Comments on: Ubuntu Confirms Linux Netbook Returns Higher than Anticipated

By: Patrick S

Patrick S — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:32:50 +0000

Linux will always be playing catch up on software and hardware. They have to reverse engineer nearly everything because 3rd party vendors don’t write code for them. But it’s also the fault of the Linux people, they want to keep so many flavors of it around. Another example. I installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my netbook…. no problem… but then I upgraded to Ubunty 9.04 and the sound stops working. What’s the fix? Typing in about 30 LOOONG commands into the terminal. Which then disabled the wifi from working, which is dependent on a 3rd party driver.

I’ve been following Linux for over ten years. They always have claimed they are on the verge. But never get there. And never will.

By: Carlo S

Carlo S — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:48:20 +0000

The big problem is fined with Linux is that it makes it very difficult to do some of the basic things… Like installing new programs…There is no reason that when I’m login as ADMINISTRATOR with ADMINISTRATOR privileges I should be able to do anything I want…Include screw things up..But right now I cann’t install something as simple as Opera without having to put some stupid command line script in to get passed the security… Windows for All its issues at least allows the user to do things with it…Open source or controlled by a Big Corp… I’ll take the Big Corp.. The OS is supposed to help the user and put up road blocks….Until the Linux world realizes this ,but Most linux people are Zealots so you wil fall… When the GOOGLE OS comes out there will be ONLY 3 LEFT…. WINDOWS MAC OS and GOOGLE……

By: Keith G

Keith G — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:22:42 +0000

If only they would customize the Ubuntu color scheme to be blue or green, they would see the returns go down dramatically. I don’t know who decided that brown was an appealing color for a workspace on a computer, but they’re wrong, period. I always change it, because the brown is depressing and old looking.

You may think I’m joking, but look at that Microsoft Zune that came in brown… did it sell? No! Make it a nice appealing blue or green color, and people will keep it!

By: GreyGeek

GreyGeek — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:14:50 +0000

MSI is aware that when Linux is run on their mobos using the Foxconn BIOS, the BIOS contains SEVEN different locations where Linux, if detected, is sent to bogus vector addresses, thus causing instability and crashes.

http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869249

and after a lot of community pressure and PUBLIC embarrassment they honed up to it:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2292

Tell me again why some of you think the reasons you’ve dreamed up out of thin are are better explanations for Linux netbooks returns rather than the proven fact of sabotage.

By: tully

tully — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:19:44 +0000

If netbooks would install Slackware Linux with a KDE front end using the Redmond theme, pay the $35 to the Crossover folks for their simple Wine, put Open Office and Firefox on it, and market that, I bet they’d sell fine. It would run circles around Ubuntu and XP.

By: bond

bond — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:47:12 +0000

I understand that people are used to Windows, just like an old shoe. They have invested their time and money to learn Windows. Therefore, I feel it doesn’t hurt Ubuntu to make the look and feel very much like Windows. May be just to help the poor user who is otherwise faced with a steep learning curve required for understanding Linux.

There would always be people who would hack Linux to do their fancy stuff, but for the newbies, the best approach is to keep it simple, so that they can at least take small steps instead of being intimidated by the arduous task of learning a new OS from scratch. Hence, I feel Ubuntu should go to a certain degree with the flow rather than differentiating themselves completely from Windows. I would definitely like to think of Ubuntu as a more stable version of Windows . Which does not crash as often and doesn’t require crappy patches, expensive antivirus software and system crashes every alternate week.

By: Stew

Stew — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:13:34 +0000

I am a long time Linux user. The new netbooks have not dropped below my utility device threshold purchace point yet. Is there a way I can have access to these returned netbooks as refurbished or openbox items?

I’ve looked, I can’t find them. Maybe the article is a piece of FUD??

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:29:10 +0000

People generally don’t appreciate things that come for free (that’s a marketing/sales fact).
Even not when it’s better than the thing you have to pay for.

I’ve been running Ubuntu as an Windows System Engineer (meaning I perform maintenance task on 99.9 % Windows Clients, Servers & Networks) for over a year and a half. The advantages over Windows XP on my own laptop discovered, I would never want to switch back. Although I still wouldn’t recommend it to people that are used to working with windows or with specific windows software)
Got my mother into using Ubuntu for surfing the web and writing documents, though

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:31:37 +0000

Hi,

You can download a live-cd from ubuntu and install linux (ubuntu is a distribution of linux, meaning there are several others (but still linux) out there) from the cd.
If you don’t have a external cd-drive, boot up the live-cd from another computer (you can do this without changing anything on that computer, when you shut it down and remove the cd, no traces will be left behind, unless you deliberately leave them behind) and there you will find in the system menu “Usb Startup Disk Creator”. Run that, select the cd as source and than you can install your netbook off the usb-stick (or run a live version as well, which will be less performant, however).
When booting the pc, press F12 to select the USB stick as boot up device…
good luck !!

By: Douglas

Douglas — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:25:00 +0000

I just purchased a Samsung Netbook. I am pretty frustrated by how bloated the computer is with all of the programs from Windows and Samsung. I would like to use Ubuntu – but I am not clear about a couple of things. Do I need to install Linux on the netbook before I install Ubuntu? Or is Ubuntu the OS and it just happens to be a particular flavor of the Linux OS? Also, since I don’t have a CD/DVD ROM drive for my netbook, is there a way to install Ubuntu from the internet? And if I do, will it reformat the hard-drive to wipe away all of the Window/Samsung data? Or do I need to reformat the hard drive first, then install Ubuntu? (Which would require an external CD/DVD drive. Would appreciate some guidance. Thanks.