From stephen.wehrenberg at verizon.net Wed Jan 26 16:44:22 2011 From: stephen.wehrenberg at verizon.net (Stephen Wehrenberg) Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:44:22 -0500 Subject: [Lugstuff] Ubuntu on a laptop? Message-ID: <4D4095B6.3010008@verizon.net> Sorry to broadcast like this but couldn't find another way to contact anyone in LUG. I live in Bowie, and I'm looking for a Ubuntu "journeyman." I have a couple of old laptops, a Dell with a Celeron processor at 2.6 gHz and a Gateway with AMD Athlon 64 4000+ at 2.59 gHz. I would love to load Ubuntu on one and take Linux for a spin. No problem getting the OS on there (I have a Ubuntu 10.10 boot disk) but getting all the drivers loaded in and usable seems to be just outside my experience envelope. Linux is not Windows, or DOS, or even CP/M! So I'm in the hunt for someone who wouldn't mind a little side job, for which I would be willing to pay a reasonable price, getting one of these up and fully functioning. Then I can play around and maybe even learn something. If that worked out, I also have an ASUS netbook with their wild implementation of Linux on board that I can't do a thing with and which seems no longer supported. I tried Ubuntu on that, couldn't find drivers (my common problem); gave up on that, put Windows on it, which ground it to a halt of course, then reloaded the proprietary version of Linux. It works, in that it has old versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice, but the interface is all ASUS and impenetrable ... I can't even update what's on it. I'd kind of like to get that up with Ubuntu on board, as well. So any pointers to someone who would take this on would be appreciated. I tried the Geek Squad, but they tell me they don't support any Linux work. Collegially, Steve -- */Stephen B. Wehrenberg, Ph.D./**//* *//* *//*Human Resource Strategy and Capability;Director, Future Force; and Director of Executive Development, US Coast Guard Organizational Sciences, The George Washington University 202-475-5010stephen.wehrenberg at verizon.net /"The vehicle for progress is not the answer reached through/ /logic but the question addressed through stories."/Charles S. Jacobs -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michaelthomasweiss at gmail.com Wed Jan 26 21:19:59 2011 From: michaelthomasweiss at gmail.com (Mike Weiss) Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:19:59 -0500 Subject: [Lugstuff] Ubuntu on a laptop? In-Reply-To: <4D4095B6.3010008@verizon.net> References: <4D4095B6.3010008@verizon.net> Message-ID: <1934596791063431693@unknownmsgid> Steve and all, Long time listener--first time caller here. Stuck in a PEPCO power outage and bored so I am going to relate what I know that might help you. Steve, First, assuming your old laptops aren't too old and have CDROM, you should be able to burn the basic Ubuntu live CD and then boot directly into the CD with no installation needed. This would enable a test drive before installing. As for the ASUS netbook...I have an one as well (eee901?) that is readily compatible with the "Ubuntu netbook remix" as it includes special drivers for power management, etc. Since the machine has no CD you will need to "burn" this version of Ubuntu to a USB stick and make changes to the hardware setup to enable USB booting. The first option above would be easiest with the second requiring some research, but there are loads of webpages dedicated to the ASUS netbook and Linux...specifically Ubuntu. Of course there are several other great Linux distributions (various software components grouped with the Linux kernel). I think the cool thing about Linux is the availability of information on the Internet(s) and the value in really teaching yourself all you can and or are interested in learning. It's kind of like brewing you own beer or fixing you car when it requires a major repair--you're not quite sure what you're doing but you learn real quick. I would suggest digging a bit further and doing the installation yourself as it's a lot more fun. Another great place to start is one of the many Linux intro books you can get from the bookstore. Once you get past the Linux specific hardware issues you'll find yourself in somewhat familiar territory if you've ever touched a commercial UNIX platform. Of course the default ASUS distribution is not too bad either for exploring a bit further. --MikeW Sent from my crappy iPhone On Jan 26, 2011, at 8:43 PM, Stephen Wehrenberg < stephen.wehrenberg at verizon.net> wrote: Sorry to broadcast like this but couldn't find another way to contact anyone in LUG. I live in Bowie, and I'm looking for a Ubuntu "journeyman." I have a couple of old laptops, a Dell with a Celeron processor at 2.6 gHz and a Gateway with AMD Athlon 64 4000+ at 2.59 gHz. I would love to load Ubuntu on one and take Linux for a spin. No problem getting the OS on there (I have a Ubuntu 10.10 boot disk) but getting all the drivers loaded in and usable seems to be just outside my experience envelope. Linux is not Windows, or DOS, or even CP/M! So I'm in the hunt for someone who wouldn't mind a little side job, for which I would be willing to pay a reasonable price, getting one of these up and fully functioning. Then I can play around and maybe even learn something. If that worked out, I also have an ASUS netbook with their wild implementation of Linux on board that I can't do a thing with and which seems no longer supported. I tried Ubuntu on that, couldn't find drivers (my common problem); gave up on that, put Windows on it, which ground it to a halt of course, then reloaded the proprietary version of Linux. It works, in that it has old versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice, but the interface is all ASUS and impenetrable ... I can't even update what's on it. I'd kind of like to get that up with Ubuntu on board, as well. So any pointers to someone who would take this on would be appreciated. I tried the Geek Squad, but they tell me they don't support any Linux work. Collegially, Steve -- *Stephen B. Wehrenberg, Ph.D.*** ** * *Human Resource Strategy and Capability; Director, Future Force; and Director of Executive Development, US Coast Guard Organizational Sciences, The George Washington University 202-475-5010 stephen.wehrenberg at verizon.net *"The vehicle for progress is not the answer reached through* *logic but the question addressed through stories."* Charles S. Jacobs _______________________________________________ Lugstuff mailing list Lugstuff at annapolislinux.org http://list.annapolislinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lugstuff -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: