Ubuntu 5.10: "Breezy Badger"
I downloaded the latest version of everyone’s favourite Linux distribution yesterday, in both its install and Live CD versions. The install went on an old laptop I was donated, a Dell Inspiron 7000 (Pentium II 333 MHz, 128MB RAM). I installed at work, without a network card in the PC card slot, then popped the NIC in later. Ubuntu detected the card and I set up and activated it in about 30 seconds. Yay for the hardware abstraction layer!
I’m writing this from my work PC, which I’ve just booted from the Live CD. It’s a quick experiment to see how I’m likely to get on next month when I attend dConstruct (“The UK’s first grass-roots Web 2.0 Conference!"). Our new Powerbook is unlikely to have arrived by then, so I’ve ordered a loan laptop from work. The thing is, running a Windows laptop is likely to be the geek equivalent of social death. I’m kidding, of course: it won’t be that bad. In fact I may even be a source of interest and entertainment; as Apple laptops are so prevalent at tech conferences the presence of a “Pee-cee” might be a bit of a novelty. However, I’m much more comfortable when I’ve got a CLI to play with (and I won’t be allowed to install anything on the laptop) so it’s Ubuntu Live CD all the way, baby!
Update
I should have mentioned that the Dell laptop has a borked keyboard. One place in the US does replacements for $34.99, but the cheapest I could find here was £39.99 on eBay, or £70+ (as high as £110!) at laptop parts shops. This makes it slightly uneconomical to repair, but I could always plug in a PS/2 keyboard.