I typed this in Open Office under Ubuntu and it was posted using Firefox under Ubuntu.
I figured I'd give a report on how this experiment is going.
So far I see Ubuntu as merely a novelty as a lot of the programs I need don't work under Ubuntu and replacements are somewhat limited.
Drivers for my Canon MP530 printer aren't available from the manufacturer and what I've found on the internet leaves a little to be desired. The printer driver isn't free and it won't work for the scanner. There is a scanner driver but installing it and the printer driver is a bit over my head at the moment.
I must say though, internet connection seems to be a lot better, as is email connection (I'm using Thunderbird).
I haven't figured out how to get the 'cube' working on the desktop yet, even though I have it checked in the effects options.
I use a Logitech Trackball mouse and needless to say they don't have any Linux drivers so my mouse has limited functionality.
I can get sound but I have to crank up the speakers (master system volume is at 100%) and then I get a lot of hiss and crackle. Need to figure that one out.
I can move some files around between the XP environment and the Ubuntu environment but I'm not sure to what extent this can be done. It works fine with spreadsheets and images though.
System resource usage is a great deal better than in XP. I have 1 GB RAM and in XP I generally have about 700 MB free just sitting there doing nothing. As you can see in this screen-shot Ubuntu uses less (I have to go back to XP to upload the image as I haven't found a decent FTP utility for Ubuntu yet).
![Image](http://hawkdawg.com/forums/posted_images/system.jpg)
Well, that's enough for now. I'll add more as time passes. Maybe this blog will give a bit of aid to someone.