Curious: Linux migration from Windows

[x1a4]

Hi,

I'm curious about finding out about people's migration from Windows to Linux.

For me it began sometime during the first quarter of 2005. I was fed up with Windows and saw Knoppix a few months before and decided to switch. I bought a second hard-drive, and installed SuSE, it was great, though not without it's problems. As time went on I installed Fedora, Slackware, Linspire, Debian, Mandrake, XandrOS, and SimplyMEPIS. Now, I'm running XUbuntu--and loving it.

While (in my humble opinion) Linux is somewhat over-hyped, many core capabilities of it are far superior to windows and significantly outweigh the few (very few) things microsoft got right. I haven't booted windows in a long time, except to post to this forum when I briefly had a minor Internet problem after installing XUbuntu and to play the occasional windows-only game like Splinter Cell and Bloodrayne. If I can only figure out how to use WINE to it's fullest (for game play) and learn to write convincing letters to game developers (so that they'll write games that will run on Linux as well as windows), I hope to dump windows for good and stick to Linux permanently--preferably XUbuntu.

Bottom line, despite the odd hiccup here and there my migration to Linux was quite enjoyable and to use windows full time again makes my stomach churn.

How about you? What's your experience?

[dbbolton]

linux definitely hurts in the gaming department

[nalmeth]

When I got my first OWN PC, I didn't have an OS to go with it, and having used Xebian and Gentoox on the XBOX, I was comfortable enough to just use GNU/Linux on the PC.

There was nothing I really needed in windows, and I became a permanent linux user from then on.

[iPirates]

Just migrated to Ubuntu from windows, and the transition has been pretty much flawless.
Linux is a far superior operating system.

[NeoLithium]

I used to play a fair bit of games; but since I switched to linux a while back; I've been going more to programming and other things, and actually don't have time to even miss the games. It's been so worth the putting up of learning and breaking things over and over...NO MORE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH! ;)

[Gyrotwister]

I definitely like not having to deal with viruses, spy ware, worms, root kits, pop ups, WGA etc but I still boot to windows for driver related reasons. Such as...

Printing transparencies. My Linux printer driver doesn't give me any control over the amount of toner deposited or the baking temperature.

I can only use windows to download software to my Pod proxt because Line6 doesn't do Linux at all.

I get a similar feeling in my stomach every time I have to go there. I'd like to delete MS from my HD but unfortunately I own hardware which prevents me from doing so.

When I buy hardware in future I'll definitely be checking that it comes with fully featured Linux drivers wherever possible.

[Sef]

I got into Linux because I couldn't stand Windows ME. It has been frustrating at times, but I don't regret giving up Windows.

[gn2]

I am still using Windows because I've paid for it.....

Linux problematic for gameplay, but as only my son plays games in this household the games are adequately handled by a PS2 (for now.......) so it's not a problem here anyway.

[kinson]

I'm dual booting with Ubuntu at the moment. Mainly use Ubuntu for daily stuff. Haven't completely switched yet(still linux noob), cause I might need to do some things that I haven't been able to do in Linux yet (and Media Player Classic is so much more comfortable for me to use), but I'm happy using Ubuntu(though I'll be a lot happier when I understand how the file system works :p )

And I've been booting into Windows XP this week, cause I need to use VC++ at work, so I'm using it to learn(*sigh). But all in all, Ubuntu's been a lot of fun for me, I'm looking forward to more Ubuntu :D

Kinson

[kaemrhynn]

I made the switch about a week after Edgy was released. Up till then I was running Windows 98 on my net machine, but was tired of all the viruses etc that go with what is now an unsupported OS.

Now I am running Xubuntu 6.10 and am having a blast, my system runs and looks better than it ever did under Win98, and is a lot more secure to boot.

Gaming wise, well I have heard of people having some good results running World Of Warcraft under Wine recently, so when I get around to rebuilding the broken mess that was my gaming system I shall undoubtedly give it a chance. If performance is acceptable then that will be the end of Microsofts favourite OS on my systems :)

[joep]

I moved from XP to Ubuntu in June, put it on spare 80 gig hdd . It's great, no problems. I now have wiped XP and have installed Ubuntu on to main 200 gig hdd. I used Automatix to install all the stuff I needed to get stated. I know all the arguments against propriety software but people have to understand the future of Linux lies with the next generation and ease of use is a big plus. My kids love Ubuntu and the fact that they can get on 99% of their sites helps. They can't get on Habbo Hotel because it uses Shockwave. I can use Ubuntu easier than I could Windows and I use my box for more stuff than before. My kids load their Mp3 players, camera's and mobile phones with ease from my box without a seconds thought. We have 4 computers in the house 3 use XP none will be upgraded to Windows all will be going over to Linux. :-D

[mojoman]

I was getting sick and tired of all the problems with windows, you know what I mean, spyware, viruses, using cracks and patches (yes, it's bad, I know), not to mention it's instability. I was running a windows server at home and it needed restarting every freaking week which was really bugging me out. A friend had recommended Linux for my server so I gave it a try. I installed Ubuntu server with some help from a friend and thought this would give me some learning experiences. Guess what? It didn't. I didn't learn a God damn thing. Why? The system was so stable it didn't require any restarts or upkeep or anything. After over two months without so much of a glitch on the server I realized that I would never learn anything if I was to wait for problems to fix so I changed OS on my laptop as well, installing regular Ubuntu and then switching to Xubuntu. Since then, I bought a desktop as well on which I run Ubuntu (though dual booting for some games) and I swiched to Debian on my laptop (just to learn it). Overall, a very smooth transition (the videocard on my laptop gave me problems but that's about it) and the migration was caused by being fed up with Windows and being very impressed by Ubuntu.

/Mojoman

[gn2]

We have 4 computers in the house 3 use XP none will be upgraded to Windows all will be going over to Linux. :-D

I take it you mean Windows Vista?

I too will be going full Linux only when W2kPro and XP support expires, don't like the idea of having to buy new hardware to run the new OS, so will be making a consideable saving.

[MrKlean]

HAving used Windows since it first came out, I recently switched. Best thing I ever did ; ) There was a learning curve that was supported here by a good group of people. I can do mre than I could in XP, for a lot less, even for my small business ; ) Merry Christmas !!

[ZERO_SHIFT]

I am dual booting my HP laptop; however most my time I spend on ubuntu.

The following are stuff that dont work on my laptop on ubuntu:
*Webcam
*Wireless
*Hotmail & Gmail websites
*Quickplay
*SD Card reader

I am hoping that ubuntu 7.04 fixes these problems

[xpod]

don't like the idea of having to buy new hardware to run the new OS, so will be making a consideable saving.

Im just sooo glad i started out with the old messed up m.e & xp pc`s i did in March...

I might never have come looking for something else in july otherwise:D
Opting just to use a couple of old ones to learn the basics on as we waited for that other new os to come out before buying new turned out to be the best decision i could have made it seems.

It`s been a very merry july,aug,sept,oct,nov AND xmas thank you very much:mrgreen:

[Kindred]

I am still using Windows because I've paid for it.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost ;)

[Malta paul]

I first tried out some other Linux distros, as I had got fed up with M$ operating system policy, then came across Ubuntu about a year ago and have now found a great OS and community group 8)
I still duel boot to run a few programmes that I can't run on Ubuntu (ie My scanner) but can live with this. :D

[RudolfMDLT]

I thought I just have a look at linux and see what it was like... I started spending more time in Ubuntu than windows and In all honesty I haven´t booted into Windows XP for about a month now... Every time I need to boot into windows, I feel a little caged in - i just can´t do everything I want in there.

I don think Linux is over rated - As far as I´ve seen people promote it as free, open-source, stable, virtually virus&spyware free and highly cusomizable. No one every told me what a gaming platform it would be. Every head ache I´ve ever had with the penguine have been resolved and not excused or ignored.

I think it´s awesome.

[Shay Stephens]

I just completed my own migration. I took a year to finally complete. I am a photographer, so some things I have to have functionality for. Other things I can compromise on. I used to game on the computer, but with all the problems I was having even in windows, I decided to drop it and use a console instead. But I still play some games in ubuntu.

Of course the typical things like surfing, email, office apps, etc is trivial to switch to ubuntu from windows, my big challenge was in editing camera raw files, processing photo galleries, making dvd slideshows and authoring dvd video. This took the major chunk of time and effort to figure out as well as waiting for programs to mature to the point I could use them.

And to my happy surprise, some changes wound up being for the better. Two examples I can mention are DVD authoring and disk labeling. I was using DVD composer, but it would not run in wine. After trying a number of things, I finally made a breakthrough with qdvdauthor. And the resulting DVD works and looks better than the windows equivalent.

When it came to labeling the DVD, I was using a thermal printer, but it was so tied to windows that it required Internet Explorer to be installed, and it would not even install under wine. Well about a month ago, Lacie came out with the Lightscribe labeler program fro linux. And it works like a champ. I altered my DVD label design so it it be more appropriate for the lightscribe, and I am happy to say that as of two nights ago I got it working and looking better than my results I got through windows.

That was my last challenge, and my last tie to the windows OS. I am free, and at the first of the year, I will be formatting the windows drive and turning it into data storage :-)

[gn2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost ;)

OK, I'm not an economist, but I won't be sinking any more costs into keeping Microsoft afloat!

Just can't abide throwing out something I've paid for that still works.

[pseudonym]

One of my hard drives has windows xp installed on it. But I don't think of it as windows anymore. Instead, I call it 'wintendo'. Because all I do is use it for playing games that don't run natively in Linux. And the good thing about it is, compared to a gaming console, I have access to the extra power and performance that the PC can provide (though I think this gap has narrowed a lot now, to be fair).

Plus I can also use it to run other things in the unlikely event they don't work in Linux - eg. my scanner stopped working in recent releases of xsane, and I can't be bothered researching howtos and compiling a custom version from CVS (which may or may not work) to fix it up. But that's the only thing besides games which 'wintendo' is doing (which is more than a console can do) - everything else works, and works better, in Linux.

You ask, 'why don't you use wine/cedega to run games?' Well, I used to, but I got sick of all the recurring breakage, and the usual lack of support for features like surround sound, not to mention all that time-guzzling confubulating to get most games to work in the first place, that I decided it just wasn't worth it. Plus I already had my wintendo (sunk cost notwithstanding), and therefore leaving Linux games to Linux, and the rest to wintendo made more sense in terms of the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid that is).

In any case, I think we just have to accept that, realistically, Linux is not a gaming platform, and that nothing Linux users/developers say or do is going to change that any time soon (same with nvidia and open source drivers). But this need not be such a big deal, because the PC is dying as a gaming platform anyway. Consoles are rapidly hammering in the coffin nails. And I've already told myself I won't be buying a 'wintendo vista' for at least 12 months, by which time I will probably have also convinced myself to switch to consoles for gaming. Then it really will be bye-bye windows.

So all you Linux users/windows gamers take heart. Relax. Look in the mirror and take a deep breath. Now repeat after me - 'It's not Windows, it's a wintendo. It's not Windows, it's a wintendo.' Internalise this mantra, and you'll be on the path to nirvana before you know it. :D

[Shay Stephens]

I call it 'wintendo'.
hehehe, I like that name. It's perfect! :-)

[pseudonym]

hehehe, I like that name. It's perfect! :-)
Thanks. I guess it has more of a ring to it than 'winstation', 'wincube', or 'winxbox' :)

[bmartin]

I have two computers: one running Fedora Core 6 and one running XP. I made the switch to Linux a couple months ago. It was easy to set up an HTTP server using Xampp. My programs run faster and I have a lot more RAM free due to Linux's small footprint. I intend to install XUbuntu on my laptop after work to replace my last copy of Windows, as I found out earlier today that Wine supports the game I want to play. My other big gaming concern was emulation for old consoles on Linux; turns out that FCEU runs on Linux, too.

On top of all this, I've built all but one of my past PCs; I won't have to sink another couple hundred dollars into an OS. My girlfriend's been playing w/ Fedora on my PC and she's going to make the switch over to XUbuntu on her PC.

[lyceum]

I got to a point where I knew as much as I could legally learn about Windows without writing programs. I wanted to get a Mac an move on, but did not have the $$'s. One of my friends kept harping on me to use FOSS rather than proprietary software. I asked him about Linux and he told me to just pick one and play around. I had no idea what he was talking about. I went to Wikipedia and started going down the distros. When I found out about osdir.com I started to download what ever screen shot I thought looked good. If it did nto work, I loaded Kubuntu and started over. Kubuntu was my staple. I quickly learned that I did not like KDE, switched to Ubuntu and built a PC to play with. I soon realized that I did not use Windows any more. If I needed to do something for school, I used Ubuntu and then moved it to my MS machine to get it on the school website. I went out a bought a new laptop, put Ubuntu on it and have enjoyed it ever since. I still use MS on my desk top and I sold the PC I built. Now I run 4 PCs, the MS desktop for school, the Mac for my wife and the Ubuntu laptop for me. I am always running a 4th, as I am upgrading someone to Ubuntu, or building one to sell or give away for charity depending on the situation.

A funny note: I did not really play many PC games until switching to Linux. Now I play way too much. Only if they work on Ubuntu though. :)

Another funny note, my friend does not use Linux. After learning as much as I could from him and started teach him about stuff he confessed that he used MS. He had used Debian until he got the money to by XP, then switched as he thought Linux was not ready for the desktop. If you are wondering, yes I hit him and thanked him anyway. He switched for World of Warcraft. Sad but true.

[aysiu]

Moved to a more appropriate forum

[Ba66e77]

I officially made the switch about a week ago, in part for learning experience and in part for the sheer pleasure of giving Bill the finger. Starting over at the bottom of the learning curve is a downer, but all in all I'm really enjoying linux. Once I get my windows-only printer working and get Samba configured right, I'll be one happy puppy...er, penguin.

[fsando]

Nice thread
I'm in the middle of a switch from XP to ubuntu and it's been a nice and easy experience - nothing dramatic, that is, nothing that wasn't solved after a few posts here - usually within an hour from posting my question.
I have used w2k for quite some years and was reasonably satisfied. My new notebook, though, came with an OEM XP. It turns out that this new baby is actually in many instances SLOWER than my two year old one running w2k. It takes 5-6 minutes booting and often 20-30 sek or more for application startup. What makes this even worse is that w2k running in a virtual vmware player runs faster than the hosting XP.
I first tried to install w2k but the drivers absolutely wouldn't install under w2k. I'm pretty sure this is a business decision rather than a technical one.
But I simply couldn't accept that a dual core T7400 would be that slow so I decided to give linux a go.
I did som initial testing in the beginning of december experiencing, some problems did occur - but every time the annoyances of XP kept me to it.

A week ago I did this install - and now, after a week it is already becoming my main working environment.
Ubuntu is easy to install compared to XP. XP took a little over an hour to install and 3-4 hours to install the drivers. Then some days installing all my usual applications and tweaking etc. Ubuntu installs in less in than an hour and then all my usual applications are already installed and ready to use, my usual hardware is recongnized (except the screen - but that was soon fixed) especially wireless was the easiest I have yet experienced. It boots quickly, runs fast, applications opens almost instantly, highly qualified help is ready at hand. I really like this. Why ubuntu? Well, installed opensuse 10.2 didn't like the look and feel.

An interesting aside: my old mom is complaining about windows (XP that is) and talks about the good old days of win98 'because if everything else failed, you could always open a dos prompt and fix things'. I begin to think that she too is ready for Linux. ;)

[Dmole]

Linux rocks in some departments but it seriously lacks in many areas windows has covered.
rocks:
*the financial department
*the ability to be modified go Open Source!
sucks:
*number of GUI tools
*File permissions
*stability (i know I'm gonna get shot now but for me it's true)
*professional and speciality tools
*games (yeah WINE all ya want)
*compatibility

overall i think Ubuntu is good for general use but if there's something advanced (other than programing ) it just can't do it. (examples: photo shop, Avid, arc view, flame, smoke, Quick Books, EAC, Foobar, etc ...and speciality software for your cellphone or cameras )

[mdsmedia]

Linux rocks in some departments but it seriously lacks in many areas windows has covered.
rocks:
*the financial department
*the ability to be modified go Open Source!
sucks:
*number of GUI tools
*File permissions
*stability (i know I'm gonna get shot now but for me it's true)
*professional and speciality tools
*games (yeah WINE all ya want)
*compatibility

overall i think Ubuntu is good for general use but if there's something advanced (other than programing ) it just can't do it. (examples: photo shop, Avid, arc view, flame, smoke, Quick Books, EAC, Foobar, etc ...and speciality software for your cellphone or cameras )I had a tinker with Red Hats 7 & 8 a few years ago, just to see if I could, and because it was Open Source and was not MS. I never put much time into it but have found that Linux has come ahead in leaps and bounds since then.

I've followed Linux since then and in October '05 I had a look at a couple of Live CDs. Ubuntu was the first one to work properly and I played on it for a few hours. I WAS IMPRESSED.

I installed it dual-boot with XP and I don't think I've used XP as my main system since. As soon as I got email, IM, a few other packages working the way I wanted I switched them off in Windows, uninstalled a few packages in XP that I didn't need anymore because I had them in Linux, and I have the same feeling about going into Windows as a few others have stated.... Ubuntu/Linux just feels better. I feel comfortable in Ubuntu and I feel uncomfortable in Windows.

I'm just a newbie and have had some stumbles, but as I work out ways to do more of what I did in Windows in Linux I use Windows less and less.

That said, a reply to the above quote...."something advanced" like photoshop etc....? Photoshop has been done to death on these forums and other than a few specialist functions The Gimp is a good alternative. Unless you're a graphical professional wishing to use it for specialist tasks.

But the point is, you haven't said what advanced things it can't do...you named a few (programs?). They are Windows programs.....I guess....what do they do? Have you looked for alternatives in the repositories?

"stability"...you're kidding right? What have you experienced in the way of instability in Ubuntu....as compared to what you've experienced in Windows?

What do you mean by the "financial department"? Is that affordability? I can understand if that's what you mean. Otherwise, one of Linux's weaknesses is its accounting software. There is nothing to match Quickbooks etc. I'm an accountant and would love to see something like that in Linux. But then, that's Intuit (Quickbooks' publisher), not Linux or Windows, as is the situation with gaming. It's the game developers, based largely on the big userbase, that make their games for Windows, not for Linux.

There are thousands of programs available in the repositories for hundreds or thousands of different purposes. Far more than you can find for free for Windows. In this department, Linux rocks.

Why is file permissions a disadvantage in Linux?

[Cirdan7]

I have yet to fully migrate due to, as many others, games and Macromedia Flash, otherwise I'd be using Linux.

As for stability, I've had Ubuntu randomly freeze once in a while. I'm not sure what it is, but I have a feeling it has to do with the fact I'm on an old laptop. Now that I think about it, it could be because its on a desk and over heats? But it shouldn't get that hot. its not even using 20% of the cpu while running firefox

[mushroom]

Sim City 3000 held me back a little bit, but once I got over it I made the switch full-time. That was around the time of Hoary, though I was using Debian 3.1 at the time. When Breezy came out I switched to that and never looked back.

[fsando]

overall i think Ubuntu is good for general use but if there's something advanced (other than programing ) it just can't do it. (examples: photo shop, Avid, arc view, flame, smoke, Quick Books, EAC, Foobar, etc ...and speciality software for your cellphone or cameras )

I tend to agree with you for the moment but I don't think it's that "it just can't do it" as much as the customer base not beeing there - which is something entirely different. For some applications this can change fairly rapidly for others it may never happen. I could easily imagine photoshop for linux (as when it was moved to windows) after all there already is a version for osx.

[ffi]

During my windows years (3 years XP) I never had a BSOD, nor virusses nor spyware (well I had a few but they came with cracks and were easily removed or caught before installing), neither did I need to reinstall it over and over again. In fact the only problem I had was when I removed pcanywhere and uninstaller did work correctly which left me unable to boot into windows, luckily Symantec had good instructions on their site to fix it (though I think it should have happened in the first place).

The reason I switched is because my linux desktop feels a lot snappier and just looks better...

[willskills]

During my windows years (3 years XP) I never had a BSOD, nor virusses nor spyware (well I had a few but they came with cracks and were easily removed or caught before installing), neither did I need to reinstall it over and over again. In fact the only problem I had was when I removed pcanywhere and uninstaller did work correctly which left me unable to boot into windows, luckily Symantec had good instructions on their site to fix it (though I think it should have happened in the first place).

The reason I switched is because my linux desktop feels a lot snappier and just looks better...

Pretty similar story for myself, I must say, I love using Ubuntu for day-to-day computing, slick and lovely :mrgreen:

[super breadfish]

Once upon a time I tried this thing called Knoppix after reading about it on Wikipedia, and a few distros later and I'm an almost full time Ubuntu user. On my PC, XP was slow, needed regular reinstalls, disliked almost all of my hardware, and would often crash while booting and refuse to shut down. It was a huge headache, especially as all the previous XP computers I'd used ran largely without problems.

Linux took some getting used too, but it was well worth the move. Ubuntu plays nicely with my hardware, and the only reinstalls I've had to do are out of curiosity to try other distros! Within a few months I was doing nearly everything in Linux. Though what I really use Linux for is the great range of software, the customisation, and of course the help I can get here.
Now the only thing that I need my (now very minimal) XP installation is my printer. I miss things like ink level monitoring etc, and I've yet to find a tool that supports my printer in Linux :(

[Tutu 1234]

My windows xp install lasted 4 years, I never turned my pc off and it only crashed the system once, sure programs crashed but never took down my system. I only changed because of a USB problem which several reinstalls did not fix. I was amazed how much quicker Ubuntu was and how easy (After you've got everything you want installed) it was to use. I still think though XP was the best OS to come from M$ so far and I'm sure if I hadn't discovered Ubunutu I'd have gone to Vista next and I'd have probably been happy with it as well.

I'm a convert now but I shall miss XP for it was the most stable OS I've ever used. Ubuntu hasn't crashed yet but I need a couple of years to make an informed decision.

There was only one time the PC crashed and had to be rebooted on XP and that was colinux not supporting hyperthreading at the time (It was a common problem). A few times it had to be rebooted because of power cuts but show me a flavour of Linux that could get around that.

In all I can see why Windows users don't want to change, if aint broke....

But if and when you do change you realize there's no going back.

[Arkaerial]

Well I've played with linux on an off for a few years. Though I slowly got tired of PC gaming and so I started shifting my older computers over to linux. Currently have 5 computers and only 1 has windows xp on it, and that is only because at times I have to bring work home.
So here are my current computers.

1. firewall/router - ipcop (recent upgrade to 1.4.11)

2. media server (shares all my movies and songs to my modded xbox currently) - ubuntu 6.06

3. test box (just playing around with differnt version of linux) - currently FC5, but going to try slackware

4. media pc to hook up to my hdtv - since I want to start encoding my movies in hd and the modded xbox can't run them without stuttering - ubuntu 6.10 (I do like ubuntu). just waiting for the vga to component cable to arrive.

5. Work PC - Windows XP sp2. So this pc is off most times, maybe 2 times a week I turn it on.

By no means am I remotely good at linux, I just like it. So I feel it's worth my time to learn.

[Titi]

since i have only 2 computers, i have one with windows and one with linux.
the one i'm typing on right now is a desktop, with windows. the other one is my laptop with ubuntu on it. after my exams i'm planning a big swap. so ubuntu on this one to be my main OS and windows on the (old) laptop, for in case i'd have to do something i don't know yet how to do in linux.
i hope that'll work out. the only thing that doesn't work very well for now is filesharing, but i'll see...

[aysiu]

since i have only 2 computers, i have one with windows and one with linux.
the one i'm typing on right now is a desktop, with windows. the other one is my laptop with ubuntu on it. after my exams i'm planning a big swap. so ubuntu on this one to be my main OS and windows on the (old) laptop, for in case i'd have to do something i don't know yet how to do in linux.
i hope that'll work out. the only thing that doesn't work very well for now is filesharing, but i'll see...
I'm just the opposite--Ubuntu on desktop, Windows on laptop. I'll probably give Ubuntu another shot on the laptop when I have time to fiddle around... or when Feisty comes out in April.

[AndyCooll]

I'd been using pirated OS's and software for years. My conscience got the better of me when I needed to buy a new pc. So bought a legal copy of XP and went hunting for free software. I realised I didn't need the best known versions of software to get jobs done. I put together a whole system where the only software I paid for was the XP OS itself. However ...I had more than one box.

During my search I found FF and oOo, and then heard about FOSS, and then about Linux. And I was hooked. Now not just based on free as in cost, but my freedoms as a whole.

Started off by dual-booting, but it wasn't long before I relegated XP to a VMware image. Even got the missus using Ubuntu. Essentially been Linux only in the household for the last year or so.

And I've never regretted the move.

:cool:

[PatrickMay16]

Heh! Heh! Heh! I tell you. It began for me in March 2005. At that time on a general discussion forum I visited, some guy started a thread about linux. People talked about their experiences; what they liked, what they didn't like, and so on. And I became interested.

Eventually on April 7 2005 I received official mandrake 10.1 discs which I had ordered, went through a horrific trial (strange problems stopping the install, searching google for hours trying to get the solution, etc) and finally had mandrake installed on the computer I used at that time. I felt very lost and 'away from home' with Mandrake; I had no idea how to get replacements for stuff I used in windows, I had no idea how to set things up, etc... I ended up not using it very much.

Now, this computer I had been using for the last 2 or so years was dying. On June 7, it died and no longer could I use it; for it was dead. So for a while I used my sister's old computer and then my brother built me a new one. So for a while, I was using windows on my new computer.

Then in July I was interested in Ubuntu. Though this time, I hung around this forum for a long while before installing it. I got a better idea of how to do things by reading people's posts and so on, and eventually in September I put a new hard disk into my computer and installed Ubuntu on it. At first I felt kind of 'away from home' again, but not so much this time as I had played around with the liveCD a bit in the two months before. During this month of September, I was searching this forum, and I learned how to set up things and which programs would replace stuff I used in windows. By October I was not using windows much any more, and by November I did not need windows any more.

These days, I have three computers of my own: my main computer that my brother built for me in June 2005, an old eMachine computer from 2001, and an old IBM thinkpad which I guess to be from around the same time. I use Ubuntu linux on all of them; it is now my choice of operating system.

LUNIX TRULY IS THE SUPERIOR OPERATING SYSTEM.

[jocheem67]

For me the OS is just a tool to get a certain job done. So I use both xp an edgy. Xp for gaming, foobar ( am playing with foobar---wine now though ), mediaplayerclassic with ffdshow, aand ableton live ( combining beautifully with my m-audio soundboard )....

Edgy for everyday work, browsing and wordprocessing and stuff. Linux is that bad supported by the manufacturers, I cannot make the switch competely. Itś a shmae really but I guess I don care too much to put in a lot of effort to get an app. like ardour running with my m-audio...

Besides, call me stupid, but I'll never leave foobar2000 behind, itś a religion:)

[speedwell68]

I have been a Windows user since version 1.03 on MSDOS 3.1. I recent years I had toyed with Linux of and on and but wasn't happy with hardware support. I recently got myself a new laptop, turned it on and was presented with two hours of updating before I could even use the thing so I tried it with Ubuntu and as it worked out of the box with all my hardware, I just ditched XP and run Edgy full time, love it.

[Niko38752]

I think it was around 2003 or 2004 when i first encountered Linux. We had a course in school that dealt with software. Some of the lessons involved installing and using Linux. We installed various distros, like various versions of Redhat (6, 7, 9) and Fedora Core. It seemed like an interesting operating system.

At one point, I obtained a Linux for myself. It was all 8 CDs of Mandrakelinux 8.1 (don't worry, I got them from a relative and didn't pay for them :D). I thought I'd give it a shot, so I installed it on my laptop, which was my only computer at the time. It was an ancient IBM Thinkpad (380Z, 300 MHz pentium 2, 96 MB memory and 4 MB of VRAM). After it was installed, I toyed with it, but for my disappointment, sound was not working. To be honest, I hated it, but right then I had no choice (didn't have a copy of the windows 98 CD in the house and didn't have internet connection). Because I was a computer gamer at the time (used to play a game called Urban Assault on the laptop), I tried all sorts of things on the comp. I downloaded games for Linux at school and put them on floppies so I could try them at the laptop at home. Not many worked because every friggin library in the distro was already old.

Then came the time I got an internet connection. Mandrake went into internet without a lot of trouble and I was happy about that. I was still bored in it because I couldn't listen to music or anything. I asked a relative to put windows XP on it (XP did work on the ancient thing) and when I got it back, there was WinXP. I used it happily, but somehow I had formed a liking for the way Linux (KDE and terminal) worked and for some reason I wanted to go back to linux. The call of Linux was too great for me and I ordered 3 CD mandrake 10 (didn't have a CD burner and they didn't cost that much anyway). I installed it on the laptop, but once again, sound was not working. I was pretty angry then, but I started alternating between windows and mandrakelinux. Eventually I discovered a little guide on the internet which had a step by step guide how to get sound working on my Thinkpad. It was a great breakthrough and enabled me to ditch Windows XP entirely.

My ubuntuing began when I got a new computer (well, new and new, an old Compaq server machine with 550 MHz P3 and 128 MB RAM, also bought a Sound Blaster AWE64 for it). Initially I installed mandrakelinux on it, because that was what I was used to. After using that for a while, sound stopped working for some inexplicable reason and even reinstalling the entire thing didn't get it working. I decided to try Ubuntu (had gotten a CD earlier, didn't like it much before because it didn't work well on my laptop) Hoary Hedgehog. This time around, it worked perfectly. Everything was great about it. Up-to-date libraries, huge amount of packages in the repositories, beautiful GNOME desktop, etc. From that day, I've used ubuntu on every computer I use linux on.

My story with Linux hasn't been easy. I've had lots of problems and not all of them have been resolved to this day, but I don't know where I would be without Linux.

[miceagol]

I've used Linux from day 1 at the university though (2002), so I got lots of Linux knowledge before I even started using it at home, but here's my story.

It took me 2.5 years after my introduction to Linux before I installed Suse 9 on my desktop. Unfortunately I used ages trying to get the sound to work properly, so I eventually gave up. Then 1 year later I got a free Ubuntu CD, and decided to try again, this time on my laptop. Almost everything worked out of the box, so I kept it installed. This made me decide to permanently switch to Ubuntu. :)

I didn't do the switch right away, though, because I was planning to buy a new desktop PC. It's one hell of a task to transfer all my enormous amounts of gigabytes to a new file system, so I figured I'd do the work on the new system instead. Thus Windows remained my main OS for the time being, but I installed a dual boot Ubuntu on my desktop for experimentation purposes.

Now the time has come, all the computer parts are on their way to my mail box and I'm doing a full migration this Tuesday. Can't wait to get rid of Windows! :D Though, because of gaming I have to keep a dual boot with Windows. But it will not be my main OS anymore, just for games. Period! ;)

[Seine]

My computer history goes Vic20, Commodore 16, Commodore 128, PC DOS (what? load "$",8,1 doesn't work?), Win95, 98 NT, 2000, XP, Ubuntu (yay).

I had tried RedHat around 2000 because I was interested to see if I could do this whole "lie-nuhks" thing. (OK, it's "lee-nuhks" I know that now ;) ). RedHat installed OK, but was complete rubbish for a newbie to configure. I could never get my modem working. After a few days I got my bubblejet printer drivers to work, but the fonts were too light for professional documents.

I first heard of Ubuntu on the JavaPossé podcast. I ignored this. I then read about it while browsing a Linux magazine ... and all at once I understood! I signed up for the free 6.06 CD. Then I couldn't wait for it to be delivered so I downloaded the ISO and installed from that.

I have been on Ubuntu now for maybe 5 months? I use it for everything. I'm still keeping windows XP dual booted for Justin Case. I'm glad to say I'll never use Vista.

Seine

[macogw]

I wanted to learn something new, so I loaded Ubuntu on my laptop as soon as I got it. I think I'll try to get a Windows refund. I switched my family from Windows to Ubuntu at Thanksgiving.

[Bezmotivnik]

What's your experience?
It's OK. Not great.

I'm using Ubuntu at the moment. It's on my lowest-rank office box, but I do 90%+ of my computing on my notebook. Ubuntu's lousy wireless support has progressively gotten worse for my "Linux supported" RT2500 notebook mini-PCI with the last two releases, so I don't have Ubuntu on the notebook. Ubuntu 6.06 (but not 6.10 for some reason) will handle a Zydas 1211* USB in stupid mode (wide open, no security), so now that I'm using the neighborhood open WiFi, I can finally access it with Linux on the desktop box.

Ubuntu works OK as far as it goes. I have about three times as much trouble with multimedia in Ubuntu as I do in XP, but it more or less works about half the time. I've fiddled with it as much as I feel I should have to, after which point I blow it off.

[Cue Rodney Dangerfield:]

"'Doctor,' I say! 'It hurts when I do this!' Doctor says, 'Then don't do that.'"

That's how most people deal with the move to Linux, I imagine.

Most of my serious office work is done on the XP Pro box because I have a lot of peripherals that probably would be a hassle to get to work with Ubuntu, though they, too, are "Linux supported" hardware. I see lots of trouble with them in the tech fora and I don't need the grief, plus my USB cables aren't long enough to reach the Ubuntu box. :rolleyes:

There are also the bits that Ubuntu doesn't even claim to support.

Firefox seems to work buggier in Linux than in XP, but I manage. Likewise Thunderbird.

So...to answer the question, I'm right back where I started with Ubuntu in 5.04, or whatever it was -- using it for screwing around on the internet and not much else. If wireless ever gets into the twenty-first century, I may do a dual boot on the notebook, or not. We'll see.

I like Ubuntu kinda, but I don't want to marry it. Doesn't matter, it's just an OS.

[SamBessey]

I would say bot XP Pro and Ubutu are great OS's in their own right.... XP was rock stable for me for the 4 years I used it, but I just got fed up of M$ anti- piracy stuff, spyware, virii, adware, etc, etc... so about a week ago I just formatted my XP parition and stuck Ubuntu on.

This is my first go at Linux, and I managed to get Beryl and my ATI card working within a day and managed to port a few apps from KDE to run in Gnome without too much bother so it's been smooth sailing for me and I don't think I'll be going back to XP :)

My work lappy runs it anyway so I'm not 100% *******-free but my job is all based around Solaris so I guess exposure to Ubuntu can only be a good thing :)

Also my printer isn't 100% under Ubuntu, so I still need to retain some element of M$. :(

[x1a4]

Moved to a more appropriate forum

I apologize for posting in the wrong forum. I will be more careful in the future.