www.itowler.com - Ian's Home on the web

ubuntu_logo.jpgIt has been a really long time since I have used windows on my main desktop.  Starting in 1998, I was playing around with linux, and from 1999 forward, linux has been the Main / Only OS on my desktop.  So, I have been a long time linux user on my desktop at home.  In the beginning I used Mandrake, and Fedora Core, and they worked fine, but a few years ago, I switched to a new distrobution named Ubuntu..  Well....thats changed, and I can add another distro to the list.  I have had been using Ubuntu Linux for a long time, over 5 years now.  I started using Ubuntu at the first version (4.10, Warty Warthog) and have used them ever since.  The latest release of Ubuntu came out in April, and I upgraded to the new version, and did not like it at all.  With this update / new version, Ubuntu switched from the Gnome to Unity as the desktop, and many people incIuding me, did not like the switch.  I really, really did not like it.  As such, I went looking for something new, and I found Linux Mint (which is not actually new, but it is new to me).

The last two evenings I have been watching Jeopardy in particular to see IBM's new supercomputer dubbed Watson.  The 3 night event pitted 2 of the all time greatest human Jeopardy players against IBM's new supercomputer, Watson.  The 3 night event, that honestly looked kind of like a paid advertising event for IBM, was interesting to watch.  As you might expect Watson beat both human players with ease.  While watching I found it interesting to see which questions Watson answered incorrectly, and which ones he missed altogether.

About 18 months ago I got a great little laptop that has seen pretty heavy use.  Its an Acer Aspire 3680.  The laptop is small, and light, and goes on the road with me all the time.  I take it to genealogy research libraries, SAR meetings, when I travel for work, vacation, etc.  The laptop "roams" the house as well, and can be found in any room depending on the day.  Because the laptop gets lots of action, it was bound for an accident.  Well the first big accident happened and almost sent the laptop to the graveyard (or recycling stack). 

The computer was on the coffee table, with the power cord plugged into, and hanging down.  Someone (not sure who) stepped on the power cord,j erking it down, and breaking the power jack (DC Jack) on the inside of the laptop (see the picture to the left).  The broken power jack caused the laptop to not work.  The laptop is out of warranty, and Acer wanted $3.00 a min to talk to me on the phone.  So I searched the internet and found the service manual and figured out that I needed to replace the DC power board.