Fscking Microsoft…
My relatively fresh XP install started circling the drain, night before last. (AGAIN!)
The hardware is more than adequate, it was the operating system this time.
It just wasn’t!
Operational, that is…
This time though, your raconteur was ready!
I popped in a DVD containing the Ultimate Edition of Ubuntu Linux, rebooted into it, saved off the critical data and finally said goodbye to the operating system that I’d started with as an official beta tester in late 2000.
Then I fell jumped down the proverbial rabbit hole!
The last day or so has been an educational and even FUN, geek-style blur!
I’ve had a bit of experience with UNIX variants, the first computer I ever bought was an SGI Indy that ran one called Irix back in 1994!
The *nix OS’s were high-end stuff for corporate, scientific and governmental computing uses and a real bitch to use!
I became an enthusiastic Windows guy…
As we all know, it was MUCH easier to use and extremely popular, which put me in a position to make a little bit of money and help a LOT of people with their PC/internet issues over the years!
But I’d been keeping an eye on the Linux crowd for years now.
Ya gotta love the whole Geeks Vs. Goliath premise!
I wished them well, but once upon a time, getting a fresh install of Linux to actually do very much at all was a whole LOT of work that I just wasn’t so willing to screw around with or get better at, because Microsoft products were already meeting my not inconsiderable tech needs.
As the years went by, the quality of the experience I’ve had as a Windows user steadily dwindled away…
By the time of this last XP failure, I’d been looking for a Linux package that I might be able to live with. I burned a couple of different ones and played around with them. (Live CD makes that EASY!) I didn’t do the switch before because I was basically comfortable.
Not happy or terribly satisfied, just barely comfortable...
Then, late on Tuesday night, Windows Explorer (the file manager) went into an infinite start/stop loop that I simply couldn’t fix.
WTF? NOT again?!?
I could sort of use a browser, so I tried to find an effective response for this predicament.
There wasn’t one ANYWHERE!
Or so it seemed then. An answer was going to take time that I didn’t want to take…
I was thinking something like…
What the freaking hell am I gonna do NOW?!?
Can’t really afford to have stupid, time wasting crap like this keep happening goddammit!
etc. etc. etc.
(There was MUCH actual profanity at the time!)
The DVD I’d burned started calling to me, over and over, like Obi-Wan to Luke Skywalker:
Use the Linux disc, Todd…
Trust the penguin, he’ll save your ass!
Like I said, it was LATE! 
Looking over an edge and jumping off is not such an unfamiliar behavior for your raconteur…
Yes, the results have been decidedly mixed, but it was late and I was PISSED OFF!
I decided to take my chances with Linux, and that silly looking flightless sea bird came through for me, BIG TIME!
It looks like EPIC WIN, from here, Campers!
Now, I’m NOT gonna try to tell y’all that the transition from Windows is seamless, but it really wasn’t so bad this far in!
It’s a process, of course.
I’m noticing a few detail items that are gonna take some time to get used to, but they’re seemingly minor so far.
I have all new tools to try out and learn too, but I’ve been looking around and switching those up for a little while now anyway…
The available software packages for photography workflow look fantastic!
I’m ready for the challenge!
The sheer, raging, phenomenal speed of this 64 bit installation would have to be the one thing that I am absolutely the most impressed with!
I knew it was gonna be faster, but OMFG! I just wasn’t prepared… This box is now amazingly speedy!
Firefox runs like a sexy dream now… *sigh*
But the coolest surprise? Almost all of my hardware worked right out of the box!
Network, audio, video card, and even my webcam, are all functioning nominally at this time, and the only thing left is my screen calibrator, which IS basically (and recently) supported! (Ubuntu can even see it, so I should be ok on that too!)
Getting your stuff to work in Linux was always the very worst part of the experience and the main reason why so many folks would download a distro (and LOTS did hoping for liberation from Teh Microsloth) only to find that getting their existing gear back to it’s previous level of function was more than they could accomplish by themselves.
Even if you were lucky enough to have an experienced Linux geek at hand, there would invariably be one or two items of your hardware that nobody had gotten around to re-writing drivers for yet.
It just wasn’t worth it for most people, and a failed episode like that stays in their memories forever…
The battalions of Uber Geeks behind the various distributions of Linux could plainly see that, while many downloaded their code, few ended up actually using it as a total replacement for MS products.
It took awhile, it’s not like we’re talking about BIG businesses with profits involved, these people are volunteers! They have lives and jobs and such too!
But they got the message…
Making Linux truly usable for everybody became their stated goal.
They’ve made a whole LOT of progress!
Will Linux do everything you want, the exact same way you’re used to, today?
No, probably not, but it IS closer than ever and definitely close enough for me to switch over now!
It looks pretty damn cool too…
Affiliated with Canvas!
Just Lock It In & Rip The Knob Off!
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