[clue-tech] Debian on my thinkpad r41

[Collins Richey]

On 3/2/07, Ken MacFerrin <lists at macferrin.com> wrote:
> Collins Richey wrote:
> > Just finished putting up debian testing on my r41. Yes, Dave, you were
> > right: the power supply I ordered came in the Monday after
> > Installfest!
> >
> > A few comments and questions:
> >
> > 1. As usual, the Debian net install process is simple, quick, and
> > flawless. Of course you wind up with Gnome, but a quick apt-get xfce4
> > fixes that, although Gnome does have its uses. I don't think I'll
> > bother with KDE on this box (only 256M).
>
> This doesn't actually answer any of your questions, but I just recently
> did a PXE boot network install of Xubuntu on an old Compaq Armada m300
> ultraportable laptop (no floppy or cd, 600Mhz, 192M ram, 6 GB HDD) along
> with a Linksys WPC55AG wifi PC card and to my surprise almost everything
> worked automagically.   I would highly recommend it.  Wifi setup was as
> simple as installing the wpasupplicant and linux-restricted-modules
> packages and then using the Network Settings gui to add the ssid and wep
> keys.  Running Xfce4 the desktop is actually very usable and feels
> almost snappy.
>
> The last time I did this using Debian 3.1 I had to custom compile the
> kernel modules to get wifi going and spend hours tweaking to get the
> same polished desktop feel as Xubuntu has out of the box.  I really
> enjoy pure Debian, but for a laptop install the *ubuntu folks have me sold.
>
> Just food for thought..

I knew that <grin>. Ubuntu is always more polished. I was just too
lazy to track down the feisty herd5 site and put up with the slow
download, and the debian testing net install is so easy. At least
Ubuntu does provide the alternate installer series so that you don't
have to screw around with a gui.

Sigh, if debian didn't spend all their time with infighting (worrying
about developers actually getting paid for their work) and outfighting
(worrying about who controls the license for Firefox) and worrying
about Ubuntu (my heavens, they're not doing it the way we would have),
they could have done what Ubuntu has done a long time ago.

-- 
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.