Shudda' begun using Ubuntu sooner!

[OinkOink2]

This is just a post topical of my current thoughts as a new user to Ubuntu/Linux which I'd like to share with the community. I've learned so much about Linux in the mere 3 days since installing it. I'm making way with Python (not proficiently of course, just how to alter snippets of code to customise it to my needs, i.e. conky's position on my screen, gap distance, patching through to Gmail to get my inbox count on my desktop and the protocol of that (more about IMAP, SSL), and a little on python syntax generally. It's a start isn't it.), and web technologies as well - XML/HTML.

The learning curve for me in 3 days is huge.

I've been using Windows for like 8 years. In that time my interest in computers got me looking at C++ (couple of years ago now) but I dropped it after about something like a month (tut, tut). With reference to the contrast from Ubuntu to Windows, in eight years of Microsoft's OS I learned to:
Add/Uninstall programs.
Use Control Panel effectively (lolfest)
Use of gpedit.msc, services.msc, regedit, and msconfig from 'run'
Use Word.
Clean malicious softwares in times of defective protection...*sight*

In 3 days of Ubuntu I have learned [to]:

Add/remove programs from the command line
Run and configuring applications from the command line
Terms in IT generally that I didn't know before
The wonders of the different Window Managers and how effective multiple workspaces are (and subsequently the limits of Windows in that respect!)
Developed a better understanding of syntax
Learned about disk drive utilization, mounting, and hard drive composition (in terms of partitions - primary, logical, boot sector, and format types i.e. Ext2/3, FAT32)
A completely difference file structure (obv still getting to grips with that)
How to compress files from command line to create archives
Completely different file extensions, and different picture formats and their properties
More about drivers and hardware specifics.


Admittedly a couple of the above are confounding for one must learn them as they are integral to the OS. But there is no doubt about the learning curve and this is in just 3 days (!). What about next month!?

Since using Text Editor and terminal I'm now enthralled to carry on where I left of with C++, and check out web technologies. Before installing Ubuntu I was looking at JAVA and VB so I think that the change to Ubuntu has come at a fitting moment.

My thoughts on Windows is that it's very "automatic." But I've realised that this is not the true nature of computers. It isn't. I was looking at the history of computers last night and although I knew computers in the early 80's started off with DOS, what I didn't know was the bigger picture, nor did I know as much as I do know now about Microsoft, or particular figures as Steve Jobbs, or Linus Torvalds. Where and why did Windows explode into what it is now!? I thought my knowledge of Windows was top notch (I admit being a little cynical in the list above...) but I've realised that I've spent 3 years learning an OS that does not reflect actual computing. Perhaps that slightly needs rewording... I don't think Windows exposes to users how hardware and software communicate which is deffinately something the end-user should know. Windows does reflect the current global state of computing but at the physical, machine level, I reckon it pulls a veil over your eyes.

This raises the question of what then have I been learning for 8 years? Yes, I know about networking protocols through having used Windows and through my interest I've learned probably more than the lay user. But I conclude that I've been consolidating a solid and decent understanding of an "automatic" and "easy" operating system. Hardware alone is dumb. And configuration at the grassroots level is/has to be manual. Yes, a percentage of things in Ubuntu are 'automatic' but it is a small percentage; it's still Linux and predominantly configured by the user.

There is no alternative to the terminal, not even conceptually. I, a new user of Linux, consider it powerful, very necessary, and a true reflection on the reality of computing.

Someone around this forum said this - "1 year of Linux is 5 years in Windows." I absolutely see the meaning in that.

I think with my recent mini-enlightenment, Windows is shite. A Fantastic Corporation. Merits are warranted for the brilliant marketing strategy and advertising but I feel like I have offended the opportunities of my technical abilities sticking all this time with Windows. Windows has kept me in a CAVE!

Think I'm being OTT? I don't think so. I'd like to thank the Ubuntu Forummers for helping me out with some of my initial teething problems, but in response to the mod sticky regarding too many people offering the simplistic "just install/uninstall" advice, in support I think if I'm exposed to the "difficult" solutions to problems, on the same premise this is the way to go.

Anyhow, I am truly converted - why didn't I do this sooner...

EDIT: - I just read that this section of the forum should not be used as a "Bashing area." For those that wish to add their thoughts to this thread please stick to that rule. I'd like to believe I've expressed a thought-out response to my personal experience with changing from Windows to Ubuntu and not intentionally "bashed" Windows with derogatory language....minus the strikethru of course...
http://www.letslearnlinux.com/suseblog/2008-01-08/TUXsucksWindows_sm.jpg

[-kg-]

I was looking at the history of computers last night and although I knew computers in the early 80's started off with DOS,

This statement got me started on a little "memoryfest."

I started in computers back in the early '80s when, as you said, there was no Windows - only DOS (and Unix, and Commodore, and Amiga...et.al.). I even remember seeing Windows 1.0 on the software shelves and thinking, "Oh great...another DOS shell" (which basically, it was).

I learned computers working with a "terminal window" (the Command line) and became very familiar with it. Configuring the computer environment using the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files; writing my own batch files; launching executables; writing software using the Basic interpreter (and even some using various compilers, like M$ Quickbasic, Borland Turbo C++, and Turbo Pascal).

In the early '90s I bought a laptop (Leading Edge 16 MHz 386SX) and installed a simple mapping program that aided me (kind of poorly) in driving my truck cross country. It had Windows 3.0 installed, but had insufficient memory to run it very well, and I didn't like it, anyway. I stayed with DOS on the laptop (DOS 5.0), only going into Windows to play Solitaire.

I then was introduced to Windows with Win 95, which came on my next computer, a Pentium 75 MHz. To make a long story short (and with the exception of forays into several different OSes, like OS2 Warp 4, BeOS, earlier Linux versions of Red Hat and Mandrake) I stuck with Windows through the various versions (excluding early NT) right up through Vista.

Well, I had poor experiences with earlier Linux, but I had heard more recently that Linux distros had improved, and for quite a while I intended to try out one of the more recent distributions of Linux. Especially, I had heard about Ubuntu and it's ease of use.

I still have several of the earlier ISOs of Ubuntu saved to my computer, but only in the last couple of months did I take action and install it. I am so glad I did that I am left without words to express it.

For so many years I was the "resident computer expert" for both my friends and my family (and I suppose I still am, but I sometimes feel I put some people off suggesting they try Linux), but really, as you said, Windows restricts so much of what you can do and how you can configure your computer. I missed the old "DOS Days" of configuration and the power of the terminal.

Now, I have it again. I, like you, am learning at what seems to be an exponential rate and loving it! I have Gambas (a Linux "Visual Basic"-type program) and Anjuta (for Visual C/C++) and quite a number of other cool programs.

And configuration? Under XP on my desktop, there was nothing I could do to make XP recognize my SATA hard drive. I reinstalled it, installed the SATA drivers at installation time like was supposed to be done, all to no avail. It refused to recognize it (still does). Ubuntu recognized it natively, with no drivers to install - nothing!

You know, it's funny...I've come a full circle. I used to use DOS for everyday computing and only go into Windows to play Solitaire. Then I went to Windows for my every day computing. Now that I have Linux, I use it for my everyday computing and only go into Windows to play Solitaire (Micro$oft does have a really good Solitaire game included)!

Well, just to be fair, and a couple of other games, like M$ Flight Simulator X, and software, like my DeLorme Mapping software (we really need some good mapping/GPS software for Linux).

:lolflag: