Issues with Ubuntu 12.10, can you recommend a better distro?
 

I've just had my first go at installing Linux. I went with Ubuntu 12.10 but found a lot of issues when I installed it.

First of all it says it wants to track everything I do, including my keystrokes, which is a bit creepy.

Secondly, this might be the case with all distros, but it asked for my password 3 times in 10 minutes. When I first went on, when I went to install I think it was adobe to watch youtube, and then afterwards youtube still didn't work.

It then went to a black screen (with writing), saying there was something wrong with the battery, finally came back on asking for my password again, and then went black again.

I got it from this site http://www.ubuntu.com/download/deskt...dows-installer and it's on an ASUS Pro50N (I think 2008). Maybe a more distro would be better for my computer? I'd like to learn to code, starting with Python, and eventually design in CAD (I'm a cabinetmaker) and to be able to design websites. I realise I don't need Linux to do this but I like the idea of open source software.

I'm not going to waste your time asking how to uninstall Ubuntu, google will know (I've rebooted back onto Windows atm) but are there any security issues now I'm on windows with Ubuntu still on the computer being able to "track my keystrokes" etc?

Thanks for your help!

Hello,

what do you mean by "tracking your keystrokes"? I never heard such a thing before, but since Ubuntu contains a keyboard driver...
About the password: Linux is very restrictive with user permissions. You (being you as in you != root) aren't allowed to do much outside of your home directory (speaking of /home/yourusername). That's because the system needs to be protected from changes - in some directories like /usr/bin, /etc or /var, unintentional changes can be lethal to the system.
Usually, you use su, but Ubuntu rather uses sudo, to get root rights. Root can do anything - and I repeat ANYTHING - to the system. Good - or bad. As installing software, mounting a storage device or configuring the bootloader is generally something you do outside of your home directory (because you need to write/read /usr/bin, /dev or /boot), it is a task that only root can do.
Also, while entering your password, you can think about what you were just going to do...
Because:
deletes everything in the current directory. If that is a subdir of your home, you don't need root rights.
deletes everything in the root directory - that's all of the systems. You always need root rights to execute this, unless you play around with recursive chmod, which I would not reccomend on this level.
You see, one little period can make such a big difference. Linux is a multi-user system, and not every user knows enough to be root and handle the permissions associated with it responsibly - this is why everything is restricted.
Actually, I seen Ubuntu 12.10 run perfectly on much older computers (Used 12.04 on a aprox. 15 years old ThinkPad).

When you boot Ubuntu you should see a panel of icons on the left side of the screen. There is a gear-shaped icon and if you mouse over it you are told it is 'System Settings'. Click on that and go to the Brightness and Lock icon and click it and you will have the option to set a time for your screen to lock or to turn it off and also to require or not entering your password if you leave the lock on.

Also under System Settings is an icon 'User Accounts' where you can enable autologin if you don't want to enter a password to log in. As indicated above, any system type actions such as installing software are going to require administrative rights and password by default.

You'll have to give a little more information about this tracking your keystrokes business and why you think that's happening.

If you're not satisfied with Ubuntu, you could try Debian (its "parent" distro) or Mint (its most successful "child" distro).

You can turn off the shopping lenses if you don't want the OS to show you result base on your previous search.
Here is a good link for other things you might want to do

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/10/1...g-ubuntu-12-10

Good luck to you

http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options

im not a fan of the entire ubuntu line for many reasons, several of them you mentioned mainly that they have sold out and are now have built in advertising along with data collection as part of the default OS. someone new to linux may not know how to disable this function thus turning the computer into one giant bit of malware. totally against this.

I have been using both Debian and Fedora (RedHat) distros for a long time and am much more happy with the direction that Fedora is headed vs Debian forks like ubuntu. I know a lot of people are very happy with Linux Mint, an other fork of Debian so you might want to check that out too.

side note with the Fedora desktop line, they have a short life support frame. Typically it is two releases then they are dropped from support. So with Fedora 18 just having gone line Fedora 16 is the oldest release that is still getting any kind of patches or security updates. Starting with Fedora 18 they have adjusted how the releases update from old to next so there might be some issues with going to Fedora 19 when it is released, but that is to be seen. In addition to the update cycle you will have to install several 3rd party repos to get access to some basics like FLASH, MP3, DVDs, etc... there are plenty of HOWTO guides out there and if you install easylife (http://easylifeproject.org/) it will handle that issue for you very nicely.

enjoy and good luck.

Ubuntu is well-known because the company Canonical is good at publicity. In fact it's not a good distro. Poor quality control, poor hardware support, relentless commercialism, tax-avoidance, etc.

Have a look at Funduntu. It's well behaved, has features to reduce power consumption on lap-tops, and it's rolling-release: install once and it's kept up-to-date automatically, instead of having a new version every 6 months.

As for giving passwords, you just get used to it. It's there to protect you from hackers, marauding children, and your own carelessness! Every time you're asked for a password, say "I'm doing something important: am I sure I understand it?"

I used to be a frequent user of Ubuntu versions. I too am looking for a new OS after being stuck with windows for what seems a lifetime. I was going to go back to Ubuntu but after reading some of the posts in this thread it's very off putting.

Besides Fedora and Funduntu (Thanks btw to the previous contributors) can anybody offer anymore suggestions for OS's that are as user friendly as Ubuntu?

which ,buntu
 

try kubuntu

or
lubuntu
edubuntu
xubuntu


xubuntu is for slow pc,s 128mb 300 MHz cpu

lubuntu is for lightweight pc,s 224mb 300 mhz

edubuntu comes with education apps 512mb 800 MHz

kubuntu allows easy app starting 1 ghz 512mb

a slower ,buntu may help

I don't know if this has changed but last I used Ubutnu with automatic login enabled, I actually got prompted more often by gnome-keyring for my password (which I'm guessing the OP was referring to when he said prompted for password three times in ten minutes).

If you want more 'user friendly' than vanilla Debian, you can try Mint Debian edition. I haven't used it much but if I ever want to try something ese that would be my choice. I have tried fedora, and it's ok. It's just that I'm used to APT and therefore always stick to distros that use it.

Mepis, SalineOS, PCLinuxOS, Snowlinux (the Debian-based versions, not the Ubuntu-based ones), ZorinOS, Parsix, Vector, OpenSUSE (only for KDE).

I have never seen this, but IIRC there is a message about reporting package usage (a.k.a. the "popularity contest") and you can disbale this by uninstalling the popcon package.

it is NOT tracking your "keystrokes" !!!!!!!!!
unless you grabbed some 'off the wall' version from some Chinese server from some 'off the wall' bittorrent site
this would be like grabbing a "unlocked" " full version" windows 7 from some bitorrent
-- a very big no-no ---

if your system is powerful enough
-- an i5 or i7 CPU and 4+ gig ram

install OpenSUSE 12.2

but as everyone above has stated
you run as a normal user and then ONLY if 100% NEEDED use the terminal to become "root" to make system changes
-- like installing software ,reconfiguring "mount points" for drives , and so on ...

this is standard Linux safety

by default suse uses " sudo" and dose NOT make a full root account ,but uses your FIRST normal user's password
-- i DISLIKE that -- big time !

so i do a custom install ( using the GUI installer to make a DIFFERENT root password than my normal user )
then use "su" and "su -" instead of "sudo"

I think the "tracking keystrokes" is "zeitgeist" and, as far as I can tell, it does log everything you do os in some ways it may seem to be "tracking keystrokes". However, what it really is is more like Windows "most recently used" list in that each program or component logs the last things you told it to do so that the search will be more tailored to you.
I still don't like the idea, but it doesn't spy on you from what I can gather.

Ubuntu tracks your use of the Dash, whatever that might be. It also provides information about user habits to Amazon, for which it gets paid. Tax-dodgers hanging together!
http://arstechnica.com/information-t...acks-searches/