With several justifications in mind, I've purchased an ASUS F3JR laptop... and of course it was on sale at 25% off :)
The experiment began less than 24 hours after purchase.. AIM: To evaluate the potential of Linux on the modern Laptop (knowing too well that I could implode the hard disk back to 'MS Wishta' at any time).
I've played with a dual boot system and Ubuntu previously and was reasonably impressed with the robust nature and gentle introduction to most things Linux. With this in mind, I burn't a copy of Ubuntu Feisty (x64) and installed from there. Of course there was a bit of research to find out what speed bumps lay ahead. The main culprit was the drivers for the ATI graphics ( I should have downloaded the text-based Ubuntu installer, but that's hind sight). There is a known work-around/fix for the ATI graphics issue and if you have a hard-wired Ethernet connection to the internet, then you can use that work-around to utilise the normal graphical installer.
Other than that there have been a few other things I've worked on since the initial install.. I have my own IMAP mail server, my music collection, Thunderbird, Firefox and ongoing experiments with running Windoze software under wine such as MYOB.
So far so good.. future things to come are finding a good WYSIWYG html editor, a circuit board layout software package and an efficient way of scanning and storing documents to reduce the mountains of paper around this place.
C Y'all.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
A long distance between posts - Darwin
Almost 12 months has past since I started this blog on a very technical note. Perhaps I should get a bit more personal.. now you'd like that wouldn't you?
Where does one start?
Where I live nowadays; warm, sunny Darwin. A land of opportunity all of its own. A springboard for the those with careers and a sauna-like torture chamber for those more wrinkles than hair on their head. A place I love to be, but at times despise for it's ability to wring the living water of you.
Living in the upper part of the Northern Territory, known locally as 'the top-end', teaches you many things. Above all though are living with other cultures and appreciating that a short-drive will take about an hour or two. The multi-cultural nature of Darwin is surprising for those who have grown up in the more southern parts of Oz. In my last long-term job, I was a minority as an Australian-born employee in the engineering department. But I've enjoyed the cross-cultural issues. Such as teaching Norwegian students our slang and even the odd bit of English. In return I learned bits of other languages. Interesting things like the "real" meaning of Mitsubishi's Pajero. I've also enjoyed learning some detail about the indigenous Aboriginal culture that lives today and how it interacts with the 'whiter' Australia.
All in all it's a great place to stay. If you like most other people traveling to the Top End, it'll be just for a little while. The population is quite transient and hence many employers salivate over people who stay here for more than 12 months - perhaps with the exception of the seasonal tourism industry.
Here's looking (with binoculars) to the next post.
Where does one start?
Where I live nowadays; warm, sunny Darwin. A land of opportunity all of its own. A springboard for the those with careers and a sauna-like torture chamber for those more wrinkles than hair on their head. A place I love to be, but at times despise for it's ability to wring the living water of you.
Living in the upper part of the Northern Territory, known locally as 'the top-end', teaches you many things. Above all though are living with other cultures and appreciating that a short-drive will take about an hour or two. The multi-cultural nature of Darwin is surprising for those who have grown up in the more southern parts of Oz. In my last long-term job, I was a minority as an Australian-born employee in the engineering department. But I've enjoyed the cross-cultural issues. Such as teaching Norwegian students our slang and even the odd bit of English. In return I learned bits of other languages. Interesting things like the "real" meaning of Mitsubishi's Pajero. I've also enjoyed learning some detail about the indigenous Aboriginal culture that lives today and how it interacts with the 'whiter' Australia.
All in all it's a great place to stay. If you like most other people traveling to the Top End, it'll be just for a little while. The population is quite transient and hence many employers salivate over people who stay here for more than 12 months - perhaps with the exception of the seasonal tourism industry.
Here's looking (with binoculars) to the next post.