Switching to Ubuntu
Posted by crystalclearconservative
I knew the time was coming when I would begin to despise the Microsoft empire, and this was when they released Vista. In my opinion, Vista is like the Aunt who pinches your cheek, then proceeds to call you fat and tells you to run your butt around the block a couple of times (not that this has happened to me, but I do know friends who have encountered this from relatives in the past). Vista is horrible with all of its security components, and just the fact that it is much more complex than its country cousin, XP. XP even had its kinks by providing slow start-up times and with SP2, causing a litany of security issues, etc.
So, I decided to take my trusty five year old Dell Inspiron laptop, which is a XP operating system, and convert it into a Linux platform using Ubuntu. This is a trial before I convert my Toshiba Satellite M-305 into a Linux platform and leave the Microsoft dynasty in the dust.
Ubuntu is a much more faster operating platform, which offers Mozilla Firefox as its chief browser. Aesthetically, it reminds me of the Apple operating systems, as the taskbar is on the top of the page, while the programs would be placed on the screen.
Now, I am still learning about Linux platforms, and the only thing that I am having some difficulties with are getting the wireless connection set. Otherwise, I have been impressed by the simplicity of the platform, as I do not need to have a lot of fancy, schmancy programs for the Dell. I just want something that will help maximize the speed (even though, I am looking to buy more memory and install a new hard drive) of the machine.
Overall, it will be exciting to try something new, and say C’est la vie to Microsoft.
About crystalclearconservative
Meet Crystal Clear Conservative, a blogger who grew up in Maryland, who now calls Northern Virginia home. I can be contacted at crystalclearblogger@gmail.com.Posted on May 6, 2009, in Current Events and tagged Operating Systems, Technology, Ubuntu, Windows. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
I am running a Ubuntu box, XUbuntu, DreamLinux and this one is Linux Mint. I love Linux!!!
Ubuntu is one of the best linux distros out there. I run it on just about everything in our household, and prior to that I’d been running kubuntu until KDE 4 came out and effectively destroyed the great KDE interface I’d loved so much.
As far as wireless, the key is making sure you have a supported chipset. If you don’t have something easily supported, it’s not worth trying to make it work. I’ve had good luck with NetGear PCMCIA cards in the past, but before I got one I did a lot of research on what chipsets were actually in the cards they sold and whether anyone else had luck with them. There’s a lot of info out there about 802.11 chipset support and integration on the net if you look.
If video editing was better in linux, I’d have nothing Microsoft in my house right now. We dumped MicroSoft back in 2001 and not dealing with anti-virus and all that has been wonderful. While everyone else struggled with MS’s latest fiasco of Vista, we laughed.
Enjoy.
You’re going to love it. I bid adieu to Microsoft a few weeks ago when I downloaded Ubuntu for my desktop. Just about everything a blogger or writer needs comes pre-installed with the OS, including OpenOffice. I have tried any video editing options for Linux, but I hope to soon.
I was in the same boat you were (slow computer) and just decided to go with Linux on a whim. It worked, and its like having a whole new machine for $0.