Warren Watts
July 9th, 2007, 02:52 AM
** Warning - Long, wordy testimonial to follow! **
Through the years, I have installed and used countless incarnations of Microsoft products, from DOS to Windows 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, and Windows 2000.
Starting with Windows 95, installation of the OS has grown to be a more and more painful operation with each new version of Windows. I'm not the richest guy around, and the hardware I was installing any given Windows OS onto was usually cobbled together with components on the verge of being out of date. This always complicated things.
Here about a month and a half ago after having gone nearly a year with no computer at all, I pieced together a 750 MHz PIII and installed Windows 2000 Professional from a CD I had lying around, primarily to appease my angry wife and children.
Everything was hunky-dory for about two weeks, then we obtained internet access, at which point the computer began throwing up uncontrollable pop-ups, and generally browsing slowly. I tried to keep them under control with anti-virus software and AdAware, but to no avail; Adware and pop-ups were winning the war.
In the past I had built a system on a Fedora 4 Core platform to use for myself, so I knew that all my problems would go away if I embraced Linux, but my experience with Fedora was less than spectacular. It was a beast to install, asking me to make way too many decisions regarding what applications I wanted installed. And even after I had Fedora up and running, installing new applications was always difficult for a Linux Newbie like myself, particularly resolving package dependencies.
So, I began searching for an easier to install, easy to maintain, easy to upgrade Linux Distro. After doing some online research, I discovered Ubuntu. Everything I read was positive, so I requested a CD via snailmail.
The day I received it, I popped it in, booted from the CD-ROM, and much to my surprise, the live CD worked "right out of the box"! It recognized all my ancient hardware, established a working internet connection, recognized my existing NTFS partition (something I struggled for WEEKS to resolve with Fedora and never could), and even recognized my USB storage device!
I double-clicked the install Icon on the Ubuntu desktop, answered the handful of simple setup questions, and let Ubuntu take over. When the re-partitioning and install were complete, I removed the CD, rebooted the computer, and boom, there Ubuntu was, working perfectly in a dual boot configuration. I was elated!
At first, I was the only member of the family who would use Ubuntu. I think my kids (9 and 12) viewed Ubuntu as more of a curiosity than a usable OS, but once they realized they could browse pop-up free, they quickly became converts. I created user accounts for each of them (which they quickly customized with their own themes and desktop wallpaper) and now they refuse to use Windows at all.
My wife doesn't use the computer all that often, and I think that's probably why she is a little slower in coming around to the wonders of Ubuntu. Give her time....
I have had a few issues here and there setting up Apache and vsFTP, and a few problems installing software that wasn't in the repositories, but on every single occasion that I have experienced problems, the Ubuntu forums have come through for me with a working solution. Thanks everyone!
So, in closing, Ubuntu has become my OS of choice because it is easy to install, easy to use, easy to maintain, a snap to add applications to (thanks to the Synaptic Package Manager), well supported by the Ubuntu community and extremely stable. I look forward to a long and wonderful relationship with Ubuntu!
OK, I'll step down off my soapbox now...
Warren Watts
Through the years, I have installed and used countless incarnations of Microsoft products, from DOS to Windows 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, and Windows 2000.
Starting with Windows 95, installation of the OS has grown to be a more and more painful operation with each new version of Windows. I'm not the richest guy around, and the hardware I was installing any given Windows OS onto was usually cobbled together with components on the verge of being out of date. This always complicated things.
Here about a month and a half ago after having gone nearly a year with no computer at all, I pieced together a 750 MHz PIII and installed Windows 2000 Professional from a CD I had lying around, primarily to appease my angry wife and children.
Everything was hunky-dory for about two weeks, then we obtained internet access, at which point the computer began throwing up uncontrollable pop-ups, and generally browsing slowly. I tried to keep them under control with anti-virus software and AdAware, but to no avail; Adware and pop-ups were winning the war.
In the past I had built a system on a Fedora 4 Core platform to use for myself, so I knew that all my problems would go away if I embraced Linux, but my experience with Fedora was less than spectacular. It was a beast to install, asking me to make way too many decisions regarding what applications I wanted installed. And even after I had Fedora up and running, installing new applications was always difficult for a Linux Newbie like myself, particularly resolving package dependencies.
So, I began searching for an easier to install, easy to maintain, easy to upgrade Linux Distro. After doing some online research, I discovered Ubuntu. Everything I read was positive, so I requested a CD via snailmail.
The day I received it, I popped it in, booted from the CD-ROM, and much to my surprise, the live CD worked "right out of the box"! It recognized all my ancient hardware, established a working internet connection, recognized my existing NTFS partition (something I struggled for WEEKS to resolve with Fedora and never could), and even recognized my USB storage device!
I double-clicked the install Icon on the Ubuntu desktop, answered the handful of simple setup questions, and let Ubuntu take over. When the re-partitioning and install were complete, I removed the CD, rebooted the computer, and boom, there Ubuntu was, working perfectly in a dual boot configuration. I was elated!
At first, I was the only member of the family who would use Ubuntu. I think my kids (9 and 12) viewed Ubuntu as more of a curiosity than a usable OS, but once they realized they could browse pop-up free, they quickly became converts. I created user accounts for each of them (which they quickly customized with their own themes and desktop wallpaper) and now they refuse to use Windows at all.
My wife doesn't use the computer all that often, and I think that's probably why she is a little slower in coming around to the wonders of Ubuntu. Give her time....
I have had a few issues here and there setting up Apache and vsFTP, and a few problems installing software that wasn't in the repositories, but on every single occasion that I have experienced problems, the Ubuntu forums have come through for me with a working solution. Thanks everyone!
So, in closing, Ubuntu has become my OS of choice because it is easy to install, easy to use, easy to maintain, a snap to add applications to (thanks to the Synaptic Package Manager), well supported by the Ubuntu community and extremely stable. I look forward to a long and wonderful relationship with Ubuntu!
OK, I'll step down off my soapbox now...
Warren Watts