Here We Go Again
June 10th, 2006 | by Todd W |I have this strange relationship with Linux. I’ve taken three cracks at it over the years, trying to transition from Windows into something that is suppose to be better - or at least cooler. Each time, I’ve pulled back when the learning curve just wasn’t worth the hassle. I’m not a PC dummy. I simply haven’t had the time to screw around with sorting out what I want to do.
The last encounter was Fedora. When I spent a long evening trying to get images off of my digital camera, I was done. This was after investing $50 in a brick-thick Wrox tome and wading in. I would have got there, but with two new daughters…forget it.
A couple of weeks ago, my primary desktop beast threw a bad Raptor in my RAID array. My two 250 GB IDEs are fine and that data is secure, but I’m going to have to rebuild the system drive.
So, you can see where this is going, right?
This time, I’m giving the shot to Ubuntu. Why? It is a bit arbitrary. I’m seeing a lot about it online, and it seems to be drawing respect. I’m not into the whole ‘Nelson Mandela’ vibe, since I’m more concerned with system performance than social consequence. The world will save itself, I just want to run my network.
Even as I type this down in the basement-of-solitude, Ubuntu is spinning up on my primary. My secondary desktop is eyeing me warily as I scan through the hard drives to see what use I can put it to. On the shelf, a Frankenstein stack of salvaged parts is nearing assembly into a third PC, for which I have no useful purpose to apply it towards.
The laptop will stay Windows for the time being. It is far too critical to my daily routine to introduce a learning curve. But who knows, maybe in a few weeks I’ll consider the dual boot option.
Or I’ll retreat from Linux for the fourth time…
2 Responses to “Here We Go Again”
By Andy on Jun 13, 2006 | Reply
Hi Todd,
I’ve been using Ubuntu on my laptop and main PC for over a year now. I’ve tried various distros in the past and still occasionally dabble with SUSE but to be honest I’ve had no problems with Ubuntu. I’ve used my camera, scanner, skype and assorted other bits of kit with no or little hassle. The forums also seem quite comprehensive and helpful.
I occasionally hit a rough spot installing and configuring some stuff but nothing I haven’t been able to solve in an evening. I’m just waiting for my course to finish and then I’ll be updating to Dapper (and Compiz and XGL etc.). I’m pretty sure it’ll go fine but you just never know with Linux - which I suppose is part of your point.
Hope it all goes well.
Andy