Yeah, Intel is currently the way to go wrt graphic stuff and linux unless you need 3d.

I've also noticed the bandwidth thing, but thought the problem was more due to the different geographical locations of youtubes server clusters. Some work fine, others you'll need to start buffering and come back half an hour later to get decent quality.

With ubuntu, things really took a leap forward for desktop linux stuff. The hard part is actually working through problems rather than just throwing up your hands and going back to windows. So kudos for hanging on; some things are still lacking but all in all the switch is worth it.

And I'm currently busy busy busy in the real world. Too many projects at work and so little time...

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
Well the stutter problem came back a little. It only happens on certain video hosts too like YouTube and Metacafe. Vimeo and most others are fine. I did more research on the issue and learned that nVidia's drivers are problematic on a lot of Linux distributions. A bunch of Linux geeks even made an online petition begging nVidia to make their Linux drivers open source so that they could make them work better. Oh well.

I'm also switching my ISP so I can have a faster connection. It will be going from from 1.5 Mbps to 8.0 Mbps. I'm hoping that might help, because I've noticed that the longer it takes the video to buffer, the greater the chance the video will stutter or just plain stop. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Otherwise everything else is fine. It's easier to use than I initially thought it would be, and it only seems to be getting easier. Here's to brave middle-aged men.

Thanks for checking. Hope everything is going well for you.

In reply to this comment by srd:
Hey, just wanted to check back on how things are going with your adventures in linux land. Everything running smoothely I hope.

From a Mozilla newsgroup poster:

Works for me:
- Build identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US;
rv:1.9.1b5pre) Gecko/20090520 SeaMonkey/2.0b1pre
- Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042523
Ubuntu/9.04 (jaunty) Firefox/3.0.10

Does *not* work on:
- Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.21) Gecko/20090402
SeaMonkey/1.1.16
- Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.20) Gecko/20081217
Firefox/2.0.0.20


Looks like Gecko v1.8.1 won't work on embedded nbc.com videos?

Also if you've still not solved the problem then it may be as simple as enabling proprietary drivers.
System > Administration > Software Sources > Ubuntu Software

check Proprietary drivers and
software restricted by copyright issues

Kind of a bit of a cop out answer, but if you're struggling and want to do something (possibly) more straightforward then you could install Mint Linux. It's a version of Linux based on Ubuntu.
It seems to be more "works out of the box" than ordinary ubuntu.
You see a lot of the stuff like Java plugins, proprietary drivers and flash (basically often the non-open-source stuff) aren't all that straightforward to enable on ordinary Ubuntu, but seem to work much more smoothly on Mint.

I personally use Ubuntu, but I put Mint on anyone's PC who doesn't want to get into all the technical stuff too much.

I really enjoy Linux and think it's a great thing, and find it strange when people don't like something that people give away for free, but I can see why other people don't want the hassle.

The only thing with Linux, is that it often is possible to solve the problems, but it quite often will end up with typing in commands, but as the years go by, each new version seems to mean you have to do less of that typing to make it do the common stuff.

There's no getting around it at the moment, if you want to use Linux to do all the other stuff you want to do on your other OSes, then you will have to occasionally do some slightly technical stuff and learning. But there's lots of people perfectly happy to help out with your struggles. Sometimes it may seem like a pain, but there are also a lot of rewards along the way. It's a whole new community to get involved in and find out about, and you'll benefit greatly by embracing what you can do that you can't do with Windows or a Mac, and accepting some things will at least for the time being be easier to do on a PC/Mac.

^I just checked there and it actually does have the nVidia accelerated graphics driver installed. I bought the computer from Dell with everything fully configured. I think Llama might be right about there being a bug with Ubuntu. Thanks for the suggestion though.

And Ornthoron, thanks for the suggestion too, but I have both Firefox and Opera installed, and the problem occurs on both of them.

I tried an old version of Ubuntu on my Thinkpad and it was ok. Just couldn't get the wireless working. Hope they've sorted that by now.

Just realised I have nothing useful to contribute. I just like typing.

Do you use Opera of Firefox? Or something else entirely (freak!) ? I have had some trouble with flash video in Opera on my 64bit Ubuntu 8.10, but it works fine in Firefox for me.

Did you install 9.04/"Jaunty"? If so, you can try enableing UXA acceleration, see the release notes on the ubuntu website.

Other than that, can you notice any harddisk activity when the flash player stutters? There are some known offenders that cause audio stutter, but I'd have to research them since it's been years that I've been plagued by stutter.

Ah, I know them, and they're just fucking with me. It's all good. Thanks for the help.

In reply to this comment by Llama:
You're sweet. Those other two commenters were dick faces about it.

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
Thanks for that info. That's worthy of a promote.

In reply to this comment by Llama:
A lot of other users are having the exact same problem. You might have to wait it out for an update.

Check out forums via Google.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/314928

Maybe they can offer a solution.

You're sweet. Those other two commenters were dick faces about it.

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
Thanks for that info. That's worthy of a promote.

In reply to this comment by Llama:
A lot of other users are having the exact same problem. You might have to wait it out for an update.

Check out forums via Google.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/314928

Maybe they can offer a solution.

Chances are Ubuntu has just installed a non accelerated X server for your video card. Depends on your video chipset, you might need to change the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manually. I use debian, so can't help you much on the gui side of things.

Thanks for that info. That's worthy of a promote.

In reply to this comment by Llama:
A lot of other users are having the exact same problem. You might have to wait it out for an update.

Check out forums via Google.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/314928

Maybe they can offer a solution.

A lot of other users are having the exact same problem. You might have to wait it out for an update.

Check out forums via Google.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/314928

Maybe they can offer a solution.

^Well, for one, patent law is a government sponsored monopoly so that doesn't mesh well with the free market or libertarianism. For two, if you have a copyright, you get to tell me what I can and can't do with my own property. If you copyright a book you effectively become a partial owner of every pen and paper in the jurisdiction of that law -- you get to tell other people what words they can and can't write with their own pen and paper in the privacy of their own homes; and that is very much at odds with freedom or liberty.

To use the example here: file sharing of mp3s, When you download a song you aren't trespassing, stealing, destroying, or otherwise utilizing another's property you are simply rearranging the surface of your OWN hard drive based on publicly available information. To claim that one cannot rearrange their own hard drive as they wish, is to claim that one does not really own that hard drive.

The same argument can be made for patents. Imagine if someone had patented the wheel, the house, clothes, or even cooking. Patents do not foster progress, they greatly inhibit it. Property law is, in my mind, intended to protect scarce (tangible) resources; which ideas, inventions, and patterns clearly are not.

As far as programming goes, don't you think the open source movement presents a strong argument against copyright? After all, I am typing this on an Ubuntu system.

Same here, ancient (should be in a museum) computer with Ubuntu and Firefox, works fine here.