Oh, and I forgot this one
OK, so it's another ubuntu post. So sue me.
This one actually matters quite a bit, and goes back to the hardware support issue.
See, when I installed XP on my machine, I overwrote the pre-installed OEM version from Lenovo, because I wanted to put in a full retail XP version. You know, an "out of the box" one rather than a specially designed version that Lenovo worked hard to fit to my laptop (a Thinkpad X61s).
So when installing Windows XP from the retail version, it was never surprising to me that I always had to spend a couple of extra hours just getting extra stuff to work - the volume buttons, the little LCD light for the keyboard, special function keys etc.
Well, I hadn't really thought of this until today, but it's actually quite a shocker. You see, ubuntu straight out of the box enabled all these buttons by default. I didn't need to look for or download anything. In fact, the only thing that requires an extra step was enabling the fingerprint reader, and even that was a lot simpler than doing the same in Windows.
I am admittedly a bit curious about this little piece of magic from Canonical. How does ubuntu do it? why can't Windows do it even after all these years? is ubuntu really Linux, that operating system that no user but an uber-geek could learn to use, or is something else going here? I mean, it knew about all my special laptops buttons as part of its plain vanilla out of the box install! one CD, too; the Lenovo installation pack has 6 of them, just to include all the extra drivers and useless software.
Like, wow.
This one actually matters quite a bit, and goes back to the hardware support issue.
See, when I installed XP on my machine, I overwrote the pre-installed OEM version from Lenovo, because I wanted to put in a full retail XP version. You know, an "out of the box" one rather than a specially designed version that Lenovo worked hard to fit to my laptop (a Thinkpad X61s).
So when installing Windows XP from the retail version, it was never surprising to me that I always had to spend a couple of extra hours just getting extra stuff to work - the volume buttons, the little LCD light for the keyboard, special function keys etc.
Well, I hadn't really thought of this until today, but it's actually quite a shocker. You see, ubuntu straight out of the box enabled all these buttons by default. I didn't need to look for or download anything. In fact, the only thing that requires an extra step was enabling the fingerprint reader, and even that was a lot simpler than doing the same in Windows.
I am admittedly a bit curious about this little piece of magic from Canonical. How does ubuntu do it? why can't Windows do it even after all these years? is ubuntu really Linux, that operating system that no user but an uber-geek could learn to use, or is something else going here? I mean, it knew about all my special laptops buttons as part of its plain vanilla out of the box install! one CD, too; the Lenovo installation pack has 6 of them, just to include all the extra drivers and useless software.
Like, wow.
posted by Blinkered at 9:42 PM
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