Shortly after my last post that covered the test of my replacement Kobo Aura ONE e-reader [1], I found myself doing a mental assessment of my existing platforms and systems in light of availability, redundancy and backup.
Having come to use my prior Kobo Aura HD extensively to carry around my reading material wherever I went, the absence of it's impact when it was misplaced and lost was keenly felt. This reality was further driven home when I found myself with the defective Kobo ONE that I wrote about earlier and awaiting its replacement. Although I love holding a physical paper book, I had come to appreciate the convenience of being able to carry around multiple books in a reading-oriented device. These experiences prompted an informal examination of the systems that I had come to rely on for day-to-day productivity and functioning.
One particular fact that sank in during this informal inventory was the realization that much of my capacity for personal work and productivity was reliant on my one and only laptop - the System76 Pangolin Performance that had faithfully kept running the last 6.5 years [2]. If that was gone due to any kind of malfunction or loss, my ability to get work done would grind to a halt. This realization was sobering at the time, since I had been job hunting for the 7 months prior, with only this laptop to make use of for crucial tasks - resume and profile editing, networking, applications, correspondence, learning and much more. This realization prompted me to look at acquiring a reliable backup computer system that would be available should I find myself in that kind of critical situation in future.
As a backup system, it didn't have to be brand new, but it had to be reliable, well-built and within a resonable budget. Additionally, since I exclusively use Linux, it had to be capable of running Linux as the sole operating system without any of the glitches and compatibility issues that I had experienced with my old Lenovo laptop of years past [3].
As it turned out, in a moment of excellent timing, I happened to see an online posting for a System76 Gazelle Pro 6 (gazp6 in System76 parlance) laptop that someone wanted to sell. The owner clearly did not use Linux, as he had installed Windows over the original Ubuntu that it came with, and was using it to watch Netflix on his TV. Given the rarity of finding a System76 machine in general, the condition of this laptop and asking price, this was exactly what I was looking for.
The deal was transacted, and the gazp6 saved from a fate worse than death for a Linux machine - spending life as a Windows laptop
This particular gazp6 had been configured as follows when I bought it:
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| It had been manufactured in 2012, and thus had originally shipped with Ubuntu 11.10 before being wiped and installed with Windows. That was quickly rectified after bringing it home, when it was installed with a fresh copy of Ubuntu. The battery needed replacing, as it seemed to take several hours to accumulate any kind of significant charge, and even then was unable to charge to full capacity. Other than that, it worked very well. | ||||
In the next post, I will talk about some upgrades that were done on the gazp6, as well as some still to come for both my gazp6 and panp8. Until then, here are a couple of additional photos:
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[1] Embedded System Woes: New Kobo Aura One E-Reader with Corrupted Display, OS/Firmware [2] The Super Long-Term, Extended In-Depth Review: System76 Pangolin Performance P8, 5.5+ Years On And Counting! [3] My Aging Workhorse: Lenovo SL400 | ||||
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