others on to GIMP and OopenOffice. I was a small business meeting a couple of months back and the guys there were talking (raving) about how good Ubuntu was and how one medium sized co had gone completely open source.
I’m going to take the dual boot route to start with and leave here to download the various components. Vista soon to be a thing of the past I hope…
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:40
Hehe. I never had this migration plan. I just put all my data on a external HDD and installed Ubuntu without any planning at all. It was easier than I expected. :D
September 7th, 2009 at 01:48
Take it slow…great advice and certainly the course I pursued out of necessity. 3 years ago Mandrake (and others) was/were not ready for me (or vice versa). Previous dual boot using Kubuntu slowly approached my needs. Current Jaunty satisfies (most of) my needs and all hardware WORKS. I migrated out of curiosity and am now moving between GNOME and KDE. Wine allows me to use some of the software Vista refused to permit. Opera was an easy install and is now my preferred browser. Good article.
Home use. Sony Vaio VGN-CR220E
September 17th, 2009 at 05:59
Semi-new to Linux as I had messed about with Suse and Red Hat but was never struck by them. Even though I am a computer geek (at least according to my friends) I could not get the hang of Red Hat, everything was so overly complex and Suse wasn’t stable enough for me.
Have been fed up with windows for some time now but just been working a very large project that required that OS, so could not change.
Now is the time. Downloaded both Ubuntu and Kubuntu and did the run from CD versions and checked my hardware. Also did google searches on each little bit of my hardware to make sure drivers existed just in case. I was pleasently suprised when I found ZERO problems with it, even my wireless card was recognised.
Going to go full version over the weekend. Not sure what KVM to use though……so testing both see which “feels” best.
Regards
Anthoni
October 2nd, 2009 at 20:29
My suggestion is to get a spare hard drive and install Ubuntu, or whatever else you want to try on that. (I have about 10 IDE Hdd’s, and only bought 3, the rest came out of junked computers at work.) Get one of those replaceable hard drive things so you can swap them without openning the case.
Second best is to go with a second partition, but that’s risking the original install. I’ve messed up a few.
I’ve been fighting with my computer for years, trying to install Linux or BSD, and it was not until 8.04 that I succeeded with my desktop.
October 7th, 2009 at 20:06
I’ve been using Ubuntu since the summer of 2008. It’s a bit funny how I even found out about it — I just was bored and went to Google to search for anything. I finally thought of the word Ubuntu from the deepest parts of my brain. Maybe it was divine intervention. I found Ubuntu.com as the first result and read it, and me being fairly interested in computers/programming (I was 14 then), I was really excited.
So I read around and decided to install Wubi thinking that was the only way I could install. I didn’t even know you could install another operating system on a computer without removing Windows. Turned out to be the right choice since I wouldn’t have known how to install Ubuntu properly.
I had some serious issues with my Netgear WPN111 wireless card ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=853762 , a few other long threads), so I eventually gave up Ubuntu and uninstalled Wubi from Windows. Didn’t touch Ubuntu again for another year, but I was still fond of it and recommended it to people.
Last summmer (of 2009) I came back and installed Ubuntu on my hard drive. I wanted to try to figure out why the WPN111 would not work with WPA2 in Linux and I set out to solve the problem. I had moderate success but not a fix ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=901818 ). The random disconnects annoyed me enough to not use ubuntu all of the time.
Eventually I was fortunate enough to be given a new wireless card. I didn’t get to choose which one, but luckily the Rosewill RNX-EasyN1 has a native linux driver (RT3070STA). I was overjoyed by this and installed the driver with slight difficulties, though this was my fault for not reading the README. Since then I’ve been a happy Ubuntu user and I’m learning more every day.
Sorry if posting my Ubuntu life story was kind of uncalled for, but I think it fits if at least one person who is unsure reads my post and is convinced to try Ubuntu. I think Ubuntu works for almost anyone’s needs. The only people I would not recommend it to are people who TRULY need Windows-only apps or people who need higher-quality programs such as Photoshop or the likes.
Ubuntu to the end :D
November 2nd, 2009 at 21:13
I started using Linux back in 1995 and it was not for the faint of heart back then, but I have recently started building and converting existing customers computers to Linux computers.
I install Ubuntu and get the computer fully operational then I add programs such as flash and libdvdcss2. I also will get any windows programs that they have to work in Crossover. I then will install VirtualBox and install a copy of Windows XP or Vista in that.
I then make a basic how-to video on how to find help on google and how to copy and paste commands from forums to the terminal and add links to the bookmarks. I then make a restore disk with Remastersys in case they ever do something to mess up the computer. I then give them 30 days free support for any issues they may have…
And I have not had anyone need to use the 30 day support yet. (Knock on wood)
These are, in most cases, not computer savvy people. I do this after I have made sure that the needs will be met by switching. Most are very happy with the new OS and hardly any of them use VirtualBox except in the rare case they can not get it working in wine or crossover.
I have stayed away from the dual boot option as you can only run one OS at a time. I would therefore recommend either installing a virtual session in Windows to run Ubuntu or vise versa. If that seems to difficult for your user level then google and try “wubi”
I do understand that I am doing all the hard work that most people get frustrated about when they try to switch. I am posting this as a way to help people switch. Do the hard part for them, either gratis or for a fee. Either way if people have a Linux computer that works from the start and if they are pointed in the right direction on how to find help, most find it easy to take the jump with all this work done for them.
The restore disk also lets them take their custom OS over to friends and family and show the “New” computer off without taking the hardware. It also gives them peace of mind about trying things and messing with the system, knowing that they are not going to loose anything.
November 25th, 2009 at 06:05
Well, I have been a Windows guy since ver 3.1. But after playing with the RC for Win7 for a couple of months I realised with the pension just around the corner I couldn’t justify the cost of yet another Win upgrade. I started with ubuntu about a year ago, dual booted with XP for about a year, and now Jaunty is my OS of choice. I have worked through all the gotchas, glitches, etc. and am totally happy with it. I tell my friends about it and they think Windows is the only game in town until I let them have a go on my Ubuntu box. They are staggered when I tell them it’s free, while they are all frantically saving up for Win7. I sort of developed your suggested approach to Linux over a couple of years, and had some spectacular disasters along the way. But now I am totally sold on it.
December 2nd, 2009 at 08:10
reading the last bunch of comments…
have since installed and played a bit with a couple distros on older pcs.
unetbootin is nice installer. i recommend torrenting any iso that looks good then pointing unetbootin to the iso.
December 18th, 2009 at 12:43
I, too, was a dive-right-in switch a couple months ago. After moving back to the US from Europe about a year ago, my PC was severely damaged by the movers, which necessitated a complete rebuild. Unfortunately, my XP disk was in a separate shipment and, as a die hard geek – gamer and hobby 3D animator – I can’t be without a computer. So I “upgraded” to Vista. After nearly a year of constant hardware and software issues and wondering why I was missing a GB of RAM that apparently Windows had some secret agenda for, I made the switch after doing a minimal amount of research. I’ve bounced back and forth between Ubuntu 9.10 and openSUSE 11.1 and 11.2, and have finally settled on Ubuntu. I really wish I’d made the switch sooner, but as a gamer, didn’t think any Linux distro would ever suit my needs. There are not words in the English language to describe how happy I am to have been wrong. Almost every Windows game I have works, and I actually get *better* perfomance in World of Warcraft in Ubuntu than I could ever have hoped to in Windows.
I still have the Windows partition, but it’s only there if I have to bring work home with me.
December 31st, 2009 at 09:56
I just installed Ubuntu 2 days ago on my laptop (didnt mess with my desktop, Windows 7). My reason for diving right in is very simple, Knowledge! I mastered DOS by diving right in, i mastered all the versions of windows by diving right in, I mastered the mac O.S. by diving right in, I mastered a few programming languages by diving right in, I have learned a great deal about computers in general by diving right in. So far it is a pleasant experience I really kind of like how easy it is to screw with the command line and the general programming of the O.S. itself. Lets face it there are only so many time you can break windows on purpose just to find out how to fix it without discovering the solution is the same as one you used before. So I will learn this O.S. and break it a few times who knows it might become my favorite
February 5th, 2010 at 00:06
Thanks for this detailed information.. I always wanted to try new things. This will really help me in getting on with ubuntu.
Thanks a lot.
February 8th, 2010 at 02:37
Thank you UbunuCat for the above article and allowing the posts. I gained a lot of insight, both into myself and reading the experiences of others. Now, would I classify myself as a “dive right in” type of person? I would state that I am somewhere in between the two extremes…and right now am taking a slower approach. I originally started in 1998 with a W98 and AMDK6 350 mhz motherboard and went through all the problems the persons listed above have posted. I have burned up mother boards and media devices and struggled with drivers etc. I finally gave up for a few years–about 6– and then friends and family gave me their old systems. Currently running WME with 800 mhz on the desktop and have a second system with Pentium lll 500 mhz I am loading with WinXP-HE and Ubuntu (v.?). With all the problems I have had with Microsoft products I am more enthused about loading LINUX OS…but also need some old Windows apps to work…so I will go the dual boot option.
Now, I am not going to be mad at Microsoft because… they are a good business BUT,…I personally do not like Bill Gates and his personality. Second, Microsoft has not really engineered anything really “brilliant” outside of a good business plan. And that plan is to “buy out or bury” his competition in addition to extracitng as much “cash” from the market place as he can. Starting with the browser wars with Netscape …then all the suspicious malware around on the internet it does make one apprehensive about adopting an open source OS.
So this week I begin…not sure if I am using Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron or some version of Kubuntu because the latter is better on older sytems with 128 RAM. Wish me luck and if any suggestions please post or email me at http://www.mk6814@hotmail.com. Thanks all…I feel like I aleady know many of you! Best wishes! -Mike
February 10th, 2010 at 14:52
… and please be ready to enjoy yourself :-)… in, say, half the time you spend battling viruses, worms, botnets and so on!
February 11th, 2010 at 14:30
thank you very much for all this. i’m just getting started and have had to hunt around for which version of wubi is best for my machine, i like 8.04 for speed and functionality, the 9.04 version was almost unusably slow, while the 7 feisty version was amazingly fast, but could not get it to install new stuff.
hardy heron works really well for my 2.4 gz 256 mbram dell desktop.
i’ve installed an old hardrive as a slave and will try setting up ubuntu 8.04 on it and see where it goes from there. i’m still not sure how this will boot but i’ll read your guide.
thanks a whole lot.
aaronmcnees
February 18th, 2010 at 03:14
Well, well, well. I’m a newbie to Ubie, too; just having installed it on my oldie but goodie Dell Optiplex GX1 (PIII, 498 RAM, 10GB Hdd, etc.) So far, she runs like a charm–can’t wait to dig in and find out more…I’m getting to like this open source idea. Today I burned Kubuntu to CD and will swap WinXP for KDE soon as it no longer boots on my Gateway E3400 (BSOD). Let’s just dive right in and do it, shall we? Nothing like giving old equipt a new lease on life!
February 22nd, 2010 at 11:21
i began my ubuntu experience with the release of 8.04. i was 15 years old and had no idea what i was doing. I jumped right into it. Went from no Linux experience to solely an Ubuntu user. and I’m still a user today. I plan to be one tomorrow and the day after. i’ve converted four friends over to Ubuntu and they have been going for about 8 months now and my phone has stopped ringing as much. coincidence?
February 22nd, 2010 at 14:07
Probably not. I’ve converted my parents, my father-in-law, my best friend, I’m in the process of converting my brother & his wife, and have gotten interest from my wife’s best friend…
There’s a common thread tying all of them together: They’ve all either had to deal with being “botted” or having their Windows machines grind to halt from malware infestations. And they don’t want to change their surfing habits or have a repeat.
Ubuntu + Wine + VirtualBox and “no surfing the net in Windows, use Linux instead” seems to tip people over to taking a look at it. Knowing that they don’t have to “jump into the deep end” of switching to a strange OS all at once is, understandably, very important to most people.
Having a migration path that lets them “retreat” to Windows as they need seems to be the key thing to making the change. Fear of Windows malware seems to be a powerful motivator to start. Once over that hump, Ubuntu then seems to simply sell itself…
March 22nd, 2010 at 17:48
I have used unix and linux flavors back in the day when I was working using network and systems analysis programs not available for Windows. Since retiring I started looking for an alternative OS for use at home and discovered Ubuntu about 2 years ago. I use it regularly because I believe it is much more secure than Windows, easier to monitor and faster. I still have to use Windows for some applications (Not sure if WINE will work with some of these apps), such as my Garmin Golf and GPS updates and Logitech TV control updates. Being retired I haven’t been able to find the time to test these apps on WINE. I really like the GUI interface (Gnome), simple yet effective. Very stable and usable OS. Would like to test the next iteration of the LTS OS but I don’t know which version will be LTS. I also need to find some time to do a bunch of WINE testing. I have a dual boot system for those Win XP apps that I need. I would like to migrate away from XP as much as I can.
March 22nd, 2010 at 19:35
For those who want to use Wine to avoid the need for a virtual machine (VirtualBox) or a native install of Windows, here are some tips that may help:
* Install the latest version of Wine, not the version from your distro’s repository (which is likely to be very dated). New versions come out every 2 weeks, and they do fix things, so keep current!
* The latest version of Wine for your distro can be gotten from http://www.winehq.org/ — some of these will even let you use the automated update feature of your distro (such as Ubuntu’s Update Manager) to keep your version current.
* Bookmark http://www.winehq.org/ and familiarize yourself with this website! There are many helpful insights on how to “make it work”, as well as reviews and tips on what Windows software works and tweaks that may be needed to make them work well.
* Be aware that you can select the version of Windows + DLL overrides + graphics configuration for a Windows application on an app-by-app basis. Some apps work best in a WinXP environment, others in Win98, etc. Wine is very flexible — but how this works in ‘winecfg’ is not particularly intuitive, so read up on it first.
* If you screw something up, you can just rename your ‘.wine’ directory and re-run ‘winecfg’ to “make a new Windows environment” and try again. (Would that Windows was that fast to re-install!)
* Sometimes, a bit of experimenting is needed — but the more you “play” with it, the more you’ll learn how Wine works and how to make your apps work/work well.
* If you want support, want to run Windows games, want to help support Wine financially, or would like the latest Wine with GUIs & extra features, then consider ‘CrossOver’ from Code Weavers. They lead Wine development, so they have “the latest”, and so they charge a small fee for the extras they provide.
March 27th, 2010 at 22:40
hi, i have a ubuntu 8.04 live cd. when i want to install it, it asks for the size of installation, like: 4GB, 6GB, 10GB and so on. what’s the difference? what should i choose? thank you
April 10th, 2010 at 16:32
@ yo
I’m guessing you’re speaking of partitions. that’s how much of you’re HDD space you want to give to Ubuntu… the choice is completely yours. It all depends on how much you want to use it.
April 28th, 2010 at 12:29
installed ubuntu. right over the top of vista. asta la vista windows hello ubuntu. it just works. waiting to see what 10.4 will do. only thing i worry about is installing 10.4 and not losing my /home on the other partition. 2 partitions. / and /home
April 28th, 2010 at 13:30
@bob:
If you perform an *upgrade* to 10.04, your /home will not be affected.
If you *re-install* to 10.04 (i.e., “wipe out” your ‘/’ and replace it with 10.04), then your best bet is to backup & then restore your /home partition.
A wipe/re-install while preserving a separate /home partition requires extra admin steps and some planning ahead. Not for beginners! (Backing up in this case is still recommended anyway.)
April 28th, 2010 at 14:03
When I suggested Ubuntu auto-detect and preserve /home partitions during installation, I got this developer comment: This has already been done and is present on the Hardy daily CD builds. Please see:
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/ubiquity-preserve-home
So I’m assuming if it got done in Hardy that it’s still working in Lucid?
April 28th, 2010 at 14:15
Good question… I haven’t downloaded a Lucid build yet, so I don’t know. I expect most people upgrade in situ, but I prefer the “clean slate” of a fresh install.
So, with one exception, I always rebuild a new root when I install a new version of Ubuntu. I have scripts that re-install apps, etc. to restore my system customizations.
I keep my /home on separate drives from my root (on RAID 1 sets), so I go through the process of re-connecting after a clean install.
My worries are that an upgrade on a RAID 1 system with a separate /home “might not go so smoothly”. And I haven’t wanted to find out the hard way if that’s the case…
May 24th, 2010 at 07:29
madam,
i need help on these issues:
1.how to back up data files from Ubuntu to usb.
2.while migrating from 8.04 to 10.04 how to ensure already installed programs like audacity/pidgin etc continue to work.(i don’t want to again download)
please help
venkat
May 25th, 2010 at 03:58
madam,
i have downloaded the lucid lynx in my usb,tell me how to install the same over 8.04 on my dual boot Desktop PC.
of course i expect solutions for my earlier query too from your experience with linux. please.
i installed lucid lynx as dual boot in my laptop, it was easy due to wubi-installer.also this was the first ubuntu installation in the lap top.
thanks
venkat
June 5th, 2010 at 17:24
I would like to learn as much as I can about this operating system. like installing a program,getting hardware to work.
and learning the commands to use to get things done.I’ve installed frespire with ubuntu os. and need to know all that I can about it.what I have tried hasn’t worked. I’ve joined 2 forums to find out things but to no avail.I use the same password but it is always denied.Why I do not know.Can you put me in the right direction to get the facts?
i’m trying to install a program but haven’t succeeded.I need to know what I need to do that.
Donald Spaulding–exectec@zoho.com
August 23rd, 2010 at 01:02
I remember when I was planning my migration from Windows to Linux (almost 2 years before Ubuntu even debuted LOL), I too began using all the open-source free software equivalents I could find to whatever I was using at the time. That was back in late 2002/early 2003.
It took me a while, but only a few days into 2005, I ran into a hardware problem where I kept getting an error message every few seconds in Windows 2000. Thinking it was a virus, I backed up everything and re-installed Windows 2000 — I STILL kept getting that stupid error message every few seconds!
To me, that was the last straw. I then installed some CDs of Mandrake that I had downloaded from a computer lab, and VOILA — no more stupid error messages! From that day forward, I’ve had nothing but Linux on my computer here at home. :-) That, however, was several months before I had even HEARD of Ubuntu. To be honest, since Mandrake was my first introduction to Linux, I naturally became hooked on the KDE desktop, and in fact, I tried Kubuntu once, but didn’t care for it.
However, when KDE4 came out, I did NOT like what I saw, so I gave GNOME and Ubuntu a try and liked what I saw. I have since moved on to Xfce plus I found a distro this past spring (PC/OS — Ubuntu-based, BTW) that is one of VERY few distros I have ever tried that comes with the drivers for a Broadcom wireless card in my wife’s laptop. This is a HUGE plus in my book, so PC/OS and Xfce (the default desktop in PC/OS, BTW) is what I’m running now. :-)
October 7th, 2010 at 09:06
Over the past few years I have tried and followed Ubuntu many times. I also slowely migrated (on windows) from commercial software to open source. I am currently using firefox, gimp, blender and open office. All of which I now prefer over their more expensive counterparts.
Today I downloaded Ubuntu 10.04 and installed it on a flash drive to test it. I like it, so I am contemplating making the switch next week when 10.10 comes out. However, there are a few remaining hurdels I am fearfull of.
Indeed, installing software is radically different in ubuntu as opposed to Windows, and that scares me the most (I remember from a previous try-out 3 years ago I messed up my Ubuntu install bad time). I fail to see how the package manager gives me flexibility. For example, I see in Ubuntu 10.04 that the Gimp version in the manager is 2.6.8 whereas the latest version on their website is 2.6.10.
I use Blender 2.54 but that is also not in the package manager.
Downloading the latest version and simply running the install like in windows most certainly it ain’t. I have yet to find a good visual tutorial on downloading and installing software manually without using the package manager.
Also, I usually do all my file related stuff in windows explorer (NOT internet explorer!) with all the (system) files and extensions visible. Nautilus is a poor replacement for that.
And then of course I use a Wacom intuos 4 because I have a bad case of RSI and the pen actually is much better for me than the mouse. And yet despite years of (no doubt) hard effort, the linux wacom drivers are rubbish.
I started getting interested in linux 4 or 5 years ago. And I really WANT to make the switch, but really, how long must I wait for some basic stuff like easy software installing and popular hardware support?
Any help/advice that will make me decide to make the switch is greatly appreciated.
October 16th, 2010 at 18:10
@Pentasis; I guess a bit of anxiety is understandable but all the issues u raise are easily solveable in linux. One of the interesting/challenging/frustrating things for newbies is that there are many ways of doing things and that is certainly true of installing software which is now a walk in the park. On nautilus there is an extension u can add or u can install another file manager of choice. Yr last two points about easy installation and popular hardware unsupported are simply wide of the mark. As usual Google and the Ubuntu forums are yr friends. Good luck.
October 20th, 2010 at 07:26
I’ve tried at least four or five times to migrate from Windows to Linux, and every time I’ve get frustrated and leave it despite I feel myself as geek and love to dig in. I’ve tried few versions of openSuSe, then few Ubuntu releases. Every time I get stuck with problems it was impossible to use it as comfortably as Windows… It was nice to read these steps, because I’ve realized that I made almost all these steps unintentionally: opensource/free Windows apps (quite hard to find right apps), Linux under VM(struggling performance), dual boot… And finally with Ubuntu 10.10 it seems like a break through for me… There are still few concerns, but I feel very comfortable to manage it. So, thank you for a good post, now I see I’m on a good way to the happy end :)
November 12th, 2010 at 11:40
Having attempted to use and broken ubuntu over the last three or so years it seems that with Lucid things are really coming together. I had discovered tomboy notes and love it, I have been a long time user of OpenOffice though the different syntax compared to Excel is awkward. Firefox, Chrome and Opera flew until I broke 10.04. So I’m here finally learning. The information about Wubi is likely to be one of the keys to solving the problem I created for myself. I’m now hunting ways to get my precious data copied before I plunge back into terminal. Thank you for taking the time to make the ubuntu experience better for all of us who choose to stay the course! AJ
November 30th, 2010 at 15:16
I have tried Wubi for a month or two now. On one hand it’s great, much faster than Windows. But then again. I thought Microsoft sucked on software quality but this is so much worse. It boots somewhat randomly, maybe nine times out of ten if you’re lucky. And now after installing some updates it won’t boot at all. Maybe I should pay Microsoft to get an operating system that actually works instead of using this free thing that don’t really work at all? Well, I think I will give it another try after all and try to reinstall the damn thing…
December 9th, 2010 at 08:35
Dipped a tie and then jumped in. Had a major problem with a mate’s Packard Bell and the notrious tattoo in the bios. To cut a long story short I just could not get XP back on to the thing and all he wanted was to use it for music, photos, iPlayer and browsing. Ubuntu 10.10 went on and he is a happy man.
Daughter needs a laptop next Christmas so her old desktop is going to be my new media centre with Ubuntu and XBMC. Can’t wait.
Welcome to freedom!
January 5th, 2011 at 10:08
Hehe, that’s almost all the steps I’ve done so far. Looks very natural, don’t know why somebody does it differently.
I only did not use open source software before switching to Linux. I tried opensource there first, and then installed OOo, GIMP and VLC in my Windows.
And yes, I am still in dual-boot mode. Mostly not because of my own preferences! ;)
January 26th, 2011 at 13:16
Ok, Im the guy who dove right in, trashed my Vista and have not regretted it for one second. Well, except for when I realized I couldn’t use my encrypted 1 TB NTFS drive. Luckily, I have other resources at work to get at the data on it.
February 4th, 2011 at 12:13
Or just install Ubuntu and it just works. FFS…
February 17th, 2011 at 15:58
I used opensource programs because they where free, then tried dual-booting. I spent so much time in ubuntu I got rid of windows. I still use windows on a new pc for about 6 months before jumping to linux. I tend to change wallpapers, window managers, and operating systems frequently.
February 26th, 2011 at 10:09
Suppose my reason for trying Ubuntu is necessity? My Windows installation (illegitimate) is so screwed (don’t ask) that the only alternative to trying Ubuntu would be to reinstall same illegitimate XP, losing my data anyway. How much license would that give me for ‘diving’?
I think I’m patient enough with new systems, though, and would be willing to try the open source software you mentioned (besides the ones I’m using already). I kinda hate Windows. It’s been long enough on one OS.
March 21st, 2011 at 02:38
Very good advice. I have been using Linux for years, and am a very strong advocate for open source software, but I’m very careful to tell people to be careful and try things out first, and take things slowly. It doesn’t help the open source movement to have a bunch of angry people going around saying “Linux sucks — it can’t even do wireless networking” or “I tried installing Linux and it deleted all of my files!”
March 24th, 2011 at 10:23
The UbuntuCat is wise! :)
I recently loaded ubuntu 10.10. I must admit I have had some difficulty understanding some of the concepts that are VERY different from my windows vista or win7 machines. I have been using windows going all the way back to windows 3.1 so my windows programmed brain does hit the occasional hiccup. I have forced myself to use my ubuntu for about a week now, and things are beginning to make sense now.
I still find myself wanting to reboot and load my windows partition from time to time, but now that I have discovered that picky little application called Wine, I have a reason to keep trying to accomplish my tasks in Ubuntu rather than loading up windows again.
By the way does Ubuntu offer a 12 step program for Windows-a-holics? lol
Hi my name is Nate… and I’m a windows-a-holic! HELP!!!!
hehe
Great Blog btw lots of great info :)
April 6th, 2011 at 14:28
Hey gang:
If there was a word to describe a new Linux user that
actually transends being a noob then that title would
apply to me. I’ve recently become a convert to the
entire philosophy of Open Source.
Now a lot of people equate free/open source as being
no cost. I do not. I would gladly pay for Ubuntu and
as a matter of fact did through donation.
I am grateful for UbuntuCat and its wisdom. I am still
conditioned to think like a Windows Zombie, so even the
easiest task in Linux takes some time to master. Your
efforts have eased my transition and for that I am
grateful and still marginally sane. ;)
June 18th, 2011 at 17:59
another way to try out is installing ubuntu in vmware to examine as much as needed and then if it fits your needs, you can replace it totally.
July 27th, 2011 at 13:03
Thank you so much for all of the work/information provided on this site. It’s been very helpful and I’ve told friends about it. I dove right in, went for the live CD install (and with incredible zeal and glee) hit the install 11.04 ONLY button after years of micromuck torture. It’s been the usual learning curve with CLI language(was already familiar with the cmd: line) however, love this system and greatly appreciate all of the work people have put into it.
October 19th, 2011 at 02:36
You really cannot say that the experience is radically different.
Radically different is android-symbian, car-motorcycle, etc.
I would even dare say ubuntu is the closest u can get to windows…
I agree that it’s a big change, but it’s definitely not radical.
October 21st, 2011 at 15:48
ABSOLUTELY good advice. Particularly, the Wubi install when you get to that point, can help, as Window is only a reboot away on the same machine if absolutely needed, or to learn to use Linux/Ubuntu in your spare time while keeping your Windows untouched for normal, everyday use until you are ready to switch for good.
What’s more, using this approach, if drivers are not supported, etc, or something messes up, you can reboot into windows and simply remove Ubuntu from there and try again.
Thumbs up to the article, and to Wubi!
October 24th, 2011 at 17:32
Great advice. Eventually you will need new hardware, please do yourself a favor and ONLY PURCHASE from a LINUX hardware VENDOR. You can search them out, but my suggestion is ZaReason. (I do not work for them, nor make money from them, just buy their excellent Linux/Windows compatible hardware)
I have personally met the family that runs the company at SCaLE (best Linux trade show in the world and the least expensive) in Los Angeles. I have purchased multiple PCs, netbooks from them and have been surprised that even with shipping their solution is often cheaper than others. And everything just works out of the box!
If you buy hardware from ZaReason, it will run Windows if you want too. However if you buy hardware from a big box store the opposite may not be true. Especially with cell phone vendors (ie. Handheld smart devices) best to just avoid them and find hardware that is NOT vendor-locked in. They purposefully use proprietary chip-sets in their dumb phones so that you can NOT configure/install software on them. Any phone/handheld/tablet that will not let you have full root access is DUMB! Without full root access you will be limited and prevented from installing something that you want to use on the device.
So get the best of all worlds, open hardware that will run both open and proprietary software. Just say NO to all other solutions ~ its smart!
Hint: There are both Linux tablets and Linux handhelds available that are open, fully root-able (smart devices) that will enable you to configure the device to suit your needs. Hey you bought it, you should be able to configure and install software on it, right? Right!
Another thought, Proprietary vendors will NOT buy their vendor-locked-in hardware back from you when they decide to stop supporting it will they. Why fill up the dump, open hardware can be donated to organizations for use in other areas…again its smart. After all there are Linux distros that will run in less than 512MB of RAM, even as low as 256MB of RAM and lower. (More RAM memory for software applications to run faster.) Thankfully even Windows 7 will run in 2GB of RAM, unlike Vista.
Remember: No Root ~ not Smart ~ NO PURCHASE.
November 2nd, 2011 at 17:49
Thanks for the tutorials.
I switched to Ubuntu 2 years ago and dove right in.
There was some pain along the way but it was well worth it to break the Windows velvet chains.
I now use Ubuntu 10.10. I find the Unity interface really irritating. I just want to get to get to my tasks at hand. I’ll keep trying it when I have the time.
Speaking of “tasks at hand” I love the workspace set up in Maverick. I often have all 4 in use and can switch back and forth with one click.
I have developed a website to encourage people who want to switch to Ubuntu. My target is people who are in about the same place I was 2 years ago.
That want to try Linux but are put off by the process and need a little push. I listed your site as a resource. Hope that’s OK. I’m not quite clear on the copyright/trademark policy yet.
Thanks again for the resource.
Love the cat picture.
November 3rd, 2011 at 23:02
Wow! Now why can’t I get all this info from Ubuntu? I am so pleased I ‘stumbled’ across your tutorials. I was just about to blindly partition my net book hd which, I am sure, would have caused all sorts of havoc! I feel much more informed, now, and will be able to make good choices because of your website. Thankxs, psychocat :)
November 3rd, 2011 at 23:08
ooops…Thankxs Unbuntucat…not pyschocat…lol :)
November 8th, 2011 at 15:46
I switched to Ubuntu at the beginning of the year, since I decided to try to learn as much as I could about computers. I took an old computer sitting in my attic, and installed Ubuntu 10.10 (the latest version at the time). After that, I uninstalled Windows ME and installed Ubuntu. Everything worked right away. I completely stopped using Windows and installed Ubuntu on all my computers. Now that computer’s hard drive has failed, but just diving in worked fine for me when I decided to try Ubuntu, and I uninstalled Windows and installed Ubuntu on all my computers (though I’ve now switched to Kubuntu).
November 15th, 2011 at 11:36
Kubuntu is my choice !!~~ It is eXcelldent!~ when you find Kubuntu,you will forget windows os forever!!~
December 21st, 2011 at 02:35
Thank you for all your work and good reading!
I’m a noob and inexperienced and lazy. Also I do not have any burn cd’s or usb close by. I’ve used daemon tool to mount the ubuntu iso and it’s just like a cd. Also I have both windows and ubuntu. Just used a whole day to get the new Ubuntu working. Had a black screen issue. And though it may be that I should have given up I lay here with my comouter feeling proud for dealing with the annoyance myself. Thanks for good tips!
February 1st, 2012 at 14:57
I might have said this before (I don’t temember), but I did everything you said not to do. I burned the ISO (back when Ubuntu was still on 10.10) and replaced Windows on the first day. Then I aggressively started learning BASH scripting.
I would recommend your approach, though. It seems much more beginner-oriented than mine.
February 20th, 2012 at 16:17
I want to test out using Linux & Ubuntu as this has been recommended to me as a good alternative to a windows server for running my forex trading software.
I have a barebone server and need to know how to load firstly wine or a suitable windows emulator and my MT4 trading software.
The challenge seems to be loading from the command prompt.
Anyone able/willing to help me?
February 27th, 2012 at 01:47
@durango – this is probably not the best place for this discussion, but long story short:
To load ‘wine’ type:
sudo apt-get install wine1.2
…which gets you a recent version, but not the beta version which was ‘wine1.3′ last time I looked.
To run (eg) a Windows angrybirds.exe program in a folder called ‘angrybirds’ in your home directory:
cd ~/angrybirds
wine angrybirds.exe
Let’s hope your MT4 trading software works as well with Wine 1.2 as AngryBirds does.
March 2nd, 2012 at 19:45
Great advice for beginners. The change between GUI’s gets a lot of people.
March 26th, 2012 at 14:08
Very Systematic & Effective Advice. Just Great.Thanks a lot.
April 8th, 2012 at 19:03
Due to circumstances, I followed part of your advice. I started using OpenOffice 6-7years ago, mostly because MS had enough bugs that I figured it was easy and cheap to try open source.
When I tried to make 1 working machine (move hard from broken machine to other PC with no HD), MS had multiple rationales why I had to pay them for a new OS (would not honor license on either machine), but couldn’t promise to make anything work quickly.
Ubuntu (LST 10.4) doesn’t seem to be a radical change from the user’s perspective. Some procedures are different,but instruction is pretty clear. (Admittedly I started using PCs at work shortly before DOS took over.)
Basic installation was easy; getting music and DVD has taken more time than makes sense for most people
May 28th, 2012 at 12:52
Haha, I did completely the opposite of this. I took a complete leap of faith and simply formatted my entire hard drive and installed Ubuntu 12.04 over it. I decided that if I was really going to switch I would have to isolate myself from Windows and force myself to find work arounds. 3 weeks into it,so far so good. I use your website a lot, thank you for writing it.
August 11th, 2012 at 15:24
I did the same thing as Valera. Only problem was, wireless drivers for my computer(Dell Inspiron 1012)didn’t work in 10.04. I proceeded to swear loudly and frequently. It eventually kind of worked in 10.10, and fully worked in 11.04, so I was okay. I now have an HP Pavilion dv6 dualbooting Mint and Windows, but that original experience did teach me a huge amount. I would not be the same person without that, it taught me so much about the Terminal, it taught me to both love and hate Linux. Now that it’s (almost-the display driver is a bit wonky, and the fingerprint reader doesn’t work) fully working on my HP, I can’t believe how much better it is.
August 16th, 2012 at 19:58
It took me about 3 years to migrate to linux. I started with a Suse dual-boot, but eventually drifted back towards Windows again.
A new box and I installed a dual-boot with ubuntu, but still sticked with windows for some applications though I used ubuntu more frequently for daily stuff like surfing and mailing.
Finally, on my notebook I still have a dual-boot setup but ubuntu is running 95 percent of the time. Windows resides there for occasional gaming only.
So, a switch to ubuntu – or any other linux – might become a process because the way we use computers is tied to habits how to get things done. ubuntu and its set of applications are not more difficult than – let’s say – Microsoft Word or Outlook which can be quite awkward and unintuitive.
The most important advice is I think to start using open source applications under Windows. When you have learned to use them in a familiar context, the final switch to ubuntu becomes just a small step.
September 2nd, 2012 at 19:11
I have used Ubuntu, the wubi version for Windows, running on a Windows XP laptop for quite some time now. At first, I had given the CD version a try, and worked quite well, running form a CD. So, decided to install the Ubuntu Windows version of Ubuntu wubi.
From that point on, I have had very little, IF ANY problems with Ubuntu wubi, and HAVE enjoyed what it can do. Ubuntu wubi may not have a Windows XP look or feel to it, BUT, it DOES work really well, for the type of OS it is. And it does most everything that I usually do in Windows XP.
I have suggested to my brother on a number occasions, and have sent him a copy of the regular Ubuntu Linux, and wubi installation on a DVD disk. And also have told him, that it WON’T screw up your Windows XP installation. Also, have told him, that the Ubuntu wubi is a far, FAR lot better then Microsoft’s Windows 8.
Still to no avail, my brother refuses to install, or, at least try to run Ubuntu wubi from the DVD that I had sent him.
I know that he likes his Windows XP, and so do I, BUT, he would be running Ubuntu wubi from his Windows XP installation.
Maybe, just MAYBE, he will someday, for now, I am more then happy to be running Ubuntu wubi from my Windows XP installation. and IFm I have to do ANY form of maintenance work on it, of defragging for example,I first do it, from Windows XP, and once done, I re-boot into Ubuntu.
Hey guys, thank you for a great Ubuntu, wubi installation of Linux. Keep up the great job, and keep them Ubuntu products rolling out. Because, Microsoft Windows 8, is NOT, the Windows OS, that it used to be, not any MORE. That is WHY, I am keeping my Windows XP, and my Windows 7 Home Basic Edition on my Windows 7 laptop.
Sincerely
Neill Johnston
October 25th, 2012 at 23:29
Wish I had found your site earlier its great practical advice.
Though I would share my approach as it be of some help in the journey. I use windows normally as it just works, however with Ubuntu I consider myself a newbie and am diving in again to use Ubuntu on a NAS I am setting up.
I always hope for the best and plan for the worst, and from many years of pain learning systems I do my usual and play until I break something and then just reinstall the system – takes the worry out.
However this time it is easier as I have dedicated an older too small spare drive (70 Gb)in my PC and am using the whole drive for Ubuntu. When I am happy this will be replaced by a SSD.
Additionally
- I put Ubuntu /home area in its own partition – this in itself required a few install cycles to learn how to optimize the drive partition and understand what Ubuntu is doing on an install. This is invaluable learning without too much risk either to to the Ubuntu files I am creating to record what I have leaned to date or to any existing windows data on other drives. Then when I reinstall you don’t loose all the Ubuntu files.
- I keep a record in the Ubuntu /home partition of what has worked so you can repeat it on the next install cycle
- I have also found that it is also easier to change the drive boot order when restarting the PC than risking dual booting (which uses grub rather that the windows boot loader) or the pain of removing Ubuntu and interfering with windows booting etc
- I also try not to forget to backup the Firefox bookmarks to /home as well before reinstalling so I don’t loose the web findings etc
I suspect I am my 6th 0r 7th reinstall so far in the last week, but am enjoying the ride and am happy with the results. Th NAS is fast.
March 23rd, 2013 at 00:05
Just in case a search engine finds this… there’s one primary reason I switched to Ubuntu – PERFORMANCE.
I am a heavy user of the MySQL Workbench, NetBeans, and when forced to have worked with Ruby [on Rails]. I frequently have at least three different browsers running, with a dozen or so tabs in each, so I can test pages in different environments. I’ve been using Windoze since version 1.0 (the one that only offered tiled windows, still have a copy on 5 1/4 disk…) and got more and more fed up with the constantly degrading performance unless you continually upgraded RAM / CPU / disk / revenue stream. I’m using a Dell Optiplex as I write this, and trying to run WorkBench or NetBeans on this system (Pentium 4 @ 3GhZ, 4 GB RAM) was awful, and if I had a bunch of other stuff loading, forget it.
With Ubuntu (or more recently Lubuntu) this thing Flies!
I was actually surprised at how easy the *buntu desktop is, but my background includes rather more years than I’d like to think about using NCR Unix, HP/UX, AIX, Solaris, and a bunch of Linux distros (RedHat, CentOS, few others) so my learning curve was pretty much “I know how to do that from a # prompt, now how the heck do I do the same thing in the GUI…”
One tip – I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop as a second PC. I put a small (160Gig) solid state drive in that to replace the OEM disk, and it’s a speed freak. Would do the same with this sytem, but from what I can see I’m mostly CPU bound, even with the improved OS. If you have a fast system and a free drive bay, the speed improvement by putting a SSD in as the primary boot partition is really cool.
Another tip I’d definitely suggest – if you have a friend that’s replacing an older system because “it’s just too old and slow…”, after they get their new computer set up with Windoze 8 and have used it for a day or two, ask them if you can install Lubuntu on their old system. Then fire up a couple FireFox sessions, maybe start a video playing along side, open the Gimp and pop up a couple pictures and mess around with them while listening to some tunes, and watch your friend’s face melt…
April 4th, 2013 at 12:40
first and foremost. despite the age of the post , the advice is solid and in light of recent changes at the pc hardware level( uefi and secureboot). that advice is very pertinent indeed.
second, as a consequence of the uefi/secureboot debackle,especially as it applies to wondows 8 and its successor. I beleive that there will be greater migration AWAY from windown( tiles??).
The advice given applies to ANY Linux distribution, not just ubuntu. funny enough I think most serious computer users follow the gradual transition path naturally and will find the steps outlined in the post quite familiar to them.its certainly the path I have followed without having to refer to the article beforehand.
I would also recommend potential users of Ubunto make extensive use of the Linux hcl as this is a usefull resource to turn to when deciding which hardware/software combination is most likely to work. as well as indicating any possible pitfalls to look out for.