Tag: Computers

I have just finished listening to Windows Weekly Episode 307 where there was a general discussion about Win 8 including the reaction of inexperienced computer users to the new “tile interface”. The Windows Weekly team agreed that new users don’t seem to have the same aversion to the tile interface as some others who have used the desktop for years.

It just so happens that 2 of my friends recently bought their very first computers so I have first hand experience of how people with absolutely no previous exposure to computers react to the tile interface.

I will call them:

Subject 1   (S1)  – Male in his early 70s

Subject 2   (S2) – Female in her early 60s

Both bought different brands of laptops from a national retailer – mid range with Core i3, 4gb RAM and 500GB Hard Drives. They each also bought a $20 Microsoft wireless mouse and neither laptop has a touch screen. Neither bought MS Office but instead will use WordPad (They come from a generation that knows how to spell so WordPad will be fine.)

I was not involved in the S2 purchase but I was with S1.  S1 did not want to spend more than $500/$600 so a touch screen was not in the budget.

S2 chose Optus as her ISP and S1 chose Telstra as his.

I ended up being the “teacher” to get them up and running.

First up I have to say that, without question, both clearly favour the tile interface over the desktop. In fact they both never use the desktop apart from a couple of exceptions that I will detail later.This, I might add, put them both a little at odds with me as, after using Win 8 for over a year, I still tend to retreat too readily to the desktop.

When I say no previous computer experience, I mean just that. I had to start with lessons on how to use a mouse and generally how to use a computer.

BTW at this stage S1 is resisting using contractions like “BTW, LOL, LMAO” etc.  but I can see his resolve staring to waiver as he has no typing skills and relies on the laborious “hunt and peck” method.

In addition to the basics, the extra instructions for Win 8 can be summarised as “Corners and Charms”. They also needed to be shown how to use the Tiles (Right Mouse / Settings / Search etc.) and how to use the Store to get Apps.  I pasted a list of Win 8 Keyboard shortcuts on their laptops but I notice that in both cases they don’t use them, preferring instead to stick with the mouse.

S2 was the first to get her laptop. When I went back a few weeks later to see how she was getting along, she had progressed to the point where she was able to do most of what she wanted. Naturally she had some questions but was searching the net, sending and receiving Emails, getting her photos off her camera etc.. She had even installed the eBay App (which is something I have not yet done – I still go to the Desktop to access eBay on a browser).

She only had one main thing that she wanted me to do and that was to set up a Facebook account for her. She had not done this herself as there is no actual Facebook App and was not sure how to set it up via the desktop. ( At least I can’t see one – there are plenty of Apps for Facebook but not one that is actually Facebook.)

In any case she is now on Facebook and the most common response from family and friends who accepted her friend requests was “ welcome to the 21st century”.

The first thing that S1 wanted was to be able to access his Tatts phone betting account on the computer. He now knows how to access it to check up on “form” for the horses and to keep an eye on how much money he has in his Tatts betting account. But he said he will continue to go to the TAB to put his bets on. (I’ll give it 6 months at the most before the convenience of placing his bets on line with his Tatts account wins out over the TAB. Or I might be wrong – All the other punters gather at the TAB to swap tips so I’ll modify that to “betting on the computer wins out over using the phone”).

One of his first Emails was from another mate of ours who gave him links to various sites that cover Australian horse racing and I showed him how to add these to his favourites bar on his browser.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE TILE INTERFACE

I mentioned above that there were a couple of exceptions to 100% use of the tile interface.

These are:

E mail. 

This applies only to S 2 as she was given a POP Email address by her ISP, Optus. In both cases I set up a Hotmail Email address for Win 8 sign in and also as their main main Email addresses to use with the Win 8 Email App. However Optus still gives its subscribers a POP Email and they send their bills to this address. Therefore, in the case of S2, it was necessary to install the old desktop Windows Live Mail program just for this address. However, it was interesting to note that one of the follow up questions she had for me was to remind her how to use this program. She had no such problem with using the new “tile” Email App in Win 8.

PLEASE  Microsoft  fix the Win 8 App to accept POP Emails.I will probably set up the Optus Email to forward to her Hotmail next time I call – BUT I should not have to do this and she herself as a new user would not be able to do so.

It was interesting to note that while Telstra gave S1 an account sign in that looks like an Email address ( xxxxx@bigpond.com), there is no actual Email set up by default. Therefore I simply set up a Hotmail and input this to the Telstra/Bigpond account as the Email address.

Internet Explorer

I just cannot come to grips with the new IE. Also, most of the remedial questions S2 had concerned this browser. I solved the issue by installing Chrome on both laptops and making it the default. Both of them seemed to prefer a desktop browser particularly for things that the “tile” IE does not have like a Home button, a Back Button and a Favourites Bar – Problems solved!

SUMMARY

No matter what some people might say about the new tile interface, in this case it was really no contest. Not only do both of them not want to use the desktop, but when I start to explain it to them, I can almost see their eyes glaze over. If it can be done with the tiles, they really do not want to know.

BTW, after being shown once, neither one has any trouble finding and using the Power Button to turn the computer off which seems to be the main gripe from people who appear to have decided not to like Win 8.

I have had my brand new copy of Windows 7 for a couple of days now but was holding back on installing it as I wanted to finish with the old computer on which I was testing Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala). This computer will be going back to a Windows Vista home network and I need to make sure that all is well with file and printer sharing with Vista. I have been using my main  computer for these tests.

Patience is not one of my virtues however. As I have Vista on my Mac Book I could see no reason to wait any longer so I went ahead with the Windows 7 installation.

Backing up for a clean install is not a big deal for me as I keep everything backed up on external drives and, in any case, all of my data is saved on separate internal hard drives. As a result, it was just a matter of copying my IE favourites and the .pst file for Outlook to another drive and I was good to go.

This is how long it took:

7:50 am booted to the Win 7 DVD

Including a quick format of the C drive I was finished the installation and was downloading the updates by 8:09 am – 19 minutes. There were not many updates and, even including a download of Windows Live Essentials (which is one of the updates), I was finished by 8:40am – 50 minutes all up.

The new “Libraries” feature of Win 7 makes attaching photos, music etc to the correct “Library” trivial. (Right Mouse \ Include in Library). This is far easier that re-locating the old My Documents etc folders and it means that you can save stuff anywhere and attach it to the appropriate library.

Everything just worked. All drivers came down from Windows Update except the driver for the scanner in my Canon MP610 ‘all in one” printer. A quick visit to the Canon site soon fixed this minor issue.

After I re-installed my copy of office the usual large volume of updates needed to be downloaded but, as there has been a recent Office Service Pack, even this did not take long. Setting up my somewhat complicated Outlook arrangements took the most time but I was smart and have “how to” instructions, so by about by 9.30am I was finished.

I was a little worried about the software program for my Logitech Harmony Remote. This program would not install on the pre-release versions of Windows 7 but , once again, there was no problem with the retail copy of Win 7.

My general impressions so far ( after 1 day) is that it seems to be faster (but I have just done a clean install and I had everything including the kitchen sink installed on Vista).

It looks “pretty” and works with a minimum of fuss. Many things particularly home network set up have been made much easier.

Windows Media Centre has been updated and I can now get an Electronic program guide for my area. There is also an FM radio section for TV Tuner cards that support this (mine does).

My Only complaint is that the free Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) was not an optional update. I went ahead and downloaded MSE so I forgot to see if it was offered in the “Action Centre” – The Action Centre” takes the place of “Security” Control Panel.

I will keep playing and report on major differences (with Vista) that I notice.

by 8:05 I was at the Desktop to change from Sydney to Brisbane time and the Device Manager showed no exceptions.

Windows Live Essentials was an Optional Update (and it is needed as you don’t get any of these programs as you did with Vista).

In summary – “Very Slick”.

I keep forgetting to mention a firewall for Ubuntu. This is because I am behind a router and consequently a firewall is not essential. However, Ubuntu has a very good firewall called UFW that is installed but is disabled by default. The best way to configure it is to install a program called “Firestarter” from Add/Remove Programs.

I have also downloaded and installed the pre-release version of Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala”. The excellent news is that 9.10 has solved all of those annoying problems that I have had with my D-Link and Netgear Wi-Fi adaptors. The Netgear WG111works “out of the box” and the D-Link DWL G132 works after installing the windows drivers (both of the  .inf files) via Ndiswrapper.

The only problem I am having with 9.10 is that I can’t connect to the printers on my Vista and Windows 7 machines. However, updates are coming through every day and I hope that this can be resolved. Both of my printers work well when connected directly.

UBUNTU 9.04 (JAUNTY JACKALOPE) – SET UP

Posted by whycal on October 6, 2009

Please refer to my post 1^st Oct 2009 “RE-FURBISH”. As I have just completed a full set up of Ubuntu, I have listed below details of what I do to get Ubuntu functional for my purposes. DISCLAIMER – This is what I do using my hardware / operating systems. There are no guarantees that it will work in other cases.

Also, I think it is only fair to retract some of the praise I was heaping on Ubuntu when comparing installation times with Vista. It is true that Ubuntu (including Open Office) can be fully installed and updated in about 30 minutes. Installing Vista and MS Office takes much longer but only because of the need to run Windows Update multiple times. The actual installation of Vista & Office takes about the same time as Ubuntu; it is those multi hundred MB Windows updates that make the difference.

But, and this is a big “but”, Vista is very functional at this point particularly if you throw in the easy download of Windows Live Essentials. In particular, Windows update now automatically provides the drivers needed for most, if not all, hardware devices. However, the same can’t be said about Ubuntu. Granted, Ubuntu can do all of the basics at this point but I find it necessary to carry on with a number of tweaks to get Ubuntu to an acceptable level of functionality.

When all of this is completed, Vista is very much the quicker of the two to set up. Whether you like Microsoft or not, no one can deny that they do a first class job in getting their products to work with an almost unlimited number of different systems and/or devices. There is value in paying for their software.

The following list contains the additional steps that I take with Ubuntu 9.04 to get it to a point where I think it is a viable alternative system. Sometimes the information on the internet is a little dated and, even though I have done this many times, I find myself wasting time by going down dead ends. Therefore I use this list to save time. Of course, it will all change when the next Ubuntu version “Karmic Koala” is released at the end of October 2009.

No 1 – GET CODECS FOR PLAYING VIDEO FILES.

My method for doing this is to have small video files in the formats you think you will need. Transfer them to your new Ubuntu machine and open and play them in the default program. I usually use .wmv , .mov & .avi. You will get a pop up asking you to download the appropriate “plug in”. Just follow the prompts – simple.

No 2 – GET FLASH PLAYER

Open Firefox and go to a site that has Flash Video like You Tube (I go to http://live.twit.tv/ ). You will be prompted to get adobe flash. Click to go to the Adobe site. In the drop down box called “Select Version to Download”, select “.deb for Ubuntu 8.04+” and then click “Agree and install now”. When the download window opens, it should show the default which is to open with “GDebi Package Installer (Default)” – Don’t change this – click OK and follow the instructions. Re-start Firefox and Flash video should work.

No 3 – MP3 FUNCTUALITY FOR AUDACITY

To enable export of audio files from Audacity as MP3, “Lame” needs to be installed. The first thing to do is to open “System / Administration / Software Sources” and enable everything under the Tabs “Ubuntu Software” and Third party Software”. On the Ubuntu Software tab there is a “Download From” drop down. The default is “Australian Servers” but I have had trouble with these servers so I change it to “Main Server”.

Now run the “Update Manager” (System / Administration / Update manager). You will find that these changes generate a large number of updates.

When the updates are finished, open “System / Administration / Synaptic Packet Manager” and install LAME from “Multimedia (Multiverse)”. Then from “Synaptic Packet Manager” select “ALL” and find and install – libmp3lame0

No 4 – RIP CDs AS MP3

Ensure “Multiverse” and “Universe” are installed in “Synaptic Packet Manager” (They should be from the above “Lame” installation).

Once again from “Synaptic Packet Manager / All” – find and install “Ubuntu Restricted Extras”

From “Applications” install the program “Audio CD Extractor (Sound Juicer)” using “Add/Remove Applications”.

Open “Audio CD Extractor” – Edit / Preferences / Format / Output Format / Edit and select “CD Quality, MP3 (mp3 type)”.

NOTE – Click on “Applications / Add / Remove” and install and use “Banshee” rather than “Rhythm Box” for a music player. I always un-install Rhythm Box” as it never seems to work properly for me.

Open “Banshee” and set the default for ripping to “MP3” by clicking on – Edit / Preferences / Audio CD / Edit and select “MP3 lame Encoder”.

I also use “Banshee” to rip CDs so I change the preferences to do this automatically when a CD is inserted. With MP3 functionality installed, Banshee can be used with MP3 players (but not iPods).

No 5 -BURNING AUDIO CDs

The best program for this task is Brasero (it comes installed by default). However, another word of warning; this program seems to hang forever at the “Normalise” phase. I don’t know if it ever finishes “normalising” as I have never had the patience to wait long enough. As a result, I suggest that this function be turned off by clicking on – Edit / Plugins – Un-tick “Normalise”.

No 6 – SKYPE

I follow the instructions on this site – http://beginlinux.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/installing-skype-on-ubuntu-904/ Everything works ok except the Video. I have not been able to resolve this issue but video works on “aMSN” (See below)

No 7 – MSN Messenger

Install “aMSN” from “Applications Add/ Remove” (Internet Section). “Emesene” is another choice. Both of these look and work like MSN messenger and “aMSN” picked up my contacts list from Messenger. Unlike Skype, the video works.

No 8 – WEB CAM

Web cams can be a problem due to the driver issue. It depends on what brand you own. Some of mine work (the Logitech ones) but another cheap brand does not.

No 9 – E MAIL

Web based Email programs like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo Mail work fine via Firefox. However for POP mail (like Bigpond) I generally use the pre-installed Evolution mail. However, you can easily install Thunderbird (from the Firefox people) via “Applications / Add Remove” if you prefer.

Evolution Mail has fully functional “Calendar” and “Contacts” utilities including the ability to import contacts from other programs like Yahoo mail. When you first open Evolution mail, it walks you through the set up similar to Outlook or Windows Live Mail (desktop).

No – 10 Open Office

As long as the correct time zone was input during the installation, Open Office is fully set up with the correct language in Spell Check. Nevertheless, I always open the word processor and type in the American spelling of colour (color) just to make sure that it picks up the spelling error and Australian English is the default language in the spell checker. (It always is).

No 11 – Wi-Fi

This has been the most frustrating part of my experience with Ubuntu. To get USB Wi-Fi adaptors to work you need drivers. My D Link adaptor will not work “out of the box” and from what I have read there are few if any Linux drivers for these devices. The first thing to do is to install Ndiswrapper from “Applications / Add Remove” as it facilitates use of Windows Drivers for your particular device. Once installed, this program is accessed from System/ Administration – “Windows Wireless Drivers”. With my D Link DWL G132 adaptor, I have installed the .inf files from the Windows Driver folder (numerous versions) but it just won’t work with WPA. It works OK without any protection but I refuse to have Wi-Fi without WPA. On the other hand, the in-built Wi-Fi on my laptop worked without any drivers being installed. Obviously Ubuntu 9.04 comes with the software for the Wi-Fi chip used on this particular Asus laptop.

If your Wi-Fi will not work, there is no choice but to attach to the router via cable.

Netgear WG 111 Wireless USB Adaptor

After much weeping and tearing out of hair, I have been able to get a Netgear WG 111 V2 working. (This is the adaptor that is sent with the Bigpond Wi-Fi modem / router). This is what I did – go to “System / Administration / Synaptic Packet Manager / All” and look for and install “RTL8187 SE-Source”. Reboot. Then use Ndiswrapper to install the .inf file from the Windows drivers for “Realtek RTL8187 USB Wireless LAN (ME/2000/XP) 1.221″ – (RTL8187 is the chipset used in the Netgear WG111 V2). This is the link to get this driver:-

http://majorgeeks.com/Realtek_RTL8187_USB_Wireless_LAN_ME2000XP_d5165.html

Open the zip file and look for “netrtux.inf” under the Windows 98 folder and install it in Ndiswrapper. After much experimentation, I found that the drivers for Windows 98 worked the best. This driver only has WEP encryption but if you close the first pop up window requesting the WEP password, Ubuntu will pop another one that enables input of WPA passwords. So far (touch wood) it connects to my router.

I do have some problems however, particularly when I turn on the computer for the first time each day. The Wi-Fi won’t immediately connect. Instead it gets in a loop requesting and dropping the WPA password. To stop this, I open “System / Preferences / Network Connections / Wireless” and delete any Wireless connections. Then I go back to the Wireless Strength Meter Icon at the top right of the desktop and left mouse click on this icon then click again on any wireless connections. This disconnects the Wi-Fi and it will then automatically re-start and re-connect properly. Repeat this process if it does not work the first one or two times.

Update!! I have since discovered that the problem of not immediately connecting can be resolved. First obtain the MAC address of the Netgear Wi-Fi adaptor from System/ Administration/ Network Tools/ Devices / Network Device / Wireless Interface. Now configure your router to deliver a “Static IP” to this MAC address but leave the Ubuntu machine as DHCP. For reasons known only unto the gods, when I did this the Netgear WD111 connects first time every time. Choose and IP towards the top of the range allowed by the router to avoid IP clashes.

No 12 – PHOTOS / CAMERAS

Ubuntu works with many cameras. Just plug your camera in via USB and let it mount as a drive. Then look for the photos in the camera’s memory and copy to the HDD.

PICASA:–

The default program for correcting photos is Gimp (free version of Photoshop) which I find a bit hard to use. However Picasa can be obtained from Google here http://picasa.google.com/linux/thanks-deb.html

Download the installer and open it with the default “GDebi Package Installer”. After it installs, it works just like – well – Picasa; thank you Google for making it so easy to install.

No 13 PRINTERS – INCLUDING PRINTER ATTACHED TO A WINDOWS COMPUTER

Printing can be set up for a directly attached printer or, if your existing printer is attached to a Windows machine, Ubuntu can print over the network to this printer.

Directly attached printers are easy to set up. Plug the printer into the computer via USB and turn it on. Go to “System / Administration / Printing / New” and select your printer. In most cases it will automatically search for and install the drivers. If not, follow the “choose driver” procedure to get drivers as set out below with printers attached to a windows machine.

Attached to a Windows machine: Make sure that “Sharing” is turned on for this printer on your Windows machine. (Vista – Control Panel/ Right Mouse / Sharing). On the Ubuntu machine, click on “System / Administration / Printing / New / Printer / Network Printer / Windows Printer via Samba”. Click the “Browse” button next to SMB printer and this will activate a small window that should show your Windows Home Network name. Click on the drop down on your Windows Home Network name to expose the list of computers on your network. Select the computer that has the printer attached. This will bring up a “Log In” Window. With Vista make sure that you input the Administration Log In name next to “User Name”. (With XP most people are logged as Admin).Insert your Home Network name for Domain and the Windows Admin password.

The printer should now be listed – Click on the Printer then “OK” & “Forward”. Ubuntu will then search for the printer and hopefully find it. A new window called “Choose Driver” will appear. Select the brand and then the model to install the printer software. Mine is a Canon MP610 and it is listed along with hundreds of other models and makes. Click “Forward” and a new screen called “Describe Printer” appears. The printer can be re-named but, unless you have multiple printers, it can be left at the default name. Click “Apply” and you will be asked to print a test page. At this point Ubuntu will again ask for Authentication. Input the Windows Admin User name and password again and be sure to tick the “Remember” box. With a bit of luck the test page will print.

WARNING !! There is an annoying bug in Ubuntu when printing to a windows attached printer. Every time you print something to your windows printer, you will need to “Authenticate” as follows: – After you have clicked to print your document, go to “System / Administration / Printing” and right mouse on your windows attached printer and click “Display Print Queue”. This will bring up a window with a list of pending print jobs. You will notice that the Status of your print job is noted as “Held for Authentication”. It is necessary to right mouse on the relative entry and click “Authenticate”. Input your Windows Admin User Name and Password.

I was able to do all of this with the Windows Firewall set to Printer sharing. No doubt, anyone with one of the security suites (like Norton & McAfee etc) will be in for a whole world of firewall hurt but, as I will not allow programs like these within a hundred feet of any computer I own, I can’t help with this. As long as your home network is behind a router, it is quite safe to turn off firewalls while these things are being set up. – This comment also applies to Windows Network below.

No 14 – WINDOWS NETWORK

Notwithstanding Firewall issues, (I had no trouble with “File Sharing” turned on in my Windows Firewall), seeing the Vista shared drives and files from the Ubuntu machine is not difficult.

This is how – Click “Places / Network “and a window will come up showing “Windows Network”. Double click on the “Windows Network” icon and, if the windows firewall is being co-operative, an icon for your windows home network will appear. Double click again for the icon for your computer. Double click on this icon and a username and password screen will appear. By default it has the Ubuntu username and the generic Windows “Workgroup” inserted in the Domain space. You need to change this to the windows Admin user name and password with the name of your work group in the domain space. Click “Connect” and you will be able to see the Vista shared drives and public folder. Remember, when prompted to input username, domain and password, always use the Windows Admin Sign In and the name of your windows workgroup.

Going back the other way from Vista to Ubuntu is another issue entirely and I have not had the time to look at this in any great detail. I will leave this for another time.

Note with Windows 7 to get any network access to files on a Win 7 from a non Win 7 machine go into “Home Group” / “Advanced Sharing Settings” and turn off “Password Protected Sharing” and click “Use User accounts and passwords …” under “Home Group Connections”.

Vista– If you’re having trouble logging into other computers from Vista, go here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947232 and run the “Fix It” tab

No 15 – BURNING DATA CDs/ DVDs & BURNING A DVD TO PLAY IN A DVD PLAYER

When you insert a blank DVD (or CD) the default program is CD/DVD Creator (Applications / Accessories). There are a number of other CD DVD burning programs including “GnomeBaker CD/DVD Writer” and “Brasero” but these will not produce the files needed for a disk that will play in a DVD player.

If you want to burn a DVD that will play in a DVD player, go to “System / Administration / Synaptic Packet Manager” and install “DeVeDe”. Reboot so it appears in Applications / Sound & Video. Then use “Applications Add/Remove” to install “K3b”. Use “DeVeDe” to convert your video file to an .iso file (that contains the correct structure for use in a DVD palyer). Then use “K3b” to burn the .iso to a DVD. Click the “Burn DVD  ISO Image” Box on the main menu.

Like any other system, if a burn fails, try another brand of blank disk.

No – 16 GOOGLE EARTH

Installing Google earth is not as straightforward as installing that other Google product Picasa (See No 12). Go to http://earth.google.com/intl/en/download-earth.html

Click “Agree and Download” and save it to your Desktop. The download is called “GoogleEarthLinux.bin”. Right Mouse on it and click “Open with other application”.

At the bottom of this menu is an entry called “Use Custom Command”. Click the little arrowhead to the right of this to reveal an input box and type in – sh – (just sh).

Click Open and, at first, a black Terminal type window will open. Do nothing with this window, instead wait a few seconds until a second window called “Google Earth Set Up” opens fully and then click “Start” and follow the prompts. When it is finished, click on “Quit” rather that “Start”. This will close this window then click inside the first black terminal window and just hit enter to close it. Google earth can now be found in Applications / Internet.

CONCLUSION

There a large number of programs available via Applications Add/Remove and Synaptic Packet Manager but it is a matter of trial and error to find one that will work with your set up. Believe me, I have “trialled and errored” for hours to get things working and something that works on one computer may not work on another.

Some of my friends question my sanity but it is good to learn about these things and, when you manage to get it working, it is good to know that Ubuntu is not only a fully functional alternative but is also free stable and safe.

After all of the above items have been completed, your Ubuntu machine should be able to do most of the things that a home user would want. However, there will always be issues with hardware drivers and it definitely takes more time, patience and effort than Vista to set it up to this point.

P.S. There are some excellent Ubuntu tutorial videos here http://www.butterscotch.com/search.html?srchfld=Ubuntu

Just a short post to let everyone know that the latest version of Open Office (the free alternative to MS Office) now comes with an Australian English dictionary pre-installed.

In the past, some work was required to find and install an Australian English Dictionary. Ubuntu comes with Australian English included within Open Office but I just noticed that it is now also included in the latest version (Open Office 3.1) that you can download from  http://www.openoffice.org/.

Open Office can be a good alternative for many people and it runs on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 as well as Apple Mac OSX.

I have installed it on my computer running Windows 7 and my Mac Book. The process in each case was painless. It  automatically picked up from my Windows 7 and Mac OSX installations that Australian English was to be the default dictionary.

Open Office Version 3.1 looks and works a lot like MS Office 2003 and comes with:

• A word processor caller “Writer”
• An Excel like program called “Calc”
• A 3D graphics drawing program that can also be used as an alternative to Publisher called “Draw”
• A Power Point alternative called “Impress”
• A  program for Mathematical equations called  “Math”
• A MS Access alternative called “Base”

If you have paid for the less expensive Home & Student version of Office 2007 that comes with only Word,Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, you could also install all or part of Open Office to get access to programs that work like the additional components included in the more expensive versions of Office.

I will now be using Open Office instead of iWorks on my Apple Mac Book . Open Office did a much better job of opening Microsoft Office documents than the corresponding applications in Apple iWorks.

Whereas Apple Numbers does not handle the Excel formatting, charts etc well at all, Open Office “Calc” did a very good job. I also note that Open Office can read and write to the new Office 2007 document format (.docx & .xlsx etc).

Now that I have Ubuntu on a computer that I use on a day to day basis, I wanted to see how practical it would be for an inexperienced person to use. In the past, I have mainly used it for Emails and internet browsing as well as playing around with it to see what hardware would or would not work. I have now taken some time to undertake a number of common tasks that most people would expect to be able to carry out on a computer.

The experience with Ubuntu can be described as generally good but, in addition to limitations with hardware driver support, there are some functions that are not easy or straightforward to implement.

First I will repeat its strong points. It is free, easy to install, stable and there are practically no issues with viruses. Ubuntu comes packed with free programs that function well for things like browsing the internet, emails, word processing, spreadsheets and your photos. You can do your internet banking with safety and access your MySpace and Facebook accounts as easily as on Windows or Mac. It now operates with a wide range of hardware including many common printers, scanners, web cams and wireless keyboards/mice and will run on an increasing number of laptops.

Ubuntu has a file system that is similar to the Mac but is set up so that Windows users also have little trouble getting used to it.

I almost forgot, it comes preloaded with a full complement of games as good as what you get with Windows. Furthermore, you have access to a wide variety of programs and, if one does not suit or work, you can install another.

I should also mention that networking has been greatly improved in the latest version. I had no difficulty at all getting on my Windows home network and accessing files in the public folder on my Vista computer.

These things are more than enough to make it ideal to run on a second computer particularly an older model. Ubuntu even has a light weight version called Xubuntu for use on very old computers with low processing power and small amounts of RAM.

However when you venture beyond these basic functions, you start to run into problems that may be difficult for people with limited computer skills to resolve.

As mentioned in my previous post, installing Skype does require some effort and my first attempt to print a label on a CD was not a success. To enable use of Wi-Fi adaptors it is necessary to install a program (Ndiswrapper) that enables use of Windows drivers. Even so, I have not been able to get a D-Link G132 USB Wi-Fi adaptor to work correctly with WPA encryption. My Dvico TV tuner card will not work properly. For some unknown reason it will only pick up a few of the available TV channels.

Initially, ripping a CD was not completely successful. I used the pre-installed ripping program and it worked well enough but, by default, the tracks are ripped to the open source music file .ogg. Most MP3 players including iPods and my old SanDisk M240 do not recognise .ogg files. It is possible to make adjustments to rip CDs as MP3. To do this, you need to install the MP3 package, after which it is easy to rip CDs as MP3s. I then found that extra steps were needed to load the MP3 files onto the SanDisk. The default media player program (Rhythmbox) did not Auto Sync like iTunes and it was necessary to mount the player as a USB storage device and copy and paste the songs. The MP3 files contained the track name but did not include Artist or Album details.

This was not an easy process so I used the “add remove program” function to install another Media player (Banshee Media Player) and it was far superior in performance. It recognised the SanDisk player and supported an Auto Sync function. It has smart playlists but these could not be loaded onto the MP3 player. Once again, the tracks did not include artist or album information and, if you use the “Sync” function, every song in your Music Folder is loaded onto the MP3 player. Therefore, while it is possible to use your MP3 player, it requires some work and most normal computer users would not bother. We have been too spoiled by iTunes and iPods.

Burning a CD also had a small problem. The default program (Brasero) would hang when “normalising” the sound levels but I was able to solve this issue by turning off this function in the Plug Ins. On the other hand it automatically generated an album cover that included a list of the tracks but no Album Art. You have to insert this yourself.

Importing video from a camera is another function that requires far more effort than on commercial operating systems. I don’t own a video camera but I shot a couple of short videos on my Kodak still camera. I could not find a program that would see and import the video and, once again, I had to mount the camera and copy and paste the video. I tried two video editing programs but neither was easy to use and I gave up after some time. Perhaps I’m dumb but I did not want to waste any more time and I suspect that most people would have a similar lack of patience.

People who know their way around computers will have a generally good experience with Ubuntu. A similar good experience would apply for everyone else  but only for the basic functions I have mentioned. On the other hand, “normal” computer users would run into obstacles if they expected it to be as easy to use as Windows or Mac across all operations.

But hey it’s free and you can always re-install XP on that old computer if things don’t work out. (Although the act of re- installing XP will be a major pain in the rear compared to the first class experience of installing Ubuntu.)