Still Say no to Ubuntu

[Total Noob]

My Windows irreversibly crapped out on a roughly ten year old no brand desktop computer, and to retrieve my data, I tried a temp install of Ubuntu.

It was fine for getting my hard drive stuff over to my external (I think, I haven't double checked it) -- though exquisitely slow -- but completely useless otherwise.

I tried surfing while downloading my data, and that lasted about 2 minutes before resulting in a hang, although the downloading continued.

When it was done, thinking the process was bogging me down, I rebooted and started a surfing session with Firefox with nothing else running and that lasted about 10 minutes before ending in total, irresolvable system wide hang, necessitating another 20 minute reboot. I tried it several more times with Firefox, and always the same result. (Of course any data not saved externally is going to disappear when rebooting.)

I was tempted to see if a permanent dual install would alleviate the problem, but the install instructions are thick as mud and there is literally no way for a noob to tell if is or is not taking over the entire drive and then taking all the data. (I am going to pull the drive out to make sure nothing is left that I need).

I also could not get access to any of the repositories, where I would have downloaded and tried Chrome to see if that worked better. I was told to enter the exact address for the API of the repository, as if I knew what that was, and as if I knew where to find the address and as if I knew whether to trust whatever I found.

At least it was able to find my Android phone, though it did lose my wifi signal (the router is 4 feet away).

And at least it was better than something called MX Linux, ostensibly the number one distro this week. It refused to boot.

I should have stopped there.

[Jaytee]

You should have stopped a long time ago..
Adage: A poor worker blames his tools...
this statement is totally incorrect.
"but the install instructions are thick as mud and there is literally no way for a noob to tell if is or is not taking over the entire drive and then taking all the data"

[jamieoliver]

Originally Posted by Total Noob

My Windows irreversibly crapped out on a roughly ten year old no brand desktop computer, and to retrieve my data, I tried a temp install of Ubuntu.

It was fine for getting my hard drive stuff over to my external (I think, I haven't double checked it) -- though exquisitely slow -- but completely useless otherwise.

I tried surfing while downloading my data, and that lasted about 2 minutes before resulting in a hang, although the downloading continued.

When it was done, thinking the process was bogging me down, I rebooted and started a surfing session with Firefox with nothing else running and that lasted about 10 minutes before ending in total, irresolvable system wide hang, necessitating another 20 minute reboot. I tried it several more times with Firefox, and always the same result. (Of course any data not saved externally is going to disappear when rebooting.)

I was tempted to see if a permanent dual install would alleviate the problem, but the install instructions are thick as mud and there is literally no way for a noob to tell if is or is not taking over the entire drive and then taking all the data. (I am going to pull the drive out to make sure nothing is left that I need).

I also could not get access to any of the repositories, where I would have downloaded and tried Chrome to see if that worked better. I was told to enter the exact address for the API of the repository, as if I knew what that was, and as if I knew where to find the address and as if I knew whether to trust whatever I found. fnf

At least it was able to find my Android phone, though it did lose my wifi signal (the router is 4 feet away).

And at least it was better than something called MX Linux, ostensibly the number one distro this week. It refused to boot.

I should have stopped there.

A potential cause of the performance issues and system hang in your Ubuntu installation could be compatibility or driver-related issues with your older, non-branded desktop computer.

[Total Noob]

I turned out it was completely Ubuntu's problem.

Sometime after posting, i got myself a device that allows a user to plug a hard drive into it and use it like a USB, in effect an enclosure that is not enclosed.

Long and short, I removed the hd, pulled all my data, did a disc check/disc clean with ccleaner or some such, and then plugged the hard drive back in to the computer to see what would happen, and now it works pretty good. l don't know why but Firefox is no good on it even after a fresh install, but other than that it works fine.

@Jaytee, if you are going to disagree, it would help if you offered some proof, rather than just saying no you are wrong, "you didn't and couldn't experience what you said and documented." That's not a discussion, it is a naa naa.

[The Dude]

Im glad it works for ya buddy