Monday, November 10, 2008

For once, Windows seems nice

So... to avoid the wrath of Windows lately I've been trying out various other operating systems (it's nice to have a junk laptop that you can do whatever you want with, eh?). So yesterday, I'm cycling through all kinds of Linux distros, trying to find one I like. I started with kUbuntu Hardy Heron, 8.04. It's cool and all, but it doesn't work with wireless internet. And since my laptop has no ethernet port, that doesn't work. Next I try DSL (Damn Small linux, 4.4.8). The scariest part was probably the command line hard disk installation, but I pulled through. I even got the 'net working... for a few hours. Then I spent 2 or three more hours (I was bored, okay?) installing xUbuntu, with Ubuntu's finicky install GUI. So that gets all up and running. I had high hopes for this one, because it already had my WiFi card's drivers and immediately detected our network. I entered the password and it said I was online, with 2 out of 4 bars. But I open Firefox, and it can't connect, despite still having 2 bars. So, I figure, it must be just Firefrox, so I try ping, and (oh, snap!) no response. Software communication failure? I may never know. So today I shift into a new gear: Unix. Not Unix-based Linux, but plain ol' Unix. I go download the "boot only" FreeBSD ISO, burn it with never-failed-me-before Active ISO, pop it in and reboot. I select the kernel and all that, and it starts booting, then prints a peculiar error: "GTX halted." Whatever that means. Which puts me here: all I have to work with is Windows, one blank CD, and an operating system choice.

No comments: