Journal mcgrew's Journal: The Upgrade part 2 3
I'm an idiot. Ignorance is when you don't know, stupidity is when you know better and screw it up anyway.
I knew better than to install version n.10. I'm a moron. But... I thought the n.01 was a Microsoft thing. I never expected Linux to act like that.
No sooner than I'd upgraded kubuntu to 11.10, the Windows notebook felt jealous and decided it needed an upgrade, too... and it wasn't going to stop nagging until I did. *Sigh*... Microsoft, I want a divorce. I thought I'd already divorced you, you goddamned nag. But here you are on my equipment again.
I'd wanted to move some files from the big PC with the CD burner to the notebook, but of course the "essential security updates" were coming first. By the time Microsoft was done with me, lunch was over and it was time to drive back to work.
When I got back home from work I went to move the files, and Samba wasn't working right. It was kinda sorta working; I could see the files and directories in the Windows box, but any attempt to move a file from one machine to the next failed.
Damn. I thought, hell... do I downgrade Samba, or just wipe the hard drive and reinstall 11.04? I decided to put it off until I made a decision; there's always sneakernet.
Plus, I was fixing up an old Dell for Gaal. It had all the CDs, but Windows couldn't find the drivers. I got the network driver off the internet and installed it with a thumb drive. The computer seemed to work fine, until I discovered that there was no sound... and its driver seemed not to exist anywhere on earth, at all.
You guys complain about finding Linux drivers for new equipment? Try finding Windows drivers for a ten year old computer! And it was Service Pack 1, and it refused to upgrade. Fucking Microsoft, just like a damned woman -- always nagging, always insisting things be done her way, and refusing to do essential, uh, "things." Of course, there's a difference between Microsoft and a marriage. After five years, unlike a wife, Microsoft still sucks.
So there's a ten year old computer with all of its electronics and mechanics working fine, and what's broken, and broken irreparably? Windows. Without a sound driver and sporting Service Pack 1, I'd say it's broken to the point of absolute uselessness.
My car's ten years old, too. Needs struts, an alignment, and a tuneup. But its electronics work fine. Windows reliable and stable? There's a joke and a half!
Gaal is going to have to learn Linux. Fortunately for him, he knows nothing whatever about computers. He's never used one, not once. So unlike someone moving from Windows and getting used to the slashes not being ass backwards, along with being used to everything about it not being ass backwards, he'll have a computer that follows standards, won't get malware, that he won't have to remember the password to.
Kubuntu wouldn't install. With only a 500mHz CPU and 256M of memory, there's no wonder.
I'd given the Mandriva 2007 CDs away, so I installed Mandriva 2005. It installed without a hitch, but it looked... ugly. Primitive. That wouldn't bother Gaal, but I'd like to have something better on his computer. So I searched for Mandriva 2007, started downloading a torrent, and after running for two weeks, it's 15% finished. A new distro will come down the wire in less than an hour. Not many people have Mandriva 2007 in their upload queue, it seems. The predicted finish for the download is sometime after the heat death of the universe.
So I fire up the notebook.. and it wants yet another reboot; two of the upgrades didn't take. I upgraded again. And rebooted again. I hadn't done anything with it since it nagged me.
And I discovered the problem -- Windows wouldn't let me into some of the directories on my own computer! Jesus H. Christ, ain't that like a woman? I think I know why so many slashdotters are Microsoft fans. Microsoft is their "woman." They're Microsoft's bitches, bitches!
It wasn't kubuntu or Samba after all! God damned evil Microsoft. I guess I won't get to wait to replace the DVD on the big computer to install the latest Mandriva or Mint Linux. both of which are downloaded and waiting for a DVD to burn. Kubuntu is going on the notebook.
Pack your bags, Microsoft. Again! And this time, STAY OUT!
Faster solution (Score:2)
Find the length of the Mandriva 2007 distro and its SHA1SUM. Create random files of that length and SHA1SUM it. If equal, you have it, try and install. If not, try again. The sun will be a burnt out husk but there may yet be a few chunks of non-iron waiting to decay into iron left. :-)
Upgrade to Oneiric (Score:2)
All the 'buntus between Lucid and Oneiric are trouble. Found that out the hard way with my home server.
Re: (Score:2)
D'oh, 11.10 IS Oneiric, but that's the first upgrade since Lucid that worked right on my home server. For that low-spec machine try lubuntu or Debian w/ LXDE.