The Ubuntu thread

[VazScep]

I want something which has syntax highlighting for various programming languages. I just checked out sourceforge and downloaded Scintilla and another one called SetEdit. The SetEdit is a .deb file. Not really sure how I install that. Any tips?

Search for Scintilla and SetEdit in Synaptic Package Manager. Generally, this is the first place to look for software to install. It will look to a safe software repository managed by the Ubuntu development team, and will install the software together with required dependencies (Linux software generally has more dependencies than on Windows, which is why building straight from downloaded source code typically fails).

[rEvolutionist]

I want something which has syntax highlighting for various programming languages. I just checked out sourceforge and downloaded Scintilla and another one called SetEdit. The SetEdit is a .deb file. Not really sure how I install that. Any tips?

Search for Scintilla and SetEdit in Synaptic Package Manager. Generally, this is the first place to look for software to install. It will look to a safe software repository managed by the Ubuntu development team, and will install the software together with required dependencies (Linux software generally has more dependencies than on Windows, which is why building straight from downloaded source code typically fails).

Ah, good point. I'll check it out next time i load up the laptop.

[sennekuyl]

kate.

Or mousepad for Xface.

I reckon kate is the best of all of the linux editors.

deb files can be opened with gdebi. though VazScep is right: Synaptic PM is the first and only place I seem to download software from anymore, excluding when I'm feeling a bit jockish and need a nerd-out. Hmmm, I haven't actually done that in ages.

[Jumbo]

The thing is that for most people who simply want to get things done having to spend so much time with the terminal to get sound out of their machine isn't all that reasonable.

My sound, and everything else, worked straight away

That seems to be the case for quite a few people.

In my case this is the first of several Linux variants on more than one machine with a variety of soundcards that i have been able to get any noise out of whatsoever. The no sound after installing appears to be rather common.

If people got no sound in Windows at all and to resolve it had to play about with the DOS prompt for a couple of hours then there would be more than a few complaints about it. I have a feeling it would be leapt upon by users of other OSs as an example of how bad Windows is.

[rEvolutionist]

cheers guys. I got Scite from Aptitude. All up and running now.

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

Actually, while we've got a few Ubuntu people around, is there a Linux equivalent to Notepad++? I need to install a good editor with programming support on my minimal install laptop. Any other recommendations?

[edit] read that all wrong, thought it was just notepad....

however notepad++ is gold/platinum on the wine list for compatibility

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

The thing is that for most people who simply want to get things done having to spend so much time with the terminal to get sound out of their machine isn't all that reasonable.

My sound, and everything else, worked straight away

That seems to be the case for quite a few people.

In my case this is the first of several Linux variants on more than one machine with a variety of soundcards that i have been able to get any noise out of whatsoever. The no sound after installing appears to be rather common.

If people got no sound in Windows at all and to resolve it had to play about with the DOS prompt for a couple of hours then there would be more than a few complaints about it. I have a feeling it would be leapt upon by users of other OSs as an example of how bad Windows is.

to be fair to linux, they tend not to get the same level of driver development as M$ does. if you were to just plug the card into the computer without drivers I'm willing to bet it wouldn't work. note asus dont supply drivers for this card on anything other than M$ OS.

on a related note, linux is able to get my onboard sound working on an ancient machine, that M$ failed to do - necessitating a card to be added to get it working. that said I haven't played about with it to try and make that sound card work.

[Ultimate]

My sound, and everything else, worked straight away

That seems to be the case for quite a few people.

In my case this is the first of several Linux variants on more than one machine with a variety of soundcards that i have been able to get any noise out of whatsoever. The no sound after installing appears to be rather common.

If people got no sound in Windows at all and to resolve it had to play about with the DOS prompt for a couple of hours then there would be more than a few complaints about it. I have a feeling it would be leapt upon by users of other OSs as an example of how bad Windows is.

to be fair to linux, they tend not to get the same level of driver development as M$ does. if you were to just plug the card into the computer without drivers I'm willing to bet it wouldn't work. note asus dont supply drivers for this card on anything other than M$ OS.

on a related note, linux is able to get my onboard sound working on an ancient machine, that M$ failed to do - necessitating a card to be added to get it working. that said I haven't played about with it to try and make that sound card work.

I actually had a bit of the opposite problem. When I put windows and Ubuntu on my mac it was incredibly difficult to get windows to recognize the video card, Ubuntu picked it right up.

[VazScep]

I used to use Gvim on my old lappy, and it worked just fine (IBM T21) - the new package is called vim-gnome. It's vim with a nice GUI for those of us who don't want to memorize six dozen macros, pretend it's still 1976, and we're working from a real, monochrome, console.

I like keyboard macros because I hate using the mouse. Stuff it, I hate even having to move my right hand off the home row to the cursor keys. It's unnecessary effort and I lose valuable milliseconds!

[rEvolutionist]

Depends on what you want.. Kate is the closest thing to notepad++ that I can think of at the moment, it does code highlighting for a whole lot of languages, but it isn't an IDE by a long shot. I can't remember if it does indenting or not. Gedit also has highlighting and auto-indentation.. so Kate probably does too. Gedit comes installed with Gnome by default and Kate comes installed by default with KDE.

I might have a look at those two. I only had a quick play with Scite after I installed it, and it doesn't seem to have auto-indentation (which is a very handy feature). Perhaps it is in a setting somewhere.

[Paul1]

Admittedly, when things go wrong in Ubuntu they're a nightmare to fix, but when things work they work absolutely beautifully. Whereas windows is your, easy to fix easy to go wrong option.

[sennekuyl]

I'm confused now; rEvolutionist, do you want a notepad++ replacement or an IDE? Ifeel the IDEs really depend on which language you want to write in, but I'm not actually an programmer(yet). The best I can claim is code peeping tom.

For Python, I like Eric's Idle, for most other languages I don't mind Eclipse. Personally I tend to go with a text editor, a shell for compiling and a shell for running + compiz group windows. 'course if you are running minimalist WMs then you won't have compiz. Does ION group windows?

Actually, I'd like a window group that if you close a program in the group the WM automatically reopens the session. I am forever closing a window absentmindedly. (I know, I know; bad habits )

[rEvolutionist]

I'm confused now; rEvolutionist, do you want a notepad++ replacement or an IDE?

Just a text editor with syntax highlighting and preferably auto-indent. I might give 'Kate' a try later.

[akigr8]

I think Gedit and Kate are pretty much on par.. though Kate may have line numbering. Which is handy when the compiler spits out some incommensurable error and supplies a line number.. you may then begin tracing back from that point

You can have line number in Gedit, activate it in settings.

[rEvolutionist]

Fuckit. After all that, my old laptop shat itself. Need to replace the bios battery.

[johannessiig]

I found a bug in Ubuntu 10.10 Beta. (Although it may just be my laptop).

VPN (pptp) does not work. At all.

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

Mmm... thinking of upgrading my old x1600xt radeon to a 240gt nvidia card. Any opinions on driver support?

nvidia have a good rep for linux drivers. I was looking at the 240gt myself, however after a bit of research think I'm better off getting a ATI HD 5750/5770.

however if your doing the folding@home thing, I suspect the Nvidia is the better choice at the moment, power consumption wise their about equal (the ATI ones are slightly higher under load), however in terms of game performance the 5750/5770 beat the 240 hand down.

looking here the 240 is beaten by 50-100% in every test on there. however thats all FPS,

[SPMaximus]

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

[Animavore]

Is it just me, or does Ubuntu's qBittorrrent work better than any of the Microsoft ones (maybe my connection is just a bit faster lately)?

[chairman bill]

Personally I liked her short skirts & that little communication thingy hanging out of her ear