My previous problems with Trisquel were unexpectedly resolved when I
accidentally left my laptop on a bus. As it has not turned up, I have
purchased a new one, an ASUS K751 that ran Windows 8 until a few seconds ago
(ThinkPenguin just wasn't in my budget at this time).
Sadly, the problems with it are worse.
Wireless networking does not work at all, and neither do graphics. I'm decent
at a terminal, but after installing xfce over a wired network and running
startx, I got "fatal server error: no screens found".
You know what? That whole zealous phase I went through about freedom is over.
I'm no longer a purist for freedom. I just want software that works.
Freedom is a great thing. But there are two elephants in the room for it:
* Most people don't need those freedoms. Most people don't modify their
software; they run it. Most people cannot program; they just want the
software to do their rapid mathematical calculations and display the
appropriate lights.
* The freedom to modify something is useless if it doesn't do what you want
it to do. If my computer has free software does not do what I want it to do,
then the software on it is restricting me more than it would if it were
proprietary.
This time I really, really can't take this anymore. I'd switch to Debian, but
I'm sure it would have the same problems, so it's Ubuntu for me from now on.
Thanks for the few happy years, guys. Maybe I'll switch back once I can
afford ThinkPenguin.
