I don't even know if I should bother with this project. We have a Sony VAIO laptop that dh bought way back (PCG F250 if you need to know). At three years old it zapped out on us, so we put it aside and bought a new desktop (which was a great deal from Dell - still going!)
Having the new computer didn't settle things. We gave it to Brother in Law computer genius to look at. He said it was the motherboard, but wasn't worth replacing. Other websites said SONY had a faulty part that they weren't fessing up to. Of course Sony would take a peek at it for $350, so it wasn't really worth it. Until last year I stumbled upon this page: http://www.physik.uni-freiburg.de/~zwerger/cip/Vaio/indexeng.htm
I have been working on installing a version of Linux (that would be the easy thing first, right?) but there was still some kind of problem that wouldn't let me install the whole OS, and I couldn't get Windows off of it.
Not wanting this thing to beat me, I humbled myself to ask Dad for help. Dad's built computers. His garage is a computer parts scavenger's dream house. He can figure it out. Amazingly he didn't even blink when I told him what I wanted to do. The alternative was to give the computer to my three year old with a screwdriver and say, here, have fun. Which he would have. And he might have even fixed it, in a couple of years, but he's three, you know? Dad said he could replace the capacitors that were faulty for me then I could install Linux and play with it from there.
And sweet day! Dad can replace capacitors on a laptop that comes with dire warnings about opening it up without SONY certification! And it works!
I'm going to prove that I can still handle technology. No, I don't want to learn how to work the DVD player, the 7 year old and 5 year old have already mastered that. I want to get this computer (it is a cute notebook, by the way) on our home wireless network so that I, too, can sit somewhere besides the catch all room that is the office and "surf" at the same time as the kids are watching Veggie Tales.
By the way, the screensavers on LINUX are great - right now they are set on all random and it's one of the highlights of the kids' day to check out what's playing now! We don't get out much.
And since the new capacitors only cost 21.00, it's ok if all the kids can play with it. It's just a fancy Leap Pad to them.
I have this wireless USB thing for it (Netgear MA111) but I have to learn how to "build it into the code", or some of the people at the Linux forum have said they may or may not get this USB adapter to work with the version (and there are many) of the OS that I am using (Fedora Core).
I'm thinking this isn't like programming in basic.
I'll keep things updated. The baby is due any day, so maybe I'll wait a little while longer. If nothing else, the kids can be on that computer while I get my stuff done on the desktop.
About Me
- Sheila
- Christ-follower, Wife, Mommy, Kisser of Owies, Bandaid-Dispenser, Diaper-Changer, Sewer, Internet Junkie. In that order. Except some days I change more diapers than anything else. See my shop: http://babymoon.etsy.com
2 comments:
Sheila, Linux is picky about network stuff. There's so much different stuff out there. The companies that make the network hardware generally only make Windows drivers for it (& maybe Mac), and one has to wait for someone to reverse engineer a Linux driver for it. Often, your best bet is to not use the latest equipment. Something that's been around awhile is more likely to be compatible. My dh is a computer programmer and a Linux geek, and he STILL hasn't settled on just what hardware he wants to go with to set us up with a wireless network, so don't feel bad (he _does_ want the latest and greatest AND he wants it to be compatible with Linux and OpenBSD, which is another Linux-type OS).
But, that said, Linux is lots of fun to run. I've been using it for the last 6 or 7 years, and wouldn't go back to Windows on a bet. Once you get stuff all installed, there're tons of games around, too--all free. Some even educational. When your kids get bored with the screensaver (as if! I'm still not), there's even a Mr. Potato-head program. And there's a game called Frozen Bubble, which is very, very addictive.
My DH gets "Linux Journal", which has all sorts of "latest and greatest" info. We've got a mix of stuff on our network (but most of it is older). Good luck!
-Valency
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