Ubuntu Linux 8.10

ubuntu

slightly offtopic/

anyone know of any ubuntu techies who would be able to assist me in having our windows based point of sale run on Ubuntu?


Question about ubuntu: If its released every 6 months, does it have a seamless upgrade system? or does one have to reload everything when going to the next version.
 
I got excited when Hardy came out, now I'm going to have to get excited all over again. Honestly Ubuntu is making me a lot more excited than Vista could ever do....

I also find that version upgrades are a little undertested. I definitely had issues upgrading and ended up downloading the new dvd and doing a reinstall.
 
can you even imagine microsoft releasing a new version OS every 6 months?
 
Joh they move fast, hardy just good released... no complaints tho, cant wait to see the new theme
 
Gru said:
can you even imagine microsoft releasing a new version OS every 6 months?
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They took something like ~6 years to release Vista after XP (feels so long ago I can barely remember) and it still wasn't ready. It would be a nightmare if Micro$oft were to release a new OS every six months.
 
ToSsMaStR said:
Joh they move fast, hardy just good released... no complaints tho, cant wait to see the new theme
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I can't wait to see the official full-blown version of KDE4. When it is in a state of perfection.
Does anybody know what the plans are for Gnome?

I can't wait to see the new theme and all the goodies either.
 
ic said:
If only Microsoft's constant stream of hotfixes and patches actually fundamentally changed Windoze into a totally new OS that really was more secure and didn't decide to break all the time.
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That would be cool. But only one problem. There is two things Micro$oft cannot do: cool and working. :D
 
naeem said:
slightly offtopic/

anyone know of any ubuntu techies who would be able to assist me in having our windows based point of sale run on Ubuntu?


Question about ubuntu: If its released every 6 months, does it have a seamless upgrade system? or does one have to reload everything when going to the next version.
Click to expand...
Reply to naeem: I can make two comments to you as you seem to be a non-Ubuntu user.

I have been running Ubuntu on my home PC where my wife is predominantly working on the machine and my kids (pre-school) watch DVDs ( I don't have or want a TV). The system is really usable. She is not a tech-person and to her the fact that she is working is Linux is transparent. My kids play games and operate the DVD without any problems. So, ffrom a usability angle Ubuntu is great and succeeded in its aim of bringing Linux to the masses.

To address you queries regarding the upgrade, I can say the following. I upgraded to version 8.04 (the latest release) over the weekend. I simply download the alternate install CD (not the live one!) and pop in into my CD-ROM. Ubuntu automatically detects the fact that this is an OS upgrade CD and polls you to perform the upgrade. Everything runs smooth and you can continue to work while the system is upgrading. Once the upgrade is finished I still needed to upgrade all my other apps on my system which meant a download of approximately 250 MB. This was no problem as Ubuntu simply told me that there are some more upgrades available (I actually got a message like "System performed a partial upgrade... you need to upgrade some more packages..."), I authorized the download and everything was sorted.

The upgrade is therefore a seamless process. I would be wary of upgrading to pre-releases, but official releases upgrade smoothly. I sometimes get trouble with the DVD codecs after an upgrade, but usually sort that out easily.

A comment regarding your idea of porting your point-of-sales devices. I would suggest that you pay a company to help you and give you support and training during the migration. You are going to save a lot of time and trouble going this way and you will build a solid base for your company to work from. You would have done the same for Winndows, but in this case the software is free...

I am taking my everyday working laptop over to Ubuntu this week. I am tired of struggling with Windows.

Francois
 
naeem said:
slightly offtopic/

anyone know of any ubuntu techies who would be able to assist me in having our windows based point of sale run on Ubuntu?
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I would suggest giving WINE a try for this. The only problems you might face is if the POS software makes use of shared Windows DLL's but if you can work out which ones they are it is easy enough to include them (though this is probably a copyright infringement...)
Another option would be to run a VM instance of Windows... but I gather this will be a pointless exercise as your motivation for asking this question is more than likely a need to move away from a buggy, unstable, virus-prone spyware target of an OS... :D

On the plus side though is that using a Linux distro as your host OS you can "protect" your VM using a firewall (iptables) and antivirus (AVG) combination but yet again... why bother?


naeem said:
Question about ubuntu: If its released every 6 months, does it have a seamless upgrade system? or does one have to reload everything when going to the next version.
Click to expand...

I think this has been answered but just to review, the upgrade/update (they're the same system : apt-get) process is simple to use. I have been running the same system for 2 years, initially starting with 6.06 Dapper Drake that I got posted to me using the shipit service shipit.ubuntu.com and have been subsequently upgrading the OS ever since to the current 8.04 Hardy Heron with which I am immensely impressed (I just love the ability to preview a song just by hovering my mouse over the file)

Anybody still wondering if they should switch over just stop wondering. Download/steal/borrow/get a copy shipped (FREE!) and install it. Its as simple as that.. (BTW Google is funding WINE development to seamlessly run the only real KILLER app in Windows, Photoshop ;))
 
naeem said:
slightly offtopic/

anyone know of any ubuntu techies who would be able to assist me in having our windows based point of sale run on Ubuntu?


Question about ubuntu: If its released every 6 months, does it have a seamless upgrade system? or does one have to reload everything when going to the next version.
Click to expand...

What POS is it? One which you develop yourself, or one which another company develops?

Also, keep in mind should that POS use an obscure system call, and WINE doesn't support said call, it won't run.

You can also try using virtualbox to run the windows environment on Linux.
 
You could search for Linux POS software on Freshmeat and here. There seems to be a whole lot of them (some for more specific need, e.g. cyber cafe's).
 
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Nod said:
You could search for Linux POS software on Freshmeat and here. There seems to be a whole lot of them (some for more specific need, e.g. cyber cafe's).
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You beat me to it, though halfway, Nod :)
Also search SourceForge.net as pos and Point of Sale

That said, something else to remember: Ubuntu has certain releases that are considered Long Term Support (LTS) releases. This is great for commercial implementations where you cannot go running around upgrading constantly - the server version has a 5 year lifetime. So no fear, you do not have to update constantly and chase releases. Patching is a breeze and painless.

If I am not mistaken, 8.04 is the new LTS release - still running 6.06 on my servers and taking a few minutes now and then to patch.

Security is excellent - proven under fire in an extremely heavy DDoS attack that nearly melted the (large European) hoster's pipes, also many expert hackers and attacks trying to get their own back. So all is good on this side as well :cool:

I would really recommend you give it a long, hard and serious look.
 
main good difference linux always fails to safe windoze on the otherhand... well lets not go there
 
Tns said:
main good difference linux always fails to safe windoze on the otherhand... well lets not go there
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I'm sorry, but what does "main good difference" and "linux always fails to safe" mean? :confused:
 
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