The totally open source PC

[JDArt]

Anyone using a totally open source PC? One with Ubuntu or Linux and all open source software? Just wondering what your impressions are if you've made the jump.

[swampler]

I played Ubuntu 8.10 for a couple of days. Had a few problems with the biggest not being able to run Windows software, even with the emulator. Could have been the PC (Athlon 850 with 512 MB RAM) though. Struggled to get the wireless working (changed channel on router), sound didn't work, and had a second hard drive that was a pain to get working.

The Office replacement is great and there's even a Windows version which is also free.

If you want to play with it, the CD you download from Ubuntu will also run the operating system from the disk while you try it out. I imagine you can check compatibility with your hardware in this manner. I tried the 32 bit version since my computer was so old, but there is a 64 bit version also.

GIve it a try and have fun with it.

[mort]

I have been running Ubuntu on a laptop for the last 12 months, starting with 7.xx moving to 8.07 and now 8.10. There are some bits that are good and some that still need work to get to MS / OSX levels of funtionality/ease of use. If you have a second computer that you can try it on, install it and see if it meets your needs.

On my Vista work laptop I have Ubuntu installed as a virtual PC that lives in a folder in the program files in vista and runs if selected at boot. This may work on other OS's but vista is the only one I have tried it on. Usefull for network testing using open source apps.