Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[El Guru (Al)]

I am looking at setting up Linux again and have heard about some other distros in another forum. Mint sounds good, but the max resolution is 1360x768 and I am running 1440x900. I know I got that resolution in Ubuntu with some tinkering a couple years back. Mandriva was also mentioned along with Puppy.

Here are some issues/concerns I have:

1. When I did Ubuntu back then, by default I could not run 1440x900 resolution, had to do some tweaking to allow that. Kind of sub question here as well, dual monitors supported?
2. For the first couple months I kept losing audio which for me is a big thing as I always listening to music. Finally after a lot trial-and-error and research I discovered Ubutnu was trying to use the on-board (motherboard) sound card, not my after-market card.  I finally found a way to get Ubuntu to use the correct sound card. I have done the same thing with this system, in fact it is the same card from my old system.
3. Last distribution I used was Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn)Given what I do (see below) would there be another distro that would work?
          * OpenOffice
          * HTML Editing with NVU (I think KompoZer is what I would need for Linux)
          * FTP I currently use FileZilla
          * Firefox and Thunderbird (I do a lot of testing so I use the nightly builds of both Firefox 3.1/3.5 and Thunderbird 3). I also do some work in Chrome, Opera and the now defunked Netscape 9 (I use it as it identical to Firefox 2)
          * Music. (mp3, m4a, m4p and ogg) for Windows I use WinAmp. IIRC with Ubuntu I was using Rhythm Box

[Richard]

First glad to see somebody still posting on these forums. Now on to your questions

1. When I did Ubuntu back then, by default I could not run 1440x900 resolution, had to do some tweaking to allow that. Kind of sub question here as well, dual monitors supported?

The drivers have improved drastically since (7.04) from the open source community thanks for AMD/ATI open sourcing there drivers and also improving there closed source drivers.

A quote from the sub-forum for Ubuntu 9.04 -  Link to quote

Personally, I've found Jaunty's newest ATI open source drivers to match/exceed Intrepid's fglrx capabilities (in a dual monitor setup). I don't care if a closed source fglrx will be rolled out.

Personal Note - I can run compiz fusion smoothly on a ATI Radeon Mobility 9600 on the open source drivers out of the box (Arent tested dual monitors, as i never had a reason to try)

If use Nvidia drivers for a geforce card like a Geforce 7600GT (Desktop PC) - The performace is excellent and works well on all applications expect sometimes on Openoffice 3.0.1 Backport but fine on pre-installed and updated 2.4.1 version (Again not tested dual monitors requiments, as i never had a reason to try)

On to issue 2:

2. For the first couple months I kept losing audio which for me is a big thing as I always listening to music. Finally after a lot trial-and-error and research I discovered Ubutnu was trying to use the on-board (motherboard) sound card, not my after-market card.  I finally found a way to get Ubuntu to use the correct sound card. I have done the same thing with this system, in fact it is the same card from my old system. 

I can't say anything as i only use onboard sound cards on PC and laptop but both work perfect - just like they would on Windows XP/Vista

On to issue 3:

3. Last distribution I used was Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn)Given what I do (see below) would there be another distro that would work? 

• OpenOffice
• HTML Editing with NVU (I think KompoZer is what I would need for Linux)
• FTP I currently use FileZilla
• Firefox and Thunderbird (I do a lot of testing so I use the nightly builds of both Firefox 3.1/3.5 and Thunderbird 3). I also do some work in Chrome, Opera and the now defunked Netscape 9 (I use it as it identical to Firefox 2)
• Music. (mp3, m4a, m4p and ogg) for Windows I use WinAmp. IIRC with Ubuntu I was using Rhythm Box

Personal Note - If want move away from the apt-get based distros like Ubuntu and Linux Mint and fullfil all the requirements i would recommend - OpenSuse 11.1

As it the next best linux distro in my eyes, Linux Mint is Ubuntu but designed for more beginner users with features like:

• Codecs installed by default e.g. mp3,wav,flash player installed
• Alot more GUI tools installed by default e.g. Own update manager, Software Installer
  
• Better Out of Box Artwork
  
• A "start" menu more like Vista

Software Information for Debain/Ubuntu based installs

OpenOffice 3.x PPA
Firefox 3.x Nightly PPA
Chrome PPA
Link for Thunderbird 3.0.x Nightly
Link for Opera Download

Filezilla can be download from ubuntu repositories - Filezilla Status
KompoZer can be download from ubuntu repositories - KompoZer Status

Couple of Modern Themes for Linux

Excellent GTK Theme
Excellent Icon Theme

[Ryan Wagner]

Great post Richard! I've been wanting to try Mint for a little while now because I've heard a lot of great things about it. I like the fact that it includes things like the important codecs, despite the fact that it's not that hard to get working in Ubuntu. The less work after installation the better.