Ubuntu = hawt

Yesterday I decided to get the latest version of Ubuntu (9.0.4) running on my VAIO laptop (dual boot with Vista), expecting a night of wireless driver compiling, searches, and other hack hoops to jump through... Which I was willing to do, because Vista continues to be the bane of my existence. I can't stand it.

But this went smooth as silk. This is the most accessible version of Linux I've seen yet.

You can download it here: http://www.ubuntu.com/

The first thing I loved right off the bat is that it fits on a single CD, still. The download was relatively fast (650+ mg in about an hour), and once I burned the image to CD, I was greeted by a ridiculously easy setup. Now, setup detects that Vista is an available bootable OS, and you can import items from your Vista profile into your Ubuntu profile (Music, Documents, Firefox and IE bookmarks, etc). This was freakin' sweet.

After that install took about 15 minutes, and I was done. Seriously done - I didn't need to install any additional drivers this time, since all my hardware was found (even my 2 card slots are mountable drives). Resolution - perfect. Sound - yep. Connectivity - word to your mother. Even battery management works.

Cannot recommend this enough to folks who are trying to get off of Windows and are afraid of Linux. This is the easiest one to use by a long shot. I'm not getting rid of Vista (its still my bread and butter), but this will be my main OS, along with my Hackint0sh back home.