TwentyBaht

• The "coolstart" website is very good. Would like to thank ManilaLover for authoring and posting this. I am also one who needs to do website work and was following this thread.
  

Would just suggest that you first download and run a few Live cd's to get the feel of the different distributions. Compare the Gnome and KDE desktops, and maybe Xfce. Then, install a few programs and play with the package managers.

Linux is made up of choice. So much so, that there are hundreds of distributions and derivatives. Every user has a different need. But, there is usually a distribution to fit that. Ubuntu has both a Christian Linux and Satanic Linux. Not kidding.

And, even though your recent laptop will run a demanding distribution, you might find that even a minimalist distribution would seek a home on its hard drive.

And, even though I'm a Ubuntu user, that has not always been the case. My user needs change as with everything else.

One other suggestion; Linux will boot from a USB drive. Of course, Windows will not. Simply, you can conveniently do away with any dual boot problems this way.

Good luck.

Mr. chrgrims, I would like to only add that you have been given very excellent advice by the posters in this thread. And, if I may, I would like to second that the best advice is to read, and read, and Google.

As a rudimentary example, I'll offer my own efforts. Satellite illiterate four months ago. Got a DM500S, and a ku-band LNB and dish. Read and read. Experimented with loading images. Settled on the Pli image. Locked onto the ku-band bird. Celebrated. Tried the same with a C-band dish. Failed at the first and second attempt. Didn't celebrate. Learned more about inverted polarity. Then, locked onto the C-band. Celebrated. Next, learned about networking and using the "Zoom" feature with a laptop to tune a dish. Now, have three ku-band and two C-band dishes.

That said, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. So, if I can do it, anybody can.

Good luck.

I'll just add a little bit.

Have locked on 68.5E C-band using a DM500S and the latest PLI image.

I also had a problem at first. But, then went back and manually entered the polarity (inverted) for the Al Jazeera transponder and it immediately locked on. And, was able to get them all after that by manually entering the polarity. Don't really know why the PLI software "inversion switch" didn't work for me.

Oh, and just for information. The "Zoom" feature, if you have a wireless router and a laptop at your dish location, is a super way to tune a dish.

Yes. Very nice!

Looked at the developer webpages. With ppa repository. Impressive.

Using it now.

Thanks for posting this.

At the guesthouse, the multifunction Brother DCP-150C has been humming along for many months now. We just add ink to the ink-tank about every month. Got the machine at "Big C" for 2370Baht. In hindsight, a really good deal. Don't remember the price of the later ink-tank addon. But, wasn't much. And, has been worth it.

Yes, I second. The "Cute PDF Writer" is exactly that. I use it to create pdf documents in order to fax them.

Yes, I've been using Ubuntu 9.10 and like it a lot.

That said, there have been current postings about changes/problems/BIOS read in the new GRUB 2 bootloader. From what I read, I think the GRUB 2 method of hard drive identification may be the reason for some of the postings.

For example, I'll use my own case. Laptop with Vista installed. For safety, to try the new 9.10, I took out the internal Vista drive and used only an external USB drive to install 9.10. The install went perfectly. Then, after a couple of days of trial, I put the internal drive back in. Everything good. Internal Vista drive recognized and usable in Ubuntu. Ran the system for a few days.

Then, thinking about adding another distribution to the external drive, and, to be safe again, I took the internal drive back out. And, booted from the external drive as before.

Ubuntu would not boot.

Did a little reading and saw a few things about the hard drive identification thing.

Put my internal Vista drive back in. And, booted the laptop.

Ubuntu did a file check, and booted right back up and ran as as before.

Took the internal drive back out to test this again. Same result.

Interesting. I think it has to do with installing onto an external drive. It installs originally as sda. When the internal drive is added then it becomes sda. And, the external then becomes sdb. From my experience, it would seem GRUB 2 makes a drive change one time. Or, maybe in only one direction. But, I also notice that in 9.10, GRUB 1.97 is still in alpha.

Maybe, this drive scenario is only with my laptop, though.

I want to compliment Supernova. That is a very elegant partitioning scheme.

Yes, you should be able to find that connector setup at Pantip. Or, get it made there. I'm always surprised at the custom work those shops can do.

But, if not, a suggestion for temporary increase in reception. (There are many examples of this around the internet.)

Just Goggle usb homemade antenna strainer

And, click the first one for the example.

In my travels, I've used a kitchen strainer like this (bought at a local market) with a USB wireless (thumb-type) card to get wireless signal that my onboard laptop card was struggling with. Just use a USB extension cable (one meter) and tape the USB to the handle of the strainer.

Not rocket science really, but a little bit of fun, ....... and it actually works.

Yes, you can get a visa on arrival for Laos that is good for 30 days in Laos. Cost is 1500 baht or 30-35-42 US dollars, depending on passport nationality. (So, you save money by paying in dollars. Two banks along the main street will sell you dollars if you want.)

Obtaining a re-entry permit for getting back into Thailand is no. There has been an immigration office here. (Not the checkpoint at the border - But, a separate building on the main street - Where they did immigration matters, including re-entry permits) But, in September when I went for my usual 90 day TM7 notification, they politely informed me that the office would be closing as of the first of October. (And, I would have to do my TM7 at Mae Sai next time.)

I gather Mae Sai is the immigration center for the area now.

I live in Chiang Khong. If I find out anything different about this, I will post.

Yes,

I've used Clonezilla, also. It's Linux based and works well as a live cd. The GUI is easy to use after a few minutes looking at the manual. (Recently, cloned my Vista 80Gig drive to a larger 250 Gig drive.)

Just for info, PartedMagic 4.3 (a Linux-based live cd) has Clonezilla and GParted (partition tool) on it. As well as network tools (Firefox is on the cd and I sometimes use wireless to search the web for help info when cloning and partitioning). And a bonus, TrueCrypt is also included.

Pretty much an all-in-one live cd. And, you can safely run it and look at it. It won't make any changes to your Windows installation until you tell it to. There are "sanity" checks before you completely "apply" anything.

(Oh, just in case you do a Vista clone, there is a final step to boot the clone. You will need your Windows cd. Vista is particular about MBR. But, the last step is easy to do.)

Best wishes.

Yes, Orn's Book Shop is very good. I go there often. Ask Peter for a copy of his hand-drawn map of Chiang Rai. He updates it often with the latest info. And, he stocks travel books and has books in several languages.