• Some questions/concerns before switching completely to Ubuntu
    40 replies, posted
I like Ubuntu 10.04 a lot, but one of the main issues that is annoying me a lot is when I connect to a wireless network (on my laptop, home network) it will rotate through the icons so it looks like it's loading it (1st bar highlighted, 2nd, 3rd, etc). But then, once it connects I have full internet, but then the icon goes to a red exclamation point. Why? Everything is working fine. Another thing: How can I get Steam to run at least somewhat nicely so I can chat with friends? I installed it via Wine but it's horribly slow to change inputs and type text. Whats the best text editor for php/html/css/js, and whats the best server (package) to use, so I can run a server locally and design and make applications? Lastly, how is the battery life compared to Windows 7? I'd really like to drop Windows 7 on my laptop and use Ubuntu 10.04, just because I just like having a different environment than Windows. [editline]11:16PM[/editline] I would also like to add, that if I close the lid on the laptop while it's running it will Suspend, but when I open it back up it'll be a black screen where I can't do anything and have to hard restart it.
[QUOTE=Erp;21826065] Another thing: How can I get Steam to run at least somewhat nicely so I can chat with friends? I installed it via Wine but it's horribly slow to change inputs and type text. [/quote] Wait for Steam for Linux, it won't be long until it's out [quote] Whats the best text editor for php/html/css/js [/quote] Don't worry about that, you'll probably just steal my code anyway [quote]and whats the best server (package) to use, so I can run a server locally and design and make applications?[/quote] LAMP [quote] Lastly, how is the battery life compared to Windows 7? [/quote] Depends what you're doing and how you're using it [quote] I'd really like to drop Windows 7 on my laptop and use Ubuntu 10.04, [b]just because I just like having a different environment than Windows.[/b][/quote] Because you want to be alternative and different and make a statement by being a h4rdc0r3 ubuntu user?
[QUOTE=Erp;21826065]I like Ubuntu 10.04 a lot, but one of the main issues that is annoying me a lot is when I connect to a wireless network (on my laptop, home network) it will rotate through the icons so it looks like it's loading it (1st bar highlighted, 2nd, 3rd, etc). But then, once it connects I have full internet, but then the icon goes to a red exclamation point. Why? Everything is working fine. [b]what wireless chipset do you have?[/b] Another thing: How can I get Steam to run at least somewhat nicely so I can chat with friends? I installed it via Wine but it's horribly slow to change inputs and type text. [b]there is so much that goes into wine there is no way to tell what exactly is happening with yours. Set Steam to run in Windows 2000 mode, and any source games you install to run in Windows 98 mode. I've had luck getting better performance out of Steam that way.[/b] Whats the best text editor for php/html/css/js [b]I use gvim, but there is a pretty steep learning curve on that. Try Cream if all the commands for vim are too intimidating.[/b] and whats the best server (package) to use, so I can run a server locally and design and make applications? [b]Apache/2.2.9 (Debian) PHP/5.2.6-1+lenny3 with Suhosin-Patch mod_ssl/2.2.9 OpenSSL/0.9.8g MASTER RACE[/b] Lastly, how is the battery life compared to Windows 7? [b]roughly the same, but it mostly depends on how you use it[/b] I'd really like to drop Windows 7 on my laptop and use Ubuntu 10.04, just because I just like having a different environment than Windows. [editline]11:16PM[/editline] I would also like to add, that if I close the lid on the laptop while it's running it will Suspend, but when I open it back up it'll be a black screen where I can't do anything and have to hard restart it. [b]that's likely an issue with your BIOS, nothing we can really fix[/b] [/QUOTE]
BIOS switches off after the CPU enters protected mode, nothing to do with BIOS
Thanks for the help you too. I use a Dell Wireless 1520 Wireless-N WLAN Mini-card.
[QUOTE=Erp;21835036]Thanks for the help you too. I use a Dell Wireless 1520 Wireless-N WLAN Mini-card.[/QUOTE]Bump, it still displays a ! mark over the icon when I'm connected to wireless, it's really annoying because I can't tell when I've lost internet and when I have it without manually checking. [editline]10:04PM[/editline] And...now it won't even display my wireless card after I loaded Ubuntu back up. Shit.
[QUOTE=turb_;21828818]Wait for Steam for Linux, it won't be long until it's out[/QUOTE] There's no release date for Steam for GNU/Linux. It could be months or years until it comes out.
Months, possibly; years, nup. It won't be too long until it is released, until then running Steam under WINE is fine
[QUOTE=turb_;21873829]Months, possibly; years, nup. It won't be too long until it is released, until then running Steam under WINE is fine[/QUOTE] I don't see how you can say this, it's not been announced at all. There is a big difference between a proof of concept and the actual thing being rolled out.
It's called speculation, and since they're porting to os x, it should be a walk in the park to bring it over to Linux.
Valve time
[QUOTE=blankthemuffin;21875125]I don't see how you can say this, it's not been announced at all. There is a big difference between a proof of concept and the actual thing being rolled out.[/QUOTE] Well there was only like a month between the release of the steam for mac beta and the announcement of steam for mac. I give it until the end of the year.
[QUOTE=turb_;21875181]It's called speculation, and since they're porting to os x, it should be a walk in the park to bring it over to Linux.[/QUOTE] Hahaha, oh boy. Have you looked at windowing code?
[QUOTE=CPPNOOB;21884742]Hahaha, oh boy. Have you looked at windowing code?[/QUOTE] Hahaha, oh boy. Do you have any idea what you're talking about? I'm going to know the answer to that is no.
I doubt VALVE is using frameworks.
I'll just point everybody back to my previous post to avoid duplication.
Programming X11 windows is hard work.
They sure as hell didn't use X11 for the OS X port, though, or else the server would've started up and dock spam would ensue.
[QUOTE=CPPNOOB;21895117]Programming X11 windows is hard work.[/QUOTE] They'll probably be using either GTK or QT (or maybe even both?).
[QUOTE=mastersrp;21987533]They'll probably be using either GTK or QT (or maybe even both?).[/QUOTE] Look and feel will be massacred. It'll likely be VGUI-on-bare-metal - that's why it exists!
they'll do vgui I'm sure. they should release an ncurses version just because that would be lol
My thread turned into a thread about Steam on linux.
[QUOTE=Erp;22000595]My thread turned into a thread about Steam on linux.[/QUOTE] Fair enough [QUOTE=Erp;21826065]I like Ubuntu 10.04 a lot, but one of the main issues that is annoying me a lot is when I connect to a wireless network (on my laptop, home network) it will rotate through the icons so it looks like it's loading it (1st bar highlighted, 2nd, 3rd, etc). But then, once it connects I have full internet, but then the icon goes to a red exclamation point. Why? Everything is working fine.[/QUOTE] [i]Sadly wireless on Linux is one of the things that can take the most tweaking, but on the positive site because it is one of the most problematic parts of Linux there's a damn good chance someone with the same hardware setup as you has had exactly the same problem and has fixed it. It might take a few hours of cocking with wrappers and compiling unofficial drivers but once it's done, it's done.[/i] [QUOTE=Erp;22000595]Another thing: How can I get Steam to run at least somewhat nicely so I can chat with friends? I installed it via Wine but it's horribly slow to change inputs and type text.[/QUOTE] [i]Again, with Wine there are as many possible solutions as there are hardware combinations. See above.[/i] [QUOTE=Erp;22000595]Whats the best text editor for php/html/css/js, and whats the best server (package) to use, so I can run a server locally and design and make applications?[/QUOTE] [i]Finally, a Linux strong point. Linux is packing Text Editors out the ass with lots of different approaches. Some are essentially prettier frontends to oldschool Command line editors like [b]GVIM[/b] for [b]VIM[/b] etc. Which is exactly what some people want. Further down the line are basic text editors like [b]GEdit[/b] and purpose specific editors like [b]Geany[/b] and [b]KATE[/b]. Of course the nice thing about them all being open-source and free if you can try any number of them until you find one that just clicks for you. I personally like Geany. It's got some nice features and with some plugins and tweaking, I have it running a lot like textmate for mac. It integrates with various VCSs and manages my docmuments pretty sweetly. As for servers, I've always been boring and gone for apache. But the LAMP structure is tried and tested and you can have it up and running it about 15 minutes including hostfiles and domain configs. Obviously if you're running a linux server for your live site migration gets a lot easier too.[/i] [QUOTE=Erp;22000595]Lastly, how is the battery life compared to Windows 7?[/QUOTE] [i]I'm not about to start pulling figures out my ass because my laptop experience with Linux is limited, but from the times that I've run Linux on Laptops it certainly hasn't been any worse.[/i]
[QUOTE=turb_;21875181]It's called speculation, and since they're porting to os x, it should be a walk in the park to bring it over to Linux.[/QUOTE] yeah, that's why we have so many os x programs ported to Linux. :rolleyes: I honestly don't see why they don't port more OS X apps to Linux, it seems much easier than porting from Windows Source to Linux. I'd love a native Linux port of iTunes, or Photoshop.
[QUOTE=Pixel Heart;22019292]yeah, that's why we have so many os x programs ported to Linux. :rolleyes: I honestly don't see why they don't port more OS X apps to Linux, it seems much easier than porting from Windows Source to Linux. I'd love a native Linux port of iTunes, or Photoshop.[/QUOTE] Not easily done without making Cocoa AND Carbon the next Mono(s) (although there is GNUStep but I'm not sure where it's going in terms of features) or ending up with an insanely big iTunes like on Windows. If you want a comparison it's like porting a BeOS app over to Linux. There's a massive API that looms behind-the-scenes that will be the elephant should you want to port out.
[QUOTE=Pixel Heart;22019292]I honestly don't see why they don't port more OS X apps to Linux, it seems much easier than porting from Windows Source to Linux. I'd love a native Linux port of iTunes, or Photoshop.[/QUOTE] No it's not much easier. Most OS X applications heavily use the Cocoa APIs throughout. The reason I said Steam would also probably come to Linux was that for Valve to support both OS X and Windows, they would be using some abstraction layer or framework, making porting to other OSes after that much easier. [editline]08:33PM[/editline] half-ninja'd :argh:
[QUOTE=turb_;22019469]No it's not much easier. Most OS X applications heavily use the Cocoa APIs throughout. The reason I said Steam would also probably come to Linux was that for Valve to support both OS X and Windows, they would be using some abstraction layer or framework, making porting to other OSes after that much easier. [editline]08:33PM[/editline] half-ninja'd :argh:[/QUOTE] ...So are you saying Steam on the Mac is somewhat emulated using abstraction layers, instead of being "truely" native? [editline]03:42AM[/editline] [QUOTE=Erp;21826065]Lastly, how is the battery life compared to Windows 7?[/QUOTE] Windows 7 keeps my processor running high and hot, where in Linux I can throttle it down from 2.3GHz to 800MHz, and I get about 30 more minus of battery life in Linux because of this. I can't seem to find any apps for Windows that can install a signed driver so I can under-clock my processor in Windows 7 x64.
[QUOTE=Pixel Heart;22019525]...So are you saying Steam on the Mac is somewhat emulated using abstraction layers, instead of being "truely" native? [editline]03:42AM[/editline] Windows 7 keeps my processor running high and hot, where in Linux I can throttle it down from 2.3GHz to 800MHz, and I get about 30 more minus of battery life in Linux because of this. I can't seem to find any apps for Windows that can install a signed driver so I can under-clock my processor in Windows 7 x64.[/QUOTE] Emulation is not abstraction - emulation is meant to be specific, abstraction is meant to reduce that type of complexity [editline]10:44AM[/editline] But specifically no. I know it's VGUI on metal and a DX9 interface-compatible library. At this point the performance hit becomes negligible.
I see... Well I hope the Linux implementation goes smoothly. :cheers:
[QUOTE=Pixel Heart;22019525]...So are you saying Steam on the Mac is somewhat emulated using abstraction layers, instead of being "truely" native?[/QUOTE] By abstraction I mean something like this: [cpp] #ifdef WIN32 void MakeAWindow() { // windows specific code } #endif #ifdef MACOSX void MakeAWindow() { // os x specific code } #endif void MyFunction() { // do stuff MakeAWindow(); // calls whichever version was compiled in } [/cpp] Obviously real abstraction layers would be much more complex, but the idea is that the logic code is seperated from the nuts and bolts code. This helps with porting as all you need to do is port the nuts and bolts code and compile the rest. The .NET framework is a really good example of this. .NET developers use System.Windows.Forms to create GUIs (unless they're using WPF, but that's outside the scope of this post.) On Windows, the code behind System.Windows.Forms talks to WinForms and GDI+. On Linux under Mono, the code behind System.Windows.Forms talks to GTK+ and X11. This is how it really works. Like it or not, Mono [b]is[/b] native, and not in the least is it doing emulation. This is exactly how I think (and am 99% sure this is write, Valve aren't stupid enough to write the same code twice for different OSes) Steam on different operating systems work - generic business logic code talking to platform-specific backend code.
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