Linux

It was a long time since I installed debian on my laptop. Unsupported hardware issues dogged it the last time I tried it on this (which seems years back). But this time, it was really worth giving a shot. I found Debian sleek, more nostalgic than any other present distribution. It is probably the best distribution to work with. But the old kernel that is shipped with etch had some ACPI related issues. And sound wasn't there. I had to download and compile the latest Kernel after which everything is good.

BSNL launched EV-DO card last year here in India. It connects to the Internet providing close to broadband speeds. Their infrastructure has been improving gradually here and the news is that it would support speeds upto 2mbps by the end of this month.

Upgraded Ubuntu on my laptop to the latest - 7.04, Feisty Fawn. The upgrade was smooth and easy. For me, upgrading to a newer version is to just have the latest of applications, especially GNOME and Evolution. Looks like there is a bunch of [:http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/704tour|very nice features] on 7.04. If your Firefox rendering of Indic characters (especially Kannada characters) go bonkers yet again, add your default locale back again on /usr/bin/firefox.

GDM for the rightists? Not quite, but you could find it useful if you, like me, are not-so-orthodox Hindu who prays to [:http://www.hindunet.org/god/Gods/ganesh/|Ganesha] everyday before starting work.

Succumbing to the temptation, I upgraded to [:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EdgyUpgrades|Edgy ] on my laptop. It wasn't all that smooth ride, but was somehting that was to be expected. At first, it was the X not willing to start, and then some more issues. While re-compiling the Kernel for Centrino, I hit upon [:http://www.ubuntu.com/products/GetUbuntu/download#currentrelease|this this issue] like many other there.