Windows only...

So my computer pissed me off yesterday. *really* REALLY REALLY pissed me off, which is why my other big entry will be posted tonight.  I'll updated the last three months in more detail and announce some other big news/changes in my life.

As for the computer issue, let me summarize:

Ubuntu 8.10 is still doing the "somethings are upgraded nearly instantaneously" and others are left with "wait for the next version".  I'm comfortably familiar with Ubuntu and a .deb based system, but I cut my teeth in Linux on Slackware and then RedHat, so source building and .rpm systems don't bother me either.  However, the insta-updates for security is nice, but I don't care to wait 2-3 *weeks* for a new version of pidgin to get released in .deb for Ubuntu, or a new version not getting released because it wasn't deemed "important enough".

OpenSUSE 11.1.  I downloaded the DVD and installed it.  Pretty installer.  It installed after 45 minutes and so I launch KDE 4, very nice by default on SUSE, but I realized it hadn't installed core things that I knew should have been installed.  So after battling with YaST2 for a while, I had added the Packman repository for all the "naughty" stuff that can't be distributed legally in the USA for various legal reasons.  Ooops, there's not a valid mirror for Packman that I could find yesterday.  No mp3, no Java, and oh, the nVidia kernel module repository didn't work.  Stuff it.  Done.

Fedora 10.  Oops.  I forgot, it won't install in graphic mode as the latest version of X.org won't recognize my LCD panel properly.  All I get from it is "Input Not Supported" in a little box that dances around the screen.  I could have installed it in text mode and spent a few hours going back and putting in all the stuff that I want installed by default.  The text installer for Fedora leaves much to be desired, including the options to install the same files as the GUI installer does.

So, I made the decision to go with just Windows for a while and see how I deal with it.  I'm at about 18 hours now.  I have WinAMP installed for music, Firefox, Pidgin, and Thunderbird are purring along nicely.  I'm using SEMagic for LiveJournal and so far...I've not noticed a lot of problems.

I'm still adjusting to how Windows works in terms of drag-n-drop, filenaming (oops, : and ? are naughty in the Windows world, I have a few mp3 files to rename...if I can), and all that kind of fun stuff.

It's an experiment.  If it starts to really irritate me, I still have my /home and /music directories at the ready and I can have Ubuntu completely installed in less than 90 minutes.  I don't see it as a punishment as much as it is seeing how the other half lives...and besides, it's nice not having to reboot to play WoW or CoH or any of the other games I play.

Well, it's almost 0800, time for me to finish getting ready for work and getting to it.