Skin Of Stars: Right, on to the next machine

Right, on to the next machine
Monday, June 19, 2006

Well, since the demise of my laptop (a tear begins to form) I have had to move back to my old computer as continued use of my mums wasn't going to go down to well. The problem with my old machine is that it was a bit used and abused. Though still a fine piece of equipment with a more than adequate 2ghz processor, the big dell symbol always made me want to give it a hard time. So here is what I have done to it now to get it up and running... I've installed ubuntu linux on it. The poor thing, I've installed and re-installed various operating systems on it over time. Still, if I'm to achieve my goal of uber-web-geek I have to get to grips with what 80% of the internet is run on.

I've used GNU/Linux systems before but have always run into problems with them. This is probably the biggest issue that the open source community faces, thats noobs like myself continualy hit stumbling blocks each time we try to install it. There are linux based systems out there that do detect everything without a problem, but they tend to be live versions (boot and run off a CD without installation) like knoppix. It's a shame the installable versions versions so often require you to be tech savvy.

This is what I found to be so good with ubuntu. It has had no problems thus far with the install. It even detected my TFT monitor without an issue, which commercial versions like Suse9.2 failed to do. I guess I'll have to see what happens over time, nothing is fullproof.

posted by SkinOfStars @ 10:38 pm,

4 Comments:

At June 20, 2006 8:21 am, Nethercourt said...: Been 'playing' with Ubuntu for a while now on an old duron based rig. The biggest plus for it all has been 'Easylinux'. Made the whole game viable.
To be honest, the only thing keeping me in Windows at all are the legacy prog's that I use. For just general use and surfing Ubuntu is ace... even nicer is Kubuntu!!
At June 21, 2006 3:57 am, SkinOfStars said...: hmm... i've been wondering if i should have got the KDE version. there seems to be so much more going on in that environment. i have the knoppix disc and i love kstars... but gnome is totally gnu!

have you found the blogger posting prog? i'll be try it out with my next post.

erm, not sure what the EasyLinux thing is. i've found a linux distro by that name, but i don't think you mean that. i think your meaning different program installers. good tip. i've installed easy ubuntu and am looking at Automatix . not sure if these are the most appropriate.
At June 21, 2006 9:04 am, Nethercourt said...: http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu
is the thing I meant..saved me from giving up!

It's all coming together slowly, though I reckon it'll be a few years before 'Bill' needs to worry much.
At June 21, 2006 3:31 pm, SkinOfStars said...: ahh, i get ya. i did find that but i'd been using the documentation wiki on the ubuntu site. your list seems very comprehensive though. one for the bookmarks me thinks. thanks.

i don't think linux is going to take the borgs market share at any point soon though. everyday people don't change their operating systems. they didn't even upgrade from 98 to XP unless they bought a new box. what they need to have linux preinstalled on machines.