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Ubuntu Rescued My Laptop

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Ubuntu

A few weeks ago I started seeing the “Blue Screen of Death” on my Sony Vaio PCG-K35 laptop every 10 minutes or so, making the computer nothing more than an overpriced 7 lb. brick. Because my laptop is more of a convenience and I’m in the middle of a large project, it got put up in the closet until I found time to deal with it.

I pulled it out last week and was unable to find the activation keys to Windows XP Pro and Microsoft Office that came with the laptop from the OEM. This pretty much made reinstalling it with Microsoft software impossible, and I’m not about to drop $500-700 on new keys to get it all running again- I don’t even like Microsoft.

This weekend while driving to South Carolina to meet with my fiance’s brother (who also happens to be a minister and is going to marry us), I installed the Ubuntu Linux 6.10 (Edgy Eft) distribution that I downloaded and burnt to CD on my desktop.

Installing Ubuntu

Wow. That’s all I can say- Wow. Ubuntu installed like a dream in less than 30 minutes, and everything just worked. My wireless card worked, power management worked, and the DVD burner worked with no tweaking, fidgeting, or fussing.

I’m no stranger to Linux- All the dedicated servers I lease are always powered by a Red Hat or some other Linux distribution. However, all my experiences with graphical interfaces on desktops for the open-source operating system have been painful at best. Every other distribution I have tried always required me to compile drivers, tweak settings, and generally get pissed off trying to make things work.

Ubuntu just does, right “out of the box”.

Ubuntu vs. XP… No Adobe, but Everything Else Rocks

Full Story.

re: Ubuntu

Article should be titled: "I'm a dumbass and can't file simple registration numbers safely away or figure out how to image my laptop harddrive".

Apparently finding the license sticker that's welded to the bottom of her laptop is also too hard.

She's "no stranger to Linux" (with her vast hosting experience) but this is the first (THE FIRST) distro she tried that actually works??? Time to get out of the house a bit more, there are dozens of distro's that work on the desktop.

But the story does have a happy ending as yet another Ubuntu fanboy is born.

Your comment.

To comment in kind:

Your comment should be titled: "I'm a rude and arrogant jerk who can't post a comment without a nasty insult."

re: Your Comment

Possibly.

Assuming you read the article, which part of my comment is untrue?

To me, it looks like the author is jumping on the Ubuntu fan club to garner free exposure to her site where she just happens to be promoting the launch of a new service.

Commenting style.

Didn't say it was untrue--accuracy is not my issue. It's a matter of style and attitude--I just don't care for your arrogant, in-your-face rudeness.

Commenting is not a nasty contest. You don't need to win any points, or establish yourself as a put-down artist in order to comment disfavorably on something. To quote one of my favorite science fiction authors, "90% of nearly everything is crap", so it's easy to find lots to be critical about, and that's fine. Showing some grace while doing it is a real art.

re: Style

Luckily, I'm a scientist and not an artist (graceful or otherwise), so I favor facts over political correctness.

Style is relative, so one persons rude and arrogance is another's direct and to the point.

Publishing anything on the internet (a mostly global public media) is not for the weak willed or thin skinned.

Gook luck with that.

"I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me."
-- Dave Barry

I could go into a major slash and burn here, but it's pointless. A simple Google Search shows that you've annoyed many, many others (must all be "weak-willed, thin-skinned" folk) in other forums around the Internet.

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