Slacking off
I started using Gnu/Linux operating systems by getting someone to help me load Ubuntu as a dual boot on my regular home pc. So thats how I started out and it all looked to exciting and new with a brown orientated desktop and a layout so different from the XP desktop that had become so predictable.
The problem that I did encounter was that trying anything more than the basic funtions of a pc was a bit more complicated than I was accustomed to. For instance, installing a new application was not any more difficult but the process was quite different. Different packages for each distro. As long as I could get used to a different system of installing applications all was well. It was actually very easy once I got used to that. Well, to a degree. Sometimes an application still had to be configured in some way.
Take wvdial for instance. It was one thing to install application. And another thing to get it up and running. Then I bought a new pc. Brought it home and tried to install a new version of Ubuntu. No luck. I tried again, over and over. It just got stuck and 'hung' part way through. This was the end of the line. I thought.
So I bought a magazine with a free dvd full of distros and other goodies. I managed to install a few distros and tried them out. But now I was becomming a little particular. Many of the distros I tried did not install. More than one of them installed, and then for some reason would not boot up afterwards. Later I found out that Ubuntu at that time would not install onto a 64 bit machine. I had a disk with a version of Slackware. The write up inside warned that this was NOT recommended for beginners. So it was put to one side and not used.
Then in desperation one day I picked it up and stuck it into the drive. Half an hour later after making a few intrepid choices I was sitting with a new version of Gnu/Linux of the Slackware variety. I changed to the XFCE desktop and it felt good. I have stayed with Slackware ever since because I began to realise that using the smooth sailing versions like Ubuntu, one began to depend so much on the "point and click" system that I was not really learning very much about how Gnu/Linux worked. I have also used Zenwalk quite a lot and it appears to as basically a Slackware system with slightly pared down modifications. Specifically it is a much smaller file to download a new version. Now I know I can go and find a Freedom Toaster and write a new dvd with a new version of Slackware, but so often they are out of order, and I can sit right here on my bum and watch Zenwalk download in about two and a half hours flat.
Well, that was back in the day. wvdial is something of the past. Downloading is much faster. I moved on to Salix.
The problem that I did encounter was that trying anything more than the basic funtions of a pc was a bit more complicated than I was accustomed to. For instance, installing a new application was not any more difficult but the process was quite different. Different packages for each distro. As long as I could get used to a different system of installing applications all was well. It was actually very easy once I got used to that. Well, to a degree. Sometimes an application still had to be configured in some way.
Take wvdial for instance. It was one thing to install application. And another thing to get it up and running. Then I bought a new pc. Brought it home and tried to install a new version of Ubuntu. No luck. I tried again, over and over. It just got stuck and 'hung' part way through. This was the end of the line. I thought.
So I bought a magazine with a free dvd full of distros and other goodies. I managed to install a few distros and tried them out. But now I was becomming a little particular. Many of the distros I tried did not install. More than one of them installed, and then for some reason would not boot up afterwards. Later I found out that Ubuntu at that time would not install onto a 64 bit machine. I had a disk with a version of Slackware. The write up inside warned that this was NOT recommended for beginners. So it was put to one side and not used.
Then in desperation one day I picked it up and stuck it into the drive. Half an hour later after making a few intrepid choices I was sitting with a new version of Gnu/Linux of the Slackware variety. I changed to the XFCE desktop and it felt good. I have stayed with Slackware ever since because I began to realise that using the smooth sailing versions like Ubuntu, one began to depend so much on the "point and click" system that I was not really learning very much about how Gnu/Linux worked. I have also used Zenwalk quite a lot and it appears to as basically a Slackware system with slightly pared down modifications. Specifically it is a much smaller file to download a new version. Now I know I can go and find a Freedom Toaster and write a new dvd with a new version of Slackware, but so often they are out of order, and I can sit right here on my bum and watch Zenwalk download in about two and a half hours flat.
Well, that was back in the day. wvdial is something of the past. Downloading is much faster. I moved on to Salix.
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