[Discuss] My first laptop...bummer

[Michael]

On Mon, 2008-01-07 at 20:54 -0800, David Lee wrote:

> Hi John
> 
> I've tried NM and I found the windows .inf files online. Ubuntu recognizes 
> it, lspci finds it, but iwconfig says no wireless.
> The annoying part of all this, is the fact that wherever I go, Ubuntu forums 
> or wherever, everybody seems to have problems. Some of these people look 
> like pretty bright people, so what chance do regular new users have? Are 
> there any that work with no problems? Is it because laptops change that fast 
> that hardware can't keep up?
> I tried looking at cards, but then I find most new laptops use ExpressCards 
> (not CardBus). They're not cheap (appx 100.00)
> If anyone knows of any cheaper ExpressCards to work with Ubuntu and a D-Link 
> wireless router, please let me know :)
> Other than that, Ubuntu picked everything else up, so I'm happy with that.
> 
> David


Just my 2 cents.

    I have been trying for as long as Ubuntu has been around to get it
onto a system and working. I am no Linux guru, far from it, but I can
read and I can Google. To date I have not succeeded in getting a system
up and running, at least not a stable system, and because of those
negative experiences I no longer plan on trying to do so in the future.
I started my Linux Journey using Mandrake ... now Mandriva ... and in
spite of a few rocky roads I am happy with it.

    I know this whole post is somewhat off topic, but like yourself I
saw Ubuntu forums full of people unable to do almost everything
imagineable, and while at the time I thought perhaps it was a sign of a
healthy community, more and more I am seeing it as a minor version of
the Apple effect.

    Good luck with the system, sorry to sound so negative.

    Michael.