Upgraded my laptop
March 19, 2009 Posted by mitch | ubuntu | 0 Comments
Its no secret that I prefer linux on my desktop... I've been using it since 1996 in one form or another, and its been my primary desktop for atleast the last 4 years, and as a server... is there anything else? Not to say I'm a linux bigot, but I really have a hard time understanding why people like windows... I kinda get the desktop thing, it still just seems to be alot of work, but as a server? In times past the common argument for not using linux on the desktop was that people wanted to get "work" done, instead of the constant tinkering that seemed to happen on linux desktops alot. I will admit that in times past... that was a very real argument. However, over the last three years of using Ubuntu on my desktop... I can honestly say that the tables have turned. Who's "working" and "tinkering" now? I've had to deal with some desktop issues over the last month or two, and they were all a result of Internet Explorer and Windows being unusable by anyone other than someone with Administrator privileges. Spyware, trojans, anti-virus software, and malware removal tools... WHY? Why is it windows guys find this acceptable? Why do you just accept this as "normal"?!?! Are you that naive to think that's just the way it has to be? It ridiculous! I switched my wife to Apple a year or so ago, and I haven't looked back. Its been smooth sailing... I run updates and backups for her and she doesn't have many other problems out side of that. Linux has also gotten incredibly easy to run as well. Things just work, and when they don't (ie: some process gets hung or whatever...) people are "reboot" trained for desktops that they would just reboot a linux desktop and everything would work again. Not that a reboot is required, but to someone thats not linux savy its still simple enough that's what they would try first.
Anyway, what I really wanted to post about was that I upgraded my laptop from Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) to the latest Alpha for Jaunty Jackalope. I know I was taking a risk since I did have a few problems with 8.10 originally when it was released even... but this release seems to be alot more stable even in its alpha stage. I've also removed gkrellm in favor of screenlets with the SysMonitorPlus Screenlet. I never liked the gnome desklets before,as they seemed to eat alot of system resources and didn't really offer much. However, these seem to be much more efficient. I'll post a screen shot when I get my desktop cleaned up.
I did run into one issue with the application Gnome-RDP. That was easily fixed by dumping the database and reimporting it after the new sqlite3 database was created. I will write about any new issues as they arise, but so far so good.
