sheepeatingtaz

So, I received my work laptop on Friday. It was like a small, defenceless child, seeking my protection. After nearly a full day, it is now (nearly) ready for use. Bearing in mind it came with Windows XP Pro, installed in OEM mode, this meant I had to:

1. Finish installing windows
2. Update Windows
3. Restart Windows
4. Update Windows
5. Restart Windows
6. Update Windows
7. Restart Windows
8. Update Windows
9. Restart Windows (That’s right – 4 times!)
10. Remove all the pre-installed crap (Apart from Diskkeeper Lite, which I shall keep)
11. Install Essential Software (Anti-Virus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Rootkit)
12. Install Necessary Software (Microsoft Office 2003, MySQL, SQLYog, Python, Notepad++, XMLCopyEditor, Filezilla, 7-zip, Cleartype & AltSwitcher XP Powertoys)
13. Update Microsoft Office
14. Install Updates To Microsoft Office Updates
15. Install Hotfixes for Microsoft Office Service Pack 3
16. Install Preferred Software (Firefox, RamDef, Tango Theme Patcher, Clearlooks XP Theme, Pidgin (+ Plugins), Cygwin, Console2, PuTTY, VLC, Launchy, GIMP)
17. Copy Firefox, Pidgin, PuTTY & Console2 Profiles from Main Office machine
18. Setup Fingerprint Scanner
19. Custom Desktop
20. Setup Work & home wireless connections
21. Setup VPN & RDP connections for clients & Office

I’m bound to remember something else as I start to use it regularly, but for now, that is all.

Now I’m faced with a difficult choice. Do I put a Linux distro on in Dual Boot?
Pros:

• IMO, Linux is better than Windows
• I Prefer Using Linux
• I’m more comfortable in Linux
• It’s got a 120GB HD, and not a lot of data to store. I could ‘donate’ 30GB no problems.
• Windows makes me feel dirty

Cons:

• I don’t need it.
• I will probably not use it, as I need to use Windows for work, and it is a work laptop
• My Personal laptop, and all the desktops at home all have Ubuntu on, so they can make me clean again

I did try the gOS live cd, but it absolutely positively would not connect to my wireless network at home, whereas I know Ubuntu does. I also for the life of me couldn’t work out myself how to get a terminal up (within the Window manager, Ctrl-Alt-F1 worked fine). If I did put Linux on, I would probably wait for Hardy, as it is a work machine, so I need the LTS really to cover my own arse.

Opinions, as always, are welcome! I would also like to know if I’ve missed any windows software that others deem worthy of being installed. I would never have found most of the software I use most of the time if it weren’t for the Open Source community suggesting it!