accludetuner
April 11th, 2007, 05:10 AM
I just spent an hour reading up on the old threads about CE. There were (and still are) many skeptics and critics related to the release of a Christian Edition. I read about the initial idea, the first release, and everything since then. I know one main goal of the project was to bring new users to Linux by letting people know that Christian software does exist for Linux. I just wanted to share a good story of confirmation that this is indeed happened. This version of Ubuntu is exactly what I was looking for and was the answer to my prayers and this is my story.
I accepted the Lord into my heart Jan of 2006. As everyone knows who has began the walk with the Lord that He will expose areas of weakness in your life as you progress in your faith that need some attention and change. Drugs, drinking, cussing, lying, cheating and stealing were all things that were pointed out to me that I had to change and over time, with Gods grace, I no longer did these things. As I progressed further in my faith, God pointed out the one last source of stolen goods I owned....the computer!!! Everytime I booted up, I felt it in my heart that I should no longer be using these stolen programs not to mention the stolen OS. I tried to make it "not so bad" by uninstalling *most* of the stolen software but still keeping the stuff I *needed* and also added e-sword and lots of other Christian study tools and utilities. This helped for about a month or so but it was still weighing on my heart that this was not acceptable and had to go completely. I began to pray on it. I knew that I had to get rid of Windows and everything on it since I had never actually bought a single software program or OS in my entire 15 years of daily use!!! Luckily I was a dos junkie and wrote lots of batch files to do tasks I wanted and had some basic Linux experience (before GUI's were really available) so I knew I was goign to switch over to Linux, but I dreaded giving up my e-sword and other usefull windows based study tools that I had began to use and get accustomed to. I also have other (totally legal) win based apps for burning EPROM chips with a willem burner, datalogging programs for graphically monitoring and and displaying engine characteristics binary editing tools and other useful stuff. Engine tuning is a specialty field that I cannot afford to lose those capabilites (all windows based). I needed a practical alternative since I could not spend days or weeks setting things up and getting them up and running properly. Sure I coulda just done an internet search and found CE within minutes, but learned to pray and wait for an answer because it will be revealed to you and have more significance than just taking it upon yourself without input from our heavenly Father. I prayed for about a week and took no action because I had not gotten any answer yet. I was trying out a new church and had been praying for my issue among other things and I felt that I was being "pushed" to sign up for church maintenance they were having that weekend. New church, new people, same old reliable God :) I followed that push and signed up.
When I got there Sat. morning, I was immediately paired with a guy who "just-so-happened" to be a Linux buff. Being the common ground of computers we talked a lot about OS's, software, networking, science and many other things over the 9 hrs of service. I began to explain my predicament and he immediately said, "go get Ubuntu Christian Edition". I downloaded and installed it that night and have since gone on an Ubuntu binge! Not only did my prayer get answered, but I also met lots of firmly planted Christians and started expanding my network of support, started planting some roots of my own in the new church, got presented with an opportunity to start putting my musical gifts to work praising and worshiping God, and even made a few new friends out of it. Much more productive than just googling "christian linux" if you know what I mean ;). The power of prayer! Anyways, the Ubuntu backbone is stable, very user friendly, and "plug-n-play" for the most part. The Christian Edition add-ons certainly are the icing on the cake. I had issues with wine in the past and didn't look forward to trying it again with e-sword and my engine tuning software, but you guys were already way ahead of me on that one! All of my concerns have been addressed and my prayers had been answered. My main computer is finally 100% legal and still just as useful, or in my opinion more useful, than ever before! I will be getting the PIII 256MB-RAM laptop setup with CE shortly as well so that this chapter of sin can be finally finnished and removed from my life like all the others. I have also been turning people on to Ubuntu since I first installed it a few weeks ago. My best brother in Christ will be putting it on his laptop, I might have my uncle convinced to use it soon, my roommate uses it now too ;) It is spreading. I'm going to modify a background pic for my desktop with the slogan "Serving God, one computer at a time" because that is exactly what I have seen this version do since I started messing with it 2 weeks ago!
I want to personally thank Jerome and everyone else that has contributed to this project. I will try to offer whatever help I can. I think I just might be an Ubuntu CE user for life. Thank you all and praise the Lord!
I accepted the Lord into my heart Jan of 2006. As everyone knows who has began the walk with the Lord that He will expose areas of weakness in your life as you progress in your faith that need some attention and change. Drugs, drinking, cussing, lying, cheating and stealing were all things that were pointed out to me that I had to change and over time, with Gods grace, I no longer did these things. As I progressed further in my faith, God pointed out the one last source of stolen goods I owned....the computer!!! Everytime I booted up, I felt it in my heart that I should no longer be using these stolen programs not to mention the stolen OS. I tried to make it "not so bad" by uninstalling *most* of the stolen software but still keeping the stuff I *needed* and also added e-sword and lots of other Christian study tools and utilities. This helped for about a month or so but it was still weighing on my heart that this was not acceptable and had to go completely. I began to pray on it. I knew that I had to get rid of Windows and everything on it since I had never actually bought a single software program or OS in my entire 15 years of daily use!!! Luckily I was a dos junkie and wrote lots of batch files to do tasks I wanted and had some basic Linux experience (before GUI's were really available) so I knew I was goign to switch over to Linux, but I dreaded giving up my e-sword and other usefull windows based study tools that I had began to use and get accustomed to. I also have other (totally legal) win based apps for burning EPROM chips with a willem burner, datalogging programs for graphically monitoring and and displaying engine characteristics binary editing tools and other useful stuff. Engine tuning is a specialty field that I cannot afford to lose those capabilites (all windows based). I needed a practical alternative since I could not spend days or weeks setting things up and getting them up and running properly. Sure I coulda just done an internet search and found CE within minutes, but learned to pray and wait for an answer because it will be revealed to you and have more significance than just taking it upon yourself without input from our heavenly Father. I prayed for about a week and took no action because I had not gotten any answer yet. I was trying out a new church and had been praying for my issue among other things and I felt that I was being "pushed" to sign up for church maintenance they were having that weekend. New church, new people, same old reliable God :) I followed that push and signed up.
When I got there Sat. morning, I was immediately paired with a guy who "just-so-happened" to be a Linux buff. Being the common ground of computers we talked a lot about OS's, software, networking, science and many other things over the 9 hrs of service. I began to explain my predicament and he immediately said, "go get Ubuntu Christian Edition". I downloaded and installed it that night and have since gone on an Ubuntu binge! Not only did my prayer get answered, but I also met lots of firmly planted Christians and started expanding my network of support, started planting some roots of my own in the new church, got presented with an opportunity to start putting my musical gifts to work praising and worshiping God, and even made a few new friends out of it. Much more productive than just googling "christian linux" if you know what I mean ;). The power of prayer! Anyways, the Ubuntu backbone is stable, very user friendly, and "plug-n-play" for the most part. The Christian Edition add-ons certainly are the icing on the cake. I had issues with wine in the past and didn't look forward to trying it again with e-sword and my engine tuning software, but you guys were already way ahead of me on that one! All of my concerns have been addressed and my prayers had been answered. My main computer is finally 100% legal and still just as useful, or in my opinion more useful, than ever before! I will be getting the PIII 256MB-RAM laptop setup with CE shortly as well so that this chapter of sin can be finally finnished and removed from my life like all the others. I have also been turning people on to Ubuntu since I first installed it a few weeks ago. My best brother in Christ will be putting it on his laptop, I might have my uncle convinced to use it soon, my roommate uses it now too ;) It is spreading. I'm going to modify a background pic for my desktop with the slogan "Serving God, one computer at a time" because that is exactly what I have seen this version do since I started messing with it 2 weeks ago!
I want to personally thank Jerome and everyone else that has contributed to this project. I will try to offer whatever help I can. I think I just might be an Ubuntu CE user for life. Thank you all and praise the Lord!