The transition is nearing completion
Posted 02-28-2006 at 07:51 PM by Khepri
I do believe this will be the final push toward becoming a full fledged Linux user.
By that I mean Linux is my first boot choice.
I learned DOS way back on an 8086XT box...3.3 I think it was....It was an old bx then! The 386's were rolling out by that time, but I was weaning off my Tandy Coco2 for Color TV!..Woohoo!...LOL
Anyway, the point being that I'm comfortable on the commndline. I find shell scripting to be akin to creating batch files in DOS but much more powerful.
What spurred this latest push was a conversation on a Yahoogroup (I think it was) in which the thread was about DRM and everyone voicing their opinion on it. Someone said something to the effect, "You think it's bad now, wait till you see what Microsoft and Intel have planned for you! You video card, your soundcard, motherboard, will have to get permission from the OS to play a video or mp3. The willl be in near full control of YOUR box.
Bloody hell! That does it! That's one step too far. (Even though it is the norm these days what with homeowner associations and whanot).
That is MY machine and is MY property and if I want to rip a song of a CD that I have purchased, tear it apart, rearrange it, and insert fart noises in it, that is my perogative!
Being that it is MY property and I ghave the right to bear arms......well.....
So it's headlong into FOSS for me, for good. And I actually know I will sicceed this time as I have the same feeling and determination about doing it as when I QUIT SMOKING 10 years ago.
Back to the commandline thing...I saw in someones tagline here "LINUX: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition (Version 1.0.0) - Paul Sheer"
I have to say that this work has been the single biggest help in getting ove rthe addiction that I have run across...I no longer am in the dark so to speak about what a pipe is, grep, cat, basic shell script, what is usually in all those directories...but MOST IMPOTANTLY....I knew Linux (Unix) was a multi-user system from the ground up. And basically, until recently, Windows has been an end-user type desktop putting aside NT...most people have used the OS on their home systems....Linux can be overwhelming when trying to move from such an isolated envirnment as Windows Desktop to a Desktop that rides on such a powerful multi-user system...I can be daunting, even totally discouraging trying to figure out exactly *what* is suppose to be going on....
In fact when I first tried to switch I went straight into either Gnome or KDE and *never did* get used to the interface...root user what? Compile what hwere? Conflicting dependencies, I'm supposed to do what to fix that? Where is the commnadline interace? I guess they mean the terminal...
Asking for help isn't really much help...usually you get an answer something to the effect of..."Well, all you have to do is grep this and pipe it to that but because it's going through stdout you have to use a -e argument, blah, blah, blah..." You lost me at grep! Please before you try to help someone try to determine their skill level...and point then to Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition....:)
There's also a great Linux absolute beginners tutorial at University Linux here: http://www.documatrix-usa.com/
Another huge help running on top of an old environment I was previously familiar with....
I can't imagine the difficulty posed to people who never knew does!
Another help was recalling the difficulty that I sometimes encountered trying to install software back in the DOS 5.0 days and trying to configure sound cards, video cards, modems, and printers...once i remembered that...Linux was as bad as I was thinking as far as learning curves go...if anything it's easier than that was!
Anyway, I'm now spending 95% of my uptime in Linux and getting more and more comfortable everyday. A certain familairity in setting in, but I realized that it is particular to this OS (Debian), but it's a start. I suspect in a year or so, people will be asking me for advise and howto's..it happened before...:)
So, here's my prediction for Linux....this DRM is going to drive people to Linux in droves once it fully hits. They are NOT going to like Big Brother in the box. Will Linux desktop be user friendly enough by then? They may not have a choice with Apple going MacTel...DRM is going to be there also.
I think Dell knows this too....and they have positiobned themselves accordingly....waiting.
By that I mean Linux is my first boot choice.
I learned DOS way back on an 8086XT box...3.3 I think it was....It was an old bx then! The 386's were rolling out by that time, but I was weaning off my Tandy Coco2 for Color TV!..Woohoo!...LOL
Anyway, the point being that I'm comfortable on the commndline. I find shell scripting to be akin to creating batch files in DOS but much more powerful.
What spurred this latest push was a conversation on a Yahoogroup (I think it was) in which the thread was about DRM and everyone voicing their opinion on it. Someone said something to the effect, "You think it's bad now, wait till you see what Microsoft and Intel have planned for you! You video card, your soundcard, motherboard, will have to get permission from the OS to play a video or mp3. The willl be in near full control of YOUR box.
Bloody hell! That does it! That's one step too far. (Even though it is the norm these days what with homeowner associations and whanot).
That is MY machine and is MY property and if I want to rip a song of a CD that I have purchased, tear it apart, rearrange it, and insert fart noises in it, that is my perogative!
Being that it is MY property and I ghave the right to bear arms......well.....
So it's headlong into FOSS for me, for good. And I actually know I will sicceed this time as I have the same feeling and determination about doing it as when I QUIT SMOKING 10 years ago.
Back to the commandline thing...I saw in someones tagline here "LINUX: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition (Version 1.0.0) - Paul Sheer"
I have to say that this work has been the single biggest help in getting ove rthe addiction that I have run across...I no longer am in the dark so to speak about what a pipe is, grep, cat, basic shell script, what is usually in all those directories...but MOST IMPOTANTLY....I knew Linux (Unix) was a multi-user system from the ground up. And basically, until recently, Windows has been an end-user type desktop putting aside NT...most people have used the OS on their home systems....Linux can be overwhelming when trying to move from such an isolated envirnment as Windows Desktop to a Desktop that rides on such a powerful multi-user system...I can be daunting, even totally discouraging trying to figure out exactly *what* is suppose to be going on....
In fact when I first tried to switch I went straight into either Gnome or KDE and *never did* get used to the interface...root user what? Compile what hwere? Conflicting dependencies, I'm supposed to do what to fix that? Where is the commnadline interace? I guess they mean the terminal...
Asking for help isn't really much help...usually you get an answer something to the effect of..."Well, all you have to do is grep this and pipe it to that but because it's going through stdout you have to use a -e argument, blah, blah, blah..." You lost me at grep! Please before you try to help someone try to determine their skill level...and point then to Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition....:)
There's also a great Linux absolute beginners tutorial at University Linux here: http://www.documatrix-usa.com/
Another huge help running on top of an old environment I was previously familiar with....
I can't imagine the difficulty posed to people who never knew does!
Another help was recalling the difficulty that I sometimes encountered trying to install software back in the DOS 5.0 days and trying to configure sound cards, video cards, modems, and printers...once i remembered that...Linux was as bad as I was thinking as far as learning curves go...if anything it's easier than that was!
Anyway, I'm now spending 95% of my uptime in Linux and getting more and more comfortable everyday. A certain familairity in setting in, but I realized that it is particular to this OS (Debian), but it's a start. I suspect in a year or so, people will be asking me for advise and howto's..it happened before...:)
So, here's my prediction for Linux....this DRM is going to drive people to Linux in droves once it fully hits. They are NOT going to like Big Brother in the box. Will Linux desktop be user friendly enough by then? They may not have a choice with Apple going MacTel...DRM is going to be there also.
I think Dell knows this too....and they have positiobned themselves accordingly....waiting.
