Ubuntu

date: sun 1 apr 12
tags: tech

After almost 3 years of using Windows 7 I have now gone back to Ubuntu again. One of my worries about making the switch was if my new wireless keyboard would work OK, so I gave it a whirl using "Wubi" where it lets you install ubuntu from within windows. This is good for "testing the water" as no disk partitioning is required and it will simply use part of the existing windows 7 partition to store its files. I was amazed that the wireless keyboard (Logitch K400r) and its built in touch pad all worked fine, there was nothing to install, no drivers etc - it "just worked". Not just fine but even better as scrolling and pointing with the touchpad seemed better controlled & smoother. Note:  To disable tapping you need to hold down the blue "FN" key and at the same time press the left "mouse" key.   Doing the same again re-enables tapping.  See http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Keyboards-and-Keyboard-Mice/Disable-logitech-K400-mouse-click-tap-to-click/td-p/737830 On of the main things that made me originally ditch Ubuntu was the problems I was having playing video on sites that used adobe flash player. I use BBC iplayer quite a bit and the HD channels seemed very glitchy and jumpy for some reason. I think this problem has now been fixed as I'd imagine it was also annoying other users as well, and BBC iplayer HD now seems to play fine. Luckily the only windows only software I use is intuit quickbooks, and not only do they not have a version for ubuntu, they seem to have stopped support for mac os as well, which seems a bit silly. Perhaps they are hoping that people will use the online version of their product, which has a monthly fee. I think I will try running quickbooks using wine, as it will be handy not having to boot to windows each time I want to use it. Luckily my Epson wireless printer/scanner (Epson Expression Home XP-305) is supported by Epson and they supply the "deb" package for it (epson-inkjet-printer-201201w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb) on the Epson support page. My PC has an AMD processor hence the amd64 in the filename.