The Pensieve

A few months back, I had requested Canonical to dispatch me (they still do it for free !) a CD of Ubuntu Linux 8.04 LTS (hardy heron). I was still running an older version of the same distro for quite some time and this was an opportunity to change. I had installed the newer OS and these are a few observations: Display is much better, with my ancient VIA chip-set getting recognized with 3D acceleration too. Now, I can play most of the 3D games (tuxkart, supertux, billards GL) and a few non 3D games (chromium) in full glory. Wireless is still a problem. My netgear wireless adapter was able to recognize my ADSL router among the other routers in range in my neighborhood, but fails to connect frequently. But once connected, they blaze through at 200kbps. I have not been able to see this kind of speed on a windows machine though... Audio CDs are mounted properly. This happened to be a problem with 7.04 when only data CDs were recognized. Video / audio codecs are easier to download from the ...

Linux - still going strong Over three years of running my home PC on Ubuntu Linux, and looks like it's going good. Here are my rants and raves. + Application availability and easy install if your desired app is hosted in the apt system. From openoffice to k3b to edutainment (gcompris, tuxmath, tuxpaint, frozen-bubble) The availability of kid friendly educational games is much better with Linux that Windows. Agreed, that there are commercial software packages available, but the ones you find at Landmark or Music World are sub-par and look as if they are created out of flash, with a few randomized questions and shoddy art-work. Compare this to Gcompris , it is much more polished with a whole gamut of games and activities that teach kids about maths, time-telling, typing and computers and an external interface (python or GTK based) to add your own lessons or games. All other standard apps are provided and are quite capable, be it a browser, word-processor (though not as good as Micro...