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In 1999, I was working as a technician, maintaining laboratory equipment. One day, a colleague, who had been working with me for a few months, knocked on my door and asked me if he could tell me something. I said that he could, and he then told me a story about free software that was available to all who wanted it. He told me that this software was known as Linux and he gave me details of what he had learned about the command-line.
Time went by, and I wondered about this free software. I also wondered about how I could get it for myself. In those days, I was using Windows 95, running on an old Pentium that had been handed down to me by the IT people. It was much better than my old 486 that had been running Windows 3.1, but I was still looking for something that would not be so expensive. I was making use of some open source software, but, after hearing what my colleague had to say, I wanted something that would cost little-to-nothing. I had tried out “Star Office” at home and, when it became “Open Office,” I downloaded and installed it on my Windows 95 system.
One day, my colleague came to me with a CD in hand. He said that it was a copy of “Red Hat”, and I could borrow it if I wanted to and he would lend me the book that came with it. I think it was an idiot's guide to Red Hat, or something in that vein.
I took the CD home to install Red Hat on my home computer. After putting the CD into the drive, I floundered around trying to find an install file. I did not realise that I had to boot the CD to get the installation going. Eventually, with the help of my youngest son, I got Red Hat installed alongside Windows XP. I tried some of the programs, but I didn't really know what I was doing. Eventually, I stopped using Red Hat and reluctantly went back to using Windows XP.
As time passed, my colleague taught me more about Linux and how to get it going. He told me about “Debian,” explaining that he preferred it to Red Hat, but was not able to get hold of a copy for himself. These were the days when our home internet was connected through telephone lines, and modems communicated at 56 kilobits/sec. None of us had cell phones then.
In the meantime, I was becoming more familiar with Linux through Googling my queries. Although it had taken some time, I learned that I could “Google the problem” as someone so aptly put it. I also found out that I was able to download Linux from a server provided by the IT people. There was someone who had an interest in Linux and had set up a server with different distributions of Linux available for download.
Remembering what my colleague had said, I downloaded Debian, made up a CD and installed it on my home computer alongside XP. Once again, I looked at the programs that were available and, once again, stopped using it because I was not sure of what I was doing.
Then came 2004. I was working for a different company, I was still in touch with my colleague who was now part of the IT staff, and my youngest son was working for a company a few kilometres from where I was based. Mark Shuttleworth had released “Ubuntu” and I was able to get a copy of the CD which came to me by post. I should have said ‘CDs’. There were two CDs, an “ubuntu live cd” and an “ubuntu install cd.” I tried out the live CD on my computer at work and, apart from a small graphics problem, got a reasonable response from Ubuntu. What made me interested in Ubuntu was that it was based on Debian. I had been interested in Debian since that day my colleague had mentioned it to me.
At home, Ubuntu worked well and I was becoming hooked. Then something happened that was to change my outlook on the computing scene in general. At work, I was a Windows XP user with Vista starting to appear on some of my colleagues’ machines. At home, I was using a pirated version of XP. I was not happy with this setup and was considering changing over to Ubuntu only. Then, one morning, I booted XP and, without my permission, it started doing a disk check. This was on my precious, all-of-eight-gig, hard drive. I was furious and stopped the disk check. I found that many of my files had been turned into something quite unrecognisable by Windows, but Ubuntu could see what they were and I was able to recover the important files. At that point, without investigating any further, I decided Windows must go and Linux, in the form of Ubuntu, was here to stay.
I could say that that was where all my problems started. My familiarity with Windows had kept me using Windows-based software which was not available in Linux. I decided to stick it out. For a couple of years I did not make much progress with my home computer but I was learning more about Linux at work. I was allowed to have Windows and Ubuntu installed on my work machine, and my colleague helped me set up the email client. When I wanted to install software on my Ubuntu partition, my youngest son set up my machine, from his office, to allow me to use “Synaptic.” By that time, he was an Ubuntu user and was known at work as “Linux Boy.”
Being allowed to use Ubuntu on my work machine made a huge difference to me learning Linux. I was able to spend time finding out about partitioning drives, installing software, and installing new versions of Ubuntu. I went through many of the versions from “Warty Warthog” to “Bionic Beaver.” There were times when I was frustrated and despondent but, most times I learned much and thoroughly enjoyed the Ubuntu experience. I even managed to get three friends going with one or other versions of Linux to replace Windows on their home machines. I eventually retired from work with Bionic Beaver installed on my home machine.
From time to time, in my working days, I would have a look over Debian. I was thinking of my colleague's words, and I really wanted to become a Debian user. About seven months ago, I took the plunge and installed Debian on my home machine. Remembering my experiences with Ubuntu, I set up the software that I wanted to use. There are times when I run into the odd permissions problem, but, all in all, Debian does it for me. Of all the programs that I use, two were written to run under Windows. I now run them under “WINE.” It has taken me just over two decades to reach the point where I can use Debian with confidence. Those years, apart from minor frustration, were marked with much learning. I also realise that there is still much more to learn. Using Debian has opened a huge door for me despite the fact that I decided to permanently close Windows.