82_28 wrote:Thanks, Stephen.
Might need to install lm-sensors for the CPU temps.
All I can say is poor Windoze users. Gnome on Maverick Meerkat is absolutely beautiful. I've been using various distros of Linux exclusively for 10+ years. It has never ever been this good and seamless.
I first used Linux about that time, too. Slackware for me, which I still dual boot today. Installed off a series of floppy discs, of course. Windows 98 before that. X Windows was still in beta then, at least on Slackware. Red Hat was the big distro at the time. Always liked the command line, so I used to use the command line programmes, lynx for browsing, slrn for usenet, mailx for email. Still do with slrn and mailx. So when I came back to linux after several years without a computer, to find Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) as the main distro I was quite surprised by it all. My current computer has over a hundred times as much RAM as the last one I owned, mind.
It finally detects SD card slots, utilizes the stupid manufacturer buttons (my VAIO has a "web" button -- it works).
My Acer function buttons also work perfectly well. Even the wireless and USB DVB tuner cards work out of the box, for the last couple of versions. There is an annoying ACPI problem (a known kernel bug), but I found a very useful guide to patching and recompiling a kernel on the ubuntu forums so even that's sorted now.
My lady has a macbook pro and in my opinion, Gnome on Ubuntu's optimized for user friendliness iteration is the best desktop interface hands down. I have a small Win 7 partition which I've booted into once or twice and I cannot believe the shit people put up with and think this is the way computing just is. Drives me nuts. Then if something goes wrong they pay Geek Squad to come "fix it" or take their Mac to "Applecare".
It's just a pity almost all computers come with Windows installed. This computer originally had Vista on it, which I used to download Ubuntu and switched pretty much straight away. It was a revelation, to have a computer start in less than five minutes, then not continuously nag me about giving my e-mail to register the pre-installed MacAfee, the literally dozens of icons on the desktop for all the Acer shit installed. Kept it briefly for a couple of games, which turned out to work on WINE, so Windows went totally, recovery partition and all. Turns out I don't even need wine, as the games in question run natively on ScummVM.
I just taught my dad how to apt-get frozen bubble yesterday over the phone. He "can't believe this is all free", works and looks good too.
The great tool of the oppressor is ignorance. Americans don't have universal healthcare because, having never experienced it, they don't demand it. Computer users not using Gnu/Linux consider the OS an integral part of the computer, whether the utterly awful windows or the incredibly expensive Mac.
Anybody on a PC who has not tried it yet, get thee to ubuntu.com and download it and try it. Seriously. There are folks here at RI who will help you too. I'm one, Gnomad (penguin), justdrew and Stephen. I'm sure there are a few more.
Don't even have to install it, as it runs off a Live CD. Or can be installed on the same partition as windows using wubi. I'm going to post some screen shots because I like Ubuntu being pretty.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia