I'm in a good open-source software place

I ran my first Linux live CD in January 2007. I've been using free, open-source operating systems on my personal machines for much of my work for the past two years, more intensively in the last year.

And right here, right now, with a collection of old and dying hardware, my main laptop being a 2002/03-era Toshiba Satellite 1100-S101, I've moved from OpenBSD 4.4 to Ubuntus 8.04-9.10 and now to Debian Lenny, and things now are going better than I ever thought they would.

For this moment anyway, I have X working great, sound works through my USB Headphone Set sub-$3 module, I have all the multimedia functionality I need through Debian Multimedia, I'm about to update a few key apps, including Firefox/Iceweasel with Backports (see the wiki, too), and I've found more than a few apps that I really like and rely on.

I've grown very accustomed to and reliant on GNOME. I use Gedit, the Epiphany browser when possible (it's quicker than Iceweasel/Firefox), and my "killer app" for Web photo-editing is Gthumb, which is one of the few FOSS apps that preserves and edits the critical IPTC data in JPEGs that all of the photographers I work with (and all the outside suppliers of images I use) use to caption their images.

I have OpenOffice when I need it, which isn't often.

I use Rhythmbox for music, Gpodder for podcasts, Icedove/Thunderbird with Iceowl/Lightning for mail and calendar, gFTP, Pidgin and Audacity. I have Java and Flash. I use LogMeIn to control Windows desktops remotely when needed.

Did I mention that everything (just about) works?

It's a great thing, and the speed I'm getting in Debian makes Windows, if hadn't wiped it from the Toshiba's 20 GB hard drive, something I don't really need.

At this point I'm worried about the future of this 2002/03 laptop, principally its Intel video. Xorg has not been kind to Intel video over these past few years. Thus far I need to use the VESA driver to get Debian Sid (via Sidux) or Ubuntu Lucid to run.

That's acceptable, but I'd still like to get the Intel driver to work. Hell, this is Intel video; you'd think there would be a working Intel driver for it in the Xorg world as implemented in Linux and the BSDs.

But I do have the VESA solution ready, and between Debian Lenny, Squeeze and Ubuntu Lucid, I have a future upgrade path already in place, even as I hold onto Lenny with both hands due to the fact that I've already done all of the setup and tweaking and have everything working as well as ever.

How's your Linux or BSD machine running these days? Let me know either in the comments or via e-mail at steven (dot) rosenberg (at) dailynews (dot) com.