This is the fine work of Ehud G. over @ http://www.myehud.com

The Problem

The real problem is that Dell ships the laptop with a few choices that I didn’t like.

1. They use the LPIA (Low Power Intel Architecture) version instead of i386. What this means is that about 80% of the software I want doesn’t yet exist in a repository of this architecture. It also means that the repositories are all at Dell instead of all over the world like Ubuntu’s.
2. They install some of the Netbook Remix stuff, which I’m sure is good for new people, but it annoys me that half my screen real-estate is tied up with ginormous icons.
3. Their version of the WiFi driver prevents ssh working (client or server) unless you do the magic incantation (“iwpriv eth1 set_vlanmode 0”)
4. They lock the upper menu bar to the top of the screen.
5. Presumably because of all the customization, they are shipping a six month old version.

The Solution

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