Background
After a successfull install of Ubuntu on my girlfriends Dell 1300 Inspiron, I took the big leap and decided to install this Linux distribution on my own 2 year-old notebook.
Preparations
Taking the step from Windows to Linux is a big step. I have been preparing myself for this the last year, by using open source software where-ever I could. The Mozilla solutions Firefox and Thunderbird took over the role of Internet Explorer and Outlook, Open Office took over the role of Microsoft Office and I ported my static websites to Joomla!’s open source content management system.
Then as my Windows Vista installation started to go sour (my experience with Windows is that it has to be re-installed every year) I took the leap Friday the 13th of March 2009.
Crash and burn
While I obviously do not expect the reader to be as stupid as myself, I feel obliged to let you know what an insanely dumb thing I did when I started the process of installing Ubuntu on my notebook.
As my Pioneer DVD/CD burner is having some severe problems reading burned media, I had to download Ubuntu and install it as a slave to the Windows system using WUPI. That worked fine and as I could see that the LVPM program would be able to move the partition from the NTFS folder under Windows to a separate partition; this did not worry me too much. Having tested that all seemed to work in my slave version of Ubuntu I decided to set it free and move it over to another partition.
Now I had of course checked my NAS via USB to see that I had access to this before I did anything, and that worked fine (Targa NAS from Lidl!). As I started LVPM i made 2 mistakes. Firstly I forgot to create the partition under Vista as had been advised. Secondly I forgot to click the off button on my NAS. Never having seen a Linux filesystem I had no idea what sda and sdb was, and since the control box reminded me that sda was my current root and that I shouldn’t install there, I of course chose sdb. Next screen showed “Formatting” and I leaned happily back in my chair. Leaning back I realized that the NAS was flashing quite unexpectedly and making sounds. I wriggled my eyebrows, opened my mouth and uttered “SShiitt!!” Then I quickly killed the power to the NAS.
The result of this idiotic procedure was that my NAS (which held all files from the last 15 years) was seriously messed up. Being a real computer nerd, I of course had no back ups of ANYTHING, so I was looking at having lost around 300 GB of data – pictures, papers, customer information and accounts! However after a few days of extreme panic I managed to find a brilliant program that only cost me 55 euros, and which solved all my problems. Let me advise you that www.recovermyfiles.com has a very good product!!
Anyway back to the installation.
Installation
After having ported Ubuntu to it’s own partition and having Vista on it’s own with a dual boot through GRUB I was ready to enjoy the spoils. However GRUB crashed on start and was unable to boot my newly moved partition for Ubuntu – Error 15. I searched through the papers, and in the end fuond the information I needed just on the screen. The partition location that GRUB was trying to mount had not changed and was still listed as an NTFS folder under Vista. I changed this to the simple (hd0,1) and (hd0,0) for the Vista system. Then when I entered the system I edited the menu.list file through Terminal and forced these changes to remain.
What works and what doesn’t?
I was surprised to see how much worked on my system. Here follows a list of peripherials etc:
64-BIT Dual processor: Working out of the box!
Integrated webcam: Working out of the box!
Wireless network (not Broadcom): Working out of the box, but seems to be given a problem causing the notebook to freeze and Caps-Lock to flash. Solved with fix found on Ubuntu website.
Fingerprint reader: Not reacting. Might need some software installed. But after having seen Mythbusters on Discovery I have no need for it!!
Nvidia: Functions perfect, but you need to install free/gratis proprietary software to get the monitor to work perfectly.
Blue quick-play buttons: Seems to be working, but the sound mute button does not turn orange when the sound is off..
Sony Ericsson K800i: So far not managed to sync. contacts and calendar. However it plugs in perfectly via bluetooth and lets me browse files on the phone and on the memory card!
HP Officejet 6110: Works out of the box – INCLUDING the scanner.
Conclusion
All together the installation has been a tremendous success. The only real thing that might have caused a problem is the fact that I chose to install the 64 BIT version and not the standard 32 BIT version. A lot of the programs that otherwise should work out of the box (f.i. Java, Skype, Google provider, etc) have taken some extra tweaking to work on the 64 BIT version. Apparantly there is not that much to gain by having a 64 BIT version installed, so if you are not a mega nerd or even a junior nerd; you might want to consider taking the 32 BIT version instead.
Otherwise I am now a very happy Linux user with a brilliant operating system!
Beauty!!
Remember that you can upgrade your Linux installation to work with Cairo Dock, Compiz and other cool features. To find great looking, high resolution, free back ground photos go to http://www.interfacelift.com.