[GLLUG] Ubuntu Woes

Roger T. Webster websterr at atmosphereannealing.com
Wed Mar 23 09:38:50 EST 2005


Chick Tower wrote:

> I installed Ubuntu 4.10 on my PC and I've been playing around with it 
> some.  Maybe it's just because I usually use KDE, but I sure didn't 
> find it easy to do things with Ubuntu and/or Gnome.  It feels to me 
> like something big is just sitting right in the way of where I want to 
> go when I try to do things.
>
> Getting it to use my modem was a nightmare.  I'll bet I entered the 
> phone number at least eight times before realizing it doesn't like a 
> hyphen between the third and fourth digits.  That was only when I 
> noticed that the <Forward> button on the screen became inactive when I 
> typed the hyphen.  No other indication of an incorrect entry appeared. 
> What idiot programmer thought to watch out for "extraneous" data, 
> prevent the configuration utility from proceeding in such a case (but 
> let data entry continue), and not bother to tell the user what's 
> wrong?  Is this what Gnome's famous human interface guidelines 
> suggest?  Then, when I finally figure out that it accepts 7547800 but 
> not 754-7800, and get it saved (another lengthy exercise in futility), 
> I can't get the damn thing to dial out.  So I give up, and when I exit 
> the configuration utility, the modem begins dialing.  Great.  The 
> <Activate> selection seems to do nothing, so why wouldn't closing the 
> application cause the modem to activate?  Seems intuitive to me.  
> NOT.  Thankfully, my PC has no equipment to allow Gnome to determine 
> if my body position or apparel are satisfactory for its programmers's 
> purposes.
>
> Then, my Web browsing experience was so slooooow, even for a modem, 
> that it was unbearable.  I don't know if it's because of the Firefox 
> 1.0 release candidate that came with Unbuntu, the fact that I'm not 
> using Privoxy to filter out ads, or the connection speed.  I didn't 
> even see any indicator that I was connected, let alone how to check 
> the connection speed.
>
> I also can't stand the way they've configured Nautilus, the file 
> manager.  Maybe it's the spatial Nautilus I've read about, but it sure 
> is annoying.  It would be nice to see a directory tree somewhere, 
> instead of opening new windows for every directory.  I can't even 
> retreat to the console and Midnight Commander, because mc isn't 
> included!  They can pack in vim, emacs, and nano (with no indication 
> in the Gnome menus that they exist), but not mc?  Hell, they've even 
> got the text of a commercial book, _Dive into Python_, in their help 
> system, but not mc?
>
> I'm not asking for help, I'm just letting off a little steam.  I 
> really like the ideas behind Ubuntu, Gnome doesn't seem to be 
> difficult to use otherwise, and it looks sharp, but it sure seems to 
> get in my way when I know what I want to do.  It's not like I'm an 
> idiot; I've been using Linux for about four years, and Slackware for 
> the last year or two. Maybe coming up through DOS and Windows 
> molded/warped my mind to make it a poor fit with a Gnome that seems to 
> hide the existence of console tools.  But I'm glad Eric brought in all 
> those Ubuntu CDs.  At least I got a recent version of OpenOffice.org, 
> just in time to do my taxes. And the included "live" CD allowed me to 
> use my girlfriend's laptop to work on my taxes without having to use 
> her Corel Office Suite.
>
>                                Chick
>
> P.S.  Do I even dare to mess with Synaptic?
>
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>



Sorry, but I am not sure about the modem problem, but I found this a 
while ago  (http://www.ubuntuguide.org/#disableipv6-mozilla) and think 
it may help your web br. speed up.
In fact, this site has many useful hints for Ubuntu that I have used.
I also have it installed on 2 computers and also have "messed w/ 
Synaptic" to enable "universe" repositories. After you do that, a vast 
number of packages (including mc and KDE) are available to you.

-Rog



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