Back in London

Well, after a few months back in Singapore, i am once again back in London. Things have been good so far. But had a flu and a pretty bad sore throat when i got here. Anyway, the thing is that i still do not have internet set up at home. In other words, yes, i am at the school Central Library. Its a nice place since it just got a £11 million facelift. More computer were installed too which is good for poor souls like me, at least until i get my own internet set up which should take about another week or two.... talk about efficiency... london sux. One of the few things that i really miss in Singapore.

Anyway, school has just started and things are going fine. Not much lessons has started but the projects are coming in. Which is cool stuff! For this year's Design, Make and Test (DMT) project, my group is trying to get the PULSATOR project. Hoping that the supervisor will favour us and give us the project instead of other groups since it is a hotly contested project. Its basically a project to design, make and test a rig that will convert a steady stream of pressurised air (4 bar) into pulses to simulate the pulsating/bursting exhaust from internal combustion engines. This rig will then be used for testing and improving turbochargers and their technology. If we dun get that project, hopefully we will get the STIRLING project. A project to build a stirling heat engine which will run on solar power, ie heat from the sun. Interesting project too but not as interesting as the pulsator one in my opinion. These DMT projects will run the full course of the year, getting us involved in every aspect of the build. From the design to the supplies to the manufacturing to the implementation of the rigs/devices.

One other project that i will be doing this year is the Literature Review Project. Its just an exercise on scienctific literature reviews and my topic is on "Battery technology for vehicles and electrical networks". Sad to say that this was actually my 3rd choice (the first 2 being wind power and solar power) but in any case, i still like it and its a subject thats close to my heart. I believe that Battery Electric Vehicles are the next step in automotive technology. And the greatest hurdle facing it is battery technology. So yeah... Hope that i can find interesting reports and reviews to back up my research.

Thats about it, the weather is really beautiful today and i am going to play floorball.

Cheers.

In Austria

Back from Austria and going back to Singapore

Well, I am back in London after enjoying 6 days in Austria. I know that i should be posting photos and stuff, but i am feeling lazy, and its not my fault that blogspot.com makes it so difficult to post more than 5 photos. So i will do it next time when i have absolutely nothing better to do.

Anyway, Austria is really nice. And i am not just talking about the architecture and needless to say, the architecture is magnificent, it really throws you back to the time of the great Hapsburg Empire (stay tuned to view the photos). The buildings are very very well maintained too. Additionally, having the Euro 2008 was a plus point, giving us something to do in the evening. I dun mean that Austria is boring, but its europe: There's hardly anything that happens after dinner unless you are planning on clubbing/pubbing/drinking.

I also realised something about my travels this year. Besides the ski trip in France, all the countries i visited speak German (switzerland, austria and germany). It wasn't planned that way since i din know that the Swiss and Austrians predominantly spoke German until a few hours before i got there. And i also made an observation, these countries seem to be doing really well compared to other European cities I've seen; the streets are clean, the public transport system runs like clockwork, and the people are friendly and happy too. It seems that there is a correlation between speaking german and a well run country IMO. Hence, if i ever decide to learn another language, it will be German. However, i doubt that i will ever learn another language. As it is, my English ain't that good, my Chinese is rubbish and if i should pick up another language, i will just murder it. Language is not my thing. i guess i wasn't born to be a translator. Haha... Sorry

Ok, will be back in singapore in 48 hours time roughly. And in about a month, i will be starting my internship at DSTA's air systems unit. I did not get much say as to where i will be going but i will talk/complain about it another time. Cant wait to go back to singapore, and see the spanking new terminal 3 at changi airport! I always like the "I am home feeling" in singapore, leaving the terminal and seeing all the lush green trees lining the ECP expressway and seeing all the high rise buildings. Great stuff. Strangely though, i dont miss singaporean food which may be considered treachery to many singaporeans but in my defence, i was never a foodie anyway. I could have a sandwich for lunch for months on end and not complain. Anyway, i did have sandwich for lunch for the most part of my 9 months in London.

Yup, getting a little loh-soh. Can still go on, but i will stop here and take a shower.

Osterreich

Going to Austria. And Osterreich is Austria in Austrian. If there's such a thing as austrian.
Ok. No. I think its German and it should mean eastern realm or eastern empire given that ost is east and reich is empire in German. I hope i am right, i dun wanna wrong the germans. Its to the east of germany anyway.
Will tell more when i return.

Top Gear - Audi R8

Saw this Audi on the way back from the gym the other day and it was stunning to look at. I ended up starring like an idiot which i found surprising considering that supercars like Porches, Ferraris, Lamborghini and the likes are actually relatively commonplace in London. Whats even more surprising: its an Audi. Ah-peh brand. Guess that image will change now that they have bought over Lamborghini, starting with this R8. Here's a recap on the r8 from the best car show to date.

Anyway, i disagree with Jeremy, i like the LED lights. Sure it is not as bright but its not the main headlamps anyway. But it's what sets this car apart. The slight blueish tint of the LEDs also gave it a futuristic, iRobot-ish feel. Everything else screams supercar.

In any case, i am not promoting it. Why? Simple. If the price tag does not kill you, the huge v8 4.2L engine would kill the planet you are standing on. Its a pity that earth-friendly, fuel-saving cars look like upgraded golf carts and nowhere near the R8. Nevertheless, if you have the cash to splash and you need an avenue to express your manhood, go ahead and buy one*.

*Fuel not included.

And the School Year Ends

It has finally ended today with the final pump testing and my group got second. The worst place to be, really. And the testing was screwed up anyway, all of the results were horrible. Yup, for every single group. Leaving us with the feeling that the motor used in the rig to test the pump was faulty. Whatever the case, it was an anticlimax. The final show down between that top 6 groups was not only lacklustre, the results were so bad, it was embarrassing. Even the design tutors were a little puzzled leaving us students even more so. Anyway, this was just for fun and the actual pump performance testing was actually done about a month ago.

As for the exams, it ended yesterday and i am now slowly but surely starting to pack up, starting with the books. I am not sure if i should throw away my lecture notes. Especially my first year notes. Although i am somewhat certain that i will probably never use them again, on the other hand, its seems like a waste and you never know when you might need them, if ever. Sianz.... I hate shifting place. Oh well, thats life. Decisions, decisions. I will probably throw them away, there always the library and the internet if i need any academic information.

On the side note:
I will be going to Vienna for a while before i head to the hustle and bustle of the tropical city. Taking a break before my summer break. =) Actually its not really a summer break since i have an internship to do. Hope it will be good.

Exams, their impending end and back to Singapore on 14 June!!

Hmm.. Exams come and exams go. And don't we all hate exams. Anyway, i am still having exams now and cant wait for Thursday to come and signal the end of the academic year. 2 more days. So far, the exams have gone alright, hopefully the last two papers will be good too.

More importantly, my flight is fixed and i will touch-down on Singaporean soil on the 14th of June Saturday. I will be flying SIA as usual. Pray that the flight will not be over-crowded. BTW i will not be flying the A380 back but sticking to the good old 747. =) So why not the A380?? Well, the A380 only has one flight schedule and departs Heathrow at 11am daily. Meaning arriving at the airport at 9am and leaving the house at 7am and waking up at 5am plus. Sux!!! So in an act of protest, 747 it is. Such reasoning may seem childish on my part, but there are other reasons as well. I am just too lazy to type it out.

On a side note:
I am bored of the current look of my blog and will want to change it. Just havent thought of a new design yet. Anyway, there wont be anything too flashy. And i will probably go for a darker theme.

2 more papers, Design and Manufacturing Technology followed by Mechatronics. Do pray for me.

cheers,
Ben Goh

Craig Fergusson and the Late Late Show

I like this talk show. Especially the monologue at the start, he is hilarious. And its on every week night. Its an american show but he is scottish, hence the accent.

Hope you like it as much as i do.

Where do you stand?

The exams have started. Started last Monday actually and its been ok. Just that today's maths paper wasn't that good for me. Not that it was difficult. Hmm... just din go as well as the first two papers. Should be all right though. Anyway, the long major papers are over and I am half way to the end of exams. On a more pessimistic note, i am only half way done. =)

Oh, if you all know (and you probably don't), my course requires us to design, make and test a water pump. It would be for a 10m head and 200W brake power application. Well, my group made it to the top 6 (out of 24 groups) and the final test/show-down will be on the friday next week. yay! should be fun and hoping to trash the opposition.

So where do you stand?? Take the test to find out at politicalcompass.org. Anyway, mine is so moderate and unexciting. But i guess it is good to be a moderate. Its interesting to see where you lie in relation to the rest of the world. However, the information about your political orientation really isn't gonna make a big difference in your life. Its just enlightening. I wonder where the PAP lies. I believe they are actually alot more right wing than they would like to admit. About the picture of the political graph/chart/whatever, realised that it kinda looks like a 1980's video game. Haha. Its quite ugly come to think about it.


I am wondering, is it possible for firefox to auto-correct obvious spelling mistakes like what MS word does? I am sick of having to type capital letters at the start of every sentence, as well as for nouns. Call me lazy, but why in the world did we invest computers for? if they are smart enough to spot spelling mistakes, then why stop there? is it that hard? a few simple if-else if statements would do right? i dun know. If this function actually already exist but does not work because i have yet to activate it, please do tell me.

The only reason and explanation for invention, is to feed man's laziness. I am lazy. And therefore i am technologically advanced. Hmm... clearly, with the right attitude, even the most ugly human traits can be good. Hence, the right attitude is a useful/crucial characteristic. And self-deception is the first step to getting there.

Haha. Ignore me. Yup. Especially the last paragraph.

cheers,
Ben.

All Hail the English and European Champions

HAH!!!

To the English and European runners-up: It was so close yet so far (again). And may i emphasise the so far part.

Animusic - 05 - Pipe Dream

Humanities, Internships and the Polls

Hmm... its been a long time since i have written anything on this blog. I dun know why but i just dont seem to want to do so. I really wonder how do people actually dutifully keep up and update their blogs regularly. I guess i am just a science guy; writing just aint my forte. But i do want to improve my language skills. Not to improve my english or to take up another language because english and my grasp of it is good enough (its not great but good enough nevertheless). Anyway, i am not talking about language here, i am talking about making use of it: To be more persuasive in writing and speech.

I just read a book named "Thank You for Arguing" and honestly it was great. It was about the art of rhetoric and its usefulness. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and while people naturally poses the instinct and ability to persuade, some are undoubtedly better than others. And this is a skill that can be honed and learned. And even if you are not a naturally gifted rhetorician/ speaker, it helps to know about it to guard yourself from the persuasive tactics of others. A skill that will prove useful no matter what our jobs may be.

Anyway, before i drag on, i am saying all these simply because i am at a cross road. Ok, let me set the background, next year i will have to take 1 or 2 humanities/business course. And although i have decided on a business course already, i am considering taking another humanities course. Given that i come from a pure science background and that the last and only human sub i took was O lvl Geography, i am not too sure if i should take the risk and give it a whack. This is because i am pretty sure that i will be able to do alot better on a engineering course instead.
Anyway, i have till 6th may to think, so i've got time.

BTW, i just finished my management course exam and well, it went ok. Everything turned out as expected. No hiccups or anything. Still, i have no idea how i did for it. thats another problem with non-science courses, its so bloody subjective. Theres no right or wrong answers, just good or bad ones and honestly, who has the right to determine whats good or bad?? the examiner?? what if he is wrong or mistaken?? if i disagree with the examiner and the grades i get, can i make an appeal?? No. So thats why I am praying that the examiner is in a good mood when he sees my paper. Once again, so subjective!!

Oh, i will be flying back on the 13th june. and yes its a friday. Friday the 13. Perfect! I hope the flight will be slightly under-booked than normal.

Also, i got a reply from DSTA and i will be doing my summer internship from 14july to 12sept. And i will be going to air systems in DSTA. Which isnt too bad, the prob is that i had initially wanted to go to DSO to test the waters and take a look at the culture there but no. Due to a policy change, i will be at air systems dsta. Although the newer policy actually makes more sense and is better, i just feel cheated at the fact that they had initially given me a choice for my internship placement only to take that choice away. Oh well, at least things are changing and moving forward. and its no big deal, i could very well enjoy air systems a lot more than dso. But of course, that i will never know.

Oh yeah, something interesting: do you know that i am actually eligible to vote for the london mayoral elections come May Day? But of course, i wont be taking the time to go to the polls. I have better things to do than deciding the fate of such a great city. Haha. Nah... I honestly dont see myself as having any moral right to vote at all. Although it was nice to feel included by the electorate. In fact, all commonwealth citizen living in london are eligible to vote which is something quite foreign to a Singaporean like myself. Anyway, judging singapore's political landscape, this could well be the only time i will be eligible to vote. Assuming that election walkovers continue to be part of singapore's heritage. And its not as if its gonna make any difference anyway, i will still vote for the PAP until the opposition parties actually start fielding better candidates than the PAP. And that would take a while. Anyway, democracy is overrated. With all the protesting, work strikes, media trash and millions of dollars spent/wasted on election campaigns in self-acclaimed highly-democratic nations, i am starting to see that there is actually very little between democracy and mob rule. Very very little.

Germany and Swiss' land

Going to Germany

See you all. Auf Wiedersehen.

Ah.. My Knee!!

My right knee feels weak and sore. Maybe its a tendon misbehaving or something. Probably got it from playing floorball, the game can get quite intense sometimes (most of the time). Its not too serious and i don't think that there is anything to worry about. It is just weird since i really don't think that i have injured it in anyway. At least its not so bad as to cause me to limp. And even if i do limp, at least i know that i will be strong enough to escape prison. Haha! Prison Break season 4 ... Toilet Break.

As with many TV series, Prison Break 3 ended prematurely due to the writers strike. I am not complaining about season 3 ending though, it was going down hill after season 1 anyway. And yes, i do admit to watching it even though each episode was disappointing.

Anyway, congrats to my brother for doing well for the A-lvl! His really happy about it and he should be. He now has to decide what course to read... which is more life changing than the A lvl results. Pray that God will guide him. I wonder if the fourth singapore university will be up by the time he starts uni. Heard that the uni would be an engineering one with a focus on design. Good stuff, i believe the government is making the right choice there. The design aspect of engineering has definitely come into the spotlight in recent times. Its a good thing that they have picked it up and are going along with it.

The lack of entertainment

Although the writers strike across the Atlantic is over, I am still feeling the pinch of the writers strike. No new episodes of 'House', 'Heroes', 'How i met your mother' etc... how long must i wait??!! Experiencing entertainment meltdown. How can anyone be so irresponsible to decide not to go to work and force your colleagues to do so too! Its horrendous. Don't they know that their strike also affects everyone else on earth? And anyway, i am not just talking about the evil writers guild but also the airport staff, tube staff and every other union that is just too short sighted to be of any good to mankind. As much as i empathise with your so called poor working conditions/pay, can't you do the same for me and everyone else? Going on strike is stupid and an economically unsustainable activity. Its simply shorted sighted, period. First, you disrupt the lives of many others by your childish behaviour, which makes a fool of your employers, reduces your company's productivity and profits, destroys everything you and your traitorous colleagues have been working for and with your company finally going bust, you are out of a job. Well done idiots. One case study would be the british leyland ltd which is now gone. why?? because of hard line trade unions. So use your little brains and learn from their mistake.

Ok, fine, the writers collectively going on holiday probably won't bring down hollywood. But i am still irritated. So excuse my ranting. Just give me my TV programmes back. Lazy asses.

bullbearings.co.uk Part 2

Well, its been three weeks since I started this investment game that i talked about a few blog posts back and nope, i am not yet bankrupt. In fact, I have made £1000. I think its quite good considering that its only been 3 weeks. Extending it to 52 weeks for a year, that would be roughly, £17,000. Just a little short of paying my tuition fees. Haha, money that i could have made had i actually traded in the london stock exchange instead of an on-line simulator game. Anyway, the thousand pounds was made with a starting investment of £100,000 so making 1000 quid ain't a lot. Still, if i actually manage to keep it up; it will yield 17,000 quid for the year which translates to a 17% increment/interest rate. Much better than any bank would offer.

If you think about it, if an economy grows by 5%, then your investment should also yield about 5% interest too. 5% may seem low, but you must remember that economy growth figures usually already have inflation rates factored in. So for example; if the economy grew by about 7% but had an inflation rate of 6.6%. In raw figures, your stock investments will yield about 13.6% increase but only 7% contributes to real growth. Of course, you have to spread out your investments wide enough to reduce your risk. You would definitely be able to get higher returns from equity investment than from fixed deposits or other scheming bank schemes.

Anyway, i dun believe in playing the stock market. Doing so is even more stupid considering the fact that you have to pay commission every time you trade.

Ok, nuff said about money. On to the weather... ... Spring is here!!

Flight Of The Conchords - The Humans Are Dead

School

The second year of university (at least for imperial college) is widely believed to be the toughest year faced by any and all students; where stress levels and drop-out rates are high. But so far, its been quite relaxed. At least when compared to last year (or so i feel). Or maybe, with half a term left to go before the easter break, the terror is yet to come. Let me explain, I now have 4.5 weeks left, and based on my scheduled labs, I will have 5 more lab reports left to do, plus a pump project design/costings report and will probably have to start thinking about the pump project poster. I.e. i will average about 1.5 reports a week??. Haha... looks like things are going to heat up! But so far, life has been good and stress-free. The days are also getting longer and brighter and less gloomy. I can't wait for spring!

About the pump project, well, i am please to say that my group's pump has finished manufacturing!! and with weeks to spare too!! But i can't take any credit for it since the making of the pump was done by two other group members. But still, it feels quite surreal to have designed and made a working water pump as a group. Ok, i am not too sure if it will work since the pump performance testing will be carried out next term, which also means yet another report. There will of course be a trial testing before the actual performance test for us to fix any leaks/problems but i can't remember when it will be. Anyway, this is what engineering is about, creating stuff. And I like it. It makes mech eng so much more fun and relevant.

Crashed a medic lecture, and immediately drowned in a sea of multi-syllable words. With so many medical terms, learning medicine is practically learning a new language, or a few new languages. One of them being latin of course. Haha... i think i will stick to using the greek alphabet and other funny symbols as an engineer. Anyway, the medics really should learn from us engineers by harnessing the power of the computer. Why can't someone do the good work and program a program that inputs symptoms and outputs diseases. I am sure the first one to do it will become filthy rich. Or upload it online as an open-source shareware and render general practitioners around the globe useless. Haha, just joking, i doubt life is that simple anyway. Still, such a program will definitely be a great tool for medicine. Food for thought.

Anyway, i managed to learn a new word"metaplasia" (out of the many) and no, it is not a country. metaplasia is a process where an adult cell experiences an identity crisis and decides to change into another cell type. This occurrence is fairly common and is all well and good, except the fact that it may, but not always, lead to cancerous cell development. Which is bad news. Haha... Just something to enrich your knowledge. Hopefully it will aid in watching the tv series House, which i highly recommend.

Cheers,
Ben

Talking about the weather

Well, i am enjoying the weather nowadays. Its still cold but not that cold, around 5-10 deg C in the day. But its really bright and sunny. Yeah... so you get like nice warm sun rays and cool breeze. Perfect for sitting outside alfresco style. Ok. Happy chinese new year again.

Cheers,
Ben Goh

bullbearings.co.uk

A friend told me about this site that simulates the london stock exchange. Its a fantasy trader site that uses real live LSE stock prices for the game. You are given 100,000 pounds to start with then you can start investing!!... It is of course a game and no money is actually made or lost. The only thing that you earn/lose is pride. A leader board of the top investors are shown, bottom feeders will be deemed too insignificant to display and a waste of server real estate (go cry yourself to sleep).

I am giving it a try. Wonder how it will go... will probably end up bankrupt. haha... good thing its only "monopoly money".

Will give more details soon. Hopefully i get to understand how stuff works around the equity market "the hard way" without its side effects. I believe the SGX will work the same way, hopefully. Thats where i will probably "play the real thing" if i ever do. Anyone out there who is by any chance reading this and itching to invest their 100,000 virtual pounds, go to bullbearings.co.uk. For those who actually have 100,000 quid to spare, please donate to benjamingoh.org.sg. Help me help you make someone happy today!!

I went to watch the musical mama mia on monday and just came back from bristol on a Rolls-Royce tour/trip organised probably by RR and the school. Will go there for a penultimate summer internship maybe? Who knows. Before that was 2 weekends of floorball tournament by imperial sing soc, seeing teams from london sch of econs (LSE) and from as far away as uni of warwick. In the tourny, we topped our group only to lose in the semis. shit! Anyway, thats life.

Oh, and happy CNY to all. Do remember to gain lots of weight and get sick from all that junk food.
To singles: get lots of cash.
To married couples: lose all that cash.
To all the above: Go wild and paint your house red.

back to XP

ok... in a complete reversal of what i said about the greatness and beauty of the linux ubuntu operating system. I hereby anounce that i am now back to using windows XP. I still have a linux partition. But sadly, i hardly go back to using linux nowadays. The reasons are simple:

Firstly, as a mech eng-er, i cannot live without windows. My solidworks CAD program doesnt run on linux or mac or anyother system but windows. Call it market domination or pseudo monopoly. But solidworks seems reluctant to re-progam their CAD to fit linux or mac since a huge majority of their clients run windows. And this is just one program (a major one of me). There are millions of other programs that are like that; programs that are only windows compliant. Thats the sad truth. So i cant live without windows, and i believe i am not the only one. even macs nowadays support a mac / windows dual boot. hmmm... ever wonder why?

Secondly, the freeware OpenOffice sux in the face of Microsoft Office, without a doubt. I tried both and so as to not sound picky, petty or geeky, i shall leave out the details. You just have to take my word for it. Ok, fine, openoffice is really not too bad considering that it is a freeware. Its usable and livable and only slightly inferior. But the truth is that MS is easier to use, has more fonts, templates, powerpoint backgrounds and many more stuff than openoffice. Also, the openoffice powerpoint equivalent seems to be a tat bit too unstable; the slideshow always seem to skip slides and at times end pre-maturely, i guess its a bug. Just imagine if your presentation slides were unreliable and yet, you have to give a major, important, life-dependent presentation... shit!!! But den again i hope openoffice improves. Not that i am a cheapskate and dun wanna spend money to buy MS. But mindef, and more importantly, DSTA is switching to using openoffice instead of MS to save cost. So its not me that is cheapskate. Its the bloody government.

Another reason why i switched, is that for some reason, my azureus and VLC media player failed to work in ubuntu (linux). It was fine before, den one day, they decided to go on strike without prior notice. I have no idea what went wrong, and am too lazy to find out. I could reformat it and bring everything back to normal. But did i mention that i am lazy? so hello windows XP.

It is quite sad, i was really rooting for ubuntu to be my dream OS. but it was not meant to be. The time is not right. I believe things at ubuntu will improve once more people start using it. So i am sad to say that all those eye-popping, mouth-watering, nose-bleeding special effects and eye-candy that the linux operating system offers, is with me no longer. Its back to the good ol' XP for me. call it software domination, power of the masses or the rule of the majority; so long as there are more people using windows than other operating systems, there will always be more and better software and support for windows. So lets just face it, if you cant beat them... join them... *cliche* *i know...* *sianz* well, on the brighter side of things, i realise that windows also do have their own (inferior) eye-candy too. so i got the vista skin, and docking system. still... quite ugly compared to the real vista or mac or my ubuntu setup.

Hey! I have gone Linux!!

Well, happy new year everyone. May 2008 be the best it can be and God bless you all. Anyway, I can't believe school has started already. Miserable. Can students go on strike?? haha. I believe many already do.

Anyway, back to the point, i have switched to linux / ubuntu. Of course i havent thrown away my windows / microsoft stuff. Its on dual boot. so i get the best of both worlds. I will talk more about ubuntu at the end of the post. At the moment, for all window users, look and drool:

I have not one but 4 desktop/workspaces around a 3D cube that i can rotate to change workspace, just click and drag to turn!!! And i have photos displayed on the cube top and bottom

This is my desktop and check out my cool dock at the bottom. No start button or any other panels needed. Not even OS X is this minimalistic (it still needs a top panel)

Some special effects like: my windows wobble when i move them around

Cool effects when i minimise a window to the dock

applications burn up when i exit them!!

Before anything, for those who dun know, let me clarify, ubuntu is a linux distribution. And for further info, please just google "ubuntu".

Ok, so what do i think about linux and ubuntu in particular? Firstly, i think it is fair to say that for someone who likes to customise my things, i love ubuntu. I can practically change the look of it to anything i please. If i want to, i can make it look like OS X or vista. But why would i do that?? From the pics above, this is clearly so much nicer and cooler. In fact, its so customisable, it is safe to say that no two ubuntu are the same. Also, no more viruses or anti-viruses or spyware or updating virus databases or firewalls asking for access decisions. Basically trouble-free worry-free surfing of the net. Plus all the eye candy of the interface and the cool animations, honestly, the screenshots above doesnt do it justice. If you are interested, you can go to youtube and find for ubuntu to see other peoples' video on their ubuntu to get a feel of ubuntu's capability. Linux is also more stable. Oh, did i mention that this is all free too?!

But i do not have all praises for ubuntu. For one, you still need windows to play the latest computer games. And, SolidWorks (my CAD software for my course) only runs on windows and not linux or any other OS. (sometimes we just have to face the reality of windows' market dominance). Also, although it is very customisable, customisation isnt that easy. The learning curve at the start can be quite steep especially if you have been using windows all your life. The good thing is that there are forums with people helping each other with their ubuntu problems, and you will very likely need and use these forums as most/all of the problems you face has been faced (and solved) by many other people before. It also helps that your roommate uses ubuntu too.

With all that said, i think i will be sticking with ubuntu for the most part. A dual boot to windows is still sadly necessary but everything has been working great so far. I am impressed.

Good Night.