Last Friday, I downloaded and installed the new Ubuntu 9.10. Alas, the ISO image I had created was a 32-bit variant, and I wanted the 64- -- so, again to the servers for service.

Monday, I found and downloaded the 64-bit version, and I reinstalled it, supplanting the 32- that I had loaded previously. Y'all follerin' this?

I had originally put Ubuntu 8.04 (upped to 8.10) on the system, and the new Linux iterations were replacements to that earlier Hardly Heron.

The problems began when I tried to re-order the boot sequence in Grub. Nothing I did would permit me to displace Linux for Vista no matter what I tried. With Grub2, directly editing the CFG file is frowned upon -- indeed, the Canonical folks label it nothing short of foolhardy.

I am a far-from-geek when it comes to Linux, but I finally solved the issue this morning. Although the new versions (both 32- and 64-bit) now employ the new Grub2 (which is 1.97beta4 in reality on my system), the installer had apparently left the old Grub version in place. IOW, both were resident on the system and apparently the old version was responding to my efforts to change the order while the new bird was out to lunch. Finding and deleting the old Grub finally solved the problem, and I can now trust that Vista will boot should Billy Gates & Cie do their usual Tuesday-night-at-Ohdarkhundred update and reboot sequence whilst I am napping. Frequent event at my advanced age. :shifty

If any of you are having trouble trying to set a different boot order than that which the damned penguin insists upon, it might be a similar issue of some old variant keeping Grub2 from responding to the "update grub" command that is now mandated as the proper way to change the CFG file.

This new Ubuntu is very workable. No hardware issues at all, and the proprietary nVidia video drivers required nothing more than a nod and click from me to install flawlessly. OpenOrifice 3.1 handles just about everything that MS Orifice 2007 can dish out except for fonts, which are a PITA that must be handled tediously. You are safe if all you use is Courier, Times New Roman or Arial, but venturing across the OS Divide with anything more modern can be painful.

It's too bad that Gimp is still so damned weak when compared to PhotoShop.

OK, I hear you snoring...