Update

I have never been so happy with an OS as I am with Ubuntu Linux. Mac OS X was close, but I can do ANYTHING I want, easily, with Linux. The nice thing about Open Source is that anyone can have access to any source code to make anything they want, constantly improving and adding to the library of available software. It's a bit daunting at first doing a search for MP3 Player in Synaptic and getting 45 million hits, but I've narrowed it all down to favorites now. I've got it running exactly the way that I want, and through it, I've discovered some cool new stuff to play with like last.fm and twitter (which I just set up). I can even run Photoshop CS2 (if I need to do anything beyond what I can do in Gimpshop) through Wine. Sophia is running far and beyond better than she ever has before. I've been catching up on movies either through Netflix or my massive collection that still contains a few DVDs I haven't watched yet. For the first time EVER, Sophia can run DVDs and video files in fullscreen without skipping at all. I've always had to watch stuff on her in windowed.

Ahoy From the Good Ship Ubuntu!

So you know what's funny? I spent, what, the past month trying to get Vista working the way I wanted, right? Well, I nuked Vista and dropped Ubuntu Linux on Sophia, and literally, within hours, I'm up and running at almost complete capacity. No jury rigging drivers ('cept my wifi card, but that was easy), no BSODs, no freeze ups, and a 20 minute install! Sophia runs WAY faster, quieter, and all around better now. I've only hit 3 roadblocks; one of which I will probably never hit again. That one is macros in spreadsheets; OpenOffice doesn't like Microsoft Office macros, but that was a one shot deal for Jill's divorce (which is THANKFULLY OVER!!!). The other is that I can't find GimpShop after installing it; I know it's there, I can verify the package, but it's not in the menus like it should be. >_<>

Vista Snag

I hit a snag with Vista; it's nothing horrid, just really annoying. Photoshop CS2 starts up REALLY slow for me. Once it's done starting up, it runs just fine, but it takes over 5 minutes to get started. Anyone have any ideas on this? Everything else is running really smooth (with the exception of Miranda and Trillian; I gave up on them for the time being and switched to Pidgin which runs great). I don't think it's a memory issue; I have a Gig of RAM and 20 Gigs free on the hard drive...

Other than that, I couldn't be happier (well, unless I could run Aero, but that won't happen).

Apparently the Wow IS Now

Wow, getting that powered USB hub made all the difference in the world. I didn't realize how much of a strain Sophia was under! She's a lot quieter now; I hooked up the external hard drive, the Bluetooth dongle, and the fan pad to it. I figured those were most likely to eat power over the tablet and memory card reader. I'm going without a full keyboard for the time being; I realized it really just added to the clutter. I'll hook it up if I need a 10 key, but I didn't use the media keys as much as I thought I did. Besides, Winamp has global hotkeys, so I don't really need the media keys.

So Begins the Saga of Vista

So I got Vista yesterday; just Home Basic as Sophia won't support Aero. Come to find out AFTER formatting and installing that there are NO Vista drivers for this laptop; the screen was all wonky, no sound, etc. I searched and searched for solutions to no avail. Finally, I decided I would take a long shot and just tell it to search for drivers in the old HP directory. Now, mind you, these are OLD drivers from when this laptop was originally made 4 years ago. I figured if Windows Update and HP say there are no drivers, these most likely won't work. Well, they did. I have my full screen with 3D graphics and glorious sound! I have yet to run into any program compatibility issues. Granted, I had to clean install, so I'm having to reinstall everything, but so far so good. Sophia is faster now, and I love the interface. I'm just tickled that I beat both Microsoft and HP by using really old drivers. lol

Oh! And I figured out what my freezing issue is; it has nothing to do with the hard drive. It's a power issue. I found my old 120 GB USB hard drive and used that to back my music and pictures up. As soon as I plugged it in Sophia froze. Restart, freeze. Rinse, repeat. I can run it if I have NO other periphals connected pulling power; no WiFi card, no external keyboard or mouse, no Bluetooth, etc. I even have to pop the DVD-ROM out since if it spins, it pulls power. I'm going out and getting a powered USB hub this afternoon, so that should eliminate the issue.

Overheating?

So I THINK I have figured out one of my freeze up issues; ironically enough, I think it's a temperature issue. I could be wrong, but I notice that it is running really hot when it freezes; one contributing factor is probably my keyboard. I have a slim multimedia keyboard that I've been setting on top of the laptop keyboard so that I have multimedia controls and a 10 key available. It's slim enough that it barely protrudes above the bottom of the LCD. But it's also trapping heat. I've been using Sophia for about the past 3 hours with no issue having the keyboard off. I don't think this is the ONLY factor, as some programs freeze it up more than others (I had to kill Trillian after years of use due to this; it froze Sophia up about 75% of the time on it's start-up). I still think there are some bad sectors or scratches on the hard drive (my mom didn't take such good care of Sophia before I got her). Now, I know that it sounds stupid to claim that hardware and software can cause completely identical yet unrelated issues, but these are my observations. And yes, I do know that more intense programs (ie games, etc) can cause there to be more heat, but I seriously doubt that's what was going on with Trillian or any of the other few programs I had to kill (Trillian was really the only I used, and I'm using Miranda now, so it's all good). Anyway, anyone have some good ideas for keeping a laptop cool? Even with the keyboard off, it's still spewing some pretty hot exhaust (though not as scaldingly hot)... Do those laptop "cool pads" (USB powered pads with fans) make a big difference? Would over heating be causing my issues?

Sophia

I finally have all my music, artwork, and photos transfered off of Omoikane (the Mac) to Sophia (the XP lappy). Picasa 2 is a nice little alternative to iPhoto, and even imported all the rolls correctly. I only had to re-orient (landscape or portrait), but now all my pictures are sorted in their full sizes. And, of course, iTunes took my music library and playlists flawlessly. It took an asston of time over wifi, but it's done. ^_^ Sophia is running great; my only complaints are the lack of media controls (fixed with iTunesKeys) and USB 2.0 ports. Other than that, for a 3 1/2 year old lappy, she's in great shape!

Sophia is Her Name

So, as some of you know, I have always paid homage to the proud, if geeky, tradition of naming my computers. For the most part, I've stuck with Omoikane (the ship's computer from Nadesico), as I've always replaced the older model with an upgrade. But I'm now faced with a 1st time issue: I own 2 computers that I use on a regular basis. My PowerBook and my Pavilion lappy. It would be confusing, at least to me, to have 2 Omoikanes (and not really fair to the PowerBook as she came first; yes, they DO have their own personalities!). So I've named the Pavilion Sophia. I really like the name, aside from listening to the Cruxshadows song a lot lately, and since Jill and I have pretty much decided on Abigail if we have a girl, I have the option of using it. The other name I liked was Viola (I've always thought it a beautiful name for an instrument, if not a person). Anyways, over the weekend, I slapped another 512 Megs of RAM in Sophia as well as a Draft N card for wireless (figured it wouldn't hurt to future-date a bit). She's running very smoothly, and I plan on giving her another 512 with the next paycheck. I am looking towards Vista in the not so distant future. Who of you has Vista? What has been your experience? I'll just be getting Home Basic (the on-board card in Sophia is only 64 Megs falling short of supporting Aero). I usually make it a rule to wait until SP1 is out to upgrade OSes, but I really like what Vista offers. So, thoughts?

P2P

So my job has necessitated that I have a Windows machine. I got my mom's old laptop (like 3 years old...) and I've done a lot of work on it software-wise (upgraded to XP Pro, added Office 2003, completely reworked the interface to make it look, act, and sound like Vista, etc). But it's been a while since I've seriously played with a WinBox (or WinBook as it were). What is a good file share program that can hit the LimeWire network? I use Acquisition on the Mac, and I love it; it's light on system resources, no adware or spyware, good results, etc. I'm looking for something similar for this lappy. Any ideas?