My introduction to Linux
From years ago I’ve heard of the advantages of using the Linux operating system and so I determined to make an all out effort to learn it. In 2003 I downloaded and experimented with several Linux distributions. All my previous attempts ended in discouragement. The Linux distributions I tried to install did not find all the devices on my machine, and I didn’t know how to install the needed device drivers even if I had them available. I realized that if I, a person considered to be a power user in Windows and MS-DOS couldn’t figure out how to install and use a Linux system, the common user who still has troubles with Windows certainly wouldn’t be able to learn it either. So I determined to find a Linux distribution that I considered simple enough for the average person to install.
Finally in February 2005 I found the distribution that I like best and works for me — Fedora! If you are going to download it rather than order installation CDs or DVDs, you definitely need a broadband connection. Fedora 8 installation files add up to approximately 3.3 gigabytes in either a DVD ISO file or 5 CD ISO files. (However later I learned that it’s possible to get by with only downloading the first two CD ISO files and choose the default minimum installation so that you can download later within Fedora what you need later.) Downloading with Bittorrent is also preferable to a direct FTP connection because Bittorrent has resume capabilities in case the connection breaks.
If you can install Windows on your own, you can install Fedora Linux. In fact, I would say Fedora is even easier to install than Windows XP. One reason is that Linux will give you your choice of a default language to use. That means if you are not a native English speaker and you would prefer to use the language of your mother tongue, that language is available in Fedora to use. Not so with Windows. You would have to buy that particular language version of Windows if you want to use that language for your interface.
Fedora will also give you your choice of a keyboard layout. It was no problem for me to install an English setup using a Japanese keyboard layout. Not so with Windows. Windows will balk at you if you try to change to a Japanese keyboard using an English version of Windows and tell you that you are making a mistake, ha! I counted 26 steps to change the keyboard layout in Windows from English to Japanese! This is because the keyboard driver needs to be changed. In the Gnome Desktop in Linux, there are only 3 steps.
I am very pleased with Fedora Linux! In spite of some things I don’t understand yet, and possible bugs in some applications, I really believe my production level has increased. I can do things more efficiently than I could in Windows, and in less time. This web page was created in Fedora Linux using Bluefish, a HTML editor.
Once when I got a new cell phone, it took me a while to figure out how to use certain functions, like composing email for example. At first I was tempted to think that I made a mistake in changing phones because the older one seemed easier to use, but then as I learned more and more about the new phone, I saw new features that the older one lacked and also noticed various improvements. I realized then that changing cell phones is like moving to a different operating system! In the beginning there are learning pains but the efforts are well worth it.
Six months after using Fedora Linux as the only OS for my desktop PC, though I still considered myself a Linux newbie, I’ve learned how to do everything I really need to do on a daily basis with my PC just as I did in Windows! And yet there is so much more to learn. That’s really the fun part for me working with computers: learning and mastering new skills. Don’t think you are too old to learn it; I was 37 when I started out with a PC (MSDOS) and now at 55 years old I picked up a whole new way of working in Linux!
September, 2012 update: I’ve now using Fedora 17. It was disappointing to see the Fedora totally dropped Gnome version 2, but Mate has proven a reasonable alternative. I also use KDE from time to time.
James, I perhaps had an easier time with Linux, starting with Red Hat 6.0 back in 1999. A local computer shop gave me a CD they burned for free. They did a nice job as it was easy to setup. I also downloaded for free Corel Linux, their first and second editions. They too did a really nice job, kind of wished that their OS distro could have made it, because it was definitely superior to Windows 98.
It took me several evenings to download the ISO file using a 9.6k Baud modem. (It was high speed at that time over standard phone lines. I still remember 15 years earlier in the mid 1980’s, working a Radio Shack Color Computer II with 64 kbyte memory in 2 banks at 32 kbytes at a time, using a 300 Baud modem and the native 32 character by 16 line display, working bulletin boards using MickeyTerm software.)
Then about same time, bought on-line SuSE 4.3, was really impressed with how well it was organized that I purchased on-line their version 6, kept upgrading until they stopped selling on-line.
Regarding setting up hardware, they made most of the setup easy. There was also instructions so that by following directions, I got sound cards, monitors, printers, etc. working. The nicest gaming software of the time back in the early 2000’s by Loki Games. My son enjoyed playing Heroes of Might and Magic III in Linux. We also had the Windows 98 version, but it was prone to crashing after about 30 minutes game play, whereas the Linux version would play for hours on end without crashing.
My son enjoyed the Linux version, because on-line game play, he could get in earlier and quicker, host a game easier than with the Windows version.
Also have given Debian and a few other distros a try. Rather than go the RPM route, I gravitated to the DEB route. Now for the past 10 years been using various flavors of Ubuntu, settling on Mate and Mint.