Ubuntu Progress
At last I finally have a dedicated and reliable computer on which to experiment with Ubuntu. My previous desktop computer, using an Athlon XP 1800+ processor, simply couldn’t handle flash videos. Anytime I wanted to view such videos, the browser would shut down. Analysis showed that the strain on the processor was too great. Even playing music proved unreliable. It was all very frustrating but not anymore. I ventured forth to Ratu Plaza yesterday and spied the compact AcerPower 2000 on sale for around Rp2,500,000. It came equipped with a 3.4Ghz, Intel Pentium 4 651 processor, 512Mb of DDR2 RAM, an 80Gb SATA hard drive, a DVD/CD-RW drive, integrated audio and video, and the Linux operating system pre-installed. I decided to upgrade the RAM to 1Gb for an extra Rp230,000 and before I knew it I was the proud owner of a new computer system with a conveniently small footprint.
Linpus Linux 9.3 was the particular variant of Linux OS that was already installed but the technician didn’t know the password to access the system once it had booted. In fact, he knew nothing about Linux and clearly had no interest in finding out anything more about it. On my return home, I decided not to bother with Linpus and instead installed Ubuntu 8.04 with which I was already familiar. I was reasonably confident that all the hardware that came with the computer system would be Ubuntu compatible and this proved to be the case. The installation went smoothly and to my relief all my old difficulties had vanished and I could view YouTube videos and play music.
Of course I had to remember to change the default download site from Indonesia to the main server (somewhere else in the world) because experience had taught me that the former could not be relied upon to supply all the programs and drivers that are available for the Linux community. The attitude in Indonesia amongst computer-literate people is that it’s easier to use pirated versions of Windows XP on personal computers rather than to come to grips with Ubuntu or other Linux variants. Non-technical computer users simply haven’t heard of this alternative OS. I was surprised when I looked at the System Monitor and it showed two processors, just as if I was using a dual core CPU. While the Pentium 4 651 is not dual core, it is a 64 bit processor and I can only surmise that the monitoring system is regarding the CPU as consisting of two virtual 32 bit processors. In any case, the performance seems to be better than what I get on the dual core processor in my laptop, so I’m naturally very pleased.
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