0.0.1.1 is now available and the previous torrents are down.
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| usacomputertec Dec 05, 2007 4:34 PM EDT |
I'm pleased to report both FTP servers are working. You may find that from time to time one of them will go down. This is due to a PCLinuxOS FTP error that someone else pointed out to me before I got started. I'm not sure how to fix it. It's caused by overloading the server with download requests. You said in the other forum that if I'm spending 2 - 5 hours on install I'm doing something wrong? Ok let me go threw the procedure that I do when I go to someone's house and fix their computer. 1. Identify their needs and problems. 2. See what needs they have that Linux can meet. 3. Present Linux to them. (back up user data as well) 4. Run, Test, and install PCLinuxOS 2007 (10 - 20 minutes) 5. Reload the synaptic package manager (30 seconds) 6. Install all updates + Wine + codecs + players + programs specific to the customer + windows like programs that are already installed in Ultumix. (this takes 1 - 5 hours depending on the connection speed) 7. Wait for the packages to install (30 minutes to over an hour) 8. Reboot 9. Make the UI more Windows User Friendly and put their most used apps on the desktop. (5 minutes to 20 depending on the speed of the machine) 10. Resolve any dirver issues. (can take between 10 minutes to hours) (install done) 11. Install windows programs in Wine and configure the computer to open all .exe files with wine. 12. Have the customer take it for a test drive. 13. Resolve more problems. 14. I'm done and I collect the money. Now lets look back at what parts of this we don't need to do with Ultumix. 6. Install all updates + Wine + codecs + players + programs specific to the customer + windows like programs that are already installed in Ultumix. (this takes 1 - 5 hours depending on the connection speed) 7. Wait for the packages to install (30 minutes to over an hour) 8. Reboot 9. Make the UI more Windows User Friendly and put their most used apps on the desktop. (5 minutes to 20 depending on the speed of the machine) 10. Resolving driver issues is easier because most of the drivers are installed. 11. Wine is already configured to open .exe files. So in total here we can say that I save between 1.67 hours and 6.3 hours of time on these steps by installing Ultumix instead of PCLinuxOS. These are facts. I didn't make any of this up. Certainly installing PCLinuxOS on a CD ROM only computer is best but if you have a DVD ROM you can save yourself a lot of time. I'm not putting PCLinuxOS down here I'm just saying I found a way to save time and please the customer. :) |
| hkwint Dec 06, 2007 6:55 AM EDT |
Sounds fair enough to me! What are the reactions of your customers? Do they keep using Linux, or do they want to switch back? Do they have problems, and if so, what are there main problems? (I'm asking these questions because I wanted to make some 'free Linux-newbie vids' aimed at Windows users, explaining the differences using animations and spoken text in non-technical language my mother should - theoretically - understand, and it seems very much to me you are in contact with my meant audience) |
| rijelkentaurus Dec 06, 2007 8:27 AM EDT |
Quoting: I'm asking these questions because I wanted to make some 'free Linux-newbie vids' aimed at Windows users That's a wonderful idea, and kudos to you for taking the time. |
| usacomputertec Dec 06, 2007 3:38 PM EDT |
Great idea hkwint. I'm trying to do the same myself but as you can see my video quality is poor. I just saw this editor http://openmovieeditor.sourceforge.net/HomePage that might be the answer to including audio and screen recording / casting together to make a (video professor's) guide to Linux. I am going to add it to Ultumix in the future if it works. Historically here is my experience in this area hkwint. First I was installing Fedora, SUSE, and Ubuntu on customer's computers. (ya I know big mistake) They not only were confused about installing packages and finding programs but the new interface threw them for a loop all together. They also complained about not being able to run some Windows programs on Linux. For some I also installed VMware-Server and put on XP. In order to get XP to print to the printer you need to set up a SAMBA server on the Linux side and allow the XP system to be bridged outside to the router as well as the Linux system. This makes it like there are two computers plugged into a hub that goes into your router allowing Linux to become a print server. Then more friendly distros came to my attention like Lindows / Linspire and other KDE based distros. My customers liked this much better. But they were still not completely sold on it. About a year or two ago I started installing PCLinuxOS on people's computers with a huge success rate of %75 of the users switching. Now you asked about going back to windows from Linux. Well about 2 - 5% of the 75% that switched to PCLinuxOS switched back. The rest stayed with it. Keep in mind that some had Windows installed and PCLinuxOS as a dual boot. But for those with non PCLinuxOS friendly PCs I had to run Ubuntu or something more hardware friendly. But Windows users still complained that there was too big of a learning curve to PCLinuxOS. With Ultumix the only complaints I get are from the Linux community on how it does not meet this licence or that licence but now thats fixed and out of the way. Last night for example my father tried to install Print Master 11 on his XP laptop. In the past you could always install it on XP. Now the new updated XP won't let you however you can install Print Master 11 in wine. The problem with this is that some programs require internet exploder. There are two things you need to do to get that message to stop showing up. 1. open Wine Doors and install Internet Exploder 6. 2. (do both) Go to ie4linux and use the instructions for PCLinuxOS on that site to install it. DON'T INSTALL AS ROOT! Now try to install your program again. It will install. DO NOT INSTALL THE WINDOWS FILES FROM WINE-DOORS! Some or one of these packages (with the windows logo) cause wine to stop being able to navigate files correctly. Also you should install Firefox for windows from wine and set it as the default browser. This will help protect wine from viruses. You should not use Wine for web browsing unless you can't view something in Firefox for Linux. Another problem Windows users have is sites like ABC news and NASCAR don't let you view media with Linux. They only allow Windows or Mac. You can sometimes get around this by using Firefox on Wine. However you need to use the Wine Configurator under the Emulators section of the More applications menu to activate sound in WINE. To install some Windows programs you will need to change the desktop settings in the configurator to have a windowed desktop. Always set the resolution to 1024x768 or higher because 800x600 wont let you use the configurator to change it back. Windows users don't like that openoffice is not set to save in .doc .xls and .ppt format by default. So I changed that in Ultumix under the default owner user. in short if windows users just use the Owner account and don't delete it they will be happy. When logging in if you want to test your 3D abilities with Compiz Fusion just choose Drake3d under session. You will need your root password. Then the next time it brings you back to the log in screen select KDE for the session. If it does not work just go back to drake3d and change it again. This way you are not stuck with the Administration center that you have to log in to to access. Most windows users are confused by 4 desktops and could live with just one. Read my last post in the other forum for more info on Windows users switching to Linux. Another thing to keep in mind is that Windows programs run slower and take up more space than linux programs so if you install programs like Print Master 11 with all of the art disks you will loose a lot of space. If you fill your hard drive over 95% it will become fragmented and you can't defrag it. Make sure your home partition has plenty of room as well as your root partition. In Ultumix you can back up your entire comptuer to a Live DVD if you use this command: mklivecd --tmp /home/owner/tmp --workdir /home/ UltumixBackupinsertdatehere.iso You will need to log in as root and clean up the /home/ directory. You will find 3 files that don't belong there. Lost and found and owner belong there. Looks like if open movie editor is everything it's cracked up to be I will be releasing a new version soon! |
| usacomputertec Dec 06, 2007 4:54 PM EDT |
if you decide to post a how to video with my distro please by all means give me a link. Thanks. |
| hkwint Dec 07, 2007 2:22 AM EDT |
Well, I plan on making very general, non-distro specific video's explaining Linux 'concepts' in Windows terms. Thanks for the info, it's useful. I'll try the open-movie maker you mentioned. Probably I'll also try 'synfig' for 2d animations and AutoDesk Inventor for simple 3d animations (because I have a license for it, and because I am used to working with it. Otherwise I wouldn't have used this closed proprietary non-free software).Quoting:Read my last post in the other forum for more info on Windows users switching to Linux. Do you have a link? |
| usacomputertec Dec 07, 2007 2:45 PM EDT |
http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/26408/ |
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