I am ready. I am ready to switch to Linux.
I have been a Windows user since the release 3.1. I have to say it was cool. Windows operated on my new PC. The PC was equipped with a supersonic Intel 486 50 MHz with co-processor, 14″ monitor, 5.2 and 3.5 floppy drives, a gigantic 540 MB hard drive. I included as an expensive optional a CD drive 2X speed. All this wonderful system for a price that today would be enough to buy a flat in Blackheat.
But it was amazing. First of all graphical interface. My previous `computer` was a Commodore 64 with tapes. I received as present the game Back to the future 2 and it took almost an hour to load the game from the tape. Almost an hour and then it didn’t work: that day I started to hate video games with passion.
Anyway, the step from Commodre 64 to PC was shocking not just for the already mentioned graphical interface but also for the multitasking properties. All the rest it did not matter at the begin.
In fact it wasn’t all good, actually…. After a happy first period of usage, Windows began to get stuck an unfairly number of times and always in the most inconvenient moment, leading the user to scream, swear heavily, smash keyboards on the wall and beating up pets and/or partners.
I think we could formulate Murphy’s Law for Windows, it would be something like: «Windows will always get irreversibly stuck just few seconds before your brain could send the nervous impulse to your forefinger in order to save your 6 hours project, and that of course you are a perfect idiot and never saved».
So we had fatal errors, still screen shots, fatal errors again, memory not enough, command not found, diarrhoea, shivers and temperature. We were all affected until probably Windows Xp, which I regarded as the most stable of all the Windows.
Any alternative? Absolutely. What about a Mac. Mac sounded great back then as well. The only problem it was a bit pricey. Apple’s retailers doesn’t accept cash as form of payment but only human organs. So for the entry level system you just needed to give away one kidney and one cornea. If you did fancy the top system things started to get nasty; so on top of kidney and cornea you had to had your left hand and the promise to give away your body to science once you passed away.
Another options was a system with Unix, but besides hardly having any interesting software for the home user, the minimum requirement to do something with it was a PhD in quantum physics.
Little by little another system was making is appearance. Its name was and still is Linux. Named after its Finnish developer, is a Unix derived system and released with its source available for everyone. This soon attracted a huge community of people who knew a thing or two about coding.
Free source basically means that the source code is available for everyone to be consulted and if able to modify and mostly improve. I would dedicate a big thanks to those people.
I was a bit curious about this new system and I gave it a try. I tried few of the main “distros”, Red Hat, Suse, Knoppix, Connectiva and Mandrake (Mandrake eventually acquire Conectiva in 2005 and the distro became Mandriva). Always had lots of trouble. Not all the hardware was supported, complicated internet settings, laziness to learn, partition almost irremediably messed up, and again swearing and smashing.
But now things are changed. Most all the hardware work, internet is as easy to set as in Windows. Lots of software freely available, avoiding the waste of time in downloading cracking version of major software for Windows. Linux will be in the future.
These diaries are named after the distro that I choose which is not Diaries but Ubuntu. The contents are about what I do with it everyday, so nothing specific is covered. I’ll start from the very begin of the installation of the system to go to everyday tasks and little tutorials.
DISCLAIMER just to sound a bit more serious. If you mess up don’t blame me. If you’re not sure what you are doing: do not do it. If you smash your keyboard I won’t pay for it. If you haven’t planned the possibility of a good Backup you are strongly advised to change your mind. Spliffs are recommended to ease the initials anger and frustration.
