weird, huh?

By basd on Sep 23, 2009 | In cloud computing

So far, my new Gateway netbook LT3103u is working great! Well, in ... get this ... Vista. If my Sony had this few problems with Vista, I probably never would have gotten around to converting to Linux.

...

That is not to say that I will now be migrating back to Vista. But here's the thing -- I need the netbook for remote access to my work servers. The LT3103u has an Atheros wireless card that requires the new ath9k drivers. Although Atheros has open-sourced them, they are not implemented until the 2.6.27.31 kernel and OpenSuse 11.1 factory (the most bleeding edge I am willing to go to) is still at 2.6.26.29. ARGHHH!!!

It's possible to recompile the kernel, of course (and I've done that in the past) -- but that is not for me. It makes upgrading excessively time consuming and injects other issues into the equation.

Meanwhile, wireless connects just fine in Vista. I can use the regular vzaccess to Verizon from my tethered blackberry. I've got Firefox and OpenOffice running. The RDC's to my office work just fine.

Also -- at least for these programs I am running -- I don't understand the complaints about computer speed that I have seen in the various reviews. What kind of hardware are other people using as there main computers, anyway? I haven't done any speed tests, but my initial sense (based on limited usage, granted) is that the LT3103u is faster than my 3 year old Sony that has a dual core processor. (LT3103u is a single core 64bit processor).