So, finally I found an almost perfect Linux laptop. I admit I had my doubts initially before buying this machine, but when I finally decided to take the plunge, it turned out to be worth it. A Dell Inspiron 3437. It is almost perfect as it does not feature an Intel WiFi card. The rig comes with an Nvidia GeForce 720m. I would have much rather preferred a 740m, but then in India, this is as close to perfection as it can be.
What the laptops does have is:
- Core i5 4200- U
- 4 GB Ram DDR3 clocked at 1600 Mhz
- and 4-5 hours of battery life.
This is pretty much awesome I think.
Now, Dell has a history of ruining Windows OS with their own bloatware. I thought maybe Linux would escape unscathed. On the contrary it was even worse. They had not only bloated it, but ruined it!
How?
Well, with the proprietary OEM drivers for WiFi. The driver registered with the kernel as a module. So, as soon as I pulled a kernel upgrade, wham! The WiFi stopped working as the previously installed module was not compatible with the current kernel. And, that was the end of the story.
I obviously, had to reformat the whole laptop, but this time to my satisfaction. Moreover, instead of the buggy Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, this time I installed Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander. I can’t ever recall a LTS version I have hated more than 12.04. Everything will break down eventually if you are using 12.04. Stuff works so much more smoothly in 13.10. Moreover, 13.10 contains updated builds of almost every package. If you are not using these, you are literally left out. To say 12.04 wasn’t properly planned or was overly ambitious and presumptuous would be a gross understatement. I almost considered switching from Ubuntu to maybe Linux Mint or Debian-unstable.
Now, that I am using 13.10, I am loving it. As of now, I am running a MySQL server and a self-programmed Web Crawler on my machine since this past week. Needless to say, the machine response is pretty much awesome. The CPU usage is hardly 5 per cent.
I do have a plan to push the CPU usage to 100% by using a brute force decryption tool. But that is a story reserved for some another day.
PS: I still hate Unity, but have learned to admire it for its ability to not break even when hell cometh over. I still wish to try Xfce though, but then, since, I am using my Linux machine as a development platform, my willingness to experiment has diminished in favour of stability. I need my machine to be available. I still have my fun, and a couple of scripts up my sleeve, which I will share soon.
