Reinke Faces Life

I placed my order for a Linux laptop. I’ve begun to separate myself from the Microsoft Death Star and join the Linux revolution. I’m returning to my roots as an injineer, unix nerd, and “falling knife” catcher. Good bye, Bill! No more winrot! No more verbose network conversation as all the workstations in my home lan try to elect a domain controller. No more treadmill of fatter operating systems needing bigger hardware.

# # # # #

http://www.emperorlinux.com/mfgr/dell/tiger/?tab=overview

The Tiger (Dell Latitude D630) 5# Linux

*** begin quote ***

# Full Linux support: up to 15″ SXGA+ w/ X @ 1400×1050
# Full Linux support: 1667 - 2200 MHz Core 2 Duo
# Full Linux support: 512 - 2 G RAM, expands to 4 G
# Full Linux support: 60 - 120 GB Hard Drive
# Full Linux support: DVD+/-RW Drive, or DVDROM Drive, or CDRW/DVD Drive
# Specification: 5.2 pounds
# Full Linux support: up to 10/100/1000 Mbps ethernet
# Full Linux support: 802.11a/b/g (54Mbps) WiFi
# Specification: Linux Pre-Configured (dual boot available)
# Specification: EmperorLinux user’s manual
# Specification: Three year warranty & One year tech support

*** end quote ***

Getting ready to take the plunge. Only two real obstacles to plopping down Frau’s credit card.

(1) Critical: Can I use my existing VWBBie card and subscription?

(2) Moderate; Can it fax?

(3) Trivial: Can it support usb thumb and disk drives?

(4) Trivial: Printer support?

(5) Trivial: Anything windoze does, it should do better?

Did I miss anything?

# # # # #

http://www.techsupportalert.com/review-linux-for-windows-users.htm

Linux Desktop – Is it an Option for Normal Users?

Linux has long held the promise of offering normal users an alternative to Windows. With the arrival of the high priced Windows Vista Support Alert subscriber “Briard” decides to put 12 Linux distros to the test. (March 2007)

***Begin Quote***

Rumbles of Mutiny

Murmurs of revolt spread through the taverns in the Kingdom of Windows. The flashy new Vista model King William had promised the people had taken 5 years to put into production, and the price matched its splendour. During those five years, the Apple Opera Company had staged several new productions of impressive polish. The upstarts from Google were giving people free software and email services, and there were rumours that Desktop Linux was mature enough to rival Vista.

In the rugged mountains of Mozilla, far from the Court at Redmond, fiercely independent tribes had held out against King William. Long ago their artisans had sworn an oath to share their ideas and inventions freely. Their creations were built on open platforms like UNIX and Linux, with liberal use of arcane tools. Now there was talk that they’d produced a Linux desktop of great beauty.

The once loyal-to-the-royal media began asking if King William was losing the steely resolve of old. Would people baulk at the outrageous price of Vista and do the unthinkable: rebel and buy a Mac, or replace their Windows with Linux? Was this the autumn of King William’s reign and would Vista become his elaborate tomb? And who would reign after King William? Would it be Big Jobs and Apple or would it be the rebels from Mozilla? Would 2007 be the year of Linux?

***End Quote***

I’m revolting!

from Vista, Windoze, and Microsoft in general.

I’m tired of fighting to make the platform perform.

Yesterday, I threw up on an old DELL C610 notebook the latest version of UBUNTU610. It went up in less than 20 minutes wall clock time. I was doing other stuff so that’s probably not a fair time. I’m playing with it just to see what works and what doesn’t. has a fair number of games, firefox, and OpenOffice. I don’t have a spare inet connection for it. (Have to borrow a hub.) And, a lot of apps don’t like a 386. (Hey one plays with what one has!)

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek

Ubuntu Open Week

***Begin Quote***

Jono Bacon writes “Next week (Mon 27th Nov 2006 - Sat 2nd Dec 2006) the Ubuntu community hold their Ubuntu Open Week - a week of IRC tutorials and sessions designed to encourage more and more people to join their diverse community. In just two years, Ubuntu has grown to a user base of over 6 million and a worldwide community spanning many different disciplines.

***End Quote***

A good free intro and online support. If it’s a dead week, what better time to dip a toe into Linux.

http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/dell.html

Have to try my old dells first.

Arghhh! Have to do some poking around!