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A few days ago I downloaded the ISO of Ubuntu 10.10 along with ChromeOS to check out. The previous version of Ubuntu I had tried was 9.10 and before that, 8.xx. sp70 oddly enough inspired me to download it with the reason that there are just too many improvements to mention. So this is my rather short experience with the LiveCD.

Now, I realize that booting an operating system from a CD is going to take a while but that Ubuntu logo must have been on the screen upwards of 5 minutes, then followed by a black screen for a minute or two:

This may sound nit-picky but first-time users may see this and wonder if their computer froze or is about to explode. There should be something to let you know that progress is being made. The loading logo/animation was there, it just disappeared in the final minutes of loading the OS off the CD.

Upon loading, there was a nifty exclaimation icon at the top. Being the curious guy I am, I took a look:

Not good. The only time I've had that happen on Windows (and I can't really recall a specific time) is when there was serious hardware problems. Not the case on my computer, Windows 7 has been running fine for easily half a year on the overclock I have. No big deal really, just some meaningless module.

I then went about to have some fun. I got excited to see how Ubuntu would handle a nice 1080p movie so I remembered the time where sp70 told me that I could easily access shared Windows folders on my network. I looked around in the menus for a bit when I came across something with Remote in it. I thought I would try to access my server since it's setup for Remote Desktop. I was typing in the username when I hit "2" (2 is part of the username) and up comes this screen:

My first thought was that it was some kind of other login box for the Remote access. I typed in my server's info and the box popped up again like I had typed it in wrong. Couple more tries until it hit me; I must be locked out of Ubuntu somehow. I tried root with an empty password. When that didn't work, I cut my losses and restarted. This isn't the first time there's been login issues between me and Ubuntu. At least in the newer versions they don't require you to have a password like in the older versions. One time, I had installed Ubuntu on my hard drive. Everything went groovy until it wanted me to login so I put in my info and it said it was wrong. I then tried every combination I could think of in case I wasn't thinking right when I installed. Nothing worked. That drive got reformatted.

After a restart, I poked around, still wondering about playing a video. I looked for a way to access my RAID0 drives cuz I knew there was a 1080p movie on there. My drives were nowhere to be found. I'm guessing Ubuntu doesn't have extensive drivers for Intel chips? Funny because one of the things Linux users boast about is the small size of the Ubuntu CD. Windows 7 works flawlessly with Intel chips and automatically recognizes RAID setups. I guess that extra space that Windows 7 takes up on the DVD is actually used for things other than bloat. Seeing that I couldn't access my hard drive, I set out to try to access the shared folders on my server. My server did show up in the network but when I tried to access it, up came the login BS again. The proper password didn't work here either.

So with not much else to do, I went online and poked around. I then got the idea to install Chrome. I downloaded it and had the default option to open it in the Package Manager. When it did open:

I guess you can't install things while using the LiveCD? It would be nice if it said that somewhere. Something like "this is a limited use demo, please install for all features". That way they could trim down the LiveCD and make it load faster. Just a thought.

So, with absolutely nothing else to do, I decided to shut down. That had fail in it too:

It's supposed to be a nice pretty screen that tells you to eject the CD.

A video I made:


Disappointing.

If you are on a wireless network research the driver support in ubuntu before installing it. My wireless adapter wasn't supported in ubuntu...mind you it works with Vista plug-n-play.

Not too much works on Linux if your using a LiveCD. LiveCD's are only good if you majorly fucked something up in Windows and need quick HD access to backup shit. Other than that, a LiveCD is pretty pointless. In the case of my computer, LiveCD Debian vs installed Debian is a really big difference. All my devices work on the installed copy while theres driver issues with display and sound and other shit missing on the LiveCD.
I'm not entirely sure, but Linux uses no HD space or a really really small amount when using the LiveCD and works off RAM.

I have a feeling it is having trouble accessing your hdd's.

Hahahaha thats so true.