So my wife got a new computer courtesy of Matt, and I took her old one to have my dirty way with it. I've been wanting to try out Linux for a while, so I grabbed a copy of Ubuntu since it's supposed to be so super easy to install. However, the computer is so old that it was sagging running off the Live CD (keep in mind this is a P2 400 Mhz with maybe 128 megs of RAM and a 4X CD-ROM drive). Waiting 15 minutes - literally - for a response to a mouse click just wasn't cutting it.
So I grabbed a copy of Xubuntu and went to install that. It's supposed to run better on older computers. Apparently there are very few display drivers on the Live CD and so I was stuck in 640x400 or something like that. Which would be fine if the installation windows shrunk to conform, but they don't. So most of the controls I need to click on to go through the installation are completely off screen. Additionally, there wasn't a consistent tabbing scheme on one of the screens (the time zone selection one needs you to Ctrl+tab or Alt+tab or something, not tab through).
But I'm finally installing. I'll let you know if I run into any more problems, but I had to bitch about that.
UPDATE: Got it installed no problem, but continued to be plagued by low resolution. Eventually hacked my way into /etc/X11/xorg.conf and had success when I amended my monitor settings to define HorizSync and VertRefresh values (hint: look up your monitor's specs online). I can't find the discussion that tipped me off there, but I bet if you search hard enough you can find it. Read more here.
Now to get my network card working!
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