I just installed the new Ubuntu version, Feisty Fawn. It found my windows install and kept it from being deleted or locking it away from me. Instead it installed a screen at the beginning that allows me to decide which OS to use. That is the same as the old version.

I had some problems at first. The first couple of times I booted the os, it locked up. I don’t exactly know why. I unplugged a usb hard drive that I have, and re-booted many times. I also opened the OS in Linux’s version of ‘Safe Mode’. And, now it is working.

I don’t know what I did, but of all those things, something must have worked. It seems to be working.

I just got notification that there are some updates to download. I am going to start playing so I will bid you farewell. I will let you know what I find…

I am being a little facetious here but apparently there actually is a market for Microsoft Vista despite the endless blog and news reports about its many “failings”. Microsoft’s latest operating system, Vista, is actually selling.

I am not a Microsoft head, but I also hate the haters (regardless of the product). Vista has received more that its fair share of bad press.

Every product has its good points and bad points and pledging total allegiance to only one product in any class of products is extraordinarily limiting. I am currently updating this blog with my old Mac laptop. Across the room is my home desktop PC that is a dual boot XP/Linux box. I know that I am hardly representative of most computer users, but I really don’t give much thought to the operating system anymore. Each OS has its good points and each has its frustrations. So the fact that Microsoft sells 20 million Vista licenses hardly comes as any surprise.

The rumors of Microsoft’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and when it comes to computers, I am agnostic.

So it has been a while since I fired up Ubuntu on my home computer so I thought I would fire it up and see what it was like to put a post on my site using this OS. Other than the mysterious sluggishness my site is experiencing, it is exactly what I expected. Nothing different.

Gone are the days when you chose an OS and were handcuffed to only the programs that worked with it. Now with the Internet and Web Apps, we are less and less prisoners of the OS. It won’t be long before the only people who even care about the OS are the remaining zealots who base their whole world view by the start up sound that their computer makes.

I don’t really care. I am very excited about the prospect of being able to sit down at any computer that has a connection to the Internet and having all my apps available. No surprises. Nice.

We are close. I used to have to open Dreamweaver everytime I wanted to update my site. That meant that changes were few and far between. No longer. Now I log onto my site with no thought about the computer or the OS and the interface is always the same. And, it is easy. That means that I can put new content on my site with ease and regularity.

I might not have anything to say, but at least I can have a dynamic and growing site on a daily basis and I can make that happen from anywhere.

Add to that all the online apps that are available for word processing, email, spreadsheets, and more, the day I can say goodbye to Microsoft is quickly approaching.

Facebook
I am a little late to the party, but I spent some time this week getting my facebook page updated. I am sure if you do a search for Murray Williams Fayetteville, you can find me. Hmm, I wonder exactly how many Murray Williams there are in Facebook. Maybe I will go and find out.

Alright, for the 10’s of you following this string, I have gotten Ubuntu up and running correctly. I wrote a couple of days ago that there were some problems with updating Ubuntu successfully. Well, I think I have figured it out. Instead of using the Symantic thingy, I started using the Add/Remove programs thing under Applications and I think it worked.

I went through a complete update and all seems to be well. I have the latest versions of all the programs that came with Ubuntu and all seems to be working. I still am a long way from completely understanding this OS, but at least it isn’t broken.

I tried to upload the latest version of the OS and I couldn’t get it to install. So, I am a version behind in the actual OS. But aside from that, I do have all the latest apps in this older version.

Hopefully, Ubuntu will work out whatever problem I was experiencing so that I can update the OS in the future, but in the meantime, all seems good.

What is a newb to do? There is some update that screws up my version of Ubuntu. And, I don’t know which one. The problem is I can’t update my version. I want to have the latest version, but I don’t want to sit through another laborious install. hmm… what to do?

www.twitter.com

See if you can make something of it.

I ran into my first snag with Ubuntu.

So apparently, there is an automatic update feature that is supposed to bring all the software on your computer up to date. That all sounds fine, but when I did it, I lost the ability to open a lot of the software on the computer.

In linux, there is a bar along the top of the screen that gives you access to all your applications. Along with that there is a System menu that gives you all the stuff that you would find in Control Panel on a Windows box.

One of the programs is called the Synaptic Package Manager. As far as I can tell it is the easiest way to update linux and get new software. The standard way of downloading that we have all come to love and know on the other OSs is not as easy on linux. When you download using linux you have to compile and build and then put it in the right folders under root…blah blah blah. And so far, I havn’t figured out how to do that correctly.

Well, the version of Firefox that comes with the Ubuntu build that I installed is old… and I mean really old. It is like the 1.0. I found the 1.5 version in the Synaptic Package Manager and updated it to at least that version. But, I want 2.0 which has spell checker. That means less incorrectly spelled words in my posts among other things.

So, I ran the updater in SPM and then I couldn’t get anything under the System menu to even load. That really hamstrings the system so tonight, I had to reload linux. I guess it isn’t exactly ready for the masses just yet, but I am learning. If you want to know more about my trials and trevails, you can comment on this entry, or wait patiently for more entries because I am sure I will probably be talking more about my little linux experiment in the future.

All in all though, I think I like it.

But one more problem I just remembered. When I reboot back into Windows, I have to unplug and re-plug my USB Wireless ethernet interface to get it to work. I don’t know why, but oh well.

MurDog OUT!!!

Ok… I just installed Ubuntu on my home computer and I am up and running! In fact, right now I am entering this blog post while in Ubuntu. I haven’t been using it long enough to really have a true impression of the system, but so far, so good.

I did have a little trouble getting my wireless internet up and running, but other than that, it was pretty easy, and as you can see, I am on the net so I did it.

My home computer is a little slow. I heard that Ubuntu, or any other linux OS, breathes new life into old hardware, and I think they’re right. Firefox opens quite quickly, and downloads even seem a bit snappier.

When I go to my main site, www.murdog.com, it opens like liquid lightning…..sooper fast!.

I was scared to install this on a computer that already has XP on it. I was afraid that I would some how lose that install and then I would be stuck with linux. Well Ubuntu was fairly easy. After the install, it noticed that I already had a copy of Windows and asked if I wanted to make the system dual-boot. That means it will ask you on boot which OS you want and then it will start the one you chose. Of course, I said yes and what do you know… it worked.

The install wasn’t without its problems. I first tried to install the latest build of the OS, and for whatever reason, it didn’t work. It would just get stuck on the initial splash screen. I read in the forums (did I mention that I am definitely a geek?) that people who were having that problem were succeeding using an alternate version. I downloaded the alternate and it worked. The only problem with the alternate version was the installer was text based rather than GUI based. That scared me a bit. But, all is well and I am on the net. Yea me!

MurDog, the dual-boot geek OUT!!!