Ubuntu 8.04 Questions

r0k · 11-12-2009, 09:25 AM

I never run a browser as root. That's like using Windows. :P

Somehow OS X, which is *nix, allows me to click "check for updates" even though I do nothing as root and haven't even enabled the root account on most of my Macs.

When I find the time and money, I'm going to be picking up a Macbook Air and I'll be selling off my Ubuntu AAO. I've had plenty enough of the "old world" approach to Unix. I want it to "just work". I wish Apple made a netbook, but the MBA is close enough and I don't have to deal with either Windows or Synaptic and I refuse to run things as root for them to work they way I like them to work. And if I feel the urge to tinker, there's always terminal. Only I never see the OSX terminal except at a time and place of my own choosing.

SGosnell · 11-13-2009, 12:49 AM

Well, yes, running the browser as root is exactly like Windows, and that's why the update is greyed out when you're not root. It's not designed to work that way. The package manager or the update manager is what you're supposed to use. You can also just download the archive from Mozilla, extract it, and copy the executable to the proper directory as root. There are several ways to do an upgrade, depending on your preferences.

Well, it's your money, so buy what you want. For me, Ubuntu 'just works', but if you don't like it, you're certainly free to use whatever OS and hardware you like. Getting any non-customized OS to work on a laptop can require some tweaking, so one way to avoid that is to buy a unit like a Mac. For me, that's waaayyy too much money, but I'm not you.

r0k · 11-13-2009, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SGosnell

Well, yes, running the browser as root is exactly like Windows, and that's why the update is greyed out when you're not root. It's not designed to work that way. The package manager or the update manager is what you're supposed to use. You can also just download the archive from Mozilla, extract it, and copy the executable to the proper directory as root. There are several ways to do an upgrade, depending on your preferences.

Well, it's your money, so buy what you want. For me, Ubuntu 'just works', but if you don't like it, you're certainly free to use whatever OS and hardware you like. Getting any non-customized OS to work on a laptop can require some tweaking, so one way to avoid that is to buy a unit like a Mac. For me, that's waaayyy too much money, but I'm not you.

I understand your point. It's a LOT of money. And Apple continues to ignore the netbook segment. I'd rather walk around with my AAO than a Macbook Air. Some time ago, I kicked around the idea of putting Windows 7 on my AAO. I suppose I really should give that a try before writing that huge check to Cupertino for a MBA. In my mind, Ubuntu is dead as far as a notebook is concerned. I still have Linux boxes around but they are old windows desktops.

Of course, I could just hold my nose and put up with the quirks of Ubuntu and keep ALL my money. Here's one. I was on a web site the other night at about midnight. I was updating a web based CRM with a few new posts. In the middle of the process, dns went haywire and my browser reported the site was down. It was taking a few tenths of milliseconds too long to respond, I suppose. It worked fine from my iPod Touch using the same wifi as the AAO, but the AAO reported the site was taking too long to respond. So I trudged down 2 flights of stairs to my trusty Macbook to pick up the pieces and save my work. I was NOT amused.

I don't want to turn this into a Ubuntu support thread, but I'm curious. Do you have any thoughts on what could cause intermittent DNS flakiness on Ubuntu but not on any of my ithings? Could it be related to the ath5k wifi driver issue that plagued 8.x? You see, I've been through months of pain with this thing since beltsanding XP off of it and installing Ubuntu 8.x. Installing patches for this and patches for that is not my idea of a seamless user experience. The thing that drew me to OS X was years of Linux use. I was impressed with the stability but underwhelmed with the usability. To me, OS X offers both. If I do opt to grab an MBA, I could justify it in my mind if only to avoid dealing with broken things. Once something is solved, I put it behind me and move on so if you can think of something I could try to make my network experience more stable, I don't mind giving Ubuntu another chance.

jigwashere · 11-13-2009, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r0k

Could it be related to the ath5k wifi driver issue. . . .

I've read so many stories about how poor the Atheros performance has been. Have you experimented with using another WiFi card or even going ethernet? That could eliminate or confirm your suspicions about the driver issue.

z22 2006 User · 11-13-2009, 06:51 PM

Woah! Who said anything about installing Linux on Acey? I installed on an older computer.

r0k · 11-15-2009, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jigwashere

I've read so many stories about how poor the Atheros performance has been. Have you experimented with using another WiFi card or even going ethernet? That could eliminate or confirm your suspicions about the driver issue.

The location where I want to use my AAO has no cable ethernet. A netbook that requires a cable for ethernet is friggin' useless. The shame is the windows drivers were fine. While it ran windows, everything worked fine. I didn't go to Linux until I booted a live cd and made sure everything worked. What I didn't know at the time is that I would be faced with having some things have working intermittently ever since I installed Ubuntu.