The Ink-Pot and the Palette

It took the better part of eight hours, but I'm now the curious and interested owner of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, "Precise Pangolin" (the P entry in Linux's longstanding alphabetical animal naming scheme--my previous O/S was Lucid Lynx so I've skipped M, N and O), and my backups are restoring now. The microphone and recording problems are fixed! Everything works again! \o/

The new operating system takes some getting used to, but it's extremely good-looking and quite fast. There's really very little left in Ubuntu that's uber-geeky (though I did have to do a couple of command-line operations this afternoon), and for the first time I can imagine Linux as an OS for everyday home computer users.

Now to treat myself to an episode of Lewis (thank you, emungere, for tempting me into it--because I needed another show to watch!).

There's nothing like burning a bridge or two to make you look at the landscape before you more critically.

Now that I've jettisoned Windows altogether in favor of Linux, I'm forced to face the fact that Linux, while amazingly user-friendly, good-looking and clean on its surface, is still VERY geeky under its one-electron-thick Graphical User Interface.

Case in point: Google "ubuntu sync windows mobile 6". That would be my attempt to find out whether I can synchronize my phone with my home computer.

First result is a forum. This is ALWAYS a sign that what you're looking for still exists only in the geek-o-sphere. Scroll way, way down in the forum and you find instructions. The instructions start like this:

In a terminal, type:

Code:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

In a terminal, type code...

*sigh*

I mean, it's not impossible. I remember MS-DOS. I remember command prompts. But there's not the slightest chance that anyone with less computer confidence and less free time than I have will tackle it.

On the other hand, my brain is alive with the sound of learning.

The sun came out today! And it stayed out all day! So I went to work late and left early (while it was still light--first time in months) and in between I took a break and walked to Waterfront Park...

( ...and took some pictures. )

And in Ubuntu news: wow! This F-spot Photo Manager that came with the operating system is slicker than snot on ice! It uploads directly to Flickr if you want it to.

And also: have .avi file of White Collar , am watching. "Easy as lyin'," so to speak. Still not finding any noticeable limitations, and am seeing some definite improvements over Windows.

I'm coming to you now from Ubuntu 9.10.

Some convergence of means, motive, and opportunity has finally made me ready to--well, not murder, but at least kidnap and subdue, Windows.

My main motive is Vista. What a pile of poo, and $100 to "upgrade" to Windows 7? Yeah, no.

Secondary motive: most of what I like and need to do with my computer--notably cloud computing via Google's Tentacular and All-Seeing Omnipresence--is finally available in some Linux flavor. I'm writing this post in Chrome for Linux. luzula tells me there's Audacity for Linux too--I'm installing it right now.

The opportunity: cold, rainy Sunday afternoon.

So here I am at last, subverting the dominant paradigm the way I've wanted to do for YEARS but have never quite had the MMO for. I'm dual-booting for now, but I have no real expectation of going back to Windows, and I imagine I'll soon do a clean and complete install.

So far Ubuntu seems fast, straightforward, lean and fully functional. There's nothing real strange here. It found my wireless network. I can hear sounds. Youtube videos play. There's a photo editor. Bluetooth driver works. It can sync with my phone. It does most of what I need.

I have a feeling that this is going to work out just fine.