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A little bit of a rambling on, but I am quite proud to be featured again in Full Circle Magazine!

The Wizard's Road To Linux

My Experience with Ubuntu

I was always a die-hard Windows fan.

It started with Windows 3.1 – I was amazed at what I could draw (cartoons) with MS Paint. My son was 3 years old when I introduced him to computers using a custom desktop program called Kid Desk. It was a way to introduce him to working with computers while keeping my install safe from him. Windows 3.1 used I think 3 diskettes, but even a video resolution change could destroy the installation. That would require me to install DOS first (6 floppies, I think).

I went into Windows 95 and remember it didn’t come with a mail program. Most people were using a different version, that included Outlook Express, but I couldn’t afford that. I tried to download it via 56K modem, which only succeeded in large charges for my phone bill – lived out of town, so the ISP was long distance. I remember the dawn of the world wide web. I went to a site, (using Quarterdeck Mosaic as my browser, and literally screamed when I saw an image of the Canadian Flag on my screen. It was the first image I had ever seen on the net!

I finally bought Windows 98 and was blown away by the OS. Cost was ~$200. Comparing to Windows 95, it was positively elegant. I kept Windows 98, skipped the SE version. The next upgrade was to Windows Me. I paid around $200 again. The icons were rendered better, I don’t remember if there was any other differences, so there probably weren’t.

I waited in line for the next release, Windows XP. I had heard how much better this OS was over Me. I used XP until Vista came out, and yes, I was Microsoft blind and bout that for around $250. It was horrible! All my old programs failed to run, and I was forced to buy another version of MS Office at around $400. This was SERIOUS money.

But I wasn’t fazed, as soon as Windows 7 came out I plunked down @250 and installed it. Everything worked! I used Windows 7 until I decided that I’d spent enough cash on Microsoft products. I had heard about Linux before, but dismissed it, thinking I wasn’t computer savvy enough to use it. A friend mentioned Ubuntu. He showed me his laptop and I was intrigued. He wasn’t a computer geek, like me and he was using this beautiful OS!

And it was FREE!!

I heard thru the grapevine that Windows 8 was coming out. I was unsure whether I would get the upgrade

I stayed with Windows 7 on my main machine and downloaded and ran Puppy Linux on my laptop. I was visiting my dad’s and he was having troubles with Windows 7 so he had upgraded to Windows 8. He was having significant issues with some of his old apps which failed to work. I managed to get all but one working after several long, frustrating hours. It was then I decided to never purchase another OS again.

I made the jump to Ubuntu on my main machine with Karmic Koala as that was the only CD I had. I later upgraded (fresh install) of Lucid Lynx (2010) , and have never looked back since.

The Wizard's Ubuntu desktop

I am currently on release 16.04, Xenial Xerus. I look forward to many more years with Linux, specifically Ubuntu. I am disappointed with discontinuation of support of 32 bit systems. Perhaps I will buy a new PC when this LTS runs out of support. But for now, Long Live Linux! Long Live Ubuntu!

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