Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Like many other people, I had my first experience with Linux completely by chance. It was in 2005.
I was in the military at the time, working on an airbase in the freight section, because I’d been detached from my usual unit for three months.
Some colleagues and I talked often about computers when we had a free moment with not too many loads to prepare: how to “boost” Windows XP, the little things that would allow you to customize it, the joys of its crashes, and so forth… Until a member of the Air Force personnel came up to us and said, “Tomorrow, I’ll bring you something that will floor you!…”. And then he left, leaving us there full of questions and with our insatiable curiosity!
The next day, he showed us a CD in his hand and said, “If you’ve never seen a Live OS, be ready to be flabbergasted…” and he put the CD in a computer, but turned off the computer!… Because I didn’t understand, I asked him what he was doing and he answered, “it’s now that the magic begins!!” And he restarted the machine.
Then, in front of our eyes, there were lines and lines of writing in a language that I would call “gobbledygook”, when suddenly, Kaella Knoppix, version 2, appeared. He gave us the details and then demonstrated the Linux OS to us.
We were well and truly flabbergasted!!!
That simple CD could make a computer work, came with all the necessary software, and was free… It WAS almost magic! With Windows you had to buy (or pirate…) all the software you needed to do things. But, the CD came with everything and everything worked!
I had found that experience very cool and, every time I could, I put the CD in and had fun discovering it all. But my father’s death, which occurred only a short time afterwards, put an end to my stint on the airbase, as well as to my Linux experience. And I went home, carrying with me a copy of the operating system that I had just discovered.
But I admit to having forgotten Linux a bit. I went back to my laptop with XP… A year and a half later, I learned that, when they were renewed, most of the computers of the unit would be delivered with a customized version of Ubuntu 8.04, created by the computer department, instead of Windows. The administrative services weren’t too happy when they learned that, because the personnel would be forced to think about things and that’s something that can be quite difficult! Their habits and reflexes would be shaken up in front of the screen.
Then, suddenly, the name of Linux reminded me of something!!!
Because I was curious to see what this Linux, which would soon destroy our certainties, looked like, I found myself in the act of downloading Ubuntu 7.04, because it was the version that had just come out. I burned it to a CD (yes indeed, a CD – it was less than 700 Mb!) and there it was, opening on my laptop.
That operating system truly thrilled me. Since I wanted to test it for real, I bought a hard drive and took out the one with Windows on it so I could install Ubuntu. Finally, after several months, when I was really tired of exchanging hard drives, and also because I wanted to keep Windows for games, I decided to do a dual-boot install with my XP, in spite of a few little persisting problems (especially with the WiFi).
Unfortunately, the laptop broke down rather quickly (the operating system wasn’t at fault, it was a problem with power to the motherboard…) and I took advantage of that to buy a Sony Vaio VGN-NR38E. As soon as I’d bought it, along with a license for Windows, I took out the original hard drive and left it on a shelf to wait for the warranty to expire. (Later, after I got rid of Windows, it helped me test various systems.) I replaced that hard drive with one on which I installed my favorite OS. Everything worked except for the Sony memory stick reader, and the diode of the WiFi, neither of which was handled, so it was nothing serious.
I installed each of the LTS versions as they came out, one after the other, and I tested the intermediate systems with DVDs. I also tried loads of Linux distros, from Arch, through Debian, and even to ToutouLinux.
Doing so, just for the fun of it, I got a bit of experience in installing operating systems, without knowing that, a few months later, my work would be completely upset. Of course, in a career, and, what’s more, a career in the military, changes are frequent (transfers, changing services or orientation…). I certainly didn’t think that my fun would be good for me professionally, and yet I found myself working in one of the services where the computer is king: the secretariat of my unit!
It was in 2009 that the first computers with Ubuntu (version 8.04) arrived and were made available for everyone. There I was, working on a system which I already knew well, contrarily to my comrades… I was in for a bad disappointment, however: the version used in my work, that had been adjusted by the house programmers, while it worked correctly, had been overly restricted. It gave Linux a false image: slow, freezing every so often, taking tons of time to open documents or the email, etc. Both the hardware and the system were at fault.
My colleagues complained bitterly about the system; they were certainly getting a bad idea of Ubuntu. Being a firm believer in Linux, I was forced to fight to convince them that the “civilian” version was much more powerful. I would use my personal computer to show them everything you could do with it and prove that they didn’t need a proprietary system that cost a fortune. And, when I heard somebody say something like “Sometimes it breaks down or no longer does what I want it to,” my favorite answer was that they might well complain about a system they’d paid for and that wasn’t working well (you know exactly what I was referring to…), but they had no right to complain about something that was totally free! My reasoning was foolproof!
And so, for a few years, shortly after a new official LTS version came out, we were given our “house adjusted” version. The last one I got was the 18.04, because, afterwards, my military career came to an end.
Throughout that time, I tried to give people a maximum of knowledge of that system (Ubuntu) and show that it offers everything that one expects from an OS, with everything necessary already installed, functional, easy and, especially, free. My Sony died in 2015 and I bought the next machine (that is still in use) without an operating system, so that I wouldn’t have to pay for a proprietary system that I wouldn’t use (I no longer play games on the computer…). It has Ubuntu on it and nothing in the world would make me change that…
I must admit that, in spite of everything, sometimes it’s necessary to have a proprietary system, if only for the updates of things like the GPS or the systems installed in our cars. For that, I borrow the laptop with Windows 10 that my daughter got from her high school and Bob’s your uncle!!
Although, from time to time, you still have to “look under the hood”, Linux, and particularly Ubuntu, are becoming more and more reliable and powerful. I say that because, after all, one can be disoriented at times. The proof is that only Linux Mint, Zorin or MX Linux 21 can make my Brother multifunction laser color printer work, but neither Ubuntu nor Debian. After different tests, when the printer or the scanner wouldn’t work, I changed the OS. I didn’t try to dig for reasons why that machine is not correctly installed, it’s simpler (and more fun) to discover another OS and test the printer with that.
That’s why I have Mint 20.3 on my desktop machine and it suits me fine… Maybe the next version of Ubuntu will be able to handle my printer… I can’t wait to try it!