My Story: Ubuntu - A Very Appropriate Name
I began using Linux about 4 years ago out of necessity rather than interest. There was a program I needed to learn to use (Radiance) which would only work reasonably well on a *nix system, so I fired up Debian and got my first taste of the wonderful world of Linux. I hated it.
Written by David Maino
I had to relearn everything I knew about computing, spend hours editing config files to get my hardware to work properly, and had to learn how to script and use the command line to run this program the way I wanted. The letters “RTFM” quickly burned into my retina as I tried hopelessly to get help from various forums and IRC chat rooms. For 2 1/2 years I barely touched Linux as a result, except when I needed to do a Radiance run.
Then I heard a rumbling on the interwebs. Something was brewing that was part Debian and part sane O/S design. Could it be true? A Linux-based O/S that was beginner friendly, both in function and in community? I burned my first ISO (Hoary Hedgehog), popped it in, installed it and was unimpressed. The same things that didn't work in Debian didn't work in Hoary. I grudgingly set off to the Ubuntu forums, fully expecting to be taunted and made fun of. Then a strange thing happened. My questions were answered, and not just with a simple, unexplained response, but in a courteous and at-length manner that implied that the people helping me were genuinely interested in giving advice so that my system would function properly.
With this newfound resource I began to enjoy the inner workings of my O/S and reveled in the tinkering and adjusting. The realization that this was my computer and I could finally set it up how I wanted it was overwhelming. This wonderful community of people helped me unlock my computer and opened up all the possible things that I could do with it, should I so choose. And choose I did; in no time I was setting up cron jobs, writing scripts to automate tasks, setting up web and file servers, building a personal video recorder and, yes, even running Radiance.
Ubuntu as an O/S is good, but in many ways is no different than many other distributions out there. With a little effort, the things you can do in Ubuntu you can also do with Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, or any other distro. What differentiates it, for me at least, are the people and their willingness to help. I am what I am because of what they helped me become, and because of what they all are.
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