I love Linux and my new refurb (read cheap) Dell Inspiron 13. Picked it up for $424. Near equivalent in MacBook specs, but not as elegantly designed as a MacBook.

So far, the only feature I really miss is grabup and the ability to screenshot based on a selection. There are ways to do grabup-like functions in Linux, it just requires a bit more effort. If I can figure out how to make a screenshot based on a selection like Mac OS X does, the script would go something like this:

  1. Initiate selection-based screenshot
  2. Capture screenshot using scrot or something similar
  3. Initiate scp session to server with HTTP server and copy screenshot
  4. Copy link to screenshot to clipboard for spamming friends with your shots

On another note, Ubuntu is rockin’. I recently discovered “Liberation Sans” which is an amazing font. No longer do I loathe fonts in Linux. Along with some compiz action, I really feel like I’m right at home.

Banshee badass. So is conky. Overall, I’m extremely happy with how Linux is working for me. If one day my wonderful Macbook Pro craps out on me, I’ll have a backup machine that will allow me to work without many problems. Since switching to vi (I really think I’ve made the switch seeing as I haven’t opened TextMate in 2 weeks), I will feel right at home when editing code.

It truly is amazing that something free is this amazing. Desktop Linux has a place in my heart now. I wonder how long it will stay, or if I’ll look back on this and wonder why I never just stayed with OS X.