3G connection in ubuntu 8.10

I have never seen such a smooth configuration of 3G connection like in my ubuntu 8.10 based Panasonic CF-W7 laptop. After one upgrade weeks ago, ubuntu has notified me every time I log on, that there is a device available for 3G connection.

Few days ago when I got my fixed priced sim card back, I decided to press that 'configure' button. It was simply amazing, dialogs offered me Finland and all operators available. I chose my own (Elisa) and it was done.

Now I have really working 3G connection with "Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1410:2420 Novatel Wireless" modem. Ok, it has never before been difficult to make ppp dialup, but this new approach was really easy :)

I have billions of money and...

Nokia put out ovi service with good amount of hype and I tried to register. But as you can see: 'ovi has a problem'...

It's really strange, resources like Nokia and you cannot still make it work. Shame Nokia.

Focusing feeling

Few days of ubuntu 8.10 has really been pleasure. I just could not remember how nice it is, when your computer starts up fast and when you instruct it to shutdown it just does that. With out extra questions or anything.

After last upgrade HAL has updated with correct vendor id's to recognize my internal 3G modem in this laptop and so on. I really see linux as an potential.

Two days in home

I feels right, totally right. My shift to ubuntu from kubuntu has proven a case. It might be interesting, if I could clearly spot out those things which took me away from kubuntu. I hardly can do it, since it's also state of mind, but following things were really anoying in kubuntu (kde 4.1):

• Stability. Dolphin among other programs kept crashing.
• Visual problems. Firefox and thunderbird suffered from scrollbar bug. Firefox was totally broken to render pages with select buttons and dropdowns. Very strange.
  
• Desktop switching. I got addicted to ubuntu's excellent feature where mouse wheel on desktop switches current desktop. I could not find such a feature in kde?
• Desktop 'glass'. I like my desktop more to be accesable for some icons and temporary data. I did not like kde's current approach where desktop has only widgets.
  
• Mapping shares and accessing those was somehow problematic.

So now with ubuntu and it does not stand in my way.

Laptop to ubuntu

Yes, I did it. Bought couple of spare HD's for laptop, changed kubuntu HD to empty one and installed ubuntu 8.10 on it. In hour I have migrated two of my primary computers to ubuntu 8.10 with out problems.

I have both old HD's in spare, in case I have forgot to backup something I need.

Way to go with Linux, try same with windows and find yourself in registering nightmare :)

1 h and up

I started this morning my fresh install to ubuntu 8.10 and it took about an hour to complete. My strategy for fresh installs are always to replace my HD with new one, leaving old one as a reversing backup. It's easy and cheap way to keep everything in place, in case of forgetting something in old install (who says I've done that..).

Now I have totally nicely working firefox (with KDE it has terrible problems) along everything else in in place, including vmware 2.0 server for development use. And one more thing with gnome is the support for encrypted usb memories, it's much more integrated than in KDE 4.

ubuntu:1 kubuntu:0

After playing around latest kubuntu 8.10, I found it totally difficult to adjust my mental phase into it. Even I've been heavy KDE user in times of 3.x versions, I found now 4.x very problematic. Somehow I could not handle dolphin as my file manager and desktop is not feeling like home any more.

I think that this might relate to the fact how KDE 4.x feels to the user, it feels like complicated to me as it currently is. I tried for month or so to adjust myself into KDE 4.x mode, but it was difficult. I felt my productivity decrease and after that I was forced to get back ubuntu 8.10.

Now my primary desktop has ubuntu 8.10 and in laptop I still have kubuntu 8.10. But it feels so much more better with ubuntu, I think I will switch back to ubuntu also on laptop soon.

Let you know how it gets :)