What Distro for a Laptop? Update

[sandyman]

As some of you may be aware I posted a topic on the Help Forum with the title "What Distro for a Laptop?"

I said that I would post an update after a week trialing Kubuntu.

Well I didn't last a week.

As I've been off work I've been able to try it for more than a couple of hours a day and I'm now less impressed than was initially

I'm now going to put on my asbestos suit.

Afraid I went back to XP.

The following are only my thoughts and apply only to my experience of things. This is not a critique of either Kubuntu or Linux per se.

My initial feelings were quite good. A distro that configured my WiFi card and looked reasonably OK. It even installed faster than XP + patches+ Software. many of the apps are very good. I have been using Gaim and Abiword under Windows for ages now so there was no problem using them.

The problems occured when trying to get things to work the way I am used to.

I got my bluetooth dongle to install OK, I even managed to get visibility of my mobile. However even after much Googling I could not get it to synchronise with either Kontact or Evolution. Sorry but on a Mac you pair the device and then press a button in iSync. Even Windows is relatively easy.

I have my collection od MP3's on an external hardrive attached to my iMac. Under Windows I use iTunes to stream the music to my laptop. Unfortunately that's not an option with Linux, there's no iTunes client. Even when I tried copying some files to my Mac's hardrive I had no joy. Juk said that it would only play local files and Amarok would not add network shares to it's collection. By the way when on the interface side they should be called Dyson and Hoover. I know its not open source but the iTunes interface is a model for how things should be done.

Now it may be possible to sort out some of these issues but I just want to use my laptop, not spend hours or days trying to get trivial things to work. I realise that some of this is down to other companies not being open about specs etc but that doesn't help me.

I had hoped that maybe things had moved on in the WYSIWIG web editor stakes. I keep seeing things said about NVU. Yes thingsare better than the last time I looked at them but I still want Dreamweaver. Yep, people are going to say "it's better to code by hand", fair enough but I prefer Dreamweaver, simple as that.

So it looks like I'm back to my old setup.
Desktop = OS X
Laptop = XP
Firewall/Gateway = Linux
Mucking about with box = possibly FreeBSD when I can get a new hardrive.

I know folk will disagree, but for me Linux works as a server OS not a desktop/laptop one.

I suppose I'd better duck now and get out of the way of "incoming"

Sandy

[Birdman]

I think you have made some very interesting observations. I still feel that the individuals that make up the linux community are different to the wider community. Your average person wants to purchase a product that will accomplish various tasks and just use it. Linux folk are prepared to make an effort and spend some time creating the product themselves. This is fine if you are that way inclined and enjoy that sort of a challenge.

It strikes me that you do fit the "linux profile" BUT even with the effort having been applied the product cannot deliver in line with the users expectations. And there lies the problem with the linux desktop - until it can do ALL those things that the MAC and Windows can do, whatever the excuses, only the really dedicated are going to persevere.

I enjoy a challenge

[LXFRulz]

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/6067

I don't know if that will help you at all, but with Kubuntu/Ubuntu you can use the Synaptic package manager, add the universal packages, which should help.

Or:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=37956

Check this out on the Ubuntu forum, I guess some people have had luck with Amarok and Kubuntu, it seems you just have to add /mnt/ipod it will transfer the songs.

Hope that helps!
________
Ford Landau (Australia) history

[sandyman]

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/6067

I don't know if that will help you at all, but with Kubuntu/Ubuntu you can use the Synaptic package manager, add the universal packages, which should help.

Or:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=37956

Check this out on the Ubuntu forum, I guess some people have had luck with Amarok and Kubuntu, it seems you just have to add /mnt/ipod it will transfer the songs.

Hope that helps!

Fraid not. The O'reilly link is for streaming from a *nix box to a Mac. I'm trying to do the opposite.

As I said I tried Amarok but that didn't work.

Even if I decided to try again it would be to no avail. I discovered that the WiFi "blackspots were down the the Netgear card. It is a bit old and I got it from a mate. I put in my other card and all the problems disappeared. It's a Dlink card and not supported. I did try using Ndis wrappers once on SuSE and got nowhere. Might have been me might have been the card. The bottom line is, I just want to use my laptop. I've spent quite a bit of time on this "project" and have decided to call it a day.

Now to see if I can get Wordpress running on the Gateway and openXchange working on the other box (got a loan of a replacement hard drive)

[davecs]

Streaming audio - try integrating Realplayer 10 into Firefox, that should stream audio.

PCLinuxOS comes with this already done.

[nordle]

I play my MP3's over the network through amarok, via a smb share on the server mounted locally, works well.

WinXP will of course be a better platform depending on what your doing, but personally I couldn't use anything other than linux when it comes to a lot of media jobs.
I use Amarok and kaffeine. Kaffeine in particular works well at streaming media across a network, I use it to sream dvb signals. I tried using the official hauppage software on WinXP, but OMG its horrible, possibly the worst software I've EVER used. Kaffeine on the other hand is far better.

[A-Wing]

Being a business laptop and the business I am in being Linux hosting/ISP it is much easier / faster to do my work on Linux. I have tried several distros but always keep going back to Fedora. It works with MP3s / radio (beep), WMAs / DVDs (MPlayer), every multimedia type I need and it is perfect for ssh tunnels, php scripting, etc...
I find it hard to use a Windows machine nowadays and try to avoid them as much as possible. I use this laptop for up to 10 hours a day, I have never had any problems.

[sandyman]

Thanks for all the comments but as you can see above I've given up on Linux on the laptop. All the solutions have from my point of view their minuses. Either it's not what I need or there's a lot of fscking around. I haven't got the time or inclination to bother with that. I just want to use my laptop.

To be brutally honest I have to say that the various media players I tried should be (as I hinted earlier) be renamed Dyson Hoover etc as regards the GU/design. (Think about it ). None of them come near the standard set by iTunes. I know that you can run iTunes under Crossover Office however

1. I spent the money more usefully on a copy of Dreamweaver from Ebay
2. Running a Windows port of an Apple program on Linux???

BTW regarding the new projects
1. Wordpress is up and running on the Gateway. Very nice, I'm well impressed.
2. openXchange on the other box is having to wait as I'm playing about with Asterisk on the other box at the request of my Senior Engineer:)

[A-Wing]

T
2. Running a Windows port of an Apple program on Linux???

Just think, next year you will be able to run Windows on your Mac natively, now that's just messed up.

[sandyman]

Not mine, it's a G4

You'll be able to run *nix on one of the new Mactels as well