MikeBrum.com

So, I decided to install Ubuntu on my laptop last night. I’ve been running Ubuntu on my work laptop since I got it, but my personal laptop has had XP on it since it shipped.

I flashed my BIOS and installed the 64bit version last night. I had a bunch of trouble getting sound to work (an apparent conflict with ACPI in these laptops), but got it working. I was then plagued by steady, but not debilitating, video flickering. I ultimately got fed up with it and installed the 32bit version this morning.

With the 32bit version of Ubuntu (7.10) installed, everything’s pretty awesome. I’m running it with nothing that I’d consider a “compromise” and I’m more than a little pleased. I even got compiz and AWN running happily and looking sweet – as they always do.

I still have one Windows box in the office which is the current file server. I’ll also keep it to run PhotoShop and iTunes. But other than that, it’s a rather dormant box that just serves up video, audio and images. If Adobe ever released a viable linux version of PhotoShop, I’d probably have no reason at all to keep the Windows box around (there are many iTunes substitutes for linux that do a reasonable job).

Yay Linux!