With the linux experiment coming to an end, and my Vista PC requiring a reinstall, I decided to take the leap and go all linux all the time. To that end, I’ve installed Kubuntu on my desktop PC.
I would like to be able to report that the Kubuntu install experience was better than the Debian one, or even on par with a Windows install. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case.
My machine contains three 500GB hard drives. One is used as the system drive, while an integrated hardware RAID controller binds the other two together as a RAID1 array. Under Windows, this setup worked perfectly. Under Kubuntu, it crashed the graphical installer, and threw the text-based installer into fits of rage.
With plenty of help from the #kubuntu IRC channel on freenode, I managed to complete the Kubuntu install by running it with the two RAID drives disconnected from the motherboard. After finishing the install, I shut down, reconnected the RAID drives, and booted back up. At this point, the RAID drives were visible from Dolphin, but appeared as two discrete drives.
It was explained to me via this article that the hardware RAID support that I had always enjoyed under windows was in fact a ‘fake RAID,’ and is not supported on Linux. Instead, I need to reformat the two drives, and then link them together with a software RAID. More on that process in a later post, once I figure out how to actually do it.
At this point, I have my desktop back up and running, reasonably customized, and looking good. After trying KDE’s default Amarok media player and failing to figure out how to properly import an m3u playlist, I opted to use Gnome’s Banshee player for the time being instead. It is a predictable yet stable iTunes clone that has proved more than capable of handling my library for the time being. I will probably look into Amarok and a few other media players in the future. On that note, if you’re having trouble playing your MP3 files on Linux, check out this post on the ubuntu forums for information about a few of the necessary GStreamer plugins.
For now, my main tasks include setting up my RAID array, getting my ergonomic bluetooth wireless mouse working, and working out folder and printer sharing on our local Windows network. In addition, I would like to set up a Windows XP image inside of Sun’s Virtual Box so that I can continue to use Microsoft Visual Studio, the only Windows application that I’ve yet to find a Linux replacement for.
This is just the beginning of the next chapter of my own personal Linux experiment; stay tuned for more excitement.
This post first appeared at Index out of Bounds.
I look forward to the one week update
I kind of wish you had tried Ubuntu before Kubuntu. I mean Tyler and I seem to have had mostly success with KDE, but everyone else on this site – yourself included – has been met with varying degrees of failure. Then you could see how much better Ubuntu really is than Debian.
Ubuntu better than Debian? Ubuntu is Debian. Well… Debian plus some bells and whistles. I guess I’m probably biased though since I’ve used Debian for the past three and a half years without incident on 2 desktops and 3 laptops… Also the fact that I was able to convert my girlfriend from Vista to Debian and she’s still extremely happy with it a year later makes me think Debian must not be too hard. ( She’s in political science by the way, so don’t think she has any exceptional amount of computer ability)
But I I’d rather hear you straying to ubuntu than something like Suse or Redhat. And its definitely better than going back to Windows.
So, cheers! glad you made the jump.
I decided on Kubuntu for two reasons: I wanted something based on Debian, because that’s where my only experience lies, and I’ve had numerous problems getting Compiz to run without problems on Gnome. So far, everything is going really well, except that something that I keep doing during setup is ruining my config files and causing desktop-plasma to crash on bootup. Otherwise, it’s going well, and I’ll figure it out yet.
For that Linux application to replace Visual Studio, give REALbasic a try. Personal, Professional and Studio editions, cross-platform development and runs natively under Linux. What more could you want?
http://www.realsoftware.com/realbasic/
Not free, but there is a free trial version. I tried a much earlier version and it is very much like Visual Basic 6. I can only imagine where they have gone since then.
From my understanding REALBasic is a dialect that is based on old-school BASIC mixed with some Visual Basic 6.0 (and prior) but not directly compatible with either.
For .NET development I really enjoy MonoDevelop which supports most everything for C# and is getting better with VB.NET too. The only thing it currently lacks is the visual designer for Windows.Forms but this too will be fixed soon with http://www.mono-project.com/WinForms_Designer
REALbasic is a modern, object-oriented language that shares a few keywords and the philosophy of BASIC but nothing else. It has not interpreter. It compiles to machine code for PowerPC and x86, creates native binaries and uses native controls.