Go Gutsy Gibbon! Go!

Down with our oppressors!

It just felt good to say that, since I have completely rid my new laptop of all traces of Vista. I didn't install Windows XP either, I went straight for Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution and is free to anyone who wants it. They have very active forums that cater to experts as well as beginners such as myself. With a bit of help, a few hacks and no tutorials (though it's important that I did play with early distributions of Red Hat ages ago), I have my laptop working 100%. Go Gutsy Gibbon, go.

For anyone just looking at making the switch to Linux on a laptop, here are a few of the upsides I've found to Ubuntu:
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There is no cost to this OS. They sent me the CD's free and you can download the most up to date version. All the software you want (except for most games), is on Ubuntu, and everything I'm running is free. It's stable (Vista crashed over a dozen times in less than twenty hours of use, bluescreen of death all over the place!). My wireless connections are more stable, networking is easier, and my battery somehow gained over half an hour of life since the switch. Ubuntu also requires less ram, less hard drive space, comes secure and loaded with Open Office (complete office software), Firefox, and all kinds of useful stuff. It can also look better than Vista. It also took 20 minutes to get the main OS installed.

Here are the downsides as far as I'm concerned:

Some of the drivers were hard to dig up, it took some Google searching and I had to read a couple dozen forum posts. Then I had to learn a few new things (GASP!), copy and paste some commands and install some software to get my earphone plug, graphics adapter and playing DVD's working. No biggie, took about an hour and a half for me to dig up what I needed and have it all working together. What I was missing the community already had, I just had to go find it.

Score one for everyone who hates Vista and wants to be free of Microsoft without having to pay through the nose for an Apple. This laptop is a joy to work on now that it's set up. I was looking at this laptop as a temporary solution until I could save up enough for my black mac, but I think I might just add 4GB of ram and keep it until I've worn out the keyboard.

You know, the Free Light Series is all about being independent of big corporate influence and fighting the ideals behind their actions. What's really funny to me is the fact that I'll be finishing the third book on this recently liberated laptop. *snicker

RL

PS: Everything that got soaked last week is dry and operational again, even the LCD monitor. I'd like this opportunity to thank all the guardian angels who watch over us nerds. Now, back to work on First Light Chronicles: Starfree Port.

All Is Well In Randyland

Well, the great flood of 2008 is finished. It taught me a valuable lesson that I had obviously forgotten somewhere along the way. Don't put all your eggs (or files) in one basket.

I went out and bought a full sized laptop, one of those desktop replacement thingies just in case my main computer ever went kaput for any reason. I feel much better now, secure even. Sadly I couldn't go with a little eeepc simply because it couldn't hope to replace a full on desktop in it's wildest miniaturized dreams. Perhaps I'll buy one when the 9" screen version is cheap.

My new Toshiba (which is made to look a bit like an expensive Macbook, a plus, but came loaded with Vista, a big minus, booooo!), is going through severe testing as I pound out the second half of First Light Chronicles: Starfree Port, listen to numerous mp3's, customize the shoddy OS (Vista has blue screened on me three times), and watch a couple videos. I even installed Ubuntu on it for a few hours only to discover that the drivers weren't available for this chipset just yet. I wouldn't really know how to install them if they were available, but I'd be willing to learn so I could avoid Vista!

Anyway, back to work I go, churning out what I think is the most interesting and exciting part of the First Light series. I just hope I don't lose anything because of Vista, the operating system that lives up to the dumb blond stereotype better than any blond I've met. It's pretty, it's even a little sexy, but it's as dumb as a fencepost and tends to slow everything down as it flourishes and poses during common, every day tasks.

If anyone happens to know how this Linux beginner can get his Toshiba A200 running without Microsoft, please drop me an email.

Back to work I go!

RL