Weekend Gains

2009 September 14

This weekend I was pretty productive. Among other things, I was able to perform a much needed upgrade for my laptop after my hard disk crashed and to bring it at par to the prevailing standards, as well. I bought a 320 GB hard disk (up from 100 GB) and added a RAM module bringing the total RAM to 2.5 GB (up from 1 GB). So it’s a Big Deal :D

While purchasing the hard disk, I was sure that I don’t need it to fill it up with lots of data (like movies or songs). I would rather use my external hard disk for that. I had planned to use majority of the space for Linuxes (is that the correct plural form?). Why not Windows, you may ask. Especially with the snazzy Windows 7 being already available for Beta?

Well the reasons are quite simple. Firstly, too many viruses and malware. Especially, if you have removable storage like pendrives or CDs. Next, it’s not very stable. Though Windows XP is a comparatively stable member of the Windows family, I have had more than my share of screen freezes and blue screens. This causes bad sectors and reduces the life of your hard disk. Next, most of the apps I use are open source anyways – Firefox, Open Office, GIMP, Inkscape, Emacs, Foxit etc. Then why not run the same in a better OS like Linux? Lastly, distributions like Ubuntu have become really user-friendly. Vidya and many others who use my laptop really don’t find it difficult or inconvenient to use.

Well, you must have noticed the plural form of Linux I’d used. This weekend I installed the following OSes and they are all working fine:

  • Ubuntu (Jaunty): Perfect for most multimedia and productivity apps
  • Fedora 11: For trying out Java apps and other enterprisey stuff
  • Arch Linux: An ideal hacker’s OS
  • Windows XP: For the necessary evils like movie playback
  • FreeDOS: This is the good ol’ DOS. For classic DOS games and simple low level programming

I am planning to add a couple of more varied distributions. I am currently thinking of adding Puppy Linux and Rescue CD. Any suggestions?

Distantly Related posts:

  1. Better Fonts Tip: Biggest Improvement in Ubuntu Appearance
  2. A Water Bourne Weekend
5 Responses leave one →
  1. September 14, 2009

    I had a hobby of collecting and installing different flavours of linux distros. Now I’ve Debian 4.0 installed in my PC with 80GB harddisk and 128Mb RAM :-)

  2. Hariharan permalink
    September 16, 2009

    Nice. Even i was also planning to install Linux as well on my laptop(which is currently having vista). But kinda slow as i dont know much of linux.

  3. ThumbDrive permalink
    October 2, 2009

    InfyBlog follows… :mrgreen:

  4. October 21, 2009

    Hello sir,

    i have been learning/experimenting with many linux distros starting from when i was in 8th standard.

    I would recommend you to try out Ubuntu (at first); but as you have already installed it, then i would like to recommend Sabayon (http://sabayonlinux.org).

    This nux~ distribution will surely please you, as well as backtrack (this ones hellava’ ha*kers distro :D )

    would be waiting for a speedy reply (including any comments) at my mailbox.

    Regards, Kanishk

  5. October 21, 2009

    also do try Watt OS

    you can chk for more distros here: http://distrowatch.com/

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