Almost 4 years ago, I started playing with Linux. I started with Red Hat but it wasn’t long before I switched to Ubuntu. It was the summer of 2009. A good one. I still have fond memories of that time.
I have for the most part self-taught myself Linux. I however am still not an advanced user, as I still haven’t custom compiled a kernel for my machine, nor can I fix problems on my fingertips. I however can google a lot and read through forums and fix a problem for you should one arise. I have also over the years learned to recognize when the given solution in a forum is crap and when it will work.
The purpose for me writing this post. When I started playing with linux, it often led to system downtime. My father, with whom I used to share my home desktop system with instead offered to buy me a laptop- Dell Studio 15. A machine which I later realised had more design faults than pros.
Moreover, my choice of configuration especially and specifically the processor has wreaked havoc- Intel Core i3 clocked at 2.4 Ghz. I had selected this processor due to its 32 nm MOSFET, believing that it would produce less heat and will optimise my battery life. However, my personal practical observations with comparison to Core i5 have proven otherwise.
I am sad and not for the lack of trying. I have tried everything, well mostly. Like I mentioned, I still haven’t tried installing/using a custom compiled kernel. It may help, it may not. I am not sure. To be honest, I feel lazy after 4 years to try this. Maybe, it will be my swan song. Maybe not. It will be a crazy one night stand. Let that night come. That is another matter.
I have installed linux, repeatedly. I loved Ubuntu 9.04. Those were the days when they used to ship original installation media all over the world. I still have mine, with the original packing. The second version that I fell in love with was 10.04. It was a very stable version and I admit a very robust one as well.
My love for Ubuntu took a beating when they unified and the default version started bundling Unity interface. It took another downfall, when I got over my fascination of GNOME 3. It simply isn’t worth it. If any package breaks (read: any fun with the graphics driver) it falls back to GNOME 2. I mean, I liked GNOME 2, but I will use it on my own free will, not when I intend using GNOME 3. If you think I am confused, I am not. I am just a difficult person.
Every time, I have installed Linux I spent the next week customising the look and feel of the core operating system. The menus, the desktop gadgets. Everything. It’s hell of job, because not everything works. But then I like my eye-candies. Some things work which work easily in Unity don’t work at all in GNOME 3, or some other environment. Why? You may ask. And I have no answer. The linux community is heavily biased, they feel that people will install some of these gadgets in some particular desktop environment only. These people will never bother testing them on XFCE, LDE, or Cinnamon.
Why? Because fuck you. That’s why.
You must suffer.
And so I did. After one painful week, I would be done customising, looking over all the problems, installing different stuff. And then, something as simple as a kernel update means that some of these settings are not compatible anymore. I have to do it all over again.
Or, that my system is behaving like a heater, that I don’t need heating in my room anymore. I have to turn it off. Worst still, I have to reboot and load up Windows. I love Windows. It’s the greatest and the most robust operating system I have used till date. I mean to say I haven’t used Mac, yet.
So, overheating issues coupled up with persistent issues, meant I never installed Linux for more than 3 months at a stretch on my laptop.
However, in an interesting turn of events, I thought of buying a new laptop. This time with a more carefully selected specifications.
- 14 inch screen- to make it portable
- Intel Core i5 4200U- well it wasn’t going to be Core i3 obviously and so an undervolted Core i5 to boost battery life.
- 4 GB Ram
- At least 1 GB Discrete NVIDIA graphics card preferably 740M but even 720 or 730 would do.
- Intel Wireless Adapter
- Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
I don’t care for hard drive space or RAM as they can be upgraded by loosening a couple of screws. No big deal.
The specs that I have put together, I expected to pull it in at around 45k INR. 50k being the upper limit. I expected there to be at least 4 models at this spec sheet from different manufacturers. What I have wound up with was Windows 8 laptops which would each offer me a Windows experience and that too only with some partial set of these specifications.
I don’t expect manufacturers to spring up with my custom spec sheet. But this is something decent, and not exactly out of the blue or weird or unheard off. This in my honest opinion is a decent rig and anybody would be happy to have it.
What irritates me the most is not even the unavailability of a laptop with these specs, but the tendency of OEM units to bundle these machines with Windows. Not that I hate Windows or anything, but shouldn’t it be my choice whether I need an Operating System or not. And to top it all, they then gloat over this supposedly genius idea of forcing people to pay for software that they are never going to use. I mean what is with the bundling, especially in Indian sub-context. Not everyone pirates Windows. And, even if I admit that I have in the past, and intend to do it again in future. Then,
So fucking WHAT? What are you going to do about it? I would like to see you try.
Microsoft makes money not through personal home users, but by corporate sales and support, and even though a significant chunk of their revenues is down the drain due to piracy, but then Microsoft knows exactly when each copy of Windows is pirated and they take pride that they have invaded our homes and offices and eventually our personal lives through their sometimes substandard piece of software which absolutely refuses to perform what it promised.
You might talk about buying a cheap linux laptop, but I don’t like the cheap stuff, and for obvious reason if you still haven’t understood why, then I suggest you to stop reading further.
This is my cue to end, because I see people in black uniforms and helicopters hovering outside my Windows. Seems like Microsoft got wind of my little piracy admittance.
Disclaimer: The writer proclaims that this article is a work of fiction, and any fact or declaration can not to be held against him for it may not be true. If proven otherwise, it’s one of those funny little comedy of errors called as “the coincident” which means the Universe is trying to screw him. Please Universe, that is quite enough. Thank You.
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