I've been away

I have lost my obsession for Linux lately. There are several reasons for this, one of my laptops has problems with most Linux distros, I have been trying to learn VB Studio 2005, and I have spent the last month playing with my new toy- a Nokia 770.

I had a Linux server (file, music) setup, but my wife wanted to keep the Windows box on all of the time so it did not make any sense to run two computers when one will do the job. I have been using Windows most of the time because of VB Studio 2005. I haven't given up on Linux, I still use it when I buy anything or log onto my bank website.

I have PCLinuxOS and Linspire 5-0, along with Windows loaded on my work laptop. Linspire has been on it for almost two years and is getting old. I really like PCLinuxOS and it it operates flawlessly but it does not have.

I had played with Mint previously and liked it accept for the fact that it has Gnome desktop. I have also played with Ubuntu and Kubuntu. The big problem I have with K/Ubuntu is that I cannot get wireless working, even with my old Microsoft B card that works with everything, that is a definite deal breaker.

I wanted to try Mint 3.0 since it was just released. It is a very nice distro, but again Gnome was the deal breaker. I was able to use ndiswrapper to get my Netgear card working. The configuration was not as easy as PCLinuxOS, because I had to use the command line compared to the PCLOS gui.

I also tried the new beta of Ubuntu. I tried it because I saw in the release notes that they have tweaked acpi to make the laptop run cooler and the battery last longer. The one problem I have with PCLOS on my "problem child" HP laptop is the fan runs all of the time and the laptop runs hotter than usual. The Ubuntu beta worked great, but Gnome again was the deal breaker. I decided to try Kubuntu Feisty Fawn, the install was easy, my laptop runs cooler, even though this is the "old" Kubuntu, the fan actually runs less that when I am in Windows, Honest! The deal breaker was I could not configure my wireless car using ndiswrapper. I do have an Old Microsoft B card that plugs and plays, so I will use that for a while.