Recession Tech: Ubuntu 10.04 - what I like and don't like (I mostly like!)

Hey all,

Another in my series of recession tech blog postings. Previously we have looked at:
Deciding on Ubuntu
Installing it on my old Dell E1505 laptop

Now after using it for a week or so, I want to relate how it is working for me.

I like it. So far, everything has been picked up by Ubuntu. My wireless card, my video card. I even like that I have circular scrolling with the touch pad.

And seriously, I use webby tings for almost all my functions - I use gMail , and FireFox for email and browsing. And for the few times when I am word-processing a document, I can use OpenOffice, no problem. There is even a HULU client for Ubuntu as well as a Boxee client, for those times when I just want to veg around.

And a super bonus is that things are much snappier - things just pop open in seconds. Even the reboot is faster.

The only down side is that there is not a Netflix client for Ubuntu/Linux. I get around that because I have an old subscription to PlayOn.TV, and it streams the Netflix as a MPEG2 stream which I can pick up in the media player Totem.

I do cheat a little. I have a nice multimedi alaptop that I run some old Windows App that I paid for to create slide shows.

So here is the rundown of tasks and Ubuntu applications:
email - Gmail
regular browsing - Firefox
Adobe Flash - Firefox w/ flash installed
Hulu - native Hulu desktop client for Ubuntu
music - I still really like MediaMondey, and have not found a reasonable replacement. They have a player, but nothing with the full flexibility of MediaMonkey.
Videos - Totem
UPNP Client - Totem with Coherence UPNP plugin
Word processing and other office tasks - Open Office
Facebook (well, I don't really do Facebook, but it just takes a browser) - Firefox.

So seriously, for 99% of things done on the web, you just need the flexible and secure Linux.

I like this!

Recommended.

Lyman