So I have a pretty nice Computer I love it, it’s a Gateway GM5478, the one problem I have had with this powerful system is apparently something a lot of people have had. A while after purchase the system will randomly kick the fan on really loud then reboot. At first it only did it once or twice, then yesterday it begun to do it like clockwork, every hour on the hour.

After much frustration and reading I discovered that the only way to fix this issue was to flash my BIOS. Ok fine no problem I can do that, but I have a problem. The program to flash the BIOS is a windows program and I have linux installed. Well I could have went the round about way of trying to dualboot windows after I already had Ubuntu installed, but that seems more of pain then just reinstalling windows.

I keep backups of all my goodies, so backing up the changed files wasn’t a problem. I spent two hours re-installing windows just so I could update the BIOS and then wipe it out and re-install Ubuntu. What I pain in the ass! But on the bright side, my system no longer reboots.

Damn Windows, bit me again!!!

Have you ever had one of those? Where just wanna smack yourself upside the head? Well tonight was mine. I went to bed, then I woke up because my foot & back were hurting me and then I couldn’t get back to sleep. So I decided to get up and mess around the computer for a bit. I get in here and I have no sound?!?!?!? So I turned to google, and tried a few different fixes I found, but nothing seemed to work. I still had no sound. Finally after about a few hours I decided to just download a copy of 9.04 and try a fresh install, I already had everything backed up from the upgrade. So I slip the disc in and go through the normal routine. But when the computer starts I still have no sound! At this point I’m completely stumped. So then I finally decide to re-install 8.10 I get the disc out, drop it in the computer and go through the whole routine once again. The computer reboots, and now I have no sound on Intrepid either?!?!?! I sat here for a few moments, completely stumped not sure what to do. Well at this point I dropped a pen on the floor and as I bend over to pick it up I notice (drumroll please) that the headphones are plugged into the headphone jack roflmao…. seems my son had borrowed them and when he brought them back to my computer instead of pluggin the microphone into the microphone jack he plugged the head phones in to the head phone jack . I didn’t know whether to strangle him, or smack myself in the head. So at this point with a vanilla 8.10 on the computer I said what the hell and just decided to install 9.04 nothing to lose at this point.

So that’s my Falce Palm Moment of the Day…..lol.

Well The upgrade seems to have went fine, I’m really digging the new notifications, they are so much nicer looking than the old ones…I guess I tell the hubby to back up his stuff and try to upgrade his system as well. Response times are nice.

I did have to upgrade my xfire plugin for pidgin it was causing pidgin to crash, as well as re-installing banshee which the upgrade saw fit to remove. Everything else seems peachy

Guess this means I’ll have to re-gimp my forum signature…

Can’t wait for the disc any longer (I know I’m so impatient) so I’m attempting an upgrade, files are downloading as I type. I already did my backups, and I have a separate /home so I figure if any goes sour I can always re-install 8.10.

Wish me luck! I’ll let you know how it goes….

It has recently come to my attention that Linux operating systems are being completely ignored by the major T.V. networks of ABC, NBC, and FOX. They are using a player for their online shows called Move Media Player. This player does not work on Linux, therefore completely alienating us as a user base.

This could be bad news for any new linux user, and add to the number preinstalled systems being returned, Lot’s of new users may not have the patience to try and install say firefox in wine, or look up other ways to get their programs, which seem to have played fine on their old windows system. If Linux is to grow it’s presence in the market this behaviour needs to be addressed.

There is currently a petition to ask them to use another player as well all Linux users should write The Networks asking them to choose another player. Here are the links below.

• Petition
• ABC
• NBC
• FOX

I spent years and I mean years using only Paint shop pro On windows, I had tried photoshop but never really got the hang of it or liked it. Also I think by the time I used it it was CS2 or CS3 and a major memory hog. Just painfully slow to load and run. So when I was switching to Ubuntu I was disappointed to find I couldn’t get PSP to run in wine, and so began my journey of Learning Gimp. Now I’m glad I learned to use it It’s a much more powerful editor in my opinion, and the more I use it the more I realize in some ways easier than psp.

I’ve also been using dreamweaver for years, but now I’m starting to experiment with Quanta Plus It just makes more sense to me to use native linux apps. Though I think the dreamweaver to Quanta transition is going to be a much tougher one than the PSP to Gimp one. One thing I really miss in Quanta is the wysiwyg ability. It really helps me being able to see the outcome as I go. So for now I’m still switching back and forth between Quanta Plus and Dreamweaver 8 in wine.

Other than that the transition to Ubuntu from windows has been quite painless for me. I’m generally a quick learner so switching to something new is normally not a problem for me. Though I can see where for others it might be difficult, as not everyone adopts quickly

I’ve been looking into Linux Games lately I did demo Knights and Merchants from http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com But it just didn’t have zing you hope to see in a video game. The graphics weren’t that great and the game seemed a bit difficult to learn. It would be great to find some good Linux games, but as of yet I’m at a loss. Though I’m still enjoying my Guild Wars

I am so sick of reading Windows

I thought I would list a few of
the reason’s why I love Ubuntu. These may not work for everyone and
some may totally disagree but they are my reasons none-the-less.

1. I have become a more productive person when using my computer. Some of
   the applications that are freely available to Ubuntu users have allowed
   me to make my own personal life much more organized. I’ll Name a few

   • KMyMoney Helps me keep my checking and finances in order.

   • Gourmet has seriously helped me in the kitchen by organizing my recipes and making them easy to search through.
   • Evolution besides being a great email program also allows me to be reminded of important events at the click of a mouse. I can easily set up remindersdue to it’s great desktop integration. In my opinion it runs just as well if not better than MS Outlook plus it’s free.
   • GIMP is just simply wonderful and works very well as well as being free and already installed when I install the operating system, so I don’t have to hunt it down, every time I do a re-install, or fresh install forsomebody else.

   • Open Office is great and in my opinion works just as well if not better than MS
     Office, It also comes preinstalled in Ubuntu.

   • Tomboy is wonderful, and at this point I have no idea how I survived without
     it. I no longer have a folder with ton’s of sub folders holding all my text documents, and I never would have discovered such a great Note taking application had I not decided to give Ubuntu a try.

   • Cool free eye candy, while I don’t really use compiz-fusion to it’s fullest the fact that it’s freely available, unlike in windows where I have to pay a 3^rd party company to make desk look pretty, makes it just wonderful.

   • Wine allows me to install the few games I do play and I can run them just fine without any problems, though I do prefer to use Wine Doors as it makes it simple for me to install the few applications I do use wine for.

   • Play On Linux has worked flawlessly every time I needed to install Guild Wars.

   • Everything I have installed on my computer is free and freely available, No more searching nefarious websites for cracks and/or keygens this alone makes it priceless to me. These are just a few of the programs I use frequently and while I’m aware that some of these programs also run on windows, why bother going through the process off installing windows then spending 2 days to get it all installed on my system and customized? With Ubuntu I don’t have to do that, if it’s not Installed by default, then all I need do is search the repository for it or look on GetDeb.net

2. Being able to install My Copy of Ubuntu on any computer in the house without fear of repercussion from

   Posted On December 15, 2008 7:08 PM  by: Angel Categories:  Ubuntu Tags: Computers, linux, Open Source, Ubuntu ·	No Comments

So I spent the day yesterday Trying to decided what to do about my video card (Nvidia 8500 GT), apparently it came with a dud and the warranty has just expired(I only bought this computer last February). But I regress, let me back up a bit.

My Computer started acting kinda funky, then I had a freeze, so I did a hard shut down (with the power button) but then it wouldn’t turn back on, Well it did but wouldn’t get past the BIOS screen. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong. I tried reseating the RAM and nothing, so then I decided too have a look at pulling the T.V. out of the port (which isn’t supported by Linux anyway) and nothing, the comp still would not start. As a last resort I decided to reseat the video card and that’s when I discovered it.

The fan had completely broken. I mean it was still sitting on the mount but there is no way that bad boy was gonna spin ever again. At first I tried just leaving the side off and running an external fan over it as a temporary solution until I can afford to get a new one. Well that was not happening, the computer still didn’t want to boot up. Well this computer, didn’t come with an on board video card so without a card to replace it, the computer is useless. In the end I pulled the Nvidia 7300 GT of my sons computer as a temporary solution, leaving him with the On Board Nvidia 6100 (It really kinda sucks for his gaming), and put it into my computer. Once I put in the card the computer booted right up with no problem.