Hardy Heron on Lenovo 3000 g400

Ahhh finally! A laptop issued to me by the LGU of Paniqui, Tarlac.

Ta Da! Its a Lenovo 3000 G400. The specs are on the Lenovo website .

It was bought from Computer Zone in Tarlac City (beside the Tarlac Cathedral). As you already saw the price at the link I gave you... does this mean that a local store would sell it higher?

Surprisingly, it didn't. It was priced almost just the same plus a free webcam and mouse... not to mention the gorgeous bag that goes with it.

It only has MSDOS as its Operating System which is actually a PLUS for me. First, it saved us money from MS licenses and secondly, even if they will give me a laptop with a copy of licensed MS Windows on it, I will still reformat it in favor of Linux.

Installing Ubuntu Linux (Hardy Heron) on it was a breeze. Everything was auto detected, including the wireless card. However, it seems that it won't work at first. Some googling around brought me to a simple how-to by Invaleed .

Luckily for me, the how-to worked seamlessly.

Next step is to install various codecs and plugins essential for daily work and surfing needs. I first edited the /etc/apt/sources.list file to enable all the software repositories on it. It simply involves uncommenting a few lines.

Then I also included the Medibuntu repos with the following commands:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

Then I installed everything I need with this command:

sudo apt-get install build-essential avant-window-navigator linux-header-$(uname -r) ubuntu-restricted-extras audacious vlc k3b wifi-radar grip acidrip aptoncd

After about two hours (internet connection at the office is crappy at the most) everything got installed. I then proceeded to http://gnome-look.org to get some icon sets, gdm themes and wallpapers for some eye candy.

All in all, my laptop now looks like this: Click Here

The dock at the bottom is avant-window-navigator which will only work when compiz is activated. Good thing I have Intel as video so I don't any problem enabling compiz on this laptop.

Almost every key on this laptop works with Ubuntu except for the orange NOVO key. The weight is just right for me although some say it looks kinda bulky. I love the screen and the keyboard layout. My hands just fit in. Suspend and hibernate works without a problem.

I haven't tested the internal modem but no I have no problem with that. Earphones are working, including the integrated mic. Battery applet indicates that the battery would last 2 hours and 55 minutes when fully charged. CPU scaling seems to work out just fine. CPU temperature is from 42 to 57 degrees Celsius.

And oh, when I installed the wireless drivers.... I suddenly noticed that when I started working on it, a scratching sound blurts out.

I desperately tried to trace everything to the point that I wanted to reinstall everything.... only to find out that the sound was caused by my palm movement over the integrated mic on my left. Stupid me! All it takes is for me to mute the mic.

One thing I don't like?! The touchpad. It doesn't feel as responsive as the other touchpads that I have used. Its a good thing that I always have my USB retractable mouse with me.

All in all I am very much impressed with Lenovo 3000 g400 and with Ubuntu Hardy Heron. I love the simple black Lenovo design that looks cool and sturdy which is complemented by the stability and responsiveness of Ubuntu Hardy. If ever I'll have money to buy a laptop of my own, I won't hesitate to buy the same laptop.

Low priced laptop + free open source software = Best Everyday Computing ever!