Reviving a very old project
Jun. 7th, 2020 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livSo nearly 5 years ago, I hatched a plan to get involved in Open Source stuff. And it completely foundered because I tried to install Ubuntu on a netbook and didn't really even get started. Today, I tried again and actually got somewhere.
I'm really embarrassed that I didn't try again for such a long time, but I let myself get blocked on the expectation that it was going to be frustrating. I'm a scientist, I'm generally comfortable with failure and troubleshooting. Indeed, it was my plan to identify and document and report what went wrong in order to make it easier for other people in future. However, I didn't really even get to the stage of failing, just didn't get started at all. And it sort of turned into an obligation, I made the mistake of telling myself I should try again, and I rebelled against my own intention.
And I know the pandemic isn't really the right time for that big project you've been putting off for ages. But it isn't the wrong time either. I have a bit more time and having another go at scaling the cliff face might be less appealing than any number of social things but it's more appealing than just scrolling through Twitter.
There's another motivation, which is that my Windows laptop is slowly dying. It's 7 years old (and wasn't the latest tech when I got it) and ridiculously underpowered for modern anything, and I've already resurrected it once. I might be able to fix the cooling problem again, but the touchpad is failing in awkward ways, and I don't think it has much scope to upgrade the hardware eg add RAM or replace the hard disk. Also it is pretty irresponsible to continue running Win7 on an internet-connected machine, and I find myself deeply reluctant to either 'upgrade' to Win10 or get a new machine infested with Win10. I have far less specific need for Windows these days, so if I'm going to get a new computer I might as well use the opportunity to escape from Microsoft's clutches. But I don't want to spend serious money on a new machine until I'm confident I can actually adapt to a new OS.
So. I determined I was going to have another go at converting a spare laptop (a cheap HP machine I bought last time I thought my main home machine was dying) to Ubuntu. It turns out that waiting five years was in some ways exactly the right answer. The Ubuntu website these days has far more helpful instructions compared to last time I looked, and I just followed the step by step instructions and bingo. So I made a bootable USB stick, which was almost trivially easy. And then I attached it to Purple Eyes, and it took a few tries to get Windows to break out of its usual start cycle and recognize a boot source, but that was the only hitch. I told it to delete everything, including Windows as well as all the files (which are all backed up anyway) rather than trying to create any partitions or dual boot cleverness. It felt surprisingly good to nuke Windows! I even removed the sticker from the chassis.
Result: I have a pure, completely default Ubuntu machine, which has the minor bonus of being shiny and purple. And my Win7 laptop isn't actually dead yet so I can keep them running in parallel. I am hoping to switch over to using Purple Eyes II as my main machine and just get myself into Ubuntu habits, as well as documenting the steps I take to set up an environment I can comfortably use. And I'll see if I still need a new laptop after a few months of working on the old machine with semi-new brain.
If anyone wants to recommend me software, please go ahead. I have literally nothing other than whatever's in the default setup. And I have little knowledge of what I'm missing. I mean, I could try to recreate everything I use in Windows but that slightly defeats the object.
I'm really embarrassed that I didn't try again for such a long time, but I let myself get blocked on the expectation that it was going to be frustrating. I'm a scientist, I'm generally comfortable with failure and troubleshooting. Indeed, it was my plan to identify and document and report what went wrong in order to make it easier for other people in future. However, I didn't really even get to the stage of failing, just didn't get started at all. And it sort of turned into an obligation, I made the mistake of telling myself I should try again, and I rebelled against my own intention.
And I know the pandemic isn't really the right time for that big project you've been putting off for ages. But it isn't the wrong time either. I have a bit more time and having another go at scaling the cliff face might be less appealing than any number of social things but it's more appealing than just scrolling through Twitter.
There's another motivation, which is that my Windows laptop is slowly dying. It's 7 years old (and wasn't the latest tech when I got it) and ridiculously underpowered for modern anything, and I've already resurrected it once. I might be able to fix the cooling problem again, but the touchpad is failing in awkward ways, and I don't think it has much scope to upgrade the hardware eg add RAM or replace the hard disk. Also it is pretty irresponsible to continue running Win7 on an internet-connected machine, and I find myself deeply reluctant to either 'upgrade' to Win10 or get a new machine infested with Win10. I have far less specific need for Windows these days, so if I'm going to get a new computer I might as well use the opportunity to escape from Microsoft's clutches. But I don't want to spend serious money on a new machine until I'm confident I can actually adapt to a new OS.
So. I determined I was going to have another go at converting a spare laptop (a cheap HP machine I bought last time I thought my main home machine was dying) to Ubuntu. It turns out that waiting five years was in some ways exactly the right answer. The Ubuntu website these days has far more helpful instructions compared to last time I looked, and I just followed the step by step instructions and bingo. So I made a bootable USB stick, which was almost trivially easy. And then I attached it to Purple Eyes, and it took a few tries to get Windows to break out of its usual start cycle and recognize a boot source, but that was the only hitch. I told it to delete everything, including Windows as well as all the files (which are all backed up anyway) rather than trying to create any partitions or dual boot cleverness. It felt surprisingly good to nuke Windows! I even removed the sticker from the chassis.
Result: I have a pure, completely default Ubuntu machine, which has the minor bonus of being shiny and purple. And my Win7 laptop isn't actually dead yet so I can keep them running in parallel. I am hoping to switch over to using Purple Eyes II as my main machine and just get myself into Ubuntu habits, as well as documenting the steps I take to set up an environment I can comfortably use. And I'll see if I still need a new laptop after a few months of working on the old machine with semi-new brain.
If anyone wants to recommend me software, please go ahead. I have literally nothing other than whatever's in the default setup. And I have little knowledge of what I'm missing. I mean, I could try to recreate everything I use in Windows but that slightly defeats the object.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-06-08 04:35 am (UTC)One of the best and worst things about Linux is the breadth and depth of software available for any and all purposes you might have. Ubuntu has a lot of well-supported software, so you have lots of choices to pick from.
I would start by getting comfortable with the interface that you can find and install software from. It's been years since I ran Ubuntu, but it's still likely that you have some additional repositories of software that aren't enabled by default. That's probably the first thing to do, so that you have all the possibilities to hand. Then, getting familiar with your package manager will make it easy for you to install software to try it out and then remove it when it doesn't fit your needs.
The first thing I would suggest is determining which of the desktop environments that are available you would like to use. Ubuntu's default, if I recall correctly, is GNOME, which has a particular look and feel to it, which is more akin to macOS than Windows, but there are others. Try a few of them out and see how they arrange things, how customizable they are, how much they make the laptop struggle to do anything, what their default programs are for things.
Once you have one you like, it's probably worth noting what toolkit the desktop environment uses (usually GTK or Qt) and finding applications that use the same toolkit for maximum smoothness and not having to load a completely different kit to work with, which will keep your hard drive and RAM usage smaller. (You can always ignore this in favor of "this program does all the things I want to do in and it does them well and intuitively.")
On Linux, there are many wars fought about what programs are the best. Ignore them all and test programs until you find one you like that has the features you want. Using lists of "bests" found in the Internet is a good way of getting started on candidates, but ultimately what works for you is what is correct.
I generally use VLC as my media catch-all. You may need to install specific video and audio codecs to make all your files work.
Firefox is my main web browser on Linux.
Really, what do you plan on doing in your Linux system? That's going to steer software decisions a lot.