FFotW: Linux on the LRC Checkout Laptop

LRC Checkout Laptop Screen, originally uploaded by languagelab.cofc.

Times are tough, and the Lab's checkout laptop, from circa 2003, just can't functionally run Windows anymore. Windows is just too slow on a machine that old. Most faculty who use the laptop only need PowerPoint or to use the Web - teachable moment: ask me about alternatives to Powerpoint for your presentations.

Back to the topic at hand... Ubuntu to the rescue. The laptop runs fine under lightweight and sensible Linux. Note that we have fudged the OpenOffice shortcuts a bit to make users more comfortable with their Word and Powerpoint files. :)

Neither the new Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) nor recent its predecessors will send the display to a projector, which is pretty much what the machine gets checked out for. So we rolled back to Breezy Badger, which handles external display fine.

We should mention, thanks to user j / f / photos for the great image used for our desktop:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/good-karma/13622 73975/

We're all about the Creative Commons here at the CofC Language Resource Center.