So ubuntu saved My sons computer from vista….lol. The computer orginally came with XP Media center, then we upgraded to vista only to find he couldn’t play some of his games on it due to the tremndous lag by vista. So (since I only had a vista upgrade disk) I inserted the ubuntu live CD used gparted to format the hard drive to NTFS and then was able to use my original system restoration disk which came with the P.C. to reinstall xp back on the system. It worked like a charm. I plan on installing ubuntu on the second hard drive and dual-booting. Gosh I just love ubuntu!!

So it’s been a while since I wrote anything, mostly because I’ve just not been feeling to hot. I’ve been going to the Chiropractor for my back and also been seeing a regular doctor trying to figure out what’s going on with me. Come to find out the thyroid medicine I’ve been on has been working to much it now has my thyroid too low. So she told me to stop taking it until I get in to see the endocrinologist and we can figure out something better to do about my thyroid. I also discovered that I have gall stones but that’s neither here nor there as they aren’t giving me any symptoms so we don’t have to worry about them right now. However I’m hoping it was the thyroid medicine which was causing me to feel this muscle weakness all over my body, and maybe now that will change. It’s made it difficult to say the least to perform even regular tasks like typing. Even now my arm’s feel exhausted from typing this little bit.

Kenzie is doing well as a matter of fact he’s lost even more weight and is now down to 182 we’re very proud of him. Wrestling season is now over and the poor guy never got to wrestle once at a meet this year either there wasn’t anybody in his weight class or he was sick. We’re now going to look into getting him into some kind of Martial arts class. He’ll be doing football next year, as well as wrestling.

I spent most of the last few days reformatting my new system and getting rid of the extra crap they always feel the need to install on new computers. This one came with a bunch of free trial stuff like gateway games, Norton anti-virus, Microsoft office student, and a bunch of other crap I didn’t need, like Google desktop and such. So I reformatted it wiped it down to bare bones, ran all my windows updates all the way through Service pack one, and now I finally have it set up the way I want it. I have noticed a difference in boot time now with service pack on it and file copying and such seems much faster. So Microsoft did indeed fix some of the speed issues with the service pack. I did order another gig of ram from crucial.com that I’m waiting for in the mail, that will give me a total of 3 gigs. I figure for $20.00 bucks why shouldn’t I get another gig. Well I’m off….

I would just like to add that using Ubuntu has made me love using my computer again, I hadn’t just sat in front of my computer, and said “hmmm what can I do??” just for the sake of using the computer in ages, but all the sudden I found myself doing it again. 😀

I have decided that my next pc purchase will be a ubuntu computer from the start, though that might not be for a while. Right now the only thing keeping me from wiping out windows completly is the fact that this computer is in my bedroom and I watch T.V. on it and my T.V. Tuner isn’t supported by linux. I don’t really even bother with gaming much anymore except some of the linux games I’v installed on Ubuntu.

I would just like to add that Using ubuntu has made me love using my computer again, I hadn’t just sat in front of my computer, and said “hmmm what can I do??” just for the sake of using the computer in ages, but all the sudden I found myself doing it again.

I have decided that my next pc purchase will be a ubuntu computer from the start, though that might not be for a while. Right now the only thing keeping me from wiping out windows completly is the fact that this computer is in my bedroom and I watch T.V. on it and my T.V. Tuner isn’t supported by linux. I don’t really even bother with gaming much anymore except some of the linux games I’v installed on Ubuntu.

So this week I’ve been trying hard to keep motivated about changing my diet and getting exercise to get on my feet again. It may not seem like much, but walking from the back door of my house to the front door is quite a feat for me right now, but I’m making a point to do it everyday. Also I’m trying hard to change my diet around. On the last grocery trip to the store I bought more fruits and veggie’s, and pretty much no microwavable stuff. What can I say it’s a start…wish me luck!

(Original Ubuntu System)
System Specifications
OS: Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10
CPU: 2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad
RAM: 2030 MB DDR2 PC2-5400
Display: Nvidia Geforce 7600-GS 512 MB

In October of 2007 I was perusing the web and came across Ubuntu, and found it quite interesting. It seemed like a neat Idea. I had considered trying to dual boot Redhat in the past but was always too scared for fear of screwing something up. Well for a while I just sort of read info and didn’t install anything. At income tax time (approximately February of 2008 ) I bought a new Rig the most powerful computer I had ever owned (Specs listed above).

Somewhere in between my Ubuntu discovery and rig purchase I had read about virtualbox so now that I had a system I could actually run it on without tremendous lag I decided to give it a go. I found an article which walked me step by step through how to setup virtualbox with Ubuntu. At the time I believe it was Ubuntu 7.10. I really enjoyed the experience and I’ve since installed numerous Linux operating systems on virtualbox just to try them out, however I always come back to Ubuntu. Eventually I grew tired of the limitations you have when virtually running an operating system and decided to give dual booting a try on an older computer, and I loved it. Actually it wasn’t a dual-boot I used Wubi and installed Ubuntu that way on my husbands computer. It was my first experience with compiz as you can’t run that in virtualbox. I love how I’m able to completely customize my desktop experience without handing over more money to some third party company. The availability of software is also another plus, I love how if I need to be able to do something all I have to do is search the synaptic package manager and/or Google to find the features I’m looking for

The only reason at this point that I keep windows is for games (I really hope this changes I would love to see more big name game developers give love to Linux operating systems). I can pretty much do everything else on Ubuntu. Including working on my websites with dreamweaver thanks to wine. I also enjoy the speed I have Even the older computer feels fast again with Ubuntu running on it.

My number one reason for loving Ubuntu though is this. I did have some hardware issues initially when first dual-booting Ubuntu and I all I had to do was a few Google and forum searches to fix them. The community support is phenomenal, and in all the time I used windows (we’re talking all the way back to the beginning here, my first computer had dosshell on it) I have never had the great sense of community and support that I get from the Ubuntu community!

So all in all I would say my experience has been quite positive and I look forward to many years of happy Ubuntu computing.

(Original Ubuntu System)
System Specifications
OS: Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10
CPU: 2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad
RAM: 2030 MB DDR2 PC2-5400
Display: Nvidia Geforce 7600-GS 512 MB

In October of 2007 I was perusing the web and came across Ubuntu, and found it quite interesting. It seemed like a neat Idea. I had considered trying to dual boot Redhat in the past but was always too scared for fear of screwing something up. Well for a while I just sort of read info and didn’t install anything. At income tax time (approximately February of 2008 ) I bought a new Rig the most powerful computer I had ever owned (Specs listed above).

Somewhere in between my Ubuntu discovery and rig purchase I had read about virtualbox so now that I had a system I could actually run it on without tremendous lag I decided to give it a go. I found an article which walked me step by step through how to setup virtualbox with Ubuntu. At the time I believe it was Ubuntu 7.10. I really enjoyed the experience and I’ve since installed numerous Linux operating systems on virtualbox just to try them out, however I always come back to Ubuntu. Eventually I grew tired of the limitations you have when virtually running an operating system and decided to give dual booting a try on an older computer, and I loved it. Actually it wasn’t a dual-boot I used Wubi and installed Ubuntu that way on my husbands computer. It was my first experience with compiz as you can’t run that in virtualbox. I love how I’m able to completely customize my desktop experience without handing over more money to some third party company. The availability of software is also another plus, I love how if I need to be able to do something all I have to do is search the synaptic package manager and/or Google to find the features I’m looking for

The only reason at this point that I keep windows is for games (I really hope this changes I would love to see more big name game developers give love to Linux operating systems). I can pretty much do everything else on Ubuntu. Including working on my websites with dreamweaver thanks to wine. I also enjoy the speed I have Even the older computer feels fast again with Ubuntu running on it.

My number one reason for loving Ubuntu though is this. I did have some hardware issues initially when first dual-booting Ubuntu and I all I had to do was a few Google and forum searches to fix them. The community support is phenomenal, and in all the time I used windows (we’re talking all the way back to the beginning here, my first computer had dosshell on it) I have never had the great sense of community and support that I get from the Ubuntu community!

So all in all I would say my experience has been quite positive and I look forward to many years of happy Ubuntu computing.

I have been Dual Booting Ubuntu for about two months now, prior to that for about 6 months I was using it along with red hat and OpenSuse on virtualbox. To be honest I really love Ubuntu and would love to rid myself of Microsoft Windows all together but for now I just can’t. I honestly believe that if one thing changed Microsoft would really have something to worry about. What is that one thing you ask? Well I think that more big name gaming developers need to release Linux versions of their games. Yes I’m aware that some games can be installed through Wine, Cedega, and Crossover Games. But this still can be somewhat of a hassle for those people who just want to “use” their computers. I personally would love to see developers give more love to linux systems I think that it’s well deserved.

Other than that I really don’t see linux being that far from wide-spread use. I love that I can make my computer be my computer and linux systems allow for that. The fact is that whether your an adanced user who prefers cutting edge or someone who just wants to use their computer for simple tasks you can find a distro that suits you and your needs. Your not stuck with “what’s in the box” so to speak. If you get a chance and are not nervous definatly check out a few distro’s you never know you might like what you find.

Listed below are some helpful beginner links:

• Virtualbox
• Installing Ubuntu on virtualbox
• Wubi
• Ubuntu
• Freespire
• OpenSuse

If you have a new (or newly wiped) hard drive in your PC, and your Windows Vista DVD is an

For those users who purchased Windows Vista Basic, you’ll notice your missing two of the interfaces available in the other versions of vista. Flip 3D and the Aero Interface. On systems whose graphics capabilities are able to handle such things you may be wondering if there is a way to get these effects without paying the extra cash to upgrade to a different vista version. Good News there is! To get that flip 3D effect users have serveral options available to them.

For $20.00 Top Desk offers the Flip 3D effect as well as the Expose effect found in the mac systems. Better News yet there is also a free utility available to those of you on a tight budget called Shock Aero 3D and for xp users only you may wish to give WinFlip a try.

The following registry hack allows Vista Basic Users to enable Aero on their system (NOTE:BE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE PROCEEDING!)

Click Start and type Regedit in the search bar, open the registry editor and navigate to:

net start uxsms

Reboot Your System to see the changes

There is also a program called TrueTransparency that changes the windows border adding png support and so true transparency.

Another option available to users is Stardocks Windowblinds, there are many skins for it which use the transparency effect. Windowblinds however is shareware.