Kelly's World

As I’ve blogged previously, I’m in the market for a small laptop which I can take overseas next year when we go to America. It seems to be the case that Linux Ubuntu is becoming more and more popular on these machines, and as I sink further into my geek status (although still denying it whole heartedly) I decided I wanted to research, and test if possible, the open source operating system.

The first step was to google how I could achieve this. I had tried some other method the other day, which failed dismally. It installed OK, but trying to install any other programs brought up a series of errors, and I finally decided to toss it altogether. Reading Digg a few days later, and courtesy of MaximumPC.com, I found comprehensive instructions on how I could install Ubuntu onto a windows laptop. The victim? My work laptop. As explained on the site:

A key advantage here is that since we are installing Ubuntu from within Windows, it can be uninstalled at any time using the Add/Remove Programs utility. Despite what many people believe, however, this install is not a virtual machine. It works more like a disk image creating a block of data on the drive. This carries a little bit of a performance penalty, but nowhere near what you encounter when you run an OS within an OS.

After I rebooted the machine and did the live test to make sure the laptop hardware was compatible (so simple and easy – very impressive) it was time to take the plunge and install it. Approximately 1/2 hour later it was downloaded and installed, and I had logged in. First thing was to begin downloading the updates, which was estimated at another 1/2 hour or so. Since I was only using it to test out the system, I didn’t bother with downloading any additional drivers.

Once the system updates had downloaded and installed (which took another 40mins or so to install once they’d downloaded), I decided to install an IM program straight up – priorities – chatting with mates is very important!!! Somewhere along the vine I’d heard about Pidgin (formerly Gaim), so decided that was a goer. This was where I’d encountered numerous problems on my first Linux attempt, and was treading a LOT more carefully this time. Rather than go straight for the downloads page and pray it worked, I googled installing pidgin on ubuntu and thankfully found a page stepping me through it. And thus my first true question about the new system presented itself – what the hell are dependencies? You need to run command prompts to install things first? It looked like google was going to become my new best friend for a while until I was up and running confidently on the new OS.

I started running the first dependency, and while it was downloading (AGAIN) I decided to explore the menus a little more. I clicked on Applications > Internet, and swore aloud. Pidgin was already installed! Sweet, it made it tons easier for me, I just wish I’d looked around in the first place! Within minutes I had both my gmail and msn profiles logged into Pidgin.

My current Ubuntu desktop showing Pidgin

And thus that’s where the system stands now. Over the next few weeks I’ll continue to use Linux at home instead of my usual XP system, and see how I go. Hopefully it’s relatively straight forward, as this may be a major deciding factor in which laptop I go for, given it will only be a “play” machine for me, and I don’t need a complete end to end system like my home XP desktop. We’ll see how it goes hey?

**update**

Just went to do a screenshot so I could post my desktop as it stands currently on the blog, and merely pressing the “Print Screen” button on the desktop asked me where to save the screenshot! Impressive!

So once again I’m on the prowl for some gadgets prior to our US trip overseas. As mentioned in a previous post, I have a list of items I would like to purchase before we head over. One of these was the purchase of a small laptop. My requirements were simple:

• Small and light – something I could whip out and use quickly and easily, and not struggle to carry over the countryside with me.
• Wireless – for use in cafe’s and hotspots around America so I could communicate with friends and family back home
• Ability to transfer files between digital/video camera and an external hard disk to free up space on the memory cards within the cameras

Given the amount of competition in the market at the moment, I thought I would be buying an Asus eee and that was it. It was small, cheap, and portable. It offered everything I needed, and for a relatively small price tag. Until I saw it.

I went to Myers on a separate matter one day, happened to walk past the technology section and saw one on display. A black one, if that made any difference. And I immediately thought it looked cheap and nasty. Sure it would do what I needed, but it was UG-GLY! I was greatly disappointed.

Then my sister emailed me about the Dell e (what’s an extra two vowels anyway?) and I was over the moon. It was cheaper than the eee, and looked about a bazillion times better! I’m not a geek, the bells and whistles don’t interest me. I’m an inexperienced consumer who likes shiny sleek things, and the Dell has captured me. It has wi-fi, it’s small, and has 3 usb slots allowing for simple file transfers.

So, now I’m just waiting on a release date to be announced. Oh, and to learn how to use linux. I’m in the process of installing a copy on my laptop in a virtual environment (there’s that geek in denial thing again) so I can learn how to use it, which I’ll blog about later. It’s been overwhelming so far, to say in the least. Once I have that downpat, the world is at my feet. Well, the linux world of mini laptops anyway.