Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
This all started back in high school. We had a computer lab there, but we used to learn more theory rather than practical. My computer enthusiasm didn’t let me sit idly in the school lab. I made my way to a private computer training center to learn all about word processing, spreadsheets, image editing, and a secretive method to communicate with people abroad. Even my teachers didn’t know what the world wide web was back in 2003.
I Want Genuine Software Only
My first home computer arrived in 2007 when I had already headed to college. It was my first semester, and I was having my meal at the dormitory canteen; my father made a phone call and told me that he bought a computer for the family to use. I was not only delighted to hear that, but also rocking and rolling to have a computer at home.
After mid-term exams, I returned home to see my first-ever personal computer. I used a laptop before but I won’t call it the first PC for various reasons. I had it for only 2 months, and due to weak hardware, it was unable to run pre-installed Windows 98. This time too, I didn’t have time to play with the new PC. My father was telling me the wonders of the Windows XP. I couldn’t do anything except listen and grin somewhere in my heart. My father vacated the seat and said out loud, “There you go computer champ”.
After a while, I pulled a CD out of my collection and inserted it into the CD ROM. My father said, “it must be a new game and you ain’t gonna be a rock-solid engineer”. Well, I am still not a rock-solid one though. I could only smile that time. I turned off the computer and restarted it. I booted from the CD and voila. There was a live operating system running.
My father claimed that the operating system looked nice, but not so intuitive. He asked me how much money I wasted on this CD. I told him, it is free and open-source, friends from abroad sent it to me last year. My father said Windows is also free. Free for us at least. I replied, “It’s pirated; I want genuine software only”. Everything in this disc, each piece of software, and this disk too, is free of cost for human beings. Pa, try it.
For the First Time, Nothing Works
That day, everybody at home tried Ubuntu 6.06.1 LTS for the first time. I did not install it as it was not the option that day. The pirated Windows won. The story did not end there. When I finished my first semester, I returned home having great ambitions. At college, I learned about dual-booting. A teacher did not teach me that. I learned how to dual-boot Linux alongside manuals, online, and books at the library. In the evening, I used to go to visit the university's digital library. It helped me a lot. I dual-booted Ubuntu and played a lot. I saw the OGG audio format for the very first time. The disk already had a few images and a video of an African person. I don’t remember him anymore. I got my first laptop in 2010 with Windows XP pre-installed. That day, I killed Windows forever for personal use. We had to run Windows in the lab during college. There was no option as Ubuntu Linux software was limited. Since then, neither could I get back to Windows nor have I ever convinced my father to use Linux. The family computer runs Linux Mint these days. My younger brother’s laptop also runs Linux Mint. I am accustomed to Ubuntu and currently using the 22.04 LTS version. I did some distro-hopping as well, but nothing compared to Ubuntu. My second priority is always an Ubuntu or Debian based distribution for testing and professional purposes.
Few distros work the same way Ubuntu has taken the Linux approach. Ubuntu Linux is an operating system for the masses. When I run a different distro and stumble upon a new problem, I find a solution on the Ubuntu forums already published instead of that distribution’s forum. Sometimes I wonder what kind of fate Linux would have if there was no Ubuntu at all. Ubuntu worked, and it nourished my career in systems and engineering.
How did I get the CD?
That’s something I should have told you earlier, shouldn’t I? In 2003, my course at the private computer training center did not include web and email or even programming. As the use of the Internet was tied to charges, I had to collect my pocket money for four days to buy one hour of the Internet. It used to cost me about $0.30 USD an hour. This opened a new world for me. I began to chat over IRC networks, and click on advertisements to fill out dozens of forms for free stuff. This continued for many years to come. I don’t remember when I reached the Ubuntu website and ordered my CD in 2006. It arrived in late 2006 as far as I can recall. It was a brown envelope, stamped from abroad, but redistributed by a local agency.
I tried to find a computer to run Ubuntu, but I got no opportunity. My college exams were closer at the time, so no friend wanted to get along on a new adventure that could destroy their running Windows PC. The private computer training center had closed already. I could only keep the CD in my collection, but I was sure of one thing. This disk had genuine software, and I wanted genuine software only to run on my computer because $1 USD Windows OS CDs never looked genuine to me, even if they had keys included.