Computer Problems?

As usual, I am pushing Linux Operating systems. The new version of Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) version 10.04 or Lucid Lynx has just been released. As soon as it was released I upgraded and was extremely pleased with the improvements. The developers at Canonical have taken aim at the business sector with this release. As always there is 24 hour a day free support for the Home User and there is Commercial Support for business to tap into for the free operating system that puts windows to shame.

The operating system has a Windows feel and the learning curve for transiting is almost flat. Any person that can operate a Windows Computer can operate an Ubuntu computer. I purchased a new hard-drive and did a fresh install, leaving my other two operating systems in place, just in case. Where Windows always claims the install will be done in about 39 minutes, the new Ubuntu install took just under 30 minutes and that included automatically detecting my hardware, downloading the drivers for it and installing and configuring all of them, automatically. I did the restart and without any “tours” or other hassles I clicked Firefox and went on the net.

Now you're thinking, yeah but now he had to install his office apps and all the other junk, nope, not true! Ubuntu installs with a complete, MS Office, compatible office suite, free of charge. Better still the equivalent of Power Point and of Publisher come with the system install. You can view Power Point presentations and you can build them with this office suite.

But there is better news yet! Puppy Linux 5.0 a.k.a. Lucid Puppy is released and available for download. It is also free, of course but it is for that tired old machine that you have retired because of speed. I did the test install on a VirtualBox hard-drive set up to test for use on a Compaq Armada built in the late '90s with a Pentium One processor with a maxed out memory of 80 meg of RAM and a two gig hdd. The install used about five hundred Megs. Of the two gig. Hdd I set up for it. It boots in the VirtualBox in about 36 seconds from turning the machine on so I'm expecting about a minute of boot time on the Compaq Armada Laptop. This Operating System comes with the standard Calculator, MS Office compatible Word Processor and many other apps, free.

So, if your unit is dying a slow death, revive it because the Lucid Puppy is based on the Lucid Lynx Ubuntu release and is just as easy to install and operate. Like Ubuntu it automatically detected and set up my hardware and immediately went on the Internet, Well... immediately after it automatically installed My choice of browsers after I clicked the Internet Icon on the darn good looking desk-top.

So once more I beseech you, brethren, don't operate operating systems that are supposed to be purchased to use, both of these systems are point and click, just like Windows and as an added bonus, the last time a Linux Computer was attacked by a virus, worm or trojan was in '96. It sure takes the required maintenance for Windows driven computers out of the equation. Computer manufactures think enough of Ubuntu that folks like Dell are selling and supporting Ubuntu Computers with their names on them.