My Story: Six Months On Pure Linux
Today, Thursday 22nd Feb, 2007 marks six months from the day I formatted my hard drive, and left myself with pure linux. It was a GRUB error that started it all on 22nd Sept, 2006.
Written by Matt Hoy
I had a Windows XP and Ubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06 LTS) dual boot system, pretty simplistic. The majority of my hard drive was given to XP, as I’d only been using Linux for around a month. Anyway, you can read in full what happened here, but basically some simple fiddling around as root left me in a position that, as I know today was very, very easy to fix. But, of course being new to Linux I played around further, destroyed my XP partition and decided to format. Upon cleaning my hard drive, Ubuntu became my Primary Operating System and to this day, I haven’t looked back.
The distribution I’ve been using for the best part of these past six months is Ubuntu, “Linux for human beings”. I started back then with Ubuntu 6.06, Dapper Drake and have since upgraded to 6.10 Edgy Eft. Ubuntu is based on Debian, and is available to use with GNOME (Ubuntu), KDE (Kubuntu) and XfCE (Xubuntu). I use GNOME because I like the minimalism and looks of GNOME, and prefer it’s layout to KDE. Both KDE and XfCE are also available on my system (presented with a menu at log in) but I choose not to use them. I’d recommend Ubuntu to anyone looking to try out Linux. It’s completley free, unlike some other popular distributions, and has a great user base willing to support you, as well as premium support available from professionals if required. To find out more on Ubuntu, head to the Ubuntu page at MBHoy.com, or Ubuntu.com.
I’ve got all my hardware working, printer, webcam, phone, PocketPC, iPod, etc, which is quite an achievement as hardware support is usually the one thing that keeps people from converting completely to Linux. iPod support was easy. I just compiled the latest version of libgpod, and installed amaroK 1.4.5 over that. To get the printer working, I had to swap printers with someone, I’m afraid to say. Lexmark is too stingy to develop Linux drivers for their all-in-one (printer, scanner, fax) range, so I had to swap for a standard Z601, which is printer only. Phone support was probably the easiest and involved syncing via bluetooth, whereas PocketPC is a very hit and miss device that few people have managed to get working, with it being Windows Mobile based. Basically I just tricked sync into thinking my Dell Axim X3 was some form of iPaq, and compiled numerous drivers and pieces of software relevant to that. The result was plugging it in and having one click sync with PocketPC, brilliant.
Some pieces of software I’m liking at the moment are amaroK, Kopete, Firefox, Thunderbird, Vive, gFTP, VMWare, Multisync and many, many more. amaroK is, quite frankly, the best piece of software that has ever graced my screen. It’s worth converting to Linux for amaroK alone, it really is a truly awesome media player, can’t fault it. It also lets me put things on my iPod, so it’s used constantly for playing, purchasing and iPodding my music. Kopete is MSN Messenger for KDE. It has some nice effects and lets me chat to my friends, nice. Firefox and Thunderbird are pure essentials, so much so that they come installed in Ubuntu. Vive has been mentioned before here, it’s the single fastest DVD ripper I’ve ever seen, love it. gFTP lets me put files on the MBHoy.com server, VMWare lets me run other operating systems inside my Ubuntu desktop and Multisync syncs with my PocketPC. Brilliant line up, some worth trying out if you’re a linux user, or looking into if you’re thinking of converting.
In conclusion, I’d say my time with Linux has been both rewarding and exciting. I’ve learned many new skills and become a part of what is easily one of the most friendliest and largest community based projects worldwide. Before converting I had my worries, partly why I kept my XP partition for the first month. Dipping my toe into Linux wasn’t enough, I didn’t have the mind set or the motive to get things working, but once it was my only option and I was forced to make these things work, I realised just how interesting and fun it was not only to research and get these things working myself, but to see the results and share them within a community. Of course, my amazing set up that is dual monitor (17inch monitor on desk, 26inch monitor mounted on wall to the right), 2.1 Creative Labs speaker system, iPod, Bluetooth Phone, PocketPC, Wireless Keyboard/Mouse and so much more wouldn’t all be here today if it wasn’t for the wealth of Linux information and happy, helpful people on the internet, which has helped me so much with my six month journey. (Most of which, I have to say was at Ubuntuforums, a site you simply can’t afford not to visit as a aspiring Ubuntu user, or even a full-time linux genius).
Try it out today, Linux is free and me and thousands of others are here to help you with anything you need. I highly recommend it, my journey so far has been a brilliant one, and I know it’s only just begun.
