OpenCamp, Debian, Fedora and OpenSUSE

So, I gave Debian a shot this weekend.  It didn’t go well.  It seems that my Debian installation may have had some problems because from what I understand, I should have gotten Synaptic out of the box.  The biggest problem was no wireless though.  This isn’t exactly Debian’s fault.  It’s Acer’s fault for not using a wireless card with Linux drivers.  In their defence, Linux was not as big in 2004 when this was new (or, at least that’s when the Windows driver is from).  I tried using ndiswrapper, but while it picked up the ssids, it did not pick up an IP address.  These TravelMate machines don’t have a great resolution on Linux, so I just decided to give up.

Now, over on identica, I was discussing some issues I was having with burning an OpenSUSE disk.  I’m going to chalk that up to random, but I’m using the alpha (not sure if it’s updated to beta…I’ve got some updates to do) of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty, so there could be some problems.  Anyway, just to try to get something usable (not having wireless is not an option) I installed Fedora.  However, the DPI on the fonts was all messed up (or, at least that’s what I’m guessing it was), so I scratched that and got out my “real” laptop with Ubuntu so I could get some work done.  In the meantime, the openSUSE disk finished and I started the install.  I didn’t have it plugged in, so it failed on something, but then went on through to check the hardware, such as the video card.  As per usual when I try to triple boot, I screwed it up some how and while GRUB still has an option for Fedora, it won’t actually boot.  My Windows installation (which I only use to make sure issues aren’t Linux issues) survived the install.  I’m disappointed that openSUSE doesn’t have Moonlight installed by default.  I’m not a Moonlight fan, but since CBS/NCAA decided to go with it, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure it out.

So even though I’ve been happier with PCBSD than Fedora or Debian on this particular hardware (Acer TravelMate c310) I have no intensions of moving to BSD.  I had Linux Mint on the Acer before and didn’t like it either, though typically I’m a big fan of Mint.  I have no idea how long it will be before I get a new desktop or laptop, but that will likely have Mint on it.  I don’t like it enough to switch to it while I’m using Ubuntu.

Moving away from operating systems, today was the first OpenCamp meeting.  We did a phone meeting, which was probably better than the IRC chat I had lined up.  We did not pick a time to discuss again, but we should have.  We came up with lots of good ideas, but there’s lots to do.  There were only three of us on the call (me, allgood2 and poseurtech) but we already got confirmation on a blog post from kaitfoley.  I’ve also heard from geekazine and raster about the meeting, but neither was able to attend. I’ve been tasked with cleaning up our section of http://openeverything.wik.is.  If not for getting sidetracked by green computing discussions on identica, UNC making it to the Final Four and packing for my trip to Kentucky this weekend, I’d have done it today.

Another weekend is coming to a close with me tired rather than refreshed.  I am, however, feel a bit better than I was about two hours ago. food, ftw.