[Previous entry: "More Pictures of Max"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Good news! The Return of Opus."]

/0809/2003 Archived Entry: "Lost Weekend"

I've had a really crappy weekend.

I got a copy of SuSE Linux last week and was really looking forward to the weekend when I could install it.

However.

It installed very nicely and smoothly, with no problems. Until I tried to configure the printer and the modem. And it wouldn't recognise either of them. Or rather, it saw both of them and said they were there and they were what they were. But, it didn't have any drivers for the printer (an Lexmark X73 - it is apparently designed solely for Windows use and it has an OS which won't work with anything else) and recognised the modem as being dial-up and I couldn't persuade it that it was actually a cable modem, so it wouldn't connect to the net.

And it had deleted Windows. I think this is because of the partitioning of the hard drive, so it's really HP's fault rather than Linux's, but it didn't tell me (or at least, it did tell me but not in anyway I recognised the first time.)

So, I reinstalled Windows (deleting Linux) and fiddled, getting IP addresses and such like and then reinstalled Linux (which is when I worked out what had happened with Windows the first time) and still couldn't get the printer or the modem to work. So, I reinstalled Windows again and spent a long time yesterday re-installing all the software. I did an overnight run to download all the Windows Updates and woke up this morning to discover that I'd caught a virus as well.

So, I'm frustrated, annoyed and tired. However, what little I sued of Linux made it seem like a very nice system. So I am still determined to get it installed somehow. Somewhere. This may involve scavenging the hard drive from my old PC and installing it in the new one. We shall see.

But, on the plus side, I've just booked tickets to go and see The Wonder Stuff with my friend, Neil. Which will be very good indeed. I missed them the last time they played (although I now have the album - Cursed With Insincerity - and the DVD - Construction For The Modern Vidiot - . Both of which are exceptionally groovy and make me want to go to the gig even more. And I am. So that's ok.