Test System:
4gb A-DATA DDR2 800
e2140 @ 2.66 GHZ
1600XT, later upgraded to 8800gt
MSI 650i P6N platinum
Western Digital 500GB
I had tried Ubuntu 7.04 last year, and was eager to see what improvements had been made in 7.10. I got CD’s for both the 64 bit and 32 bit version, so I could see if the 64 bit version had any compatibility issues.
Installation: I first tried to install Ubuntu using the 64bit live CD. However, the installation would freeze mid-way through the process. I asked for help on the Ubuntu forums, and was told to try using the text based installer. However, this also resulted in failure.
I eventually tracked the problem down to my motherboard, the P6N Platinum. It turns out that the motherboard has problems installing 64 bit operating systems when all 4 RAM slots are in use. This problem also occurs in Windows 64.
I then tried to install the 32 bit version. It worked perfectly, and finished installing in about 20 minutes.
Networking: Getting internet access was one of the most difficult parts of the Ubuntu process. I had originally connected my computer using Wireless G. However, my wireless device did not have Ubuntu drivers available, and I was unable to get them working with ndiswrapper.
I decided to borrow another adapter from one of my family members. Ubuntu was able to recognize the wireless card without the need to install drivers. I was able to see my wireless network, but when I tried to connect to it, I was unable to ping the router. After trying several different methods of configuring my IP, I gave up, and ended up using powerline ethernet to connect.
Graphics Drivers: My first card, the 1600xt, was able to be configured using the restricted drivers manager. I hoped that this would mean I would have functional graphics without having to configure drivers.
I was overly optimistic. While I could play games fine, I was unable to turn the advanced desktop settings. I tracked this down to a problem with xserver. But when I enabled the xserver -gl package, it fixed the problem, but prevented me from being able to play OpenGL games (ie, all of the ones that run on Linux).
The second card I tried, the 8800gt, was much harder to configure, although I was eventually able to get it working without a problem. The card was not recognized in the restricted drivers manage, so I downloaded the proprietary driver from nVidia. Installation did not work at first, since I had to disable x-sever. I solved this by downloading Envy, loading the command line by hitting ctrl-alt-f, and typing sudo /etc/init.d/gmdstop. I was then able to do a manual install.
My problems were not over. The nVidia drivers caused the fan to spin at 100% speed, and the drivers had no fan control option. I solved this by finding a Perl script to froce the fan to 30%, then putting it into Ubuntu’s startup folder.
Gaming: One of Ubuntu’s biggest lures is its excellent program for adding software. Installation is useually fast and painless. All of the games I tried installed perfectly, with the exception of Freeciv. Freeciv crashed whenever I tried to start it, and I was never able to find a solution to this problem.
I also tried to install Quake 4 on Ubuntu. The process was rather frustrating, including the game being configured for Spanish on first load. Despite these problems, I was able to get the game running fine after a few hours of tinkering.
Overall Impression: Ubuntu is a great operating system for basic tasks. If all you do is browse the web though a wired connection, type documents, listen to music, and play some basic games, there is no reason to buy Windows.
But for people who want to play serious games or use Windows based software, Ubutnu is not yet ready to fully replace Windows.