I managed to get Ubuntu working usefully finally. I mean, what’s the point of having a geeky system running but without all the usefulness of your previous Windows XP system?
Slackware is speedy. I would have stick to it if not for Ubuntu, charming its way with it sleekness and initiative. It really sticks to its philosophy of “Linux for Human Beings”.
First hurdle to overcome on Ubuntu was to get my D-Link DWL-120E usb wireless adapter to work on kernel 2.6. The Ubuntu forums proved to be a great resource, but my situation was unique. Here’s my solution.
Next up - making my box configured for daily usage. One of my major complaints is the bloat of Gnome, a full-fledged desktop environment for Linux. It runs quite unbearably slow when I’ve more than 5 programs running on my relatively old hardware (AMD 1.1Ghz) and noticeably slower than KDE. A lookup at the forums tell me that I should install Xfce, a lightweight DE. Once done, Ubuntu is a breeze. :)
Now, I’ve 3 bittorrent windows, Firefox, Evolution (an MS Outlook replacement for Linux), Gaim(multi protocol IM client), xmms (music player) and Synaptic all running without a glitch. Fantastic.
It’s now time to put this old hardware to some good use finally.