About a year ago, when my old Compaq M700 was dying, I decided to buy a new laptop.

Windows Vista had been released a couple of months earlier. I toyed with the idea that I could buy it with the laptop, and feel my way through the problems and issues.

The reviews for Vista were not good. I kept weighing the costs and the issues.

I did not want to have to buy additional software. I wanted complete function. If I chose a Microsoft product, again, I knew I was going to have to keep reaching into my pocket to Microsoft and to the other proprietary closed source vendors.

By order of importance, my requirements for an Operating System were:

Stability - I did not want to have to suffer through Blue Screens in dealing with hardware and software. I wanted a stable file system that would be low-maintenance without having to worry about fragmentation.

Security - I wanted to minimize the amount of worry regarding browser hijackers, trojans, malware, worms, viruses, etc. I did not want to have to re-install my OS every three or four months.

Flexibility - I wanted to be able to compile the OS kernel, and to be able to take out the things that I did not use or want. I also wanted several options for software testing, installation, etc.

Costs - I did not want to get caught in the trap of having to keep paying for packages that in my opinion should be free.

Scripting - I wanted to be able to write robust scripts to run without having to ‘jump through hoops’ to get the scripts to run. I did not want to have to buy a compiler for *.exe files or an expensive package to automate my personal tasks.

MP3 player support - I have a couple of MP3 players. I have a Creative Labs 40 GB that I have had for about 5 years now and it still works great. That is my music player. I also have an iPod Shuffle, 2nd generation 1 GB player that I love, as well. That one has some music, but is mainly for podcast and ‘talk radio’ podcasts. I also wanted to be able to rip MP3s with ease and without extra expense for a package to do so.

DVD burning - I wanted to experiment and play around with burning all types of video files to DVD.
I wanted to be able to convert video and audio files between formats with ease.

Office Applications - I wanted to have a complete office suite, completely inter-operable with MS Office documents, spreadsheets, etc.

Those were my requirements.

Some of those requirements could be handled by Microsoft Windows, but not what I considered the most important ones.

I played around with:
PC Linux OS
Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Xubuntu
Puppy
Debian
Slackware
Mandriva
Arch

The fact that it met all of my requirements and it was so easy to use made Ubuntu the clear choice for me.

I cut some corners on the order for my laptop. From what I could tell, at the time I probably saved about $500 on the OS and applications.

The laptop arrived about a week later. I installed Dapper Drake.

After a year of running Ubuntu on the laptop, I can say that the experience has been good. It works. I have been completely satisfied, and wondered why I had not made the switch sooner. I am currently running Gutsy Gibbon, Ubuntu 7.10.

Since then, I have added several machines to my Ubuntu / Xubuntu collection.

I have found that I have to run Microsoft Internet Explorer for a couple of websites that I need. I started off running it in a Virtual machine. Since then, I have been running it via Wine. It works wonderfully.

My most dependable machines in the household run Ubuntu.

I hold on to one or two Windows XP boxes for testing and experiment, but I do not put anything important on either of those.

Before I made the switch to Ubuntu, I was concerned that I would spend too much time configuring and getting drivers configured. What I discovered is, I spend less time in configuration and running updates.

The number of times that I have installed Windows XP, I can tell you that it can turn into a LONG task after you add in time for running updates. You can slipstream the updates to cut down on the time, but weighing the gains…

I now can spend more time on productive tasks.

The new laptop is still functioning quite well and I expect to get a solid four years (keep your fingers crossed!) from the life of the hardware.

If you're into gadgets and addicted to the Net, the Chumby is worth a look.

If you're into gadgets and addicted to the Net, the Chumby is worth a look.

You've modded everything in the house except the pets. What's a modder to do now?

VideoSpin is useful for free video editing software, but watch out for the ads.

VideoSpin is useful for free video editing software, but watch out for the ads.

This is an interesting video with footage of a tornado that touched down in Oklahoma in May of 2007.

What Is In Service Pack 3 Windows XP SP3 includes all previously released Windows XP updates, including security updates and hotfixes, and select out-of-band releases. For example, the service pack includes functionality previously released as updates, such as the Microsoft® Management Console (MMC) 3.0 and the Microsoft Core XML Services 6.0 (MSXML6). Microsoft is not adding significant functionality from newer versions of Windows, such as Windows Vista, to Windows XP through XP SP3. For instance, Windows XP SP3 does not include Windows Internet Explorer 7, although Windows XP SP3 does include updates to both Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7, and it will update whichever version is installed on the computer. One notable exception is that, SP3 does include Network Access Protection (NAP) to help organizations that use Windows XP to take advantage of new features in the Windows Server® 2008 operating system. For more information about Internet Explorer 7, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx. Knowledge Base article 936929 lists all other all Knowledge Base articles associated with updates that are included in Windows XP SP3. The following sections also provide a high-level description of the functionality included in Windows XP SP3. Previously Released Functionality The functionality described below is already available for Windows XP in stand-alone updates. System administrators must choose to install each of these updates, however. Windows XP SP3 includes them by default. • MMC 3.0 • MSXML6 • Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 v2 (3.1.4000.2435) • Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5 • IPsec Simple Policy Update for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP • Digital Identity Management Service (DIMS) • Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) 2.1 • Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) New and Enhanced Functionality New and Enhanced Functionality that is describ ..

This pricey two-speaker system sounds as good as some 5.1 speaker kits.

This pricey two-speaker system sounds as good as some 5.1 speaker kits.