The USC Aiken Open Source Project

Ubuntu at Home

The old blue screen of death is not a pretty thing. My wife's laptop, an ancient Dell Inspiron running Windows XP, has been crashing with the BSOD with ever increasing frequency over the last year. I tried researching the various error messages presented in the BSODs to see if I could fix it. Of course nothing I tried worked.
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Despite my wife's extreme reluctance to give up her Windows, I convinced her that we should give Linux a try.

I backed up all her and the kids' documents to an external USB hard drive. BTW, these external HDs are so affordable these days. Everyone that uses a computer should have one.

Next I downloaded and burned the latest Ubuntu Linux cdrom from http://ubuntu.com.

Since XP was essentially trashed there was no need to mess with around with a dual boot setup. I just let Ubuntu format the entire hard drive and start with a fresh Linux install.

The install went very fast. Ubuntu of course recognized the networking right away. I updated the Ubuntu installation using a cable connection to my DSL wireless router.

My only real concern was the wirelss network connection. Wireless is essential since we use that laptop upstairs. I have had trouble with wireless connections in Linux in the past. As you might imagine, I danced the happy dance when the wireless connection went flawlessly.

Ubuntu is a wonderful OS. Check out some screenshots here.