A year of Ubuntu, PT 2.

So Ubuntu was installed, no problem on my crappy $400 Dell. I was connected to the internet and all I had to do to install my printer was select it from the list. I added my extensions and themes for Firefox and I was in the Synaptic package manager having a good time. I had my favorite programs from the other two distros I’ve used, Xandros and Mandriva, and I knew of a few “must haves”. One was K3B, the cd/dvd burner. I love it and won’t use anything else. I tried others, but that is a different post. Another was Frozen Bubble, the most addictive game in the universe for me up until a few weeks ago.

So I wasn’t windows free yet. I am a graphic designer. I need windows still, so this too was a dual boot situation. My better half was and still is very, I am not using linux. So ridding myself of windows wasn’t an option. Anyway, being a noob, I have lost all the contents of our hard drive twice and had to reinstall windows both times. Once was with the removal of Xandros and once was a virus she got on her side through a work email. She didn’t want to learn the ins and outs of Open Office and she thought that her work email wouldn’t work in Firefox on Linux. It works, still she didn’t want to learn a new way (don’t ask what new way) of doing things she needs to do. And as you know this is the biggest gripe among those who want to switch but can’t.

I learned the way of gnome real quick. I set up my desktop and panels, surfed my way thru the forums to learn all I could, what apps are stable, what I could install with synaptic and what if anything would hinder my linux experience. Other than not being able to go any higher than 1024 X 768 on my graphics card was my only setback. I have an Intel integrated graphics card so be it.

Ubuntu offered me the freedom that I was looking for in a desktop environment and in an operating system. I don’t have to search for software any longer to do what I need to do. The open source community has everything I need. When automatix came along, it was great. Now I had even more software to experiment with and utilize if need be. All compiled and ready to go with a click. I have learned how to install almost everything and if I need to compile anything I can. I was also learning the unix terminal, unix commands, and some discovering all the things I would have to pay for with windows, either out of my pocket or with ads. I know there are tons of open source window applications out there, and I do use some of them on a daily basis, but i am talking about ubuntu here.

Out of 365 days of 2006, I have used Ubuntu daily for 98% of my computing needs at home. I do my finances on my ubuntu box, I am working on a website using NVU and screem with GIMP and Inkscape as my graphic backup, with help from a nice little proggy called CSSed. I listen to music through Exhale, but have tried Rhythmbox, Songbird, amarok, XMMS and a few others I can’t remember. I ftp everything from my unix terminal now with lftp. I haven’t had a piece of spyware or malware infect my system. Of course there are no viruses to be found. I use a few KDE based applications like K3B and KTorrent, but Ubuntu and gnome handle them with ease. Any questions I have had I’ve used the ubuntuforums to get my answers. The people on the forums are the nicest folks and really seem to want to help other ubuntu users. I have posted two issues I have had that I couldn’t work out and I got answers quick. The other 2% of my computing needs, graphic design this fall for my better half. I would calculate that I spent a total of 72 hours of time on my windows side in 2006. 24 hours of it was running anti-virus and microsoft updates to keep my better half as safe as I could. Another 24 hours of it playing Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 and WWE Raw, and the rest was graphic design in illustrator and photoshop. I have had 3 total instances of spyware on my windows side. That’s how much I have used it.

On another note, my experience with Ubuntu and learning linux has helped me score a new job in the printing industry. I am still a graphic designer, with a different title, and am using what I have learned in the past year to help with creating, designing and coding of billing statements, invoices and such. I am making $10,000 more a year than this time last year and can work from home if need be. I have set up a running LAMP server for a friend with ubuntu, cleaned up a couple of viral windows boxes with the live cd for other friends.

This is my testimony. I am a Ubuntu fanboy. I am registered linux user #386074. You can find me on ubuntuforums.org as alphaomega.

A year of Ubuntu, PT 1.(the prequel)

This story begins about two years ago when I decided that I was going to become a bit more computer savvy. I read all I could on Slashdot and later digg about linux, the good and bad of it and what it could and couldn’t do. And so I dugg even further and started making my way through all the versions of linux I could try.

Honestly, I was upset with windows, have been for years, but I couldn’t afford a mac, couldn’t afford the software I needed to get what I needed to get done. Yes, I was using Open Office then, yes I was using firefox. In the pre-firefox/firebird days, I broke down and paid for Opera in the beginning. That was until I downloaded an upgrade a month or two after I paid $40 bucks for it and was told that I had to shell out another $40 to get the ads off this one. After that, I have used Firebird/fox since.

Anyway, on with my story. As I said, I was researching all the distributions available, Debian, Slackware, Xandros, Lindows, etc and decided that I would start trying to install. I was a noob then, even with my cheatsheets and HOWTOs, I didn’t know apt-get from ape-shit. I wanted an easily installable, click-click-click-reboot, welcome to linux Mr. Pointman system. Honestly, I tried 14 different distros and they all somehow failed to install properly. I used at least 10 CD-rs and a few DVD’s and about 4 days downloading and burning them all. I tried to install Ubuntu 4.something and it didn’t work. I wasn’t going to pay for Lindows and didn’t want to use anything that resembled it. So after the four days, I had Xandros dual booted with my windows xp. Whoo Hoooo!

Xandros, my first foray into the world of linux. I loved the repository, the program manager. I was trying all these great open source applications. I couldn’t compile anything then. I saw that if I paid them 40 bucks i could get great open source software like amarok amongst the firewall and other stuff. To my regret now, I did. After awhile, I got bored with Xandros. I thought KDE was ugly, and I saw that with some study and effort, I could have compiled amarok myself, my firewall myself and saved 40 bucks for drinking that weekend. 3 months later Xandros and linux were off my computer. I was frustrated, felt cheated and I didn’t have any more time for my linux hobby.

At around this time, my better half and I were dealing with a rough pregnancy, I was working at a sign shop during the day and taking care of her in the evening and the weekends. I was also upset that I paid for something that I could get for free. So as she got better, I had sometime to restart my linux hobby. Again, I researched through the distributions and decided on Mandrake. Again, I got suckered and paid them for their support, “special” apps, etc. I thought I was smart and was paying them monthly. What I didn’t realize is that I was paying them monthly for a year, I couldn’t cancel. I found this out when after I sent my email asking to cancel, the same day i received a response, they snatched their money out of my account. Again, the jokes on me.

So, I took Mandriva/ake off my computer, fixed my boot and again searched for the perfect distro. I read that Ubuntu made some vast improvements over the past year, 2005-2006 and decided to download and burn the cd. It ran off the cd! whoooo freaking hooo. I had this SOB installed in less than an hour.

Resolve

Resolution. This time of year, the few days between Christmas and New Year’s Day, is the time where we all think about resolving to do something that will make our lives better somehow, or the lives of others better somehow.

Evolution. This is what everyone of us needs to think about resolving for ourselves and others. We all need to think about where we have been and where we need to go. The human species can alter it’s own evolution. Technology has made this possible. Our technology has evolved so well in the past few hundred years, that we can already live longer than our ancesters. We are taller than our ancesters on average.

Solution. What can be done? Ask yourself, what can I resolve to do that will help evolution. What can I do to help the world move forward, to help the human species and the planet EVOLVE .

There are so many paths for us to take and so many barriers, dead ends, wrong turns, blockades that will hinder theses paths. It’s time to destroy every one of them even if it costs you your life. For your children, for your grandchildren.

Resolve to evolve in 2007. Take no shit and take no prisoners.

MFP