Ubuntu To-Do

I just joined the Ubuntu forums - I hope it becomes a great source of help in figuring some things out.

Some folks may read this (if anyone actually does) and wonder why I am needing so much help figuring this out when in general with Windows you just plug stuff in and it ‘works’. Well, one thing to keep in mind; plug-n-play on Windows is fairly new, and even then it is not perfect. And another, while there has been a lot of work going in to the various GUIs for Linux to make it easy to transition from Windows, it’s still different. I never used Win3.1, I went from using Geos as my GUI to Win95 - and at the time there was a bit of a learning curve. Even now I prefer the Win95 look/feel when using XP. Going to Ubuntu is going to have a learning curve as well. Not because it’s Ubuntu/Linux, but because it is different than what I am used to, different than what I’ve been using. In short, I am not yet familiar enough with it for it to be second nature like Windows become over the last 10+ years.

Ubuntu has done a good job at detecting most of what I’ve been throwing at it, but there are some areas I am going to have to spend some time on to get to do what I hope to do. I did a quick intro post on Ubuntu forums and included a few things there, and then decided I should log that stuff here so I can help myself keep track of things I want to accomplish. Thus, my Ubuntu To-Do;

Dual video card/monitors setup is not working. I have gone back and forth with a few different suggestions I’ve read about online, but not having much luck yet. One possible solution - I’m looking at a new computer that has HDMI and VGA outputs built in - I happen to have one VGA and one HDMI monitor.
I had a WinTV card that I think died on me… I’m not entirely sure tho. So rather than really figure it out, I did what any self-respecting geek would do, I used it as an excuse to buy a new one. I bought an ATI, dual input, HD ready card. It sucked on Windows. I didn’t like the interface, with only 512K ram, doing ANYTHING else at the same time just chocked it. And in the couple weeks I had it before jumping to Ubuntu, I never did figure out how to record anything. So far my search has turned up ideas on using my old card in Ubuntu, nothing on the new one.

I started using Ubuntu because I put it on an older box I want to put out in my living room, hopefully with a new video card that I can run to my TV and use it to watch recorded TV, maybe movies and other stuff on my TV, and also stream my MP3s to the stereo, etc. I also have an old touch-screen monitor recycled from an old Kodak photo kiosk. The ideal setup would be have a card that will close the display to monitor and TV, and allow me to use the touch screen to do all the navigation. Ultimate goal would then be have the monitor act as a digital photo frame when not in use.

Ok, so that’s the start of my to-do list… let’s see how it goes.