[Rnb] Hardy Heron 8.04

[Aypok]

Hi,

> The first problem was ;- when I placed the mouse pointer over some
> thing, a shadow appeared beneath it. About 10 mmx10mm sq. When I
> clicked on the item, the square remained. By the time you had done
> this a few times the desk top looked like some guy had cut himself
> shaving a few times and had his face covered in bits of paper to stop
> the bleeding.

My guess would be that your graphics card drivers aren't configured or
that your system is using the wrong driver. What graphics card/chipset
does your system run?

> I use a Belkin G wireless usb device to receive the internet, I could
> not get this to work. Although this could be my inexperience.

Find the model number and search the Ubuntu forums
(http://ubuntuforums.org/). The same goes for the first problem, too.

> I had a play around with the F Spot photo programme. Very poor. Gwen
> viewer is far superior.

Then use Gwen. Or any of the many other programs around. Search the
repositories - applications are just a few clicks/commands away.

> Could not get the cd/dvd writer to burn some photos

What software were you using? What was the error?

> but the last straw was when the movie player would not play AVI video
> files without a codec. I can understand the problem with WMP players
> but AVI ?

AVI is not a video format, it is a container format. Anyhoo, /all/
videos require a codec and most of them are not allowed to be
distributed with Ubuntu. Blame the people who own the rights to the
codecs, not Ubuntu.

If you checked the Ubuntu wiki, you'd have found that you can fix this
problem with a single command. Yes, seriously. Take a look:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

> So my final analysis, Ubuntu is history, i'm not going to waste my
> time on it anymore.

Did you actually try to solve any of the problems by searching the
appropriate resources? It sure doesn't sound like it.

If you're having problems with Ubuntu, don't expect to have any luck
with other distributions or OSes. It is /by far/ the easiest OS I have
ever used.

> I like Kubuntu but again the belkin wireless receiver does not work
> and I could not save photo's to cd/dvd. Computer said that it needed
> permision.

That's because the CD writer's device is usually only available to root;
the burning software will usually ask for the root password (although
some will simply fail). You can always "fix" the problem with a chmod...

What software were you attempting to use? K3B is what I'd recommend.

> That said It seems to me (and this applies to microsoft as well as
> linux) that what anybody really wants is a basic operating system to
> which one can add whatever programmes the individual feels happiest
> using. eg Microsofts XP CD writer is rubbish, if Nero is the best then
> why should I not be able to use it on Linux or microsoft.

You /can/ use Nero on Linux if you want (the developers have released a
Linux version), but I've not heard all that many good things about it.
As I said earlier: use K3b. It's better than Nero.

As for not being able to use Nero on Windows: what? You can. As for why
Microsoft would want you not to use it (not sure if that's the case, but
let's roll with it), that'd be because they want everyone using their
software. Vendor lock-in, and all that noise. It's not rocket surgery.

> It also appears to me that such a basic operating system should have a
> really good Internet system. That will recognise hardware such as the
> belkin device that i use.

"Internet system"? Auto-detecting of devices such as modems? Yeah, good
luck with that. Remember that Linux drivers are contributed by other
people using the same hardware - which is sometimes made more
complicated by the manufacturers of said devices making things more
difficult for developers.

Anyway, Linux is /far/ better than Windows in that respect - the only
thing I've needed to set up by hand -- driver wise -- are newer graphics
cards.

> I've downloaded freespire and mint because I was reading that they
> provided the codecs for things like wmp players, but with my comments
> in mind are there any other OS that I could try.

You could try Ubuntu again, but try fixing the problems by visiting the
forums and wiki. If I ever need help with my system that my I and my
friends can't fix, I browse the Ubuntu forums because chances are that
there will be at least one post where someone has had the same problem
as me - and then posted a solution to the problem.

If not, try posting - but I doubt you'll need to resort to that, since
your problems are very basic.

PS: Please don't send HTML emails to the list - plain text is preferred.


Aypok...

-- 
"'Bastardman!' The Chief cries as we slip into a parking space outside
the station with the grace and ease of a car accident. Which in fact it
was..." - BOFH