Linux Experimentation I

Recently, I obtained a very inexpensive ($40) extra desktop personal computer from a company I work for. It is a Dell Dimension 2400, a modest computer by today's standard. Since everyone in my household already has their own laptop, this one is available for me to experiment with.

First, I needed a monitor. By shopping around online for a couple of weeks, I finally decided to get a 22" wide screen Samsung SyncMaster flat panel monitor for $150 from a seller on Craig's
List. These were selling elsewhere for $220-$280 so I felt I got a great deal. The PC only has analog video output so I connected the new monitor to my laptop to test the digital (DVI) connection and it was glorious!

Next, I needed a wireless networking capability since in my house, we have a wireless router to connect our computers to the cable modem that provides high-speed Internet. I settled on a Zyxel USB stick for about $30 on eBay. The computer still had the Windows Server operating system installed on it, so I tested the stick as soon as it arrived to confirm that it worked.


Now, to start using the computer. It was my idea to experiment with Linux and find out how much of what I want to use a computer for could be transferred to that environment in one way or another. The most user-friendly Linux these days seems to be Ubuntu, in fact, that is its primary goal. It has achieved a certain degree of success in this regard and become quite fashionable (compared to other Linuxes... Linices, Linii?) as result. Years ago, I toyed with Mandrake (before Mandriva) so I had something to compare the experience to. I should also mention that I have had some experience in the past with Solaris 8 and OS9 (other flavours of Unix).

I obtained what I thought was the latest version of Ubuntu, called Hardy Heron, and downloaded the ISO CD image directly onto the PC while logged in to its current Windows Server operating system and then burned it onto a CD. While still logged into Windows, I was able to access the CD and test drive Ubuntu without installing it onto the hard drive. After verifying that I could connect to the wireless network from within Ubuntu and surf the Internet, I decided to take the plunge and install Ubuntu on the hard drive. Even so, I was given the option of preserving the existing Windows operating system on its own hard disk partition, but I did not. The computer only has a 40 GB hard drive and I wanted it all for Ubuntu experimentation. This whole process was much simpler than what I faced when attempting to create a dual-bootable laptop with Windows and Mandrake/Mandriva a few years ago. If you are considering installing Ubuntu on your system, there are several step-by-step instruction sets available on-line with screen shots even.

So, after installing Hardy Heron to the hard drive and rebooting, I surfed the net some more using the default Firefox browser and quickly discovered that I needed a Flash plug-in to see stuff like videos on YouTube and such. The process of getting that added seemed simple enough at first, but it obviously did not get installed properly and I kept getting prompted to install the missing Flash plug-in every time I went to a web page that used Flash. I read lots of on-line forum posts and followed several people's advice on how to fix this problem but nothing worked for me.

Then I discovered that there was an even newer version of Ubuntu than I had, namely, Intrepid Ibex. On-line discussion suggested that it did not offer a lot of new features but rather fixed lots of bugs existing in Hardy Heron. So I attempted to upgrade from Hardy Heron to Intrepid Ibex in accordance with one of these on-line how-to guides. There were no problems encountered here. I also noticed that Firefox 3.1 beta 2 was available so I found another on-line guide specific to Ubuntu on how to perform that upgrade. You see, a beta release is not considered a stable release, although a second beta is usually getting very close to being stable. Since it's not a stable release, it's kind of hidden from the main stream of people seeking Firefox upgrades so that they do not get the non-stable release by accident. However, by following the guide, I had no trouble performing the upgrade. Now, I tried surfing the web again in Firefox and Flash worked perfectly without anymore fussing around. Yee-Haw! One good reason for having Flash working is that there are often video guides on how to do stuff and I may be using them as I continue playing with Ubuntu.

A couple of days later, my memory arrived. I found two 1-GB memory boards on eBay for less than $25 each. The computer had two memory board slots on the mother board. One was empty and the other contained a 512 MB memory board. So I replaced it with the two new boards, which took all of five minutes and turned the computer on. Then I verified that the memory was recognized and it was. This will mean that programs requiring a lot of memory may run faster and more program can stay in memory at the same time.

Now, I have not done much more than poke around with some of the existing Ubuntu installation to become more familiar with it, because I've been busy doing some home renovation, which I will talk more about in a later post. I will also write posts on other aspects of my Ubuntu experiments as I complete them.

Burgers

I went to Five Guys for a burger and fries for lunch today. This picture shows how one of their burgers might look before it gets wrapped.
For those of you who may not know this, Five Guys is a very successful local chain that started in Springfield, VA and is growing rapidly with their no-nonsense approach. It's basically fast food, but a cut above the usual. They only sell burgers, hot dogs, fries and drinks from a fountain machine. You order from the counter and eat free peanuts while you wait and they use no frills packaging like brown paper bags, foil and Styrofoam cups. I don't believe the patties are frozen, and the vegetable toppings all taste very fresh. They get rave reviews for their quality to price ratio and they seem to be opening new locations constantly.
I usually order the little cheeseburger with the regular Cajun fries. However, I have a complaint. When I open up my burger, the bun is always mashed up from the way they wrap it in paper-backed foil. Also, when I eat it, it tends to fall apart. (I really don't like messy foods. That's why I order soft tacos rather than crunchy ones.) Everything tastes great, but it falling apart often keeps me from going there for lunch. That's probably a good thing. Part of the problem may be that I get lots of fixings and it becomes a tall burger, but their regular burger is actually a double burger which is even taller. Why don't they just make it a single burger with a wider patty and a wider more substantial bun?

Enter McDonald's. While I'm not a big fan of McDonald's, I do go there sometimes. When I do, I always order the Big Mac, their flagship menu item. Recently, some participating McDonald's started serving 1/3 pound Angus Burgers in 3 varieties. I ordered the Angus Deluxe to see what it was and was I ever surprised! I couldn't even believe this burger came from McDonald's. It was awesome! I really mean it. If you like burgers and you haven't tried it, you really should. The meat is not the usual thin patty that looks like they boiled it in water. It's big, tasty and it doesn't fall apart. The bun is also substantial, not that stuff that they use on the other burgers that compresses into nothing when you grab it. The fixings were also fresh and tasty.
They have 3 types of Angus burgers, Deluxe, Mushrooms and Swiss, and Bacon and Cheese, all priced the same. I always go with the Deluxe because it comes with the fresh veggie fixings. This burger is so good that I'm actually more likely to consider going to McDonald's for a bite then I did before, at least while supplies last.