Before going into detail about the issues associated with getting Ubuntu up and running, it seems appropriate to have a brief background on what Ubuntu is and the computer it is being installed on.
Ubuntu is an open source Linux operating system that is distributed free of charge via the internet. You can download a copy here. The current version, 8.04 Hardy Heron, was released in April 2008. A more detailed discussion of Ubuntu can be found here. Obviously, the big advantage that Ubuntu (and similar Linux operating systems) have over Windows and Mac OS X is the absence of cost in the software; everything is free from top to bottom. This deal comes with a price in the form of user labor. It is often a lengthier process to install and configure programs to perform tasks in Ubuntu than it would be in Windows or OS X. A restricted driver must be downloaded in order to play MP3 files, for instance. Certainly not a deal-breaker, but not the plug-and-play experience that most have come to expect. Couple this level of user involvement with the text heavy, command line fundamentals of the OS, and Ubuntu is an interesting project.
The PC on which Ubuntu is installed is a Pentium 4 HT, 3.0 GHz with 1.2 GB of RAM and an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 graphics card. The hard drive is an old laptop unit spinning at 5,400 RPM with a capacity of 20 GB. Networking is accomplished via a cheap 802.11g pci card. With luck, no hardware upgrades should be needed to run Ubuntu 8.04 on this hardware.
No comments:
Post a Comment