Mountain Biker re-discovers Kubuntu after accident.

[JayKay3OOO]

Mountain Biker subsequently realises he's got too much time on his hands and in a fit of boredom writes about his Linux experience knowing full well that no one is interested.

Here goes.

I first used Linux in 2006 in university and hated it.

We had to use it as part of the course and I was Windows borne and bred so as I sat studying and overhearing friends talking about how they customize their distributions and then let out words about log files and terminals with customisable UIs I had no clue what they were on about and furthermore I did not care because finding keywords using Vim seemed pointless. I still don’t use it. If I have to edit some log file nano is where I go.

Time went by and I finished university eventually and another friend introduced me to Ubuntu while I was looking for a Job. I was still using a p4 machine so I tried it out and loved it, but like many people that was it. I was addicted to Microsoft Office and Photoshop. When I was younger open source software had always been seen as something lesser to the big hitters. Small projects hosted on unfamiliar websites liable to destroy your computer rather than help it.

Went back to Windows XP and decided to try OpenOffice for work and started experimenting with Gimp for photo editing and generally trying different distributions. Arch was my first port of call. I followed the manual and went from a terminal to a fully usable operating system with a GUI so from then I knew roughly how Linux worked. I’d ask people about it and no one I knew had heard of Linux which fuelled my interest as not everyone had a smartphone yet so android. I had no idea about yet. All job ads required Windows in some form (at least the ones I was looking at)

After trying many distributions I kept coming back to Ubuntu and tried kubuntu and loved it. Compared to XP it was a revelation and I ran it for a few months before going back to Windows because I wanted to do IT support and the friend that had got me into Linux started telling me how pointless it was to know it so I forgot about it sort of.

Having obtained Windows Server 2003 to learn for a Job interview I discovered some windows annoyances and with some donated machines started making some servers with wires and switches covering my rented accommodation I downloaded ubuntu server and started implementing the same features that I had on Windows Server getting to Linux Terminal Server that I found amazing.

2009 or 2010 I built my current long term rig, a quad core AMD 965BE machine and got Windows 7. I kept Linux around for server duties obtaining a small AMD fusion board and setting that up for home server duties while condemning the others to scrap.

Mid 2011 I broke my neck while out on my mountain bike. I rode the last section agony and then worked for another two days before lack of neck movement, incredible pain and not being able to lift my left arm and having to turn my head with my hands in bed (How are you supposed to know what a broken neck feels like. I thought it was muscle pain). I told my boss I was going to hospital and might not be out for some time. Turns out I’d narrowly avoided neck down paralysis by 1mm because the neck had locked before severing the spinal cord. That sucked nard so while being bed ridden I needed something to do (as well as swapping stories with other patients. Spinal ward, MTB division. Stories of AWESOME and killer rides). Laptop! I had installed Kubuntu onto my laptop while stuck in hospital Linux coped flawlessly and to be honest I had more important things on my mind. I had duel booted Xubuntu with Windows 7 becuase I did some videos and I preferred openshot and KdenLive for edits.
When I got home I had a cast on for 12 weeks and during this time I put every graphical interface I could find on the Xubuntu setup and as much as I enjoyed Gnome 3 and cinnamon I always found myself logging into KDE.

January came and I got downgraded to a hard neck brace, the neck healing OK and the body fully functioning, so after a few weeks I decided that as I have no interest in Windows 8 on a home non-touch PC I’d just use Linux. People still told me it was rubbish, but I’d just survived being paralysed for the rest of my life so what the hell did I care what they thought about what I ran on my PC.

I installed Mint and it lasted for a day due to some glitch in the KDE release that caused the whole thing to melt after a few hours. Re-boot, melt. I got bored of that pretty soon.

Two days ago Kubuntu 64bit got installed and it’s fine. I wanted to move to a 64bit Linux after reading it’s faster than a 32 bit with pae and I can report that there is a noticeable speed increase in computational times. Of course it could be faster with an SSD, but I’ve got my eye on a brand new bike that I was planning to get before the crash so I’ll stick with old spinning disks for now.

I’ve written this story before, maybe twice and maybe more. During that time I’ve loved and hated Linux in equal measure. Dared never to use it again and told the world where I can and told others how rubbish it is.

Now I’m more humbled. I use Linux, I happen to use Kubuntu and it’s great. I’m a realist and I can easily get work done on a tablet, Mac or Windows. I know desktop linux is never going to take over the world and that most users will use Windows or Mac. Itunes. Don’t even get me ranting on that. I use Linux and I’m cool with that. I’ve got too much time on my hands because I’m not allowed to do a lot, but life's too short to care what other people think about what you use so use what works for you, believe me. I saw the X rays and it was a close call.

My mission is to keep using Linux. It may not be Kubuntu forever and to get back on my mountain bike and hit the trails without worrying about what my computer runs.

In 3 weeks I should get upgrade to no neck brace and start my rotation back into the real world. In a few months I hope to be hiking some mountains and in 3-4 months from now I should back riding the trails. The bike is not in stock till May anyway and the current one has been converted to commute duties after some light repairs. If I need Windows for IT support it sits in a VM and Windows 8 will probably join it too.

Live. Guaranteed I'm going to rip on this when I'm better.

[Grinage]

Good Luck on your road to recovery and to extreme biking and computing!

[tgalati4]

I'd rather have a root canal than use Windows. You bring it to a new level. In many respects, Linux is Xtreme computing.

[williejones]

Good luck on your recovery. I know with you being in shape before your accident it will aid in your healing. Don't try to do anything too fast that might set back your getting back to the things you enjoy.