Background information:

[jrittenhouse]

How often do you change the backgrounds on your computers, and what sort of stuff do you usally have there?

As for me:

WORK:  picture of Meredith roller skating from last May

LAPTOP: Picture of the twins from last year, looking very much like themselves…

HOME UBUNTU:  Comet McNaught over a sunset, with lots of dark, layered clouds.  (I tend to

Comments

[sraun]

I don't use the desktop very often - it's got significantly less horse-power than the laptop, and using it means I'm upstairs and iraunink is downstairs. Really, about the only time I do use it is when I really need the dual-monitors attached to it, or if I'm doing something on the server (which is in the same room) and I'm waiting for it to finish doing something. It does have multiple accounts on it - bernesemntdog uses it much more frequently than I do, usually when he and >lj user="kosmickitten"> are over and borrowing our internet. She uses iraunink's, he uses the desktop.

The server runs Debian Testing currently - I've never successfully gotten X working on it, because it takes proprietary video card drivers that I could never get to work right. Since grey-scale VGA was the only thing I ever got working reliably, and the only thing I ever do on it is text-mode terminal, I don't miss X.

At some point I'm going to get either Ubuntu or Kubuntu working on the laptop - the trial there is that the LiveCD's find the Dell TrueMobile 1400 Dual Bank WLAN Mini-PCI Card just fine, but when I tell the LiveCD to make a real install, the wireless breaks! And the instructions for getting it working ... don't seem to work. It's on my fight-with-and-make-work-sometime list - but not when I'm putting in lots of overtime at work (which has been all summer).

[jrittenhouse]

Understood. Ubuntu's gotten a lot better on wireless as time has gone on. When was the last time you checked on this?

[sraun]

Late spring or early summer? Shortly after Ubuntu 8 was released? Kubuntu 4 was just released, the Kubuntu 4 with the most recent version of KDE had just had a release candidate published.

[jrittenhouse]

Ah, you're a KDE person!

[sraun]

Actually, I'm currently agnostic - I haven't spent enough time with either Gnome or KDE to develop a preference.

I did actually try installing all three variants (Ubuntu, Kubuntu w/ old KDE, Kubuntu w/ new KDE) on the laptop, and they all dealt with the wireless card equally badly. :-(

If they actually come up with one of them that will deal with the wireless card reasonably easily, I'll actually spend time learning X finally!

[jrittenhouse]

In our case, the computers I and Susan have always have the most horsepower - and we upgrade them every so often in leaps (first Jim, then Susan gets more horsepower and a new setup) - and it's Susan's turn. She wants a laptop for her next jump; I'm too nervous about the things breaking and won't use one much.

Meredith would be happy to give up her desktop for a laptop too, but she wants an Ubuntu laptop.

[sraun]

We do something iraunink refers to as 'dueling laptops' - we sit on the couch working on our respective laptops, chatting, sometimes showing each other what's on our screen right now. We haven't quite gotten to the point of using IM between them while sitting next to each other.