Ubuntu or not Ubuntu?

My home PC is a Gateway, bought new in 2000 (for a lot more than a far better model would cost now!) running Windows 98SE.

Fine though this was at the time, problems with USB connectivity persuaded me to upgrade to XP a few years back, and this was an altogether better experience.

I also upgraded many other features:
- DVD writer for CD writer
- More memory
- USB 2.0 slots
- TV card
- Additional 120GB hard-drive
- New flat screen monitor when original gothic monstrosity gave up

Reading technology columns and the like, I installed Avant over IE and found it pretty good, but then explored still further and took the plunge with Mozilla Firefox. A significantly improved browsing experience. This began to interest me more in open source software, and it wasn't long before I had moved to Thunderbird over Outlook (integrated newsgroups being a significant factor), and Juice (iPodder) instead of iTunes - why use a great bloated music program (all the features of which I had on other applications) when I could get the podcasting bit by itself!

So, having dabbled in open source, the next step was to try Linux. I did this first of all via a "live CD" of Knoppix, liked the look of it, and then went for Libranet 2.8.1 - partly because it was free, and partly because other reviews suggested it was relatively easy to get along with.

I used the Knoppix disk to partition my "C" drive, and then installed Libranet. This was pretty straightforward, though not all setup screens were intuitive.

However, what I did notice is that when - for example - I wanted to connect internet on my ADSL modem, it was a real bind with the Speedtouch script. However, I managed to view my Windows drives, access Firefox and Thunderbird with same settings in either mode (very useful, and another reason for moving to Thunderbird) and generally worked OK.

Two main things put me off switching to Libranet completely. One was not being able to write to NTFS (which is the format of my second hard drive) and the other was being able to run the odd Windows program. I countered the latter by installing Win4Lin, which required me recompiling the kernel. Whilst I can't fault the assistance I got via the Libranet forums, it wasn't exactly intuitive!!

Then, of course, Libranet was no more. And when I recently bought a router and it wasn't automatically detected, I thought "Do I really want to keep pushing this?" And I answered "No"!

However, Ubuntu has of course been getting good press for a while. Tried Live CD version - not bad. Spoke to some users of Ubuntu at work. Thought - yep, I'll go for it.

And in my next post I'll detail what happened!!!

(of course, I should have just got a cheap loan and bought a nice shiny Mac instead!)