Windows Update

[frayadjacent]

Well, I thought I was going to become a Windows person for about 18 hours there, but the installation was so frustrating I gave up.  I could spend the weekend figuring out which drivers I needed to install and in what order.  Because without the drivers there was no way I could see to find out what kind of adapters my computer has and therefore what kind of drivers I need.  See how much sense it makes? 

Or I could just install Ubuntu, which I'd been debating doing anyway.  I harbor no illusions that this will be generally easier to learn or use than Windows, but I'm a lot more motivated to improve my knowledge and skills with Linux than with Microsoft products.  I already know some of the basics through work, though I've never had to deal with admin stuff before.  (Or been permitted to, for that matter.)

Still, within 5 minutes of inserting the Ubuntu install disk, I had functioning internet, and 2 hours later I've already installed VLC, Cinelerra (sorry, thirdblindmouse! I fear Blender), and some work-related apps. 

:D

Comments

[frayadjacent]

Oh interesting! I don't know much about KDE vs Gnome -- I've only ever used the latter. I just read a short little summary and it sounds like KDE is somewhat more complex, which could increase functionality and make it more complicated to use? What do you prefer about it?

My only complaint about the environment so far is I haven't found anything like the OS X Finder, which I love, especially in column-view.

[umadoshi]

It's hard for me to pin down the differences I prefer, because I'm SO not tech-minded and it's just this sort of gut-level preference. But I can say I don't find KDE complicated to use, other than a couple of things that got tweaked in the last update I actually installed (my system is in desperate need of an update, but I'm a huge slacker about that). Unfortunately, that was long enough ago that I don't remember what tweaking I did to get it more in line with what I like. ^^;

I just...like the feel of KDE better. And I did give Gnome a real shake--a couple of years ago I worked in Toronto for a few months, and at that point I was running a Gnome version of Mint on my laptop, so it was my main system. I was so glad to get back to my KDE system when I came home, and my current laptop and desktop are both running Kubuntu.