Ubuntu

So this weekend I decided to take a stab at Linux. Let me explain.

I was never what you may call a power user, but I certainly knew more about computers back when I was a teenager screwing around with DOS than I do at present. At some point along the way, I became the type that only used a computer, never digging deep in the system. As long as it worked, I didn't care.

But lately I've been thinking about getting a new laptop (my HP is about 5 years old). I decided that rather than spend a few hundred bucks I could take this chance to try out linux, which is supposed to breathe new life into old machines (and into your computing abilities).

I settled on Ubuntu because of the cost, the support, the supposed ease of use, and the fact that you can test it out using Wubi. Wubi allows an install on a Windows machine with minimal effort (Windows sees it as another program). It allows you can fully boot into Windows or Ubuntu, without partitioning your hard drive. When you get tired of it you can erase it, or keep it, or preferably, wipe the computer and do a full linux-only install.

Oh, and the cost is $0, which is very cheap for a test run. Also, it comes with open office, so you can play with .docs and excel files without needing to pay Microsoft.

We'll see how it goes. So far, the only pain was getting my wireless card to work. It turned out I only needed to run an update so that Ubuntu could download the proper drive. Works like a champ now. It certainly seems faster than when I run in XP.