Well that little tag at the top of the screen seemed to want me to introduce myself haha.
I really wanted to spend my time reading old threads and getting lots of decent info so I could set up a computer with Linux or Free BSD... Probably both.
When I stated that I didn't intend to post, it was due mostly to my lack of knowledge regarding Linux, not due to being antisocial.
So what can I say to make this post have some vague interest to people?
I have spent most of my life using Windows, and I was put-off Linux by people who had never used it, and yet seemed to think it was the worst thing the world had ever spawned. The same thing happened with Mac OS.X when a friend claimed how awful it was, but failed to state that the last time he has used it was 4 years ago, and that he had no idea what the new Mac computers were like. Because of all this bad info I stuck with Windows and didn't give other operating systems another thought.
I actually quite like Windows - when it works, I really like it. I'm not an anti-Windows person really and after reading "In The Beginning Was The Command Line" I do believe that Microsoft has given a great helping-hand to Linux by constantly insisting on newer hardware with each updated version of their OS, thus leaving a gaping wide hole for people who want to run something decent on dated hardware.
The only thing about Windows that always gave me pause was the feeling that I was only getting half of the computer experience - I mean sure everything was working, but I always felt as if something was missing... I guess I felt like a computer bystander rather than a computer user. It was mostly things like not being able to customise my computer, and too be honest, not really having a clue how Windows itself worked despite using it every day. Despite all this, I was still under the belief that Linux wasn't very good, that it was very hard to use, and was all text based - what a pity, I wasted a lot of time believing such junk.
A few months back a friend of mine told me how he had acquired several Silicon Graphics Octane machines, and that he had enough to give me one for free! So I decided to try it out and see what it was like. My first reaction was "Oh my god, this isn't Windows!" and I swear, I actually miss-trusted it a bit. After using this cool machine for a while now, I am in love - it does many of my day-to-day tasks and there is something totally cool about it. The operating system used on this machine is IRIX - a branch of UNIX used by Silicon Graphics providing a very usable, and IMHO pretty GUI, *but* when you wanted serious power, the UNIX shell is there ready to kick butt.
Now I love my Octane to bits, but I have to accept that there are certain things it simply cannot do. Things such as USB, games (Yes, I do quite enjoy NWN and RPG games hehe)and a few other things which are small, but I do rely on these for several important things.
So I was a bit sad to learn that my wonder machine couldn't do everything, but it was around this time that I sat down and had a look through the Linux documentation. This wasn't *exactly* UNIX, but it had the same kind of feel to it, and worked in a similar way. The more I read about Linux and *BSD, the more I simply loved the idea. I had experience with IRIX and this seemed to be a really good learning extension.
So here I am - a UNIX lover, but a Linux newbie. I think I should be able to fit right in with Linux or BSD. I have the install discs and should have access to a 'I don't care if it does blow up' old PC that I will be able to install BSD and Linux on to, within the next few days.
So thank you for reading my introduction, and I apologise for writing so much and not getting straight to the point.
Thanks again for reading,
Ben.
P.S: I don't seem to be able to post a link to the above mentioned article on my first post, so I will include it as a second post - I'm not intentionally double posting!!!