[click for larger pic]

Got myself a new laptop HP Pavillion dv6000 from Al-Ghanim. Some specs:

• Intel Core 2 duo 2.0
• 160 GB HDD
• 2GB RAM
• DVD/CD reader writer
• WiFi/Bluetooth
• 5-in-1 Card reader
• 15.4″ screen with built-in webcam

Priced at KD 359.000 I had a choice between HP and Acer [KD 330.000]. Since I already own an Acer, and I wanted a change, I picked up HP. The specs were similar between the two products.

As usual the Micor$hit Vista Home Premium was pre-installed on the machine. Micro$hit has sort of hardwired their crappy product line to the BIOS of this machine, so everytime you boot up, it shows an option to boot in Vista recovery mode.It doesnt let you install XP. There are workarounds for XP installation but they are way to buggy and complicated for an average user. So much for monopolistic bitch called Micro$hit.

Who cares…anyways..

In went the Kubuntu 7.10 cd and the sweetness of linux just sprayed all over the walls of this baby. I wiped out all partitions on the notebook and within 30 minutes Kubuntu was installed. No errors..no hiccups [touch wood]. Kubuntu 7.10 recognised every component on the notebook, including the webcam, wireless card, bluetooth adapter and the nVidia graphics adapter. It smartly downloaded all the updates…and now the thing rocks!