New guy saying hi, been lucky with easy install

[Taylormade!]

Hi All, first post herer.
I have been using Ubuntu and experimenting with LInux in general for about a year now on and off but still regard myself as a complete and utter amateur. I just like playing around with UNIX in general and I am usually a Mac guy. However, I recently decided that I could justify a cheap new laptop bought just specifically for the sole purpose of being made intoa dedicated Linux box with [b]Ubuntu as my poison of choice. I had researched around a lot on Google and the Laptops for Linux site and finally decided to just make a move and take a chance. Here in Bangkok, Thailand I bought a no name brand (actually it does have a name. SVOA made in China) laptop with slightly better specs than my ten month old Macbook for 550 us dollars. The overall construction is fair enough but it sure ain't exactly 'high end' in feel. Anyway, the cool news is that after initially installing Feisty Fawn, on a CD that I had still got hanging around from last year, the install was really smooth. I was then delighted to find pretty much EVERYTHING worked straight out of the box with minimal tweaking and my biggest fear of no wifi was not even an issue, it picked up the hardware straight away and the speed of connectionn was so good that I upgraded it overnight to Gutsy and then set about installing all of the things I needed and codecs blah blah blah. I have learnt sometimes that you do often get what you pay for in life BUT it is also possible to spend big bucks on higher spec things (not just computers here but cars, other electrical appliances etc) and have nothing but problems. So, this is a deliberate attempt to buy something that is basically ok spec but not too flash and just WORKS on a budget. I am hoping that this cheapo breaks the rules a little and offers me some good service for a long time, you never know eh? It is nice to have something well set up enough to do a good job but cheap enough to be a real throw-a-round workhorse anyway. My only non working harware issues right now are the webcam and I will look into that next week and search for answers.
Thanks for reading

[Jonathan183]

Hi Taylormade - glad everything works. It's easy to get the impression that people have nothing but problems ... because quite a few of the posts are ... I'm having this problem, have you had this, can you give me a few hints how to fix etc.

I have had a good experience with Linux as well - the only time it breaks is when I break it! ... as someone on this forum has as their signature ... I keep fixing Linux until it breaks.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Glad to hear you are having fun with Linux and hope you continue to do so.

[elija]

Welcome to the forums Taylormade!. It's nice to find someone who
has had as smooth a ride on the Linux train as I have.

We seem to be a rare breed.

[Taylormade!]

Yeah, Thanks fr the welcome guys. I suppose it is easy to read only a largely technical support for people that are having problems kind of website and get the wrong end of the stick. That said, I'm certainly glad my intro has been fairly smooth, to be fait though I have another machine (IBM desktop) that has been used as a dedicated music machine that plugs into my stereo and that has been Feisty powered (and now Gutsy) with no problems whatsoeer since last year. I see it as my mission to ty and convert people away from Windows if possible, I don't preach but if they seem annoyed with their Windows experience I am always glad to point them towards either Linux or Mac (hey as long as it's UNIX based right?). I see it almost as a duty of a satisifed LInux user to do so.

[questio verum]

Welcome to LinuxForums!

qv