Windows Vista Annoyances · Jun 20, 03:57 PM by Dylan Doxey
About a month ago I purchased an Acer TravelMate 4200 (http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm4200.htm) laptop.
I think it offers a pretty good bang for the buck.
But it’s the MS Windows Vista that keeps testing my interest in maintaining an open mind about Microsoft.
For example, it just seems strange to me that the latest version of MS Windows keeps telling me that my computer is at risk.
And the avenues provided to silence these messages all seem to ultimately lead to me entering my credit card number in exchange for protection. Hm… doesn’t it sound a bit like old school racketeering?
Well, aside from the continual urgings to pay for protection, it has this seemingly appealing feature of being able to use auxiliary memory modules (via SD or USB slots) to enhance system performance. So, with 2GB of enhanced system performance, and 1GB of base memory one might expect I will not be seeing “out of memory” errors when attempting to save a document.
I don’t even really feel like taking the time of recalling all the minor issues that I spent hours coping with.
That’s because I solved all my MS Windows Vista woes in a single blow!
I installed Xubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn).
No, this is not a photoshop trick.
My major reservation about doing this was regarding the Intel 3945ABG wireless network adapter.
In getting ready for the installation, I downloaded the source for the Linux driver at ipw3945.sourceforge.net. I also printed the installation instructions and prepared the source of the ieee80211 package on a flash drive (just in case).
Okay, long story short; I burned the Xubuntu 7.04 (alternate) ISO, ran the text mode installer, rebooted, and everything was working sweet. Specifically, the 3945ABG network adapter was working — out of the box! All I needed to do was configure eth0 in /etc/network/interfaces, and now I’m here to write about it.
Man, I should put adsense on this page. I’d make a fortune!
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