Ubuntu 6.06 criticisms from a programmer

I have just mounted this on an IBM Thinkpad T30. It is driving me up the wall. Problems:

1. Lack of keyboard alternatives for routine operations. I can't get to the master menus without using the mouse equivalent.

2. Nothing is mounted for program development. No gcc, no make, etc. No diff.

3. While info is mounted, the proper .inf files are not. For example, for dd it simply accesses the obsolete man pages.

4. On a Thinkpad, at least, it is excessively easy to touch the mouse movement area during typing, and this seems to generate either unwanted mouse movements or unwanted clicks. There seems to be no way to reduce the sensitivity. Nothing appeared in the bios configuration area.

5. All sorts of things just don't work without a network connection. When and if I allow such a machine to network, it will be via dial-up.

The Thinkpad is probably going back under the 7 day no questions asked return policy. It came with absolutely no written manual, and no restoration CDs or OS installation CDs. It came with Micky$oft XP, which is now exterminated and which never ran, because it took about two hours to install itself, and then it wanted me to accede to the EULA. No thanks.

There is no doubt that Linux is a superior OS to any version of Windoze. However, it must also be admitted that the GUI interface on Windoze is generally better than the equivalent under Gnome. I can almost always operate Windoze from the keyboard. This does not apply to this version of Ubuntu. I will concede that my versions of Windoze use 4dos as their shell, which is much superior to COMMAND or CMD. My rodents sleep peacefully in a corner 99% of the time.

Both systems are excessively lacking in showing immediate response to user input. After a click, something on the display should always change immediately to show reception.

While there may be suitable answers to my complaints, the 7 day return period will prevent my investigating them.

As a result I am still in the market for a reasonably priced laptop, which MUST include real serial and parallel ports, CD-DVD reader, CD writer, and should include ECC memory capabilty. I also suspect that Ubuntu is not going to be the right distribution for me. I don't want to suffer long downloading sessions tieing up my phone line. All this stuff should be on the CD(s). Maybe it is time to see what cheapbytes has available.

Some time ago I mounted Mandrake 8.0 locally, and it seemed quite satisfactory. The major problem is that dual booting just doesn't cut it. I need a separate machine for the Linux installation.

-- Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) Available for consulting-temporary embedded and systems.