Ubuntu test - NESdev BBS

Ubuntu test
by Bregalad on 2009-04-25 (#46179)

I'm writing this post from my newly installed Ubuntu.
Altough installing the OS is simple, having internet connexion is a headache. Does it work ?

EDIT : Oh and how am I supposed to listen nsf/gbs/spc/psf/psf2/gsf/2sf files here ? No winamp. That sucks. I guess I'll be back to windows soon.

by lidnariq on 2009-04-25 (#46180)

How did you post this if you didn't get internet working? I'm confused what you're actually asking.

If you install XMMS from an older release of ubuntu, you can find plugins that will play many of those. I think there's still no N64 or PS2 PSF players, however.

by Bregalad on 2009-04-25 (#46181)

Well, I have internet with RS-232 connexion wich is slow, unreliable and that have an ugly cable transversing all my room. With Windows I could use wireless conexion via USB which is faster.

PS : I really don't quite like Linux now that I've tried it. After how many people told me how great it was supposed to be I'm really disappointed. My screen canot get bigger than 800x600 pixels which is horrible, and the only emu I could play is Snes9x which is much worse than it's windows counterpart. And when you press a direction arrow for a while while typing text, it won't cross more than one character. Now I'll try other graphical interfaces than Gnome hoping it will fix at least some of those problems.

by Nessie on 2009-04-25 (#46182)

I've been using Ubuntu for a year or two, everything worked out of the box except back/forward for my mx518 mouse.
Mednafen is in the Ubuntu repository, you can also run Windows emulators (and most other Windows programs) through Wine if you prefer.

by frantik on 2009-04-25 (#46183)

lol Bregalad you sound exactly like me each time i try linux. as far as i can tell it's the OS for masochists

by tokumaru on 2009-04-25 (#46187)

I understand how you feel. However, most of the issues you are facing have a solution, we're just not used to Linux so we don't know how to fix them. You can certainly increase the resolution. You can certainly use wireless networks. You can run many Windows programs with Wine. How? Don't ask me. I fail at the most basic tasks in Linux, but I know it's not the OS' fault, it's me, I don't know how to do any of those things because I've been a Windows user all my life.

I've been trying hard to understand Linux since Vista came out. If that's the direction Windows is heading to, I will not be able to use it much longer. On my notebook Ubuntu works great, it has all the drivers, no problem. On my desktop PC it's a very different story, and I can't seem to succeed in installing the appropriate device drivers, which makes the whole experience very frustrating. But there is no other way, I'm not going to use Vista, and Windows 7 will probably suck as well.

by blargg on 2009-04-25 (#46189)

FAP plays many formats, and it's for Linux.

by Bregalad on 2009-04-26 (#46211)

All my computer crashed and I wasn't able to boot on Linux nor Windows. All my tentatives to re-install Windows and format the PC failed, so... I just had to format it and install with ubuntu. I suspect that the programmers intentionally ruined my Windows partition to force me to definitely switch to linux.

And yeah how many people told me that anyone that cares a little about computer science should absolutely switch to linux and throw Windows away beacuse it's free and it's better, blah blah, I can definitely confirm this is all wrong, if you have a new computer and don't want to buy windows you may consider to switch but else if you have windows I'd say stick to it. And if you want to have both systmems on the same machine, you probably want thems on separate drives, as programmers for each system will intentionally destroy the other OS if they can.

Anyway working with a 800x600 screen is really annoying.

EDIT : Oh and Windows 7 is supposed to be better / less resources wastefull than Vista, which is good news. Else I'd say keep on W2000/XP as long as you can, even if this implies format the system disk and re-install all years, it's still less a waste of time than linux.

by tepples on 2009-04-26 (#46213)

If your hardware is old enough, Puppy might work better than Ubuntu. I seem to remember it being able to go 768p on an NVIDIA TNT2 that Ubuntu could only do 600p on.

by Bregalad on 2009-04-26 (#46216)

@blargg : Sorry I'm unable to re-compile FAP (no makefile) and there is no ubuntu binary (that's right, under linux you're supposed to recompile all programms yourself aren't you ?)

@tepples : Insteresting, but honnestly I've heard that Ubutnu is by very far the most user friendly Linux distribution, and I've to say it's really not that user friendly so I can barely imagine the others...
I can confirm that old versions Red Hat and Suse linuxes were really horrible cause my dad tried them with me long ago.

Overall after a few hours of Linux I could say a list of pros and cons of switching :

Pros of Ubuntu (don't know if it applies to other linuxes) :
- You can download it for free
- Choose your own graphical stuff among MANY predefined sets available
- You can get opera which is better than firefox
- You can get the latest version of WLA-DX and SNES9x
- A lot of stuff is automated (intenet connexion)
- Comes packaged with a lot of (free) software, for image editing, and cool minigames
- Boots and stops *slightly* faster than a Windows which has been installed for several years (but nowhere near as fast as linux fans claims)
- Automated installation of new programms

Pros of Windows :
- Almost ANY PC programm in existance have a Windows version, while few have a linux verison
- (almost ?) ALL devices in the wolrd that connect to a PC will be usable on Windows using a driver
- You can get wireless internet
- You can get more emulators and plugins for playing music from games
- You screen is bigger than 800x600
- More user friendly
- only ONE status bar at the bottom (instead of two status bar at top+bottom which eats up your small screen)
- You can play commercial PC games (assuming your hardware is up to date)
- You can change settings of SNES9x via a menu without imput all of them in the terminal manually (unless I missed something... the developpers said the latter version would be linux only, but I still preferred the "old" windows version)
- FCEUXD available (only regular FCEU in Linux), etc... (the list is long)

As you can see there is not that many pros for windows, but there is definitely bigger pros
Rumors spread by linux fans :
- Linux is faster than Windows : FALSE (both are arround the same)
- Linux is open source : ??? (Algouth it claims so, I still have to see the souce of it)
- Linux is safer than Windows : MOST LIKELY TRUE (it's hard to verify, but it asks your passwords every 2 secs which is annoying, and most viruses/trojans are for Windows)
- Linux is better for "true" programmers : FALSE (Windows have a lot of tools and cool GUI to help programmation. It's not easier to developp C++ programms for linux than windows, and the same applies to NES programms)

by tepples on 2009-04-26 (#46217)

Bregalad wrote:
Pros of Windows :
- Almost ANY PC programm in existance have a Windows version, while few have a linux verison

But in some cases (e.g. FontForge), the Windows version is just a recompile of the Linux version in Cygwin, and a lot of people have more trouble installing Cygwin than installing Wine.

Quote:
- (almost ?) ALL devices in the wolrd that connect to a PC will be usable on Windows using a driver

Windows XP drivers don't work so well on Windows Vista, nor do Windows Vista drivers work on Windows XP.

Quote:
- You can get wireless internet

Ubuntu on my Eee PC laptop can connect to APs just fine, as long as I know the WEP key.

Quote:
- You can get more emulators and plugins for playing music from games

What format are you thinking of that Game_Music_Emu doesn't cover? Besides, you'll have to transcode NSF to MP3 if you want to play it on most pocket digital audio players.

Quote:
- You screen is bigger than 800x600

I run Ubuntu on a laptop with a 1024x600 pixel internal LCD that I occasionally connect to a 1024x768 pixel external LCD. My employer runs it on a desktop PC with a 1440x900 pixel LCD and on another desktop PC with a 1280x1024 pixel LCD.

Quote:
- More user friendly

"User friendly" is a comic strip. Do you have some references for a properly configured Windows being easier to use than a properly configured Ubuntu? Or did you mean "Windows XP is more familiar to somebody who has been using Windows XP for the past seven years"? Or did you mean "major PC manufacturers can properly configure Windows but cannot properly configure Ubuntu"?

Quote:
- only ONE status bar at the bottom (instead of two status bar at top+bottom which eats up your small screen)

The first thing I did was move everything from the top panel to the bottom.

Quote:
- You can play commercial PC games (assuming your hardware is up to date)

DOSB ox works fine on Ubuntu, and plenty of games run in Wine.

Quote:
- FCEUXD available (only regular FCEU in Linux), etc... (the list is long)

I thought FCEUXD was merged into FCEUX.

Quote:
- Linux is open source : ??? (Algouth it claims so, I still have to see the souce of it)

Apparently archive.ubuntu.com has the source code for all packages included in Ubuntu.

Quote:
- Linux is safer than Windows : MOST LIKELY TRUE (it's hard to verify, but it asks your passwords every 2 secs which is annoying

If you are logged in to Ubuntu as a user with "sudo" (become administrator) privilege, and you open an administrative tool, the "gksudo" dialog box will ask for your password. UAC of Windows Vista isn't much different.

Quote:
- Linux is better for "true" programmers : FALSE (Windows have a lot of tools and cool GUI to help programmation. It's not easier to developp C++ programms for linux than windows, and the same applies to NES programms)

One of the things that might make this look true:
On Linux, tools such as GCC, Glade, Perl, PHP, and Python are available through each distribution's package manager, categorized into "programming" categories.
But on Windows, tools such as Visual C++ Express, Perl, PHP, Python, and PowerShell are available only from web sites. The only languages you get out of the box are Batch, VBScript, and JScript.

by tokumaru on 2009-04-26 (#46225)

Bregalad, stop saying it sucks just because you can't get things to work. Wireless connection and screen resolution are ridiculous things to put in your pros/cons lists, because both systems handle those fine if you got the drivers correctly setup. You were probably just unlucky that Ubuntu didn't have the drivers for all your stuff, just like happened with my desktop PC. You gotta hunt down compatible drivers and install them yourself, that's all.

You are looking at this whole thing as a Windows user. You just feel Windows is better because you're used to it. It takes time to take advantage of the full potential of things. If overnight you decided to make a Genesis/MD game you'd probably fail miserably, but would you say the console sucks and that the NES is better? It most likely doesn't suck, and both consoles have their merits, you just don't know how to use the new system yet. With time you'll be able to.

by Banshaku on 2009-04-26 (#46233)

I can understand a little bit of his frustration. Even though the linux community say every year "it's the year of the desktop".. It always bring me a smile that ends more in a grin in the end.

I tried 5 years ago if my memory is good and could last for 6 month. Until I got fed up since there was always something that didn't work like expected or couldn't find the proper replacement for a software I used. It could have been because I didn't know much about linux at the time but that was enough to discourage me.

Then I tried it again at work recently since I had some chance to put it back on my desktop for more testing.. Just tried to install ethereal from scratch and I was in dependency hell. Try to compile this, required that. Get that, require something else. Then get the other thing, not happy again. Search in forum here and here, modify ini file here and there. I would prefer it that was an easier way to install things sometime. RPM sometime work but that's not always the case.

Last time I tried Fedora core 10 because I wanted to see how much KDE4 changed. It was full of eye candies that I didn't need but that my personal opinion. So I decided to change a few visual settings just to see how it look like and it brought my machine down.

It seems I was not that lucky while using Linux too. Vista (and maybe windows 7) may help people to stay away from Microsoft or just stick with WinXP that still does the job even thought Microsoft want to tell you otherwise. I really want to make it work, just always something that doesn't work like expected.

So I understand how you feel. The configuration part is still an issue with Linux.

by frantik on 2009-04-26 (#46238)

Quote:
Bregalad, stop saying it sucks just because you can't get things to work.

how about: it sucks because it's a pain in the ass to get things to work... ?

nah, Linux doesn't suck... once you've got it installed and configured how you like, it is a nice OS.. but adding a new piece of software or hardware can sometimes be a multi-day ordeal filled with google searches and frustration.

It seems most power linux users still end up emulating windows to run half their programs anyways, so i'm not sure I even get the point. Linux seems like a great OS for a thin client or internet terminal, or anywhere a computer with limited functionality and high security is needed. but for day to day desktop use, it's really not the best choice imo.. but everyone has different needs so hey, use what u like

by miau on 2009-04-26 (#46243)

Bregalad wrote:
Pros of Ubuntu (don't know if it applies to other linuxes) :
...
- Choose your own graphical stuff among MANY predefined sets available
...

With my bias towards simple pixelated looks I have yet to find a theme that I can enjoy. Emulating the classic windows theme is possible, but, with all the choices you've got, somehow doesn't feel right.
I decided to stay away from KDE and Gnome and chose Xfce as a window manager. However, even that one has become too cluttered with features in my opinion, so I'm looking for a more minimalistic WM now.

Also, it's fun how the diversity of Linux distributions used seemingly has decreased since Ubuntu became popular. Maybe it's just more frustrated Windows users switching to Ubuntu these days while the old user base still sticks to the other distros.

by lidnariq on 2009-04-27 (#46248)

miau wrote:
I decided to stay away from KDE and Gnome and chose Xfce as a window manager. However, even that one has become too cluttered with features in my opinion, so I'm looking for a more minimalistic WM now.

I use WindowMaker, although it's old. When I am trying to persuade myself to go to a windowmanager that's still maintained, I've played with OpenBox. A bunch of my friends use minimalist WMs like Xmonad, 9wm, nawm, ion3, and ratpoison.

My personal use case is- multiple desktops (I keep one train of thought in each desktop/workspace) and keybindings to automatically place windows (so I can put an xterm next to an emacs or somesuch without having to use the mouse)

by Bregalad on 2009-04-27 (#46255)

I don't remember saying Linux shucked, altough it destroyed my system. Now I'm left with boot on the CD and nothing else, which is enough to use internet.

I've tried Gnome and XCFe, and both are very similar I'd say. XCFe has no sound for me it looks like, as opposed to Gnome. I can't get my reso more than 800x600 on neither. Of course I know it's possible but oh well. Installing drivers is the worst idea that ruins the PC world in my opinion.

by Ealdor on 2009-04-27 (#46256)

Yes, is a big step switching from windows to linux. But believe me when you configure all in linux you will not want to back to windows again, except to play games (you can even emulate windows to run applications that don't run in linux or with wine/cedega).

My recommend is to install both SO's, first windows and then linux (if you don't want windows kills grub). And read the wiki and the basics tutorials (and if you still have any problem just type it in google, there is a huge linux community).

Debian Lenny + KDE =

by Bregalad on 2009-04-27 (#46257)

Well, after installing Windows and killing linux, then installing linux and killing windows again, etc... numberous time I guess I FINALLY made both systems being stable on my computer.Too bad linux boots by default when I'd want Windows to do so.

It's good to have linux and I like to test something else, but overall I prefer Windows for many reasons (including many non-objective reasons). Sorry linux fans, but I'm not one of yours, and I strongly disagree to say linux is better than Windows. Both are similar in fact yet different, and since the driver for almost all of my hardware only comes for Windows the chose is made. Most programms for Linux also have their WIndows version (GIMP, Firefox, Opera, etc....) while the opposite is not true (Winamp, YY-CHR, Nintendulator, ...)

Also I don't like to compile stuff by source if the source is not one I personally wrote, I just like having the binaries ready to execute. If the source is there for educationnal purpose, fine it's great but damnit don't expect me to compile them !

by Bregalad on 2009-04-27 (#46258)

[quote="Bregalad"]Well, after installing Windows and killing linux, then installing linux and killing windows again, etc... numberous time I guess I FINALLY made both systems being stable on my computer.Too bad linux boots by default when I'd want Windows to do so.

It's good to have linux and I like to test something else, but overall I prefer Windows for many reasons (including many non-objective reasons). Sorry linux fans, but I'm not one of yours, and I strongly disagree to say linux is better than Windows. Both are similar in fact yet different, and since the driver for almost all of my hardware only comes for Windows the chose is made. Most programms for Linux also have their WIndows version (GIMP, Firefox, Opera, etc....) while the opposite is not true (Winamp, YY-CHR, Nintendulator, ...)

Also I don't like to compile stuff by source if the source is not one I personally wrote, I just like having the binaries ready to execute. If the source is there for educationnal purpose, fine it's great but damnit don't expect me to compile them ! (and don't make me say that linux is bad it's just that I'm not one of those who don't want to ever touch windows again)

by Ealdor on 2009-04-27 (#46259)

Bregalad wrote:
Well, after installing Windows and killing linux, then installing linux and killing windows again, etc... numberous time I guess I FINALLY made both systems being stable on my computer.Too bad linux boots by default when I'd want Windows to do so.

Not sure if this is what you mean but you can edit the file "boot/grub/menu.lst" and change the var "default".

YY-CHR works perfect with wine (not sure about winamp).

PS: yes it works http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.p ... n&iId=2883

by Bregalad on 2009-04-27 (#46261)

Quote:
Not sure if this is what you mean but you can edit the file "boot/grub/menu.lst" and change the var "default".

Already tried that but I don't have the rights to overwrite that file.

And I don't see the point of emulating windows on linux if I have a windows CD standing on my desktop. For people who doesn't have any I see the point, but in my case I don't.

by Ealdor on 2009-04-27 (#46262)

Bregalad wrote:
Quote:
Not sure if this is what you mean but you can edit the file "boot/grub/menu.lst" and change the var "default".

Already tried that but I don't have the rights to overwrite that file.

And I don't see the point of emulating windows on linux if I have a windows CD standing on my desktop. For people who doesn't have any I see the point, but in my case I don't.

To edit that file you need to be superuser, type "sudo" and then the command to edit the file (like "sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst") or login in the console like superuser (type "su" press enter and it will ask for the superuser password you defined in the installation).

by tokumaru on 2009-04-27 (#46264)

Bregalad wrote:
And I don't see the point of emulating windows on linux if I have a windows CD standing on my desktop.

It will make the transition smoother. You just saw how hard it is to do everything different than you did before. If you have decided on the long-term goal of switching to Linux (as I have, because the direction Microsoft is heading to does not look very bright + I'm tired of pirating software), you can make the process less harsh.

I, for example, am trying to give up on all proprietary software and started using under Windows open source software that's also available on Linux. I switched from M$ Office to OpenOffice, from CorelDRAW to InkScape, from Photoshop to GIMP, and so on, so that whenever I replace my OS, I'll at least be comfortable with the tools.

Wine is another way of making the transition smoother. Even if you have switched the OS already, you can keep using software you're used to until you find suitable replacements native to your new OS, instead of going through the trouble changing everything overnight.

IMO, It all boils down to this: Are you happy with Windows? If yes, by all means, keep using it. I doesn't matter how good people say Linux is, it's not magical and you will not learn to love it overnight. Do you not like what M$ is doing to Windows and want to be free from it? Well, then you should switch to Linux, but keep in mind that this is not such an easy task and you'll face some difficulties until you get where you want. It all depends on your long-term goal.

BTW, I'm no Linux lover (just a M$ hater!), but I recognize it's merits as a decent OS and have decided to switch to it eventually. I too have faced all the problems we're talking about here (drivers, dependency issues, not being able to compile things), but I guess I'll just keep trying until I can master all that crap.

by Bregalad on 2009-04-27 (#46265)

Quote:
To edit that file you need to be superuser, type "sudo" and then the command to edit the file (like "sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst") or login in the console like superuser (type "su" press enter and it will ask for the superuser password you defined in the installation).

It ask me my password, and when I enter it it says "Incorrect password" altough I am absolutely sure it was right (tried multiple times).

Quote:
Are you happy with Windows?

I wasn't until I tried linux. Now I'm happier than ever to be back on Windows.

Quote:
It will make the transition smoother. You just saw how hard it is to do everything different than you did before. If you have decided on the long-term goal of switching to Linux (as I have, because the direction Microsoft is heading to does not look very bright + I'm tired of pirating software), you can make the process less harsh.

Well you are partially right. Windows' almost monopol has been highly controversed since 3.1, people were telling that it required several megabyte of hard disk drive which was insane for it's time, and that older distributions of Linux (Suse) or OS2 should be preferable.

Some installements of Windows (98, XP) were incredibly sucessfull while some others (95, Millenium) were said to be absolutely terrible and that anyone should avoid them. While Vista probably makes it to the second list (altough we have to wait several years to be objective) I see no reason newer installements of Windows couldn't fix the errors made with Vista.

Unless you are an oracel it's hard to tell what the future awaits for computers. The couse to the Gigahertz is over as an electrical signal above some frequency can't propace in copper, and the course to multiple core will have to end some day when technology will touch this end. Manufacturers probably will resort to more original and more nature-preserving hardware to continue selling new stuff, but it's really hard to guess any more.

Quote:
I, for example, am trying to give up on all proprietary software and started using under Windows open source software that's also available on Linux. I switched from M$ Office to OpenOffice, from CorelDRAW to InkScape, from Photoshop to GIMP, and so on, so that whenever I replace my OS, I'll at least be comfortable with the tools.

In fact I've doing that for many years, using exculsively my good old undefeatable Windows 2k. I see no problems using free software on a non-free OS.

by tepples on 2009-04-27 (#46268)

Bregalad wrote:
Quote:
To edit that file you need to be superuser, type "sudo" and then the command to edit the file (like "sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst") or login in the console like superuser (type "su" press enter and it will ask for the superuser password you defined in the installation).

It ask me my password, and when I enter it it says "Incorrect password" altough I am absolutely sure it was right (tried multiple times).

You need the root password, not your own password, to use su. If you know your own password, and your account is listed in the /etc/sudoers file (which lists administrators), you can try these:
sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst (I had trouble getting Nano to work on some remote systems, but make sure you know how to use vi before you start it)
sudo bash (to get an administrative shell)
gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst (GNOME)
gksudo nautilus (to get an administrative file manager in GNOME)
Quote:
Some installements of Windows (98, XP) were incredibly sucessfull while some others (95, Millenium) were said to be absolutely terrible and that anyone should avoid them. While Vista probably makes it to the second list (altough we have to wait several years to be objective) I see no reason newer installements of Windows couldn't fix the errors made with Vista.

Windows Mojave (that is, Windows Vista Service Pack 1) fixed a lot of annoyances, and these fixes will continue in Windows 7, which appears to be the 98 to Vista's 95.

by Bregalad on 2009-05-02 (#46448)

Hey, just to say I have been able to increase the screen resolution permanently, I have been able to find an application that runs NSF and SPC programms without having to copile anything manually, and I have been able to run Windows programms under that weird "wine" programm. They don't run full speed or flawlessly, but Winamp can output great sound and play all game music you want.

I've also been able to find quite a lot of programms that can do the basic stuff and some emulators (altough they run less smoothly than in Windows for some reason, maybe I should disable the GUI's "super cool" effects for speed ?

I still don't have the Wi-Fi working, but it's not working on my re-instaled Windows either

So yeah linux is really not that much worse than Windows it just takes a lot of time to set up everything so it's as you'd like. It also takes time in Windows anyway.

by tepples on 2009-05-02 (#46449)

Bregalad wrote:
I've also been able to find quite a lot of programms that can do the basic stuff and some emulators (altough they run less smoothly than in Windows for some reason, maybe I should disable the GUI's "super cool" effects for speed ?

I run Ubuntu 8.04 on two PCs: a Dell and an Asus. I don't like the full effects mode: when I drag a window by its title bar, I want it to feel solid, not rubbery. That's why I stick with simple effects.

by Bregalad on 2009-05-03 (#46463)

Yeah you're right it's pretty horrible. Simple effects looks nice tough, but I don't know if programms could run faster by disabling them.

by Ortega on 2009-05-05 (#46556)

Audacious handles pretty much every format under the sun. With Audacious2 handling psf2.

by Bregalad on 2010-12-17 (#71616)

Hi,
I used Ubuntu as a secondary OS for a while, but then it stopped working for no particular reason. I re-installed Kubuntu 10.10 (I took KDE for a change, I like to try different thing). However, this is a huge disapointment so far. A lot of thing that were working fine with Gnome are non-existant on KDE :

- I can't change menu.lst to get Windows on the top of the list, the old menu.lst is still here in the /boot/grub directory, and I can't find any new one. Does anyone know how to change the bootlist ?

- I can't find that cool tool where you type the name of a program, and that automatically download packages and install them.

- The default web browser (rekonq) sucks. I tried downloading Opera packages, but I can't even install them ! It just refuses to do anything with them.
The apt get-install command never works either.

So if nobody can help me I'll have to install my older Ubuntu version again, as KDE really REALLY sucks so far.

by tepples on 2010-12-17 (#71617)

Bregalad wrote:
I re-installed Kubuntu 10.10 (I took KDE for a change, I like to try different thing). However, this is a huge disapointment so far. A lot of thing that were working fine with Gnome are non-existant on KDE :

- I can't change menu.lst to get Windows on the top of the list, the old menu.lst is still here in the /boot/grub directory, and I can't find any new one. Does anyone know how to change the bootlist ?

Did you follow the official instructions?

Quote:
- I can't find that cool tool where you type the name of a program, and that automatically download packages and install them.

Open a terminal and sudo apt-get install software-center

Quote:
The apt get-install command never works either.

"Never works" never helps. What error message do you get?

Quote:
So if nobody can help me I'll have to install my older Ubuntu version again, as KDE really REALLY sucks so far.

I've never used Kubuntu; I'm more a GNOME fan. Ubuntu 10.10 works for me, and it works for my boss.

by Bregalad on 2010-12-18 (#71621)

Quote:
Did you follow the official instructions?

(EDIT : Never mind I didn't see that the instruction were different from version 10.10.)

Quote:
"Never works" never helps. What error message do you get?

Well for example I just tried exactly what you said :
apt get-install software-center

and I get something like that :

reading package...done
E : impossible to find package software-center

Quote:
I'm more a GNOME fan.

Yeah I was much more satifacted when I tried gnome ! Maybe it's I who suck or something, but for the non-computer science PHD; gnome is better to use.

by Bregalad on 2010-12-18 (#71628)

Yeah for some TOTALLY unknown reason, the apt-get intall command started working now. I guess I had to do something so that it install itself or something weird in the like, now it works wonders. I'm happy I got linux working again.

Sudo make me a sandwich
by tepples on 2010-12-18 (#71629)

A few possibilities:
Perhaps you were mistyping it ("apt get-install" or "apt-get intall" vs. the correct "apt-get install").
Perhaps you forgot to sudo, and apt-get couldn't access folders writable only by root.
If you haven't installed software in a while, you might need to update the list of available packages. To do that:
sudo apt-get update
Perhaps it started working again once the update manager automatically ran sudo apt-get update in the background to check for updated packages.