Argh! I pop the CD in, boot from it and get the Ubuntu start screen. I press Enter for the default install. Some lines breeze by, lots of dots and then the screen clears and I'm left with: "Uncompressing Linux Ok, booting the Kernel" That's where it gets stuck.

Hmm, I wonder if there's something wrong with the CD. (Thought the ISO burner didn't give me any errors.) Does Ubuntu not love my Acer Travelmate 4650?

A quick Googling turns up this link wherein its stated that I should try the "noapic" and "nolapic" options. So, at the prompt on the Ubuntu splash screen, I type "linux noapic nolapic" and, lo and behold, it doesn't get stuck!

Lots of text rolls by and soon the text-based installer starts. Wow, what a flashback. I'm slightly worried that I remember that the blocks used to create the status "window" are ASCII 219. Brings back memories.

After answering a few questions and wiping Windows from my hard drive, I sit back, wait, watch, doze off, wake up, wait, watch as the OS installs. There's nothing quite as exciting as watching an OS install. Finally, it's over. I reboot. It does more configuration... And, without a hitch, I'm dropped into Gnome. I see that there are updates available. I elect to install them all (it's all very friendly/simple). Soon, I've installed 40 megs of updates and I'm surfing the Net in Firefox.

I'm finally in Linux land!

The Ubuntu chronicles, pt.2 article by Aral Balkan, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England License.