Comments on: Instant Desktop: We All Shine On (with Presto)

By: Kent

Kent — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:38:00 +0000

I will take a look at Virtualbox and Ubuntu. It looks like getting that set up may be a bit of a chore for a Linux newbie like me, but I am digging Presto enough to consider a more robust distro.I also expect that Will is right. I’m sure I can get the easy stuff installed, but if I get off into the woods, it may be harder.But I’m interested enough to experiment a little.

By: trumwill

trumwill — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:08:00 +0000

It is *much* easier to install apps than on Windows IMO.It’s much easier provided that the application you want to install is on that list. My last experience with (Ubuntu) Linux was mostly positive and I probably would have stuck with it if it weren’t for WiFi problems that suddenly started developing after a couple weeks.The crux of my experience, though, was that Linux makes it super-duper easy to do the things that it’s made an effort to make easy, but outside the sandbox it felt like I needed to learn everything to do anything.I wish the trial period for Pesto was longer than seven days. It might be worth my time if it were 30 days or something.

By: Richard Querin

Richard Querin — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:48:00 +0000

Hey Kent,You know I couldn’t let this one go without a comment. The recently released version of Ubuntu (9.04) cold boots to a login screen in 20 seconds and then it’s a further 20 seconds to a desktop.. and that’s running inside Virtualbox on my laptop, an actual install would no doubt be significantly quicker.Also, I think you shouldn’t base your judgement of Linux on a 2 or 3 year old experience (and you didn’t say which distro you tried at the time). In Ubuntu, application installation could not possibly be easier. Under the “Applications” menu there is a choice called “Add/Remove…” which of course brings up a huge assortment of installable software organized by application type, rated with star ratings for popularity and a search entry box to quickly find apps that might suit your needs. Any of those thousands of applications are installable by clicking a checkbox (or a series of them for installing multiple apps) and then clicking the apply button. It is *much* easier to install apps than on Windows IMO.Incidentally, the deb package you talked about on the podcast is the Debian package system, which Ubuntu uses as well. You can also download deb files from places like getdeb.net and double click them to install.So I’m glad Presto is useful for you, but be aware that the major Linux distros are equally efficient and useful, and likely more so.