err edit.

>Is there anything that is fun to do in Ubuntu...or something that could be entirely new to me?

If Gnome is too slow for you, I would recommend some lightweight alternatives such as Enlightenment...

>I think you just proved my point! All of these supposedly attractive linux desktops were a jumbled mess with no consistancy and horrible windows.

I was referring to what *I* think aesthetically...

http://www.linux.com/feature/114157

Gnome is ugly? Kde is ugly? They both look quite aesthetically pleasing to most people.

Examples of attractive Linux desktops:
http://linuxfud.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/screenshot2006-11-20.png...

That desktop? I assume you're referring to the attached images pty and I uploaded of our desktops? I admit, mine, by many standards, looks disgusting, but, in my opinion, simplicity and utility *is*...

Though many, including myself, prefer to use multiple partitions, for a new-comer like yourself, only using 1 partition would be advisable. Since you stated that you were switching from Vista to...

>Sturm, how is openBSD the most free?

No binary blobs.

openBSD is perhaps the most "free" of all the *nixes.

err, I don't have access to a Debian system at the moment, so just as root aptitude update; aptitude upgrade; aptitude search wifi . You should find it.

>Wifi. It sees my card, sees my network, tries to connect, then fails. I can connect from my iPod, nit not Ubuntu. Aaaah.

I've experienced similiar problems when installing on my parents/relatives...

I have a ubuntu install on an external harddrive, so I guess it would work...

Yeah I agree with Joe, you need to use Real Linux (tm).

I would recommend Arch Linux, as it is i686 compiled and relatively simple.
Here are some links on the philosophies of Arch:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/The_Arch_Way...

>Since you don't seem to be understanding the point I'm trying to get at, let me try another way. Mac OS X is officially certified as Unix. Since it's Unix, it can run Unix software. Now do you get...

>well it's true.

That doesn't strike me as a particularly convincing argument.

>That's incorrect, there is more software available for Windows than for any other operating system.

I'm dubious.

Yeah... new kernels seem to work wonders on laptops...

So what distro are you using? And in my opinion installing exim and postfix by default seems like the definition of bloat.

You don't know what distribution you're using? Please tell me you didn't install Linux yourself.

Last time I checked debian forums sucked...

>If you want video editing out of the box, i've heard that ubuntustudio is just for this case...also keep in mind that if you pick ubuntu{any flavor} you will have the support of the largest...

vmware is not slow, it just can't handle 3d graphics (normal applications work just fine) If a person doesn't know how to make a vm why would he be using wubi?

With vmware thereisn't the possibility that you delete all your data or screw up your windows install.

Instead of using wubi you should just partition your harddrive or use vmware.

Yeah I know its not a virtual machine.

a virtual machine seems _a lot_ easier and _a lot_ more safe.

I like evilwm ;-p (icewm is nice if you want a tradtional(read: windows like) wm)

Actually for noobs I would recommend a traditional/hardcore unixish distro. This allows you to start learning immediately. Also with a tradition unixish distro, the skills learned will carry over to...

installing vmware tools might speed things up a bit

I don't think its on many people's radar.

mm apparently you didn't believe me.

No. Its completely virtual. Your harddrive for all intents and purposes to debian is the space you alloted when first creating your virtual machine. (usaully 4-8 gb)

Did you burn the image or is vmware booting from the image on your computer? I haven't used vmware extensively but booting from a real cd would probably be easier.

For just programming vmware should be fine. Debian is pretty straight forward you shouldn't have problems.

Not handling dependencies very well, slow, unreliable, etc. I have always heard that debs are better.

I have always heard that RPMs are pretty bad.. is that true?

use debian for servers. (many distros including gentoo and arch get a new kernel every week or something. Its really annoying)

>After talking to a friend, I'm thinking of running Virtual PC instead of partitioning my drive. Anybody know of pros and cons regarding both methods?

If you want to run a virtual machine I would...

or gentoo or arch