I recently (and belatedly) upgraded my laptop from Ubuntu 6 to Ubuntu 8.

I hadn’t really been very diligent in taking the OS updates as they became available, so I decided the safest way to go about it was to backup all my data and re-format my partitions with a fresh installation.

This all went really smoothly, and I was off and running with Ubuntu 8 within an hour or so.

It really is a great Operating System, and at this stage, can easily rival Windows XP or Vista in terms of ease of use.

I am particularly impressed with the improvements that have been made re. Wireless Networking. With Ubuntu 6, hooking up to the Wireless Network took a little bit more mouse work than I was comfortably with, whereas now the whole thing happens in the background.

My new OS also detected the 3G modem in my mobile phone, and established a working connection for me within 30 seconds. It even knew what Irish mobile network I was connected to.

A big issue with my old OS was that it wasn’t able to detect my battery status other than at boot time. I know know exactly how much power my battery has, and I have other readily accessible tools that allow me to easily reduce battery usage on the fly.

Added to this I have all the latest versions of my favourite apps like OpenOffice, GIMP, Firefox, Thunderbird, Gedit etc and I really am pleased I eventually got around to this.

Ubuntu will be getting a hefty donation from NBF this year.