thinking about switching to Ubuntu

[bhaveshpandey]

hi eveeryone..I'm thinking about switching to Ubuntu from Windows.

I have a few questions and thought of Odforce

I'm running Houdini and Nuke on a DELL VOSTRO 1500 laptop (its not amazing but gets the job done)

2 gigs of RAM,

NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS (I guess its OKish)

Intel Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa platform. (32 bit)

Currently, I'm running Windows XP SP2 on it and would like to switch to Ubuntu for security reasons.

I'm really bugged by windows and all the Anti-Virus softwares around (I'm running a Norton AV in this)

I dont hate Windows, its just that I figured 'lets try something else which might be better'.

I was considering a MacBook Pro but am not that *blessed* financially

(I wouldn't really buy it, I'm thinking about DELL Precision Corvet, which is a bit costlier probably, but way better config....plus I could then run it on Ubuntu!!)

Anyways, thing is I need to know if anyone is running Houdini on Ubuntu (if yes then which Version....I was thinking about getting the latest Ubuntu v9 jaunty which comes in April)

AND most importantly if someone if running Ubuntu on this SAME DELL LAPTOP.

because I would like to know from where I can get DELL (Vostro 1500) drivers for Ubuntu and also NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS's drivers on Ubuntu.

Any suggestions woild be really appreciated

(MAC and WINDOWS bashing included )

PS: I'll definitely call up DELL as a formality, its just that I *trust guys at Odforce better*

Thanks for all your help.

[cseder]

hi eveeryone..I'm thinking about switching to Ubuntu from Windows.

I have a few questions and thought of Odforce

I'm running Houdini and Nuke on a DELL VOSTRO 1500 laptop (its not amazing but gets the job done)

2 gigs of RAM,

NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS (I guess its OKish)

Intel Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa platform. (32 bit)

Currently, I'm running Windows XP SP2 on it and would like to switch to Ubuntu for security reasons.

I'm really bugged by windows and all the Anti-Virus softwares around (I'm running a Norton AV in this)

I dont hate Windows, its just that I figured 'lets try something else which might be better'.

I was considering a MacBook Pro but am not that *blessed* financially

(I wouldn't really buy it, I'm thinking about DELL Precision Corvet, which is a bit costlier probably, but way better config....plus I could then run it on Ubuntu!!)

Anyways, thing is I need to know if anyone is running Houdini on Ubuntu (if yes then which Version....I was thinking about getting the latest Ubuntu v9 jaunty which comes in April)

AND most importantly if someone if running Ubuntu on this SAME DELL LAPTOP.

because I would like to know from where I can get DELL (Vostro 1500) drivers for Ubuntu and also NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS's drivers on Ubuntu.

Any suggestions woild be really appreciated

(MAC and WINDOWS bashing included )

PS: I'll definitely call up DELL as a formality, its just that I *trust guys at Odforce better*

Thanks for all your help.

Well. I can't say that I have tried using Ubuntu+Houdini on this actual model, but, after looking at the specs (even though they are mediocre) I would say you will not run into any problems with your configuration.

I use 64 bit Ubuntu 8.10 with the latest daily build, and I have no problems what so ever.

Compared to running a 32 bit windows os, you'll get performance benefits no matter how you put it.

Go for the 64 Bit, and remember, to export rendered sequences to e.g. .m4a movie files, you need mencoder or you can use ffmpeg.

Both of these packages are in the mediubuntu repositories.

Best of luck!

Edited March 30, 2009 by MrMentalRay

[bhaveshpandey]

hey thanks MrMentalRay!

I've got one more question to clear up though...

I have a 32bit Intel Core2Duo (santa rosa platform) processor as I'd also mentioned above.

Is it possible to Install a 64 bit version of Ubuntu on a 32 bit laptop??

& if yes, then is it advisable?

what will be the speed benchmarks for a 64bit Ubuntu running on a 32bit laptop?? (as in will it be faster than a 32 bit?)

thanks a ton for the replies

PS: I cant wait for Ubuntu 9.04 jaunty!! I have a feeling it will be amazing.

Edited March 31, 2009 by bhaveshpandey

[odforceuser42]

I have a 32bit Intel Core2Duo (santa rosa platform) processor as I'd also mentioned above.

Is it possible to Install a 64 bit version of Ubuntu on a 32 bit laptop??

& if yes, then is it advisable?

what will be the speed benchmarks for a 64bit Ubuntu running on a 32bit laptop?? (as in will it be faster than a 32 bit?)

thanks a ton for the replies

PS: I cant wait for Ubuntu 9.04 jaunty!! I have a feeling it will be amazing.

there's some confusion here... hopefully i won't add more.

"Santa Rosa" is a "platform" not the chip ( cpu ). if your machine has a C2D i'd assume it to be 64 bit capable. x86-64.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa_pl...form_.282007.29

i've recently heard that 64 bit variants of Linux won't run 32 bit apps, but 64 bit versions of Windows can.*

as for the speedup, i've read some that say they see a difference... but with less than 4GB of ram etc etc, I'd assume it might be more due to less "junk" running in the background.

to see if things will work, i'd suggest trying a liveCD. you don't have to install anything to the HD and you can give Linux and 64 bit a try. you might even go so far as to "install" houdini to a keydrive, but this would be purely for testing purposes as you'd get a performance penalty running off the cd and saving to the usb drive.

just my 4.2 cents. peace & 42

* citation needed.