Well, it’s done. After a week of trying this and that, I finally got DSL (DamnSmallLinux) rolling on the Fujitsu B2131 last night.

To remind folks what the challenge was (and is for some of the linux dev teams out their who claim to support older platforms): Install a fully-functioning OS on a laptop machine built in 1999/2000 without a CD drive.

DSL has a great boot floppy image that works with their embedded version of the OS installed on a Flash drive – ok, the flash drive made the challenge less problematic than originally described.

However, I lay the challenge out to all of the Linux distros: Create an across the INTERNET (not that crazy PXE boot stuff) install that can be started with boot floppies.

The B2131 has a large enough hard drive and enough power to run Xubuntu, but installing it easily (i.e. my 10 year-old son could do it) makes modern linux distros completely unreachable for people trying to easily make old machines go.

So, linux geeks, think you can do this?

A co-worker gave me an ancient Fujitsu Lifebook B-2131. I want to turn it into an ultra-portable netbook thingie.

The catch? No cd-rom.

Apparently the world has forgotten the world of the boot floppy and internet installs.

Well, almost everyone.

Turns out that if you have a floppy drive, and 5 spare 1.44MB disks, there is a way to install Ubuntu over the Internet! [SEE HERE]

We ran out of time and floppy disks today, but this looks like a cool father-son project for this week.

Further updates as they are warranted.

For the last week, I have been using Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) on my personal laptop. I can say that the experience has been mostly transparent for me, even with the need for a complete re-build last night after an attempt to install a complex theme replacement.

I can say that it has been transparent because I have been using Linux desktops in one form or another on an intermittent basis since 1999. When business was slow in the Fall and Winter of 2001/2002, I was the Guinea Pig in my organization to see if Linux could be a corporate replacement for Windows for all desktops and laptops.

So, when I say that the process has been transparent, you will have to realize that I have been a technical user of these desktop interfaces for a number of years. But I can say that since my first positive experiences with the Red Hat Fedora and the Ximian Gnome replacement interface, things have come a very long way.

Ubuntu 8.04 is the first real interface that seems to work predictably, efficiently, and effectively with external devices and programs that are business friendly. This is especially the case if most of the tools are Web-based, as Firefox and Opera work seamlessly. OpenOffice 2.4 can open DOCX files, and media players support most of the files I want to watch/listen to.

It prints to the home network printer.

It accesses the home file server.

I can share and synchronize files among my computers using DropBox.

Some caveats to my positive experience.

• I work mainly on the Web
• I do not play games
• I have been using Linux in various forms and editions since 1999.

If you have technically savvy friend, or really want to push and expand your knowledge of computers and highly configurable operating systems, I would definitely suggest giving Ubuntu a try on the extra computer you have lying around. My laptop is at least 3.5 years old, and not anywhere near as fast as my work laptop running XP. However, with Linux, the two are comparable in speed and performance.

Go on. Try it. I know you want to.

Ubuntu, oh how I wish I understood you!

My understanding of why people prefer Windows and OSX is cemented. Evolution keeps crashing, and the wireless card, which worked perfectly at the office, can’t see my WRT54G.

Sorry Linux, until you can make it JUST FREAKING WORK, you are sent back to /dev/null.

I don’t have time to play; I have work to do.

Ok, this is the first post from the new Ubuntu-powered work laptop. I partitioned the drive and installed the OS and the only hiccups have been with Evolution, which I think I have beaten into the ground.

Even the ndiswrapper hack worked perfectly for my wireless card. Nice! This has come a long way since the last time I had an installed linux as my desktop.

I like the Gnome interface (I know that will get me flamed), but it is good to be back on the old standby. I am still in dual-boot land, as there is at least one app that I absolutely cannot use from Linux.

Now, if this wasn’t a work laptop, I would be really happy…but no one has volunteered a GrabPERF development laptop for me to use, so Dell Hell it is.

I will continue to post my experiences as I use this more.