Installing ubuntu

So I took the plunge... I have an old IBM laptop that positively wheezes and emits bouts of steam whilst running Windows... and am I the only person that imagines their PC get slower every time they use it, and can't figure out why?

I work with IT types, and used to be one myself in my dim and distant past. But don't get much time to do that sort of thing these days. So I was resigned to hammering the credit card and buying a new machine.

This was September last year, just about when the new NetBooks started appearing. I glanced at a couple over people's shoulders, frankly I was a bit surprised at how easy they were to use, and asked what was running on them. Ubuntu. Never heard of it.

A couple of days googling later and I'm now intrigued. So cut to the chase. I set myself a target of a month to go cold turkey on Windows, and see just how usable Ubuntu was for average home use. I remember the Linux installs of old, and they would be trials of epic proportions, with an above-average chance of frying some bit of your hardware if you got a setting wrong, and a pretty thorough knowledge of unix internals needed. My ultimate goal was to pass the wife-test, and see if the spouse could also use it without complaint. And I don't have the stomach to teach her vi ...

**Sensible Note** I bought a new HDD because I didn't want to put my old data at risk, and my backup strategy at this point was erratic at best. Heartily advise it if you have a go, you end up with a much bigger HDD, and frankly, if I'd installed dual boot I'd have always found an excuse to launch Windows and that was not really the point.

Now, I'll cut out the two installs I did to learn about good and bad practice, and refer you to this page which I found really helpful: http://beginlinux.com/desktop_training/ubuntu/1073-ubuntu-intrepid-ibex-install

You could achieve the same end in Windows using different drive letters and the TweakUI gadget, but it was painful and prone to fouling up. Now if I decide to upgrade or reinstall ubuntu, the home area is safely tucked away. Similarly, if I decide to buy a separate disk to hold my massive antique etchings scans (bear with me on this) I can repoint the home area to this new disk and hey presto...

So far so good, a couple of hours effort and I have a basic build running. Wi-Fi works pretty much out of the box and looks like Windows. Firefox (always my preferred browser) works, so I could just stop here and claim success :-)

I have a way to go though, it won't see my NAS drive, I can't ping anything by its name, and I'm stuck with the web interface for email. But not bad for my first attempt I thought.