I have been running Ubuntu 7.10 (Gusty Gibbon) on the server for a while and it runs flawlessly. I really didn’t have high expectations when installing it on the laptop, but I was impressed. Everything, except for adjusting the screen brightness worked out of the box. The screen brightness was just a quick python script install and then that worked too. I decided to make it look and partially function like Mac OS X to a degree and I am very satisfied with the results.

For starters, the visual effects seem to run flawlessly on this machine. Really fast and not using many resources. Good job on the Compiz team in creating an excellent piece of software. I enjoy eye candy, so having my windows fold up into airplanes and fly away when I close them is fun.

Take a look at this screen shot. I used an OSX theme for the windows and top gnome panel and Avant Window Navigator (AWN) to give me the bar at the bottom. AWN gives a lot of nice items to add to the bar. Like a battery meter, a quick button to access the desktop, weather, a built in terminal applet.

One of the big things OS X users love is their stacks. AWN gives you the same options with their applet. I only have one file in that folder, but I think that I will be finding it very useful. Especially when I come up with a way to sync my files between the laptop and my desktop.

I just love Ubuntu. All of the pre-installed software is great and the ability to customize forever is great. I don’t think I will ever be done setting up this laptop the way I want it. There are just too many options. In all reality if I didn’t want to play games on my desktop, I would switch it over to Ubuntu and leave Windows. At least until Windows gives me these kinds of options.