Me, my laptop and Ubuntu
Very recently I got myself a new laptop. Last time I had one of my own it was 2001 and it didn’t perform well for too long. So I headed to my favorite parts provider and after a while, which lasted a couple of months, I bought a very affordable HP with a reasonable spec.
The main use of this toy is to simply access the web anytime, anywhere. I decided to leave design and web development to my main PC at home so I wasn’t looking to load Photoshop CS3. Just in case I added some more RAM as it turned out to be cheaper than a mouse.
The only problem of this laptop was the OS. It comes with Windows Vista Basic so my dilemma was simple: an operating system that is bloated, full of security holes and makes my computer slow or a proper OS. This choice simply meant: Windows XP or Ubuntu - don’t expect me to consider Vista at all.
So Ubuntu was the clear winner. Burned the latest copy which you can download free from their website and without starting Vista Basic not even once I loaded Ubuntu. Installation was done very quickly - Windows XP takes a minimum of 45 minutes to install, Vista apparently one full day.
Everything worked fine. Well, almost. From previous experiences with Ubuntu, my main concern was for the drivers to be recognised and I was right. The wireless card couldn’t be recognised. Not good.
It took me some time and research to find out how to fix this. Somebody out there wrote an almost perfect tutorial for my wireless card. With that and some tips on the comments from that “how to” - always read the comments! - got it working and there I was, browsing the web with my wireless laptop with Ubuntu.
I’ll write more in future entries to give more details of new challenges I’ve found with Ubuntu. The good thing’s that everything has been solved so far and Ubuntu does really deliver a great OS that with just bit of love can be an excellent option for those who just can’t be bothered with greedy software companies - no need to link, we know who they are.
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