Posts Tagged ‘Kubuntu’

Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

November 1st, 2009

My Sony Vaio Laptop is getting on a bit. So I’m sure it felt better after having a new HDD and a fresh install of an OS.

My OS of choice, not Windows, Kubuntu!

Part of the Ubuntu project, Kubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) was released this week. Being a Linux OS means that it has some major differences compared with Windows. You can do the same things in Ubuntu that you can in Windows, but to begin with it doesn’t seem right. Being a Windows user since 3.1 at school, and my first PC running Windows 98SE, Linux and Kubuntu definitely took a little getting used to. Thankfully you can try Ubuntu, or Kubuntu by running a Live CD.

Visit www.ubuntu.com to Download the Live CD.

Back to my Vaio – The HDD swap was easy (unlike changing one in a MacBook Pro) and I was straight to running the Live CD. During the step-by-step installation it partitions the drive for you, or you can do this manually. My 120gb drive is partitioned into 3.

  1. / (root) – 20gb : This is where the OS goes, doesn’t need much space and after the install still over 15gb free.
  2. swap – 2.1gb : This is like windows swap file, I have 2gb of RAM so need at least that so I can Hibernate.
  3. /home – 98gb : This is like the “My Documents” folder on steroids. All user accounts sit in here with all of the preferences as well. If you need to reinstall the OS, all of your preferences and files are separate.

Job done, Kubuntu installed. Nvidia drivers installed. Google Chrome (Linux Development build) installed.

Wordpress post, complete.

MacBook Pro + New HDD = clokey fun!

October 28th, 2009

Today I was let loose on my girlfriends MacBook. I’m a PC and don’t often get to play with her Mac, let alone do a Hard Drive upgrade. Nice, easy, Warranty Voiding procedure – I just followed the instructions here – http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2119528,00.asp

The hardware change was quite easy, and reinstalling OS X was also simple (if not time consuming). After a fresh install of the OS we used the Migration tool to import all of the settings/applications/files from her old drive. Just attached the drive using a USB kit – simples.

I’m impressed that my girlfriend trusted me with a screwdriver near her Mac.

After we confirmed everything transferred and worked correctly my girlfriend upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard. Another hour lost to installation but worked well, and everything appears to work.

My concerns were with her licensed products like Microsoft Office (Mac:Office), and Final Cut. Final Cut being the main cause for a HDD upgrade, as Live Type font sets taking up more than 10gb on her original 80gb drive (reported as 74gb)

Now she has plenty of free space, and seems happy with her new improved Mac – not forgetting to mention that both her MacBook and my Vaio laptop had memory upgrades (up to their maximum allowed 2gb RAM).

Looking forward to my HDD upgrade tomorrow (I’m surviving on 40gb split between Windows XP and Kubuntu 9.04).

Kubuntu 9.10 is arriving tomorrow also.