This is day 21 of 30 of my Ubuntu Linux experiment and I barely remember to write my weekly review. This is a good thing because if I have become so use to using Ubuntu that I almost forgot to review it, I must not miss MS Windows much.
I have used the Internet without trouble, figured out multimedia (with some trial and error), did word processing and spread sheet work without incident, burnt CD/DVDs, ripped the same, utilized digital photo's easily, viewed and organized the same, download, listened to, and transfered MP3s and Podcasts, and networked with MS Windows shares. All of this in just 63 hours of "on keyboard time" (21 days of about 3 hours a day). This is pretty good.
So lets break it down:
Office Productivity - 9 of 10
(word processing, spread sheets, email, presentations, PDFs)
Multimedia - 8 of 10
(play cd/dvds, play/record music/video files )
Graphic Software 8 of 10
(view/organize photos)
Graphic Editing 5 of 10
(GIMP there is nothing else close and I'm a photoshop guy)
Web Development/Programing 8 of 10
(These tools all work well nothing stands out here)
Internet - 9 of 10
(Firefox 2.0 and anything else you want)
Hardware Compatibility - 7 of 10
(Most things work well but if they don't figuring out how to fix them is very hard)
USB Function 9 of 10
(Everything I've thrown at it worked)
Networking Wired ? of 10
(I really haven't tested it much yet)
Networking Wireless 0 of 10
(I have now tried 3 wireless cards and none work)
Installation 9 of 10
(I had a bug when I tried to change my time zone)
Over all Linux (Ubuntu 6.1) on a desktop computer I give a 8 of 10
It installs easily, has 90% of what you need and is free.
On a laptop 4 of 10.
Wireless does not function for me and is too hard to trouble shoot. This is a noticable stutter on the user interface. It's a memory hog, yes its a memory hog, it requires 192 mbs of ram to install on it default settings. I am going to try Knoppix on my laptop.
3 comments:
I am very impressed with your progress. The laptop issues are troubling, but not everything/everyone is ready for Linux. It is very much a work in progress as a desktop OS. It takes 256 megs of RAM to do a normal install and that rules out a lot of laptops I have had my hands on.
Regarding the laptop and wireless, have you ruled out the hardware by installing wifi-radar, unhooking your other PC's from your router, removing all security from it and trying to connect to the router with the Linux laptop? When I had issues, I tried that and it worked for me. Once I saw the hardware was working, I set up the laptop and the router with the same encryption and I was okay. Linux wireless is not as user friendly as Windows...this I admit, but wifi-radar is a step in the right direction.
I think the D-link card works, but not with WEP. I can turn off it off on the router and I can see the router. I'm encouraged.
you can always use an os independent wireless bridge, about 2x as much as a card, but you did just get 1000's of (£)($) worth of software free.
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