I Finally Did it.

[Bamawing]

George has Ubuntu. This solved my little virus problem.

Helllllllllllllllllllllllllllp! I was all proud of myself, but I can neither figure out how the bloody bleep to install any programs nor documentation on how. (And that's aside from the fact that I don't like the font and the cursor looks strange and all I want to do is play Puzzle Pirates, damnit!)

Will some wonderful Linux soul PLEASE help me before I seriously start regreting this?

...

[Twiga]

Ok, for starters...breath. 

Keep in mind, I'm going on extremely limited information here, and I've never seen Ubuntu. So if anyone has better information, I will gladly yield to them.

Do you happen to know package you installed? If yes, then that will help tremendously. If not, we'll keep improvising.

Secondly, are you able to locate the command line? If you can, type "X" and see if it brings that up. I believe it is the Windows Interface that should at least allow you to figure out what to do from there. If that doesn't work, try bringing up Firefox or something you recognise with the command line. If you can do any of that, it may help you at least muddle your way through and hopefully you can figure some more stuff out that way.

[Bamawing]

Received a reply from Jimmy, working on rest. Cat butt in face. Prognosis good.

[Nick]

Hi Bamz,
If you are lookign to run windows based programs in Ubuntu then you may want to look at an emulator like WINE
http://www.winehq.org/about/

[Bamawing]

Thanks, Nick! I'll look into that. I figured out how to intall a couple of things... one of them was a defunct driver. >:-P But that's OK. I'll get it sorted! I've got the faith!

[Nick]

Bamz, just a silly question, but have you installed a GUI to allow you to talk to Ubuntu?

[Bamawing]

Ubuntu has a GUI. That's part of the reason I decided on it. It is supposedly "Linux for ordinary people." But... tonight I forgot to put the ham in the 'fridge. Again. And that's what did it.  I'm going back to Windows.

If you're thinking I can install another one, fergit it. I have yet to have successfully installed anything except a "hello world" program that Jimmy wrote for the occasion. And this is NOT for lack of trying.

And I'm tired of trying. I'm tired of worrying, searching forums for something I can understand, asking questions, and then asking what the answers mean. I'm tired of feeling frustrated and stupid. I've been clicking icons only to have an error message pop up (same one every time, too. Something about the file not existing). I want to be able to scan my artwork into my computer. I want to be able to watch YouTube. I want to be able to trade files with Twiga. I want to be able to DL stuff and have it actually install, for Chrissake. And for god's sake, I WANT MY JAVA BACK.

I want to move my mouse and know the cursor isn't going to randomly dart into the upper left hand corner. Seriously... this video card is Windows born and Windows bred, and when it dies it'll be Windows dead.

That and I don't like command prompts. I mean I really can't stand them. They scare me without any of the fascination I feel when I want to learn something scary.

I feel like I'm doing a lot of justification, but... I'm done. *sad smile* This is the second time I've attempted to install Linux on a machine, only to have it not function properly. I was good, I tried it, I gave it my best shot. But it IS only for gurus. (And frankly, specialized hardware.)

***edit***

...and then I wake up to realize that Dan's *still* struggling with that virus on the desktop. I am literally losing sleep over this.  I'm trying one last distro... I think. It says it uses proprietary drivers.

Naturally, this is all hinging on whether or not the idiots can get my help forum application processed. I've got to be the stupidest person on the planet..... not only am I beating the dead horse that is Linux, I'm also considering trusting a group that doesn't even have their help forum application straight.

Damn Germany and its insufferable viruses!!!

[Bamawing]

Update.

The desktop is still hosed. I am running Freespire, and, while not good, the driver is at least better. Animations are still slow, but no more jumpy mouse.

I am still going to head back to Windows, but I am now thinking I'll do a dual-boot for when we get another virus. It's just darn nice to be able to hop online, even if your computer is sick. The group that doesn't have their forum straight is actually wonderful... even if they did have to add me manually. I finally know what a partition is! And I didn't even have to ask!

In general, I'm feeling better, although I'm still having odd nightmares of large 1s and 0s coming and attacking me...

[Bamawing]

Updated update.

Twiga gifted me with Lilo, the wonderful little thing I'm currently typing on. The desktop is still under suspicion. George is still running Freespire.

I am *this close* to starting my own Puzzle Pirates crew. But half the reason I wanted to start my own crew is so I can play with my nephews, who have managed to hose their computer up beyond description.

I don't mind giving them George. I can drop him off when I see Twiga (More !!!) this September. but Georgie is still a few bytes shy of really playing the game.

I'm not asking how to optimize him. I know there are ways. But whenever I ask on a Linux forum (or hell, whenever I ask my Linux friends, for that matter) the response always seems to start with "Ok, first, you ditch your distro and install my favorite one." No, [bleep]it. I like my distro. It's unsupported... and I know that. But I don't care. It feels nice and nonthreatening. The only problem is I'm having trouble getting any answers from them on this.

SO...

Where can I ask for help that doesn't start off with "Ok, the first thing you do is install [insert the favorite distro here]?