How many of you completely switched to Linux?

[castoroil97]

I only use Ubuntu

[tsbaker]

All my machines have Ubuntu running them. I have XP installed via vbox for the sole purpose of using my iPhone 3G with iTunes. Other than that, just Linux. I did however almost revert the other day to setting up a dual boot b/c I couldn't get my new Sony BT headphones to work, but figured that out and averted disaster

[Skatertjah]

I sure did

[WinterMadness]

i got rid of windows a while ago, mostly because it literally broke its self trying to do a back up....

i eventually reinstalled it on this machine because i couldnt get wireless to work, after i installed it i realized it was just a brainfart and i was using the wrong driver.... now i just have windows sitting there

[MikeTheC]

sudo rm -rf /washingtonstate/redmond/microsoft_campus

[d2globalinc]

Not a windows PC in the house anymore (atleast not any that arn't virtual)! And that makes 7 Ubuntu's total! Oh and I convert windows users daily

[MikeTheC]

See, the thing is now I feel like I should make some kind of serious attempt at a post in this thread, and that means I keep working on this and editing it and then not liking the direction and re-editing again (and again and again...) Argh!

I've always been a Mac person, having gotten my first computer, a Mac Plus, in 1986. I've seen a lot and been through a lot, and of course being a self-taught graphic designer and desktop publisher (with a lot of help from a very good friend of mine), naturally my platform of choice has always been the Mac.

A friend of mine put me on to Linux initially about 1996 or so, but of course at that time things were still too early in development for it to be of use to someone like me. But nevertheless, this whole thread of Linux (before I'd even heard of F/OSS) has been in my life for quite a while. I bought a copy of SuSE 6.2 (I think) waaaaaaaaaay back yonder, and so it's something I've been playing with, on and off, for a while.

As Apple experienced a rebirth and brought BSD and NextStep into the fold for Mac OS X, it was clear that a lot of this "Linux" stuff really had some merit to it. I've built PCs before, but never really had them long enough (nor were they really powerful enough) for what I like to do, but I definitely tried out different "eras" of the Linux experience on them. Anyhow...

So, my last two Macs were a 15" PowerBook G4 1.5GHz and a 15" iMac G4 800MHz. Last December I sold the PowerBook and was then down to just an eight-hundred megahertz system from 2002. (Actually, that's not technically true. I also -- still -- have a vintage 1997 "Beige" PowerMac G3/300, but a while ago I'd set up Debian on it and repurposed it as a home-based file server.) I was really getting irritated by how time was marching on, and my iMac was just no longer sufficient to get by.

Desperate, but not really willing/able to drop a ton of money on another Mac at that time, I decided I'd get a PC. What really convinced me to do this was the price point: $269 for a 2.4 GHz AMD64 3800+ based eMachines W5243, 1GB RAM and a 250GB HDD. Of course, it had Windows Vista on it, but I figured (since, in another life quite apart from my designer one, I am also a trained, certified and experienced computer tech) I should at least be able to honestly say I've "used" Vista. This was about March.

Well, by the end of May, I'd had all I could take of having to authorize myself to authorize myself to authorize myself to do even what should be truly mundane tasks. Sure, it was waaaaaaaay-the-heck faster than my Mac, but I just couldn't stand it any longer. So, I decided to hunt around for current Linux distros and see what stuck to the wall, as it were. Now, I've used Ubuntu before, even on Apple PPC hardware, so I'm familiar with it. I tried at least three different distros (Fedora, Mandriva, and Ubuntu) and the one which hands-down was the most stable and simply worked the best was Ubuntu 8.04.

I've been running a single-booted Ubuntu system ever since.

I still have my iMac (and I've recently acquired several other more-powerful PPC-based Macs) and I do some stuff in Photoshop and InDesign with them (and naturally iTunes is my preferred platform for iPod usage), but I find Ubuntu sufficiently compelling that this system is going to be a permanent fixture in my home (well, until I put enough cash together to build a more powerful system and turn this into the replacement Debian server I really initially intended to).

For me, Gnome's desktop is kind of like Mac OS Classic Finder done right (with a few odd quirks, but that's alright.) The more familiar I become with Linux, of course, the better off I am on Mac OS X because of it's underpinnings, and the better I can help others who use Macs. Being something of a budding F/OSS advocate, I'm also where I need to be at this time to help serve as a stepping stone for people who want to take that next step.

Anyhow, sorry for the long post, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[enlightend1]

I've been mostly Windows free since around the time of Feisty Fawn. I kept seeing little remarks around the 'net about something called Ubuntu and one day checked it out. Since Gutsy I've never had any issues to speak of. On the rare occasion I need to use Windows I just go to my dads house and use his, then look in the repositories for an app that I could use in the future.

[Ioneye]

i work in a company in Private Banking Services for the last 6 years..
we were using Windows XP..but when i say "use" i mean like 14-16 hours a day.
I work here as a System Administrator and i made the big discussion..
What about changing from "Microsoft Windows XP" to "Linux Ubuntu Desktop Edition"?
They were like...What the F***..are you crazy? we can't work without windows..
At first i set up 2 machines with Ubuntu..Told them to work with these just to see how it feels..
After 2 weeks we changed 47 pc's to Ubuntu.
Now i am a happy system administrator that sits down at his desk and writing in forums

[ranch hand]

We bought a new computer in July. Dell XPS420 - quad core 6600 2.40GHz - 3G ram - 320Gb - HDD - Vista Home Premium.

We had been using a custom built computer from 1998 with Win98 on it. It was great and state of the art when new. 350MHZ - 10Gb HDD - 128 Mb ram.

The new computer ought to be a lot faster. Not so. We use dial up and the sucker was about half the speed of the old one. To be fair there were web sites we could not deal with on the old one and the new one handled them as long as you could stand waiting on it.

The authorizations were silly. It logged every thing and sent it off to MS automatically.
Took all day to turn that crap off. We kept at it for 6 weeks and then even my wife was ready to try something different.

Got another 320G HDD. Installed Hardy on it after unplugging the Vista HDD. Had some problems getting the USR5610 internal modem configured. Had replaced the winmodem in hopes of speeding up Vista. Got the modem working. Got the HP printer working.

Broke Hardy several time in youthful high spirits. Dual booted Hardy/Hardy. Now I can use the box and play on the other install and maybe learn this OS.

Transfered some files by switching the HDDs and burning CDs. Got a sata HDD external enclosure. Put the Vista HDD in it. Transfered the other files we needed.

Tried to boot Vista from the USB. WOW. The warnings were impressive. Got the option of booting normally anyway or hitting some gimmic to fix the problems. Win gimmic didn't work. Boot normally didn't work. No option for Safe Mode, of course no option for DOS.

Reformatted Vista HDD. Two partitions, one for backup of each Hardy install.

I don't do games. I don't do windows. I am very happy.