Playing with Ubuntu

My work laptop died last week and PC Support gave me another one just like it. They also left my old pc. I decided that since this laptop was 'dead', I'd see if I could install Ubuntu on it.

The machine would try to boot into Windows but would hang. I guess it was a corrupt file system problem.

So I installed Ubuntu from a cd and it's been working fine, so far.

I really like the Add/Remove Programs app. I can pick from lots of apps. Installing apps that aren't listed, like TweetDeck and Chrome, are a little more work. I'm pretty sure I can add an entry somewhere to have the app look for apps in other places. I'll have to check on that.

Installing NetBeans & Java 1.6 was a breeze thanks to Sun.

I installed a media player called VLC (recommended by @codeless). It seems to work well.

I have to edit the etc/resolv.conf file everytime I reboot so that I can get to the internet. I haven't looked into why.

Another issue I have is that sound comes thru both the speakers and headphones. I found lots of others with the same issue. One solution looked like it was patching the kernel. I don't think I'll do that. I'm sure the problem is a hardware driver kind of thing.

Since I don't really know much about routers and connecting to networks, I haven't been able to get the machine to talk to my wireless router at home. I think part of the problem is a hardware driver.

Overall, the experience has been fine.