Thanks for all the great comments on my post Convince me to get a Mac. I actually saw the Mac mini in real life last weekend at the Apple Store and they are every bit as lovely as they appear in photos … I may just be convinced … and I fear that the other machines in the office have got wind of this.
I decided to install Mandrake on my Linux desktop, I have run Debian for years, but was rather tempted by the more desktop designed distros. After downloading 5 CD’s (slowly) I discovered that the CD-ROM drive in the Linux desktop was, in fact, broken. So in went another CD drive. Mandrake installed, Drew and I ooohed at the point and click installer, KDE launched and promptly crashed. I managed to get it running, Konqueror crashed then KDE went down taking the box with it … I battled with this, along with a stinking cold, for days. I installed drivers, checked the memory, searched Google … and yet it still crashed.
In the middle of this the hard disk in my development server packed up, with the most terrible grinding noise – a good reminder to keep those backups up to date, I’ve never had one die before and when they do it can be totally without warning. So I now have another Linux box to reinstall.
Today I gave up on Mandrake, I reinstalled Debian. It works. As I was celebrating with a glass of wine and chatting online, the monitor packed up … I’m going to go drink the rest of the bottle.
9 Comments
Damm, This makes me think about doing a backup right now, perhaps I should.
Ah!
That’s God convincing you to buy a Mac. GO get one. Now. Oh, and another bottle. This time for the celebrations. 😀
Rachel,
Having given it the old “get a Mac” thing in your last post, have you tried Ubuntu? It’s debian-based, but is very desktop-focused and has neato things like the HAL and devfs all working and lovely.
I’ve always liked the sound of Ubuntu. I hear they drink it in the Congo.
I once got caught for ‘drinking the rest of the bottle’ after a post-launch celebration for a large website my company did. We shared the champagne, then everyone went home and I had some extra work to do at the office….
…it was awesome
I’ve been meaning to install Fedora Core 3 on my second hard drive but this Debian sounds interesting. I’ve read the install program is more for experienced Linux users. Are there any good reviews on this?
Ubuntu is marvellous. I switched from Fedora a few weeks ago, and will never be going back. Like Debian, but with a really pared-down set of best-of-breed applications. Nice empty menus as a result. Gnome is not as tweakable as KDE, but is gorgeous to use and doesn’t crash as much. And you still have all the Debian software repository to call on if you need it. Highly recommended.
Elliot, thanks for that recomendation. As it happens my Lecture told us tonight that we will be using Fedora Core for the module I just started. Oh well, at least by the time the module is finished I might have enough experience to give Ubuntu or Debian a try. Maybe I should get a bottle of wine myself 🙂
Ubuntu is an ancient african word, meaning “humanity to others”. 😉