Sunday morning dawned sunny and warm. As happens, however, I was awake before dawn, and as I netsurfed aimlessly and my mind wandered contemplating the numerous projects I have on the go, I found a link to Ubuntu, a very reputable (and very free) Linux operating system. My thoughts then drifted to my neglected old Sotec laptop that has been sitting in the closet for several months...the rest writes itself, I suppose.
From the Ubuntu homepage I downloaded the newest package - Ubuntu 6.1, nicknamed Edgy Eft. I burned the image to a CD (by burning an iso image rather than just copying the data, I made a bootable CD).
I then dusted off the Sotec, uninstalled all extraneous Microsoft programs and deleted large files, like videos and music; I then ran a de-frag so that my hard-drive would be in the best possible condition before proceeding. I was planning not to over-write the XP system, but rather to create a dual-boot for it by installing Ubuntu on a partition. I wanted to keep the XP just in case things didn't go very well with the Ubuntu. On the other hand, there was nothing of value on the pc, so if there was a melt-down and I fried the whole computer, that would not have been the end of the world.
Ubuntu first runs from the CD, giving you a look at what it can do. If you like it, just double-click the "Install" icon on the Gnome (Ubuntu) desktop. I did this, and then it installed the system on my PC, walking me through everything including partitioning my disk (I allocated 60% of the disk space to Ubuntu!).
Ubuntu 6.1 installed and was up and running without a hitch! Even my wireless network card was working - that in itself was impressive. I spent all day Sunday (minus a couple of hours out for an invigorating bike ride with Brian) testing and playing with the system. Ubuntu recognized my USB memory stick, USB mouse, and even my USB webcam (no drivers to install). I then tried a card reader - no problem; my photo software even opened up to help me retrieve my photos from the disk; same thing when I plugged my Nikon directly into the USB port!
There is only one little thing that I can't get Ubuntu to do - and that is to allow Japanese input. It can be done, I know that. But - it isn't easy, and despite following tutorials, downloading extra packages, entering some code in the terminal, I still can't enter Japanese in all programs, and I may have done more harm than good! However, I have managed to gain a little success: I can enter Japanese into the text editor by using the SCIM tool that comes in Ubuntu - I can then cut and paste that into other documents. It's not ideal - but for a free OS with tons of free programs that has given new life to an old laptop, I'm not complaining.
EDIT: I now have the Japanese working just fine. I followed this tutorial - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Japanese_input_and_font_setup - and it worked great.
Further resources on Ubuntu:
Beginner's Forum - http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?s=a5c2a08614b4a58a24f5ef636c25e1e9&f=73
Excellent Tutorial on installing Ubuntu and then getting the programs you want!
http://www.howtoforge.com/the_perfect_desktop_ubuntu6.10
1 comment:
Cool. The word is spreading! I have been playing with SUSE and last week Dell announced that it will be supporting SUSE Linux on all its business class machines. Can consumer machines be far behind? I don't think so - Dell is already selling machines with RedHat on them in China. Linux is coming and Vista is only making the arrival sooner rather than later.
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