Linux Ubuntu: not again!

OK, I must be an idiot for even considering installing the Linux Ubuntu operating system (OS) again after all the trouble I had with it already installed on my first netbook from Dell.

After returning the Dell netbook in January I finally received my free CD with Ubuntu 8.10. I put it aside. A couple of days ago I tried to run Ubuntu on my 3.5 year old 15.4 inch Dell laptop, two gig RAM. It booted from the CD and ran pretty efficiently after loading up. I am running Ubuntu now.

So, I figured it may save that stupid Acer netbook that runs Windows slower each day. However, the Acer has no CD drive. It has an SD slot and USB ports, which could accommodate my SanDisk four gig flash drive. The objective would be to make the flash drive bootable with Ubuntu. Seems simple enough.

Argh! Fear and loathing!

I went to Ubuntu land and found that in six short months the version of Ubuntu had gone from 8.10 to 9.4! What the heck? The version I had seemed ancient. I ordered a new free 9.4 CD, which will take 6-8 weeks, I'm sure to encourage you to pay for something approaching normal delivery time. Could these clowns make it available on a flash drive? Who the heck uses CDs any more?

I downloaded two versions of Ubuntu 9.4:

1. to my Dell
2. to my Acer; this version is optimized for the small screen of netbooks.

On the Dell when I tried to run an .ISO file it fired up Nero (to make it bootable and/or burnable, who remembers?), which stated that my trial period had ended and that I needed to pay $80 to even attempt to enter the vast underworld of creating an Ubuntu boot device.

I hit on the idea of removing Nero from the Dell, figuring that maybe I could start a new trial period. Nero ran a special un-install that took an hour.

Meanwhile I downloaded the netbook version of Ubuntu onto the Acer and encountered an image file that could not be executed.

I'll read through my previous posts and maybe I'll find a clue to making this Ubuntu portable and installable. What a joke. These feel good open system freebies never seem to work. Try some of the open system Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) programs. Good luck getting them to work. There's a reason that proprietary Skype dominates VoIP: it freakin' works!

Google's Chrome OS, announced four days ago, cannot arrive fast enough.

I also stumbled onto a site that provides instructions for running MacOS on x86 PCs.