Lost In Haste

I haven’t gotten a new computer since I left for college. That was back in 2002. Yes, you read that right! So when my laptop I ordered from Dell came in by snail mail on Monday, I was completely ecstatic!

Ever since Microsoft decided XP needed to be improved and spit out Vista, I came to the conclusion windows just wasn’t for me anymore.Since there was no way I could afford anything Apple (yes, I could have gotten a cheaper notebook but I really like my toys) I was left with Linux. I’d worked with Fedora Core 6 earlier this year (when I had tons of free time before I started working) and hadn’t really had much success with it.Then again, I really hadn’t tried too hard but thats another story.Still, I refused to shell out a few hundred dollars for an operating system, so I decided to give it another try.

I ended up installing Ubuntu on my XPS (which surprisingly took less than thirdy minutes) and the goal was realized. …or so I thought… After getting Gaim, Thunderbird, and company set up, I came to the conclusion my laptop wasn’t using Linux, just a pale intimation of XP/Vista. So I killed it.

After waiting for a two gig download, I spend the majority of last night installing Fedora Core 7. The instalation took a great deal longer but I had far more (as in more than one) options on the packages I wanted on my computer. After all was said and done (two hours later) I restarted my computer and waited on the edge of my seat to try out my new system. …or so I thought… After startup, the computer got as far as uncompressing the kernel before it froze. Suddenly the issue of Ubuntu being too easy wasn’t as big a deal as I had previously thought.

After popping in the installation cd and an hour wait (I was distracted by a bagel with cheese) I once again had a functioning laptop. …or so I thought… When I had previously installed Ubuntu, I had done all my updating via a lan cord and Hadn’t tried the wireless card at all. This time I did and of course, it failed miserable. So…after about an hour and a half of research and fiddling with wrapping windows drivers, I finally was able to access the wireless network!

So after spending all of today finding apps to replace the ones I used in Windows, I’m finally happy with this flavor of Linux. Of course, I now have to import all of my data, pet projects, and music but I’ll leave that for tomorrow. Once that is done, I’ll finally be free from Microsoft! …well, except for using a PC at work but there really isn’t any way around that…