So, given the interview on Tuesday I decided that covering myself in oily gunk that’s hard to remove is probably not the best plan. No, instead, a relaxing evening of experimenting with linux on my laptop. Now, you may not realise this, but my laptop has been a source of some frustration; Windows 98 is not great on the old power management front, and despite being plenty quick enough to play videos, it struggled.
So, I thought, hey, why not try linux. A little while ago I downloaded and burned the shiny Ubuntu 6.06 release. Shiny, I thought. I tried it, eventually worked out that I needed ‘safe mode video’ to get it to boot, but it all worked. Except the Wireless Network Card – which, according to the interweb, would work when configured.
So today I installed it.
First boot: Crash.
Second ‘recovery mode’ boot: Crash
Third boot: Boots! ‘ray! No Wireless though.
So I’ve been sat up here for the best part of an hour attempting to make it work using this page. One of the notable features of this page is that it ends in the middle of a sentance. One of the notable features of my playing with the wireless and Linux is a complete absence of success. I’ve not succeeded in making it work; I’ve not yet installed RaConfig and therin lies another tale. See, I went to copy it from my Desktop (which I was (am) using for internet access, to my Laptop (which I had on my lap in it’s not-networkable state). And see, I noticed something of a quirk.
My PC is now listing only one DVD Drive. Now, unless I’m much mistook, it still has the same 2 drives it had in it yesterday, and indeed this morning. So, it’s clearly some sign of a sickening which appears to be worstening. Currently I’m down my e-mail, my laptop ain’t working and now my PC appears to be dying more rapidly than previously considered. I am, it must be said, a mite fed up with computers at the moment. I’m also trying to hold my patience with linux, which appears to be in much the same state as it was when I left 2 years ago. I don’t *want* to fiddle with config files. I have no desires in those directions. I want to have the ability to, sure. I like knowing that I can open a console and tinker away. But I don’t want to *need* to do it. It’s frustrating. If my network card was exotic and interesting I might be more inclined to be generous, but having no configuration utility for wireless networking as standard, despite supporting the card? That’s shite that is. Especially since it appears to have been supported _on install_ for 2 versions.
*Sighs*
And of course, now my PC won’t write CDs. Ratted bastard thing.
