My current desktop computer is set up to allow me to boot into either Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. I NEVER boot into Windows. That computer much more stable and useable for me with Ubuntu, and managing it is a breeze, even though I have to do all the tech support on it myself.

Did you ever have to upgrade or reinstall your version of Windows? Remember what a pain it almost certainly was? Contrast that with yesterday’s Ubuntu Linux upgrade. Ubuntu released version 9.10, aka “Karmic Koala,” this weekend. It’s one of their every-eighteen-months “Long-Term Support” releases as opposed to the every-six-months regular releases, so it has to be in primo condition when it hits the Internet. So…

I logged into my computer yesterday morning and saw that the new version was ready. I clicked on the “Upgrade” button, and checked email & such while the computer did the preliminary info-gathering and prep work. When it told me what would be needed as far as downloading & upgrading components, I clicked on the “Continue” button.

Once I saw that everything had downloaded successfully and the actual install had started, I headed for class. Four hours later I came back to see a message that a number of components were no longer needed and could be removed if I wanted. I did, so I clicked “Remove,” waited another couple of minutes, and was then informed that the system was ready for the end-of-upgrade reboot. Two minutes later, I’m rebooted, logged in, and everything is pretty much WORKING CORRECTLY!!!

Let’s see. Click, click, go away, click, ONE reboot, DONE. Perfectly painless, even on the flakey computer, and no out-of-pocket cost. I still have two more machines (my netbook & DH’s computer) to do and I bet it’ll be the same thing.

Still wonder why I’m a Linux gal?

If I can manage to “legally” make the new laptop into a dual-boot computer like my current one, I will not whine too much. If not that laptop is going to become a very expensive paperweight on my desk, most likely!

One Reason to Love Ubuntu is a post from: Art of the Firebird. Some Rights Reserved. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I even put “scoop the litterbox” and “write blog entry” in there as recurring events, so I get an every-other-day reminder on the litterbox (which keeps it from getting so stinky I then go into avoidance mode), and a three-times-a-week reminder on the blog so that SOMETHING gets written every week.

Little steps, little steps, keep at it and make things habits.

Organizing my life is a post from: Art of the Firebird. Some Rights Reserved. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.