Monday, March 21, 2011

Ubuntu --> openSuse --> Fedora --> Ubuntu

Last night:

Installed openSuse on my laptop, overwriting my Ubuntu Natty install. Installer is laggy. Doesn't have the firmware for my wireless. Can't get the gnome shell setup script to work without modification. Gnome Shell build fails anyway. Can't get wireless drivers installed. Give up.

Install Fedora 15. Install is clumsy and demands internet connection. It detects wireless, but won't activate it. Installer allows me to continue anyway. I end up at a strangely themed Gnome 2 desktop. I dig out a wireless USB adapter and start the install over. This time, I end up with Gnome Shell. Looks good. Nice performance. Oh, nice security update notification. Start installing updates. Screen suddenly fades as I'm surfing web. The screen is locked, asking for a password. Mouse works, keyboard doesn't. I let the updates go for an hour; when I come back, keyboard works again. I play around a little, then restart. Can't get past Fedora's boot splash.

Wait an hour, then install Ubuntu. Cant detect wireless at first. Nothing bad happens, and on first boot it asks if I want to enable my wireless. I do. It works. It rebooted fine.

All I wanted to do was use Gnome Shell, but if it isn't available for Ubuntu, its gonna be a problem.

No comments: