Technology, Theology, and Anything In Between

I’ve decided to dump Windows on my laptop. I had problems with XP being very slow. I tried to do a clean copy of 32-bit Vista. That worked, until something happened with that + TrueCrypt, and the system became unusable again.

My solution is to install Debian Lenny. So far, I’ve been very happy with this OS. Lenny is working great with the laptop, and so far I’ve not had problems that have occurred with other Linux distributions, such as not coming out of suspend mode, or freezing up. I did need to use fwcutter and install the firmware for my laptop’s wireless card, but that only took a few minutes. I had previously gone through this process when I had tried Ubuntu Linux.

I’ve always appreciated Debian’s update system, and the package management. It is so easy to keep configuration control over the programs I use. Right now, I’m using OpenOffice to compose this posting, which was a default install with Lenny.

Since I’m currently working on a Ruby on Rails project, the Linux setup will work well. To communicate with my client, I can use Evolution for email. I appreciate that all the memory I populated that laptop with is being used by programs or as cache memory. I’ve noticed no matter what Windows OS I use, the OS always swaps out to disk, even when few programs are running.

This is the closest I’ve ever been to a complete Windows replacement. I’ve been a Microsoft shop for some time now, but I’m thinking about stopping support. I just can’t afford to be spending money every year to subscribe to their latest and greatest software. My laptop is getting old, and I think Debian Lenny will keep it usable for at least a few more years.