Ubuntu Linux

Ah, the beauty of Linux.

So the past few days have been stressful, to say the least. My computer was giving me a headache and a half. It would alternate between not being able to connect to my latest favorite game, WoW, and randomly crashing in the midst of a game, program, idle, etc. It would hang, the sound annoyingly repeating itself, etc, etc. I went through a few weeks of half hearted attempts to get the problems resolved, to no avail. Finally, I decided that I would format my computer. I backed up the files I deemed necessary, waited a few days to make sure I was making the right decision, and then on Thursday morning (my day off, 1 of 2) I formatted my computer. I had the option to install partions onto my HD (sectioning off one section of the Hard Drive from the other), so I did. I wanted to do this so that I could, at a later date, either use the seperate partion simply for storage data (.mp3s, .avis, etc) OR use it to install Linux.

I installed Windows XP after formating (bye bye 10GB of music! Seeya 30GB of movies/tv shows!), booted it up, and BLAM. Windows has detected a virus on your computer. Windows has detected malicous software.

Already? (i thought to my self) I JUST turned it on!

Oh glory, the security flaws of Windows and IE, and the preconfigured package of Java that comes installed with Windows XP, etc.

I'll spare you the gory details, but over the next 38 hours I ran back and forth from my computer, to our home computer, to my mother's work computer, passing floppies and CDs (some old, some newly burnt) full of updates I couldn't download direct onto my computer (because of the virus/spyware/etc) in an attempt to get it up and running. Within that space I was also forced to REFORMAT my computer yet again (deleting PART of the virus, but not all), reinstalling Windows XP again (this time without an internet connection, and having a CD full of useful anti-spyware/firewall/anti-virus protection programs, though, outdated, as well as Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, etc, etc) and losing the partion that I had made earlier. FINALLY after that time I had a working copy of Windows XP, with absolutely nothing on it but anti-everything software. The most annoying part was trying to get Windows to update, which it wouldn't for whatever reason. It takes FOREVER for the windows site to determine that a) I have the software necessary to download updates, and b) which updates I need, after which it'll either tell me that it won't download, or after I got it to download, that it won't install.

In the next two hours I downloaded Ubuntu, a Linux distribution, burned it to a CD, installed it on my computer using it's default settings (which automatically repartitioned my drive WITHOUT harming XP), and updated it completely. It is now chock-full of every sort of software that I need. Instant Messanging (combining AIM/YIM/MSN/ICQ/IRC/etc), Photo editing, Word processing, Internet Surfing, Email, etc, etc, etc. If I need anything else there's a handy "Add/Remove" selection which lets me PICK from well over 200 different applications that I might want, which it'll download and install automatically for me.

I did all of this while watching Sin City. Movie length: 1 hour 58 minutes. I sometimes paused it while I hit "next" on the setup screens.

This is what Ubuntu looks like:

LINK

It's beautiful. Smooth, fast, secure, easy to work with. The only problem is that it isn't supported by as many developers as Microsoft, so I can't play most games without a bit of work. But I may be willing to put that work in. I love Linux.

So that's what I've done over the last few days. Thursday and Friday - installing Windows XP. Friday night, watching Sin City and install Ubuntu. Saturday, work, come home and install WoW on XP, then surf the internet with Linux. Hurray for a dual boot system. Computer geeks, eat your heart out.