Since I'm famous for always...ALWAYS...saying "oh, Linux always just works fine for me! I NEVER have any problems with Linux!", etc., I thought I'd post this very different experience. I borked my brand new laptop. 
I received my beautiful new System76 Kudu Professional last Tuesday. It came pre-installed with Ubuntu 14.04--which means Unity as its DE. I knew before I ordered it that I would install Kubuntu ASAP because KDE is my preferred DE.
After a few minutes of poking around in Unity I set about installing Kubuntu. I used Synaptic to pick and choose which components I wanted. Not long afterward I was logging in with Kubuntu. Everything was fine.
Next came my normal habit of installing Samba. I stick with Samba because it's a holdover from when my mom's computer was still running windows. All my older computers use Samba, so I just keep slapping it on new computers to make my life simpler.
Once Samba was installed the other computers on my network could see the new computer but couldn't access it, and it wasn't seeing any of the other computers. I didn't feel like troubleshooting so I thought I'd just uninstall everything related to Samba and start over. That turned out to be a very bad decision.
Somewhere along the line something went horribly wrong. Once Synaptic was done uninstalling Samba...well, I had a totally borked system. I could no longer log in with KDE, and using Unity yielded a semi-functioning system. That had no wireless.
I quickly decided not to bother trying to fix it. I thought I'd just download Kubuntu 14.04 [on another computer] and install it--which would give me the chance to partition the drive the way I wanted it. (Its configuration when shipped didn't suit me--everything was on one partition.) No big deal, right? Wrong.
It didn't take long to realize that 14.04 wouldn't fit on a CD. And I didn't have any blank DVDs or USB sticks.
I ended up downloading the alternate version of 12.04, which was the latest version and type that would fit on a CD.
I booted up from the CD and soon had a nice clean installation, with the drive partitioned the way I wanted it. But I still had no wireless. So I got out one of my trusty Ethernet cables and plugged it in.
After a lot of apt-getting I had upgraded to 14.04LTS, on a freshly formatted and partitioned hard drive, and it runs great. Oh, its wireless works, too.
So, you might be wondering to yourself, does this change Moody's feelings about Linux? Nope. Not one iota! And here's why.
For one thing, almost concurrently with the arrival of my new laptop came some devastating family news. My niece called me, almost hysterical, and said her dad had had a stroke followed by a heart attack and was on life support. In Louisiana. He had gone there to take care of his 102-year-old father. After calming her down I spent a long time convincing her that she needed to get on a plane ASAP. She and her dad had been estranged for the last couple of years, and she had a lot of hurt/anger/worry/sadness/mixed emotions going on. Over the next few hours there were many phone calls and e-mails, and to say I was preoccupied is kind of an understatement. I figure that at some point along the way I answered a prompt incorrectly or didn't notice that something was being removed that shouldn't have been. That's not Linux's fault.
Plus, this whole mess just reinforced my attitude that with Linux everything is possible. Even when something gets borked to the point of not being usable it's not the end of the world.
My new laptop is doing great. My relative, not so much. He never regained consciousness, had another heart attack followed by full cardiac arrest, and died on the 26th. My niece did go--before he died--and I'm really proud of her. She hates flying even more than I do, so that combined with her mixed emotions about her father made her really not want to go. I know this decision will mean a lot to her later in life.
I received my beautiful new System76 Kudu Professional last Tuesday. It came pre-installed with Ubuntu 14.04--which means Unity as its DE. I knew before I ordered it that I would install Kubuntu ASAP because KDE is my preferred DE.
After a few minutes of poking around in Unity I set about installing Kubuntu. I used Synaptic to pick and choose which components I wanted. Not long afterward I was logging in with Kubuntu. Everything was fine.
Next came my normal habit of installing Samba. I stick with Samba because it's a holdover from when my mom's computer was still running windows. All my older computers use Samba, so I just keep slapping it on new computers to make my life simpler.
Once Samba was installed the other computers on my network could see the new computer but couldn't access it, and it wasn't seeing any of the other computers. I didn't feel like troubleshooting so I thought I'd just uninstall everything related to Samba and start over. That turned out to be a very bad decision.
Somewhere along the line something went horribly wrong. Once Synaptic was done uninstalling Samba...well, I had a totally borked system. I could no longer log in with KDE, and using Unity yielded a semi-functioning system. That had no wireless.
I quickly decided not to bother trying to fix it. I thought I'd just download Kubuntu 14.04 [on another computer] and install it--which would give me the chance to partition the drive the way I wanted it. (Its configuration when shipped didn't suit me--everything was on one partition.) No big deal, right? Wrong.
It didn't take long to realize that 14.04 wouldn't fit on a CD. And I didn't have any blank DVDs or USB sticks.
I ended up downloading the alternate version of 12.04, which was the latest version and type that would fit on a CD.
I booted up from the CD and soon had a nice clean installation, with the drive partitioned the way I wanted it. But I still had no wireless. So I got out one of my trusty Ethernet cables and plugged it in.
After a lot of apt-getting I had upgraded to 14.04LTS, on a freshly formatted and partitioned hard drive, and it runs great. Oh, its wireless works, too.
So, you might be wondering to yourself, does this change Moody's feelings about Linux? Nope. Not one iota! And here's why.
For one thing, almost concurrently with the arrival of my new laptop came some devastating family news. My niece called me, almost hysterical, and said her dad had had a stroke followed by a heart attack and was on life support. In Louisiana. He had gone there to take care of his 102-year-old father. After calming her down I spent a long time convincing her that she needed to get on a plane ASAP. She and her dad had been estranged for the last couple of years, and she had a lot of hurt/anger/worry/sadness/mixed emotions going on. Over the next few hours there were many phone calls and e-mails, and to say I was preoccupied is kind of an understatement. I figure that at some point along the way I answered a prompt incorrectly or didn't notice that something was being removed that shouldn't have been. That's not Linux's fault.
Plus, this whole mess just reinforced my attitude that with Linux everything is possible. Even when something gets borked to the point of not being usable it's not the end of the world.
My new laptop is doing great. My relative, not so much. He never regained consciousness, had another heart attack followed by full cardiac arrest, and died on the 26th. My niece did go--before he died--and I'm really proud of her. She hates flying even more than I do, so that combined with her mixed emotions about her father made her really not want to go. I know this decision will mean a lot to her later in life.
Yes, they were all identical. I can do this in my sleep...which is good, what with insomnia and everything. :laugh: Seriously, though, I do it by rote; everything is always the same.
