(Phaysis)

I spent some time Saturday night nerding out by upgrading my laptop’s OS from Ubuntu 9.04 to Debian Testing (Squeeze).

I say “upgrade” because moving to Debian is a major step up from Ubuntu. Canonical, Inc., the company that publishes Ubuntu, essentially takes a snapshot of the entire Debian project and all its software packages and over the span of a few months sorts out which packages are worthy of going into the next Ubuntu release, and which ones are too incomplete to make the cut. Meaning that by the time a Ubuntu version is released, the software within, especially from the active projects, is at least a few months old.

If you’re one of those late adopters, like me, by the time the dust settles after a release and you finally decide to install the new version, you could easily be trying to tolerate software that’s over a year old. And if you’re using one of the LTS (Long Term Support) versions, like I am on my desktop, then you’re looking at 2 years with no functionality improvements; nothing but security updates. That’s unacceptable.

The straw that broke the camel’s back is the crappy bluetooth stack that was packaged with Ubuntu 9.04. They froze the BlueZ package during a time when the project was undergoing a major push in improvement, so the version that got frozen was largely incomplete and had gaping holes in its functionality and stability. Again, this was largely unacceptable, because the best versions were posted, available for installation, right on the project’s website and was available as a package on Debian Testing, but nowhere to be found on Ubuntu.

See, I come from the Windows world, which to me means I can grab any piece of software, no matter how fresh or stale, and install it for use at any time. I’m used to that paradigm. But that kind of capability isn’t part of the Ubuntu/Debian package management ethos, and it sticks in my craw. Case in point, my desktop system is saddled with Firefox version 3.0.16 — the latest is 3.5. All I’ve gotten for the past 2 years is security updates. On any other OS, I could be rocking with the latest version’s bells and whistles. But not Ubuntu. This is weak sauce.

Hopefully sticking with the Testing branch of Debian will help me get the freshest packages; once any project publishes a new version with bugfixes and functionality improvements, Debian picks it up, does some essential testing during the Unstable phase, and then pushes it upstream to Testing. Following this track means taking some measured risk; in trying to keep up with the newest stuff, breaking something fundamental to the system’s function is a possibility (incompatible libraries being the biggest risk). It also means more frequent updates are required to stay current. But, right now, I feel it’s a worthwhile gamble.

Ubuntu’s coup de grâce is that they take the bother of finding the right drivers for most hardware and package them into their distribution media so most computer systems function right out of the box. This is their strength. They also take the hassle of putting together a cohesively-matched set of packages that work well together with hardly any configuration necessary. A beginner can throw Ubuntu on a box and within the evening be doing their thing with almost no effort. That’s commendable. Contrast that with the driver confusion I experienced (video and wireless drivers weren’t loaded so automatically), and you can understand why people who say “Yeah, I need to learn Linux” try Ubuntu first.

But I’ve already taken that class. Now it’s time for my bluetooth mouse and I to graduate.

Wednesday at work, I’m tooling along, running one of the machines. The receptionist yells for my attention, I turn around, and as she presents me with a shipping box, she says, “Is this what you’re looking for?” Shocked that I got the package two days before expected, I hungrily grab for it, clutch it close, and run, apelike, back into my little corner to covet my prize. I got my laptop back.

During lunch, I gave the thing a lookover to see what Dell actually did. They replaced the keyboard and the motherboard, but that’s all they replaced. Bastards. I was kinda pissed. When I noticed the brand new hairline cracks on the top plastic, next to the hinges, I got angry. I remembered that I saw that the service depot had improperly closed the lid before packing and shipment. The latching hook on the left edge of the lid was outside of the body of the case instead if inside the pocket where it belongs, and it was shipped like that air freight. Bad. Bad. Bad. That got me furious.

Stupid outsourced repair shops. Solectron be damned.

So, when I get home, I reinstall the hard drive, battery, and plug it up for a thorough shakeout. Everything boots fine, fine. I go one step beyond, and install the thing on the docking station to see if the NIC issue was actually fixed. Sure enough, it works! Yes! I can dock my laptop into the station and charge it while having network connectivity without screwing around with pulling cables and cards from my laptop bag. I’m happy.

But the non-replacement thing still bugged the shit out of me. So I called Dell again. After about a half-hour on the phone, the tech scheduled an on-site repair to replace the DVD-rom, the LCD panel, and, assuredly, and for the third time since my purchase of the system, a replacement for the damned top plastic. Gah.

The field tech will contact me tomorrow for repairs. Hopefully this time tomorrow night I’ll have a completely whole, functional, and beautiful system again.

Tonight, I spent quite a bit of time at Mojo’s. Got a sizable chunk of coding done while hanging out with my friends. This is good. It’s surprising to me what I can do when I sit at the right table, have two cups of coffee, and get here at an early enough hour to get some time in on the Chrontium project. I’m happy.

And, with that update, I say G’nite.

Things haven’t been peachy as of late. Last weekend’s case of sinusitis and bronchitis put me off my course, and I’ve decided to make some serious healthy-living choices. I’m doing better, but my mood this past week hasn’t been the same. More in a frump, so to speak.

Even though I’m not too happy with my job at times, I’m more serious about it now, more involved in the work there, more with my head in the game. As long as I can run the machines, as long as I can get away to work on my own, I’m happy and more confident. If it’s just me to deal with, then my world is conquered.

My laptop has been at the Dell service depot in Memphis, TN since monday, so as of now I’ve been without it for coming on a full week. I’m not too happy with the pace of service. They are replacing the motherboard in the hopes that it will fix the docking station problem I’ve been having. They’ll also replace the keyboard for the missing spacer key, the dvd-rom drive for the broken faceplate, and potentially the LCD screen for the “hotspot” that’s developing at the bottom, just above the heat-producing, backlight-powering voltage inverter.

The official word from Dell is that it’ll take 3 to 5 business days; my friends who work there told me around 2. Come tomorrow, it’ll officially be 5 days, and if Airborne Express doesn’t show up to my job tomorrow with a package for me, Dell will have hell to pay. I’ve been without my main mode of communication to my friends for a whole week, and it’s seriously bothering me. There was a reason why I asked Dell to pick it up on Monday instead of the Friday before: I didn’t want to endure a weekend without it. Well, that happened anyway. I was complaining about the issue with our secretary at work at close of the day on Friday, and she remarked, while waving hands mockingly, “Oh my, I’ll have to actually talk to people, oh no!” It may be funny to her, but it’s not to me. I do more with that machine than chat and browse. I actually write code and do work.

So, in the absence of my laptop diversion, I’ve been spending more time at home on my desktop computer, trying to write code (and being productive), and when I go out, I’m kind of reconnecting with some of my offline friends and disconnecting with my online friends. It’s disturbing that now that I’m in the “real world” I’m closing down, looking off into the distance, and not really wanting to talk at all. Right now, people can go to hell; my patience is short, and I’m not into bullshit. And, for once, I can find some kind of clarity in that. I’m not trying to “keep up” with people, I’m not trying to get into their lives or have them get into mine, I’m just going along on my own way. I pay them no mind.

And I’m writing a journal entry about it. I’m full of oxymorons.

I did treat myself yesterday, though. I took care of something I’ve been lacking and needing for a while. I made the heady resolution to go to a car audio shop, browse their selection, and I bought a new car tuner/cd player. It’s a 200 watt tuner from Dual. By happenstance, I found a unit that had everything I demanded; it fit my tight specifications: a volume knob instead of volume buttons, external line-in for my laptop or someone’s mp3 player, and adjustable bass and treble. The usability factor is seriously high on my list; I’m not going to buy a unit that required me to take my eyes off of the road when I’m driving 85mph in order to change the station or play with the equalization. So I took my new purchase, some CD’s from the apartment, and my toolbox and went to the parking lot behind my job and did the installation myself. I preferred the relative obscurity and anonymity of doing it there than the “I know where you live and park” danger of installing it in front of my less-than-trusty neighbors in my own parking lot. The install took about two hours, and it sounds great. Went on a long drive last night. I’m happy with it.

So there it is, folks. There’s my snapshot of my current life. But, as always, there’s more under the surface, more that I’m not letting on, but it’s only available for those who scratch.