Goodbye Windows

I've finally decided to give Windows the flick from my system at home. My Windows XP install had decided to do all sorts of crazy stuff, such as not let iTunes save it's library file and to run out of RAM inopportune moments. While a yearly re-install is somewhat expected with Windows, it finally annoyed me enough to make the "big switch".

While I've been using Fedora Core 6 at work for some time now, I decided to try Ubuntu at home. Why? It's reputation as a stable and usable system, with a community that is focused towards everyday use. So far I've managed to get the Nvidia drivers installed, and xorg configured to use my Dell 2007WFP in widescreen; both required manual editing of the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

I also have Amarok set up for playing music now, and I must say I'm VERY impressed. One of my biggest concerns with ditching Windows was the lack of iTunes. So far, Amarok seems like a very suitable replacement. I'm especially impressed with the last.fm integration, as well as the whole "context" menu on the left of screen.

So far...

Pros: * No more pirated software * Hopefully no more periodic reinstalls * Amarok is awesome * Beryl is slick

Cons: * Getting video drivers working STILL requires hacking xorg.conf * Pidgin isn't in the "Add/Remove" software installation menu yet * My other partitions are all NTFS still, so I may have some file permission issues to sort out

To do: * Find out if GnuCash is a suitable replacement for Microsoft Money * Get my iPod synced with Amarok

EDIT 2007/05/29:

Done: * NTFS hasn't been any issue, I have full read-write access after using nfts-3g * Get all my Samba shares set up so I can watch things on XBMC * Find out how to use BitTorrent on Linux! * Worked out the GnuCash can't import Microsoft Money's .mny files, and I should've exported to QIF first. That's not the impression I got from the GnuCash main page...