Advice Please Firefox 3 Running on Ubuntu.

[Gary Peacock]

I was going to switch to Vista but they haven't manufactured enough 5.25" floppies, yet.

 

Don't laugh the system I was the supposed "expert" on is still in use with some big companies and still uses them!

[grahoom]

I used to use VAX/VMS - That ran on the DEC VAX machine... dare say there are quite a few VAX about...

lovely dumb terminals and the glorious glow of a green screen!

Edited October 2, 2008 by grahoom

[Chris J W]

I used to use VAX/VMS - That ran on the DEC VAX machine... dare say there are quite a few VAX about...

lovely dumb terminals and the glorious glow of a green screen!

 

Ah, for the good ol' days of my favourite PR1ME 9955-II, running PR1MOS Rev 19.5 (never quite liked Rev 20 for some reason) with Pericom Amber terminals.

[alan_fincher]

I used to use VAX/VMS - That ran on the DEC VAX machine... dare say there are quite a few VAX about...

lovely dumb terminals and the glorious glow of a green screen!

Now you are talking - proper machines, albeit we were still working in Cobol those days.

 

I'm trying to remember them, but the memory has gone. "DCL" rings a bell as the command language, (possibly ). The Sys Admins were constantly trying to keep us away from the prompt on production machines, but it never took more than a couple of hours to break their latest attempts.

 

I remember when we got the very latest DEC VAX machines, with a (then) pretty impressive 6Mb of memory each!

 

That seemed a lot after the Ventek Datapoint machines I had come from, (I bet nobody knows them!), which each supported operations at several major oil terminals, and none with more than 128Kb of memory!!

 

What an old fart I am!...... (IBM System 370 Assembler, anybody?........ )

[Robbo]

I'm not a computer whizz so could someone please expand on Ubuntu, how do I get it, how easy is it to load etc?

 

 

Easiest way is to go to the Ubuntu site and download the CD and boot up from it, you can then play with the system to see if it's to your liking before installing it. If you decided to install it backup all your documents / photos, etc as you may need to remove Windows to make room, etc. A free ISO burner for Windows to use is call Burniso.

 

There's another distro of Linux called gOS which is more like the Mac interface, (it's based on Ubuntu).

[Robbo]

Gimme a Mac for Multimedia

Gimme an MS box for 'every day' use

Gimme a Linux box for web/email server

Gimme a Novell box with Notes for a small workgroup

GImme a loads of MS boxes with Exchange for large workgroups

Gimme a MS box with MS SQL Server / Oracle for critical apps

Gimme a linux box with MySQL for non critical aps

 

My list is more

OS/X for everyday use.

Linux/BSD for internet infrastructure.

*nix / Oracle for critical stuff.

MS stuff if your business has limited IT, MS is very easy to setup with little knowledge. One of the reasons why NT and the like is so wide-spread today.

[stuart]

Gimme a Novell box with Notes for a small workgroup

 

See I was all with you until you posted that one. Notes has got to be the single most useless piece of software (sorry groupware) that I've ever come across!

 

Still most things badged "Lotus" or "IBM" are crap.

[Chris J W]

MS stuff if your business has limited IT, MS is very easy to setup with little knowledge. One of the reasons why NT and the like is so wide-spread today.

 

Hmm. Yes and No. Can't argue that it's pretty easy to set up for a small workgroup, but for larger organisation it does take some effort to 'get it right' (if you see what I mean)

 

NT isn't that bad an OS for Authentication, File and Print services (*) but based on what I saw when I played with Server 2008 it did seem to start suffering from bloat and a reluctance to just shed of the historical support stuff - something MS really MUST do soon with both Server and Desktop products to make things a bit leaner again.

 

 

(*) We once had one NT 3.51 server that was so reliable we actually forgot where it was! It was only a secondary backup domain server so we didn't bother backing it up, but it saw irregular service when the primary backup fell over (it was a crap box that kept eating hardware), but we never had to go anywhere physically near it for about three years. When moving out of the building we found it sat in the back of a storeroom!

[grahoom]

Now you are talking - proper machines, albeit we were still working in Cobol those days.

 

I did a degree in Information System Development (it was as dull as it sounds!) - and I couldn't quite believe it when one of the first modules we did was Cobol! There are still quite a lot of jobs out there for Cobol Programmers, but I can't remember any of it, was 14 years ago that I last did any Cobol.

[Chris J W]

I did a degree in Information System Development (it was as dull as it sounds!) - and I couldn't quite believe it when one of the first modules we did was Cobol! There are still quite a lot of jobs out there for Cobol Programmers, but I can't remember any of it, was 14 years ago that I last did any Cobol.

 

Come the Y3K problem, you'll probably be needed again. Think you can hang on to the mortal coil long enough?

[grahoom]

Come the Y3K problem, you'll probably be needed again. Think you can hang on to the mortal coil long enough?

 

Well that all depends if we make it past 2012, if we do anything is possible

[Hairyloon]

I'm a tight fisted soul, and being able to install the OS and office bundle free on as many machines as I like, with free upgrades does make me wonder why I put up with the Microsoft approach!

Possibly because it is virtually impossible to buy a machine without Windoze installed.

I've only found two manufacturers (Dell & IBM) that will sell a Linux machine, but they actually charge you more for the same hardware, despite the fact the software is free.

How that manages to comply with the Competition Act baffles me completely, but the OFT assures me that it does.

[alan_fincher]

Well I suppose you can always build your own.

 

However, even so....

 

If I buy a new PC these days it seems to come with little more than the OS, (Vista usually), installed. If I want a full copy of MS Office, (because that's what everybody expects), it will cost me hundreds, and is still only licenced for one PC. (It also quickly becomes an old version....).

 

If I scrap Windows and go Linux, it seems to me that I can then get my entire fully functional "office" package for nothing. I've still to try this out, but I was impressed that OpenOffice seemed capable of opening a file in a proprietry MS format, editing it, and resaving again in .doc, .xls, or whatever.

 

I'll admit I've discovered one or two gotchas with Linux. If you try and run diagnostic software from Dell's website, it barks if you are not using Internet Explorer, for example.

 

My early exposure to Linux tells me it's worth exploring further and that I might be able to wave Bill Gates goodye.

 

Right now I'm very happy to be using this (Ubuntu) machine, as my Windows one is going out on a Blue Screen of Death everytime I try and load or eject a DVD.

[Derek R.]

This COBOL talk reminds me of when I came off the road and went into the 'office' for Pony Express. I got sent on a programming course. I spent a fortnight in Leeds learning RPGII (to get driver/rider accounts off paper bookwork). Then evening classes at Hatfield Uni learning programming in binary code, where at the end of one month we had learned how to get the computer to switch on and off. I thought - 'what's the on off switch for?' Then someone introduced something called X3 (whatever that is/was), and everything that took hours with RPGII, filling out sheets of paper to be read on card readers, was done in one line of text on a keyboard. That's when I went back on the road.

 

The binary experience was enough to know - walk away . . .

 

Must look at Ubuntu again.

[NoFixedAbode]

I used to use VAX/VMS - That ran on the DEC VAX machine... dare say there are quite a few VAX about...

lovely dumb terminals and the glorious glow of a green screen!

 

There are still a few Vax machines about and a lot of VMS apps.

 

I am currently trying to migrate a 12 year old £15 million flexible machining cell from a DEC VAX 3100 running VMS6.2 to a HP Integrity blade server running VMS8.3 (109 executables to recompile and link and about 3000 scripts to check and edit)

 

VMS is still in use because it is still the most reliable operating system ever written, the best demonstration of this is that Intels manufacturing plants all run on open VMS but they don't advertise this.

 

Most of the worlds banking systems still run on VMS.

Nasa are still installing VMS systems.

the entire british telephone network runs on VMS.

[Derek R.]

Install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package, that will get you (amongst other useful things), the microsoft web-fonts, which is what the forum HTML works best with.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon.

 

Hmm. Perhaps you can throw some light my way.

 

I've XP home with Firefox as my browser, and downloaded ubuntu to desktop. Initially trying to open the file, windows says "can't open, don't know what wrote it". Figuring I should be able to open it somehow, I selected Firefox to open it. But as FF was in block mode, so I unblocked, and it was opened (sounds biblical). But what then? If I right click on the ubuntu desktop icon and 'open with FF' I get a blank FF browser screen from which I can select all my usual stuff. Yet if I look in control panel for ubuntu - nothing. Is it installed, or not installed? I did get some options of add-ons as advert blocking programs which seem to work, but suspect that's FF not ubuntu.

 

Clueless me.

[Liam]

Hi Derek,

 

Ubuntu isn't an application or peice of software which you can install under Windows, it's a complete operating system which means you either need to replace XP with Ubuntu, or setup a dual boot system, which is more complicated, and have them both installed on the same computer.

 

Check out www.ubuntu.com for more info.

[alan_fincher]

But it can also be booted and run entirely from CD, giving you the chance to get the look and feel of it without committing it to hard disk.

 

There's a CD attached to a publication in Smith's magazine section called "Linux Made Easy", (it has a big Linux penguin on the cover, so is easy to spot).

 

But it's a tenner, and I've no doubt you can download a CD image and burn it, if you have a fast broadband connection.

 

(That's if your CD/DVD burning capability in Windows is working, which mine currently aint. )

[MoominPapa]

Hi Derek,

 

Ubuntu isn't an application or peice of software which you can install under Windows, it's a complete operating system which means you either need to replace XP with Ubuntu, or setup a dual boot system, which is more complicated, and have them both installed on the same computer.

 

Check out www.ubuntu.com for more info.

What Liam says is correct, but it is possible to get Ubuntu in the form of Windows program, which installs without disturbing the existing system. I've used this, and it works well. Go to clicky to download,

 

MP.

[Derek R.]

What Liam says is correct, but it is possible to get Ubuntu in the form of Windows program, which installs without disturbing the existing system. I've used this, and it works well. Go to clicky to download,

 

MP.

 

Thanks guys, I wondered as much. I'll take a look, but as what I'm set up with ain't broke etc., and as I'm working with someone elses hand me down, it might get more complicated than I've got details to deal with. Back cabin carpentry calls . . . ('that' I can handle).

[Derek R.]

What Liam says is correct, but it is possible to get Ubuntu in the form of Windows program, which installs without disturbing the existing system. I've used this, and it works well. Go to clicky to download,

 

MP.

 

Been there again, and successfully installed Ubuntu. It's quite partitioned off from XP, and files need to be saved and copied for safety. Looks promising, I like the Elephant wallpaper.

Many thanks.

 

Edit: Yes, dual boot - I get an option with a ten second window at start-up, one or the other.

Edited October 7, 2008 by Derek R.

[Derek R.]

Install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package, that will get you (amongst other useful things), the microsoft web-fonts, which is what the forum HTML works best with.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon.

 

I'm having the same trouble Alan had. Can't find this restricted extras package, and seem to have no control over font style. I can make it bigger, but that's not the requirement.

Any more clues chaps?

[Derek R.]

I'm having the same trouble Alan had. Can't find this restricted extras package, and seem to have no control over font style. I can make it bigger, but that's not the requirement.

Any more clues chaps?

 

Sorted!

Applications>Add/Remove>show all available> scroll down to 'ubuntu restricted extras'> add.