NYLoCo Answer

[Mackenzie Morgan]

I wanted to try something new and can't stand using Macs (I avoid mice and
when I need them, I don't want to move all the way to the top of the
screen).  Knowing Linux's nerdy reputation, I decided I'd try it.  I was
going to get Mandriva because I found a book at Barnes & Noble called "Linux
in Easy Steps" which recommended it (coincidentally I saw a new edition of
it and they now recommend SuSE for beginners).  One friend said it's
ridiculous to get a for-pay Linux distro.  A guy I found at my school
(before I started here though because it was July) through a Facebook open
source group said to avoid Mandriva because of RPM and suggested Ubuntu.  I
pestered him for help quite a lot and got him kind of mad at me about it.
We never did figure out how to sync my Philips GoGear mp3 player with Ubuntu
(I think now that Gnomad would have worked).  It didn't take long to find
ubuntuguide.org and get mp3 support and everything set up (still haven't
used Automatix!).  I had problems trying to set up an Ubuntu/WinXP dual
boot.  I never booted it into Windows, so it wasn't defragmented.  I
installed Ubuntu on the whole thing figuring it would at least straighten
out the partition table to one full partition and let me reinstall Windows,
but by the time I got through that, I didn't feel like messing with it
anymore and left it all-Ubuntu figuring that immersion would let me learn
faster.  It worked.  By the time I got to school I wasn't afraid to compile
(recompiled the kernel to get SMP after like 2 or 3 weeks, but I had a
howto) or use the command line because of how ubuntuguide.org tells you to
install stuff (I never actually used Synaptic in the beginning and now only
use it to get a better interface for apt-cache search sometimes...multiple
tabs on gnome-terminal work just fine though).  It's funny, I was asked
yesterday how long I'd been using Linux and when I said "less than a year"
the person was surprised and said most avoid the terminal until at least a
year after starting, while I was talking about a script I made to modify
Ubuntu headers and compile some modules into the kernel.  It seems like even
though Ubuntu is a "newb distro" we end up losing command-line-fear faster
because of how the forums and things like UbuntuGuide focus on it.

On 5/6/07, private <generic13 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A QUESTION TO EVERYONE:
> We want to hear about your first experiences with Ubuntu. Let us know
> how you discovered it and why decided to use it. How was your first
> experience using Ubuntu?
>
> My first experiences with Ubuntu were frustrating, but that didn't last
> long. It was pretty intuitive even for a novice Linux user. Ubuntu was
> my first Linux experience. I discovered it by reading DIGG and other
> media outlets. I decided to use it because I wanted something new other
> than Microsoft. I was getting tired of exploits and antivirus updates.
> There's always something new with Microsoft. Genuine Advantage crapware
> was the last straw. Other than that, I also wanted to know what everyone
> was so excited about, I wanted to learn something new and extend my
> portfolio. I am a kind of person who likes to jump on new things. Since
> Ubuntu was not known at my work, I figured it would give me an edge. I
> am still a noob even though I've read one Ubuntu book. I've ran it as my
> test machine for almost a year and about two weeks ago I made the
> complete plunge. I try not to use XP at all, unless it is absolutely
> necessary. With 7.04, Canonical have outdone themselves. I felt that
> most frustrations i.e. resolution on my 20inch monitor, have been taken
> care of for me. I am glad to be part of this team and looking forward to
> meeting you all. I've spent some time in the IRC and have talked to some
> of you. I've learned a few things from spending this short time in the
> IRC, I can only imagine what I can learn next.
>
> Thank you.
>
>
> --
> Ubuntu-us-ny mailing list
> Ubuntu-us-ny at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ny
>



-- 
Mackenzie Morgan
Linux User # 432169
http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com <-my blog of Ubuntu stuff
Hey, type this in the terminal!  It's really fun!
apt-get moo
then try
aptitude moo
and
aptitude -v moo
just keep adding v's to that and watch it change
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us-ny/attachments/20070506/2cee9c7a/attachment.htm