A little sidetracked...but I'm back now!

OK, so I installed Kubuntu 7.10 - Gutsy Gibbon the other day. First thing I tried was wifi. The GUI admin seems to see the card but still won't hook in to the network. Then tried ndiswrapper but still no go on the wifi despite the increased support in this release. Next I tried to install truecrypt so I could get to my external data drive but just couldn't get the app working. For fun, I also tried compis but the bottom and right side of my screen freaked out! Have to look deeper into my video card and compatibility. So 7.10 is a bust for my Inspiron but will definitely try again if/when I get a different laptop...

With nothing to lose, I thought I'd try some other distros for a change of pace. I installed Fedora 8 then Mandriva 2008. I tried to get used to them but was highly disappointed in the lack of features in both that I'm looking for.

The prodigal son has come home to Kubuntu 7.04 - Feisty Fawn and the feast has begun!! Next posts will be specific app installs and configuration procedures...

Kubuntu 7.04 - Feisty Fawn

I installed Kubuntu 7.04 - Feisty Fawn on the linux partition and have been messing around with different things. Adept has tons of packages available for easy installation. I installed TrueCrypt and was able to mount a volume easily. Did some other things but that is what I can think of right now.

Linux kernel does not have native support for my Broadcom 43xx wifi card. I tried ndiswrapper with windows .inf file and the Broadcom drivers but nothing worked. Wired NIC works fine so at least I can get online.

Hard drive prep

Got all my data backed up and removed unused programs. Then I ran defrag for good measure. Ended up with 10GB free space and 0% fragmentation!

Downloaded GParted http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ and burned the .iso. Rebooted to the CD and deallocated 8GB for the linux partition.

I'll have about 20GB for windows and 8GB for linux. When the wireless is working and everyday stuff all works in linux, I'll wipe Windows and reallocate the space for linux.

Laptop and hardware

I have about a 3 year old Dell Inspiron 5100 with: 1.6Ghz, 512MB, 30GB HD, internal 802.11g wifi, etc... It came with Windows XP and all the usual bloatware. I have all but 4GB filled depending on how many podcasts I have downloaded at any particular time.

I also have a 300GB NAS drive for backing up and an 80GB usb drive for data storage. Also burn DVDs of the NAS data every now and again.

As soon as I get all my data onto the usb drive, Windows will be but a ghostly image in VM... :>