Found my way back

**Mike54** · October 11th, 2009

I just wanted to take the opportunity to re-introduce myself. <waving at everyone from Lafayette>

I discovered Ubuntu back in the days of Feisty. Being unsure of myself, I went with a Wubi install on a Dell XPS-410 and really liked how things turned out. It wasn't exactly a walk in the park to get things working, but once they were, they worked well. So when Gutsy was released, I went with a full install on a second PC, a Sony. That one fought me even more, but I got it all working. I finally bit the bullet and did a full Gutsy install on the Dell as well.

But there were a couple pieces of Windows software I really missed (yeah, yeah, I know) and I ended up going back to XP and a Wubi install on the Dell.

A couple years back, I bought an aluminum iMac and just never could get comfortable with it. I installed Snow Leopard on it and didn't feel much better about it.

As I was thinking about operating systems, I decided to look back into Ubuntu. And when I ran the Jaunty LiveCD, I realized it was time to get serious about it. I set up a dual-boot (it even worked!) on the Dell about a week ago and I've been smiling ever since. A couple days later, the iMac was set up with a dual-boot. It is making me read and study a bit. I got the sound working, but it sounds like a bent, penny whistle. And Airport doesn't want to work. But I'm not giving up, because those problems aside, I am suddenly loving my iMac.

Yesterday, the Sony was wiped and Jaunty was installed. Painlessly, no less.

And today, I decided to step off the ledge and upgraded the Dell from Jaunty to Karmic. Without a hitch, I might add. Karmic is pretty slick. It booted slowly, but I can live with that. Who needs to re-boot anyway, right?

I remember reading something that said one way for the elderly to stave off memory problems is to keep exercising the brain. I'm only 55, but I want to be sharp as a whip in my later years. So my return to Ubuntu is helping me exercise my gray matter.

My first computer was a VIC-20, back in early '81. I've used a lot of computers with various operating systems since then. But I was always the guy that bought one, brought it home, plugged it in and used it. Maybe it's time for this old dog to learn some tricks I should have learned years ago.

I joined the LoCo Team in the hopes of being able to learn as much as I can. I hope to learn enough to help other community members the way I've been helped. I look forward to meeting all of you. I promise I'm here to stay, this time around.