Ubuntu

For the last several days I've been playing with two flavors of Ubuntu Linux: the "normal" Ubuntu with the modern dock interface and Kubuntu, which is more Windows-like in its appearance and uses fewer resources (so it works well with my old ThinkPad).

So far the experience has been great. A lot of frills I tend to dislike in modern OSes are gone (the forever "HEY UPDATE ME" dialogs for example), and you can use the command like (excuse me, terminal interface) to issue direct, specific instructions to the kernel. Pretty much everything is fully modal, and just a little research will go a long way towards getting everything to look and act the way you want. I'm also enjoying the multiple workspaces, something both Windows and Mac have always had a hard time with for some reason.

I haven't tried WinE yet, but I plan to if I come across a Windows application I just can't live without. So far most of the things I use that don't have Linux versions are games, but that's expected, and honestly I'm impressed with the number of Linux games out there. The one big disappointment has been no Winamp, but with WinE and a few tweaks I'm under the impression that can be resolved. We'll see.

Dreamwidth looks and works beautifully under both Firefox and Rekonq, the default browser for Kubuntu. Pretty much no issues with web-based anything, which is important since most software is run from the cloud nowadays.

Installing new drivers and software feels very retro to me, and this is a good thing; it might be more work, but I have more direct control over it and I can see what I'm doing, so if I break stuff, I have a better chance of un-breaking it. The process reminds me more of Windows 3.1 than anything; there's a rudimentary installer that works most of the time, but some software requires other software to be installed first (and doesn't just download it automatically), and some drivers require specific commands to be run from the terminal to get them working. Thankfully Ubuntu makes this easier by giving specific, non-obtuse messages when it needs something from you.

So far, so good. If you hate the direction Windows 8 and OSX are headed (like I do), I recommend giving Ubuntu a shot. It's not scary, really.

Oh yeah

Also, I voted. Obama won, but thanks to the electoral college, I had no hand in that. What I DID have a hand in was making the vote in NC VERY CLOSE. Even though the state went red (if you count state offices, VERY red), it didn't do so without a goddamn fight.

I'm sorry I can't claim I helped Obama get elected, and I'm even sorrier to say that my vote wasn't enough to keep NC from falling back a good five decades, but at least I can say I tried, and that in terms of statistics, it DID matter, and it will matter again in two and four and six and eight years. With time and pressure, I'm hoping we'll be able to steer this boat to port, even if only gradually.