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Ubuntu murdered by impatient and distracted user

On my main laptop at home, I have long been running Windows 7 (which it came with), and using a program called wubi to dual boot into Ubuntu 12.04 (which means I had to decide when I turned on the computer whether I wanted to run Windows or Linux, and usually picked Linux). Ubuntu has worked pretty well for me. But I saw that it had come out with another Long Term Release, 14.04. So while I was doing other things, I said, sure, let's upgrade. As is so often the case when things go wrong, it was almost certainly my own fault. I'm not sure that I had a fully updated system before I started. I failed to back up a couple of files. I didn't read screens all the way through. I am, in fact, an idiot. The upgrade went through, but I didn't have menus at the top of the screen. That's a problem that the Internet has located, and several solutions were offered. I tried a couple of them, and it's possible I screwed that up, too, just by being impatient. Bottom line: I t...

The importance of backups

After fiddling around for a bit today with some more virtual machines (Xubuntu and Kubuntu) then booting back to regular Ubuntu, I noticed an error message. I realized that I'd gotten out of the habit of making regular backups. So I fired up Backintime, and ... it failed. Finally, I realized there must have been too much in the home folder (some config files may have tripped it up), so I just set it to copy my Documents and a few things I do want to save (email). Then it worked fine. Remember, boys and girls, better to save before the crash than wish you had afterward. Oh, and Xubuntu and Kubuntu are both very good looking, although KDE just seems to have more overhead than it's worth. Ubuntu with Unity is fine. P.S. Later I booted the Linux Format disk and tried out Lubuntu, based on LXDE. Once again, this particular front end to a Linux distribution is both snappy and soothing. It is both familiar (bottom row with start menu and little panels to show running apps) and mi...

New laptop

A couple of weeks ago, I turned on my System76 Meerkat NetTop (which I'd bought back in December of 2010 for $400) and heard the SNAP of some kind of electrical/power discharge. Dead. Although System76 is a great company, and the hardware seems generally reliable for most people (judging by online reviews), it marked the THIRD problem I'd had with my unit, and this one was out of warranty. Sometimes you get a lemon, no matter who the manufacturer is. So I unplugged and recycled it. The good news: I back up my home computer every week in several places. I didn't really lose anything but a few emails. At about that time, I got an electronic ad from the local Micro Center. So I wandered over, and picked up an Acer Aspire (5733/5733Z/5333 Series) series laptop for $300. Oddly enough, this morning I read an article by a librarian about why this is totally the wrong time to buy a laptop. Maybe ... if you really want the latest and greatest. The truth is, my needs are si...