Made the Switch
A few days ago I posted that I would be making the switch to a totally open source system (OS included) by months end. Well….my first ever windows virus in ten years made Christmas come early. I moved over to Fedora Core 2 on Tuesday and have been using it since as my only working machine. Overall I can’t say it’s been a painless experience. My wifi card still does not work, I still feel somewhat overwhelmed, and I’ve been exposed to some of the worst geek/Linux humour I’ve ever heard. All of that being said, I’m going to stick with it.
Here are some one liner thoughts I’ve had through the process:
- Windows benefits from having a million moms using their OS. Linux benefits from having a million geeks use it.
- My brain was wired to use multiple workspaces.
- My brain was not wired to use multiple users.
- Being Root in Linux is powerful, scarily so.
- Gaim on linux is the best instant messaging program i’ve ever used.
- Nothing about the command line is intuitive.
- The command line is all its cracked up to be.
- Fedora Core 2 is a kick-ass name. They should sue whoever made the movie “The Core” for tarnishing the coolness.
- Thunderbird for Linux also rocks.
- Firefox, best web browser. Period.
- Plug and play for FC2 is only halfway there (the plug half).
- Linux will win the Windows vs. Linux war.
- Having the current outside temperature on my launchbar has affected me somehow.
- Clicking on a RedHat to get to your programs, settings, etc is just stupid.
- Having the text of a file show up in its icon is fantastic.
Stay tuned for more thoughts, rambles, and Linux jokes.
Replies to Dan James’s post: Made the Switch
Taylor [3:18 AM June 12, 2004]
I too couldn't get my WiFi card working when I partitioned my drive for Linux a little while ago. A post about this would be helpful.
Dan James [11:59 AM June 12, 2004]
Taylor, we're still working on it. Once we get it figured out I'll make a post with what was/is going on and how to go about fixing it.
Charlie [4:32 PM June 12, 2004]
Isn't the problem that 1 million geeks are working on Linux while 200 million moms and dads still don't really grasp windows and are too fearful to install a tax package on an OS they've been using for 10 years, let alone make a switch to a completely foreign one? If you still feel somewhat overwhelmed imagine how they would feel...
Taylor [6:02 PM June 12, 2004]
Thanks, Dan. A silverorange "Guide to Switching" would temp a lot of people to lose Windows, I think.
Rob [9:49 PM June 12, 2004]
Maybe I just don't understand it, but I'm not a big fan on the T-Bird. I didn't like how it treated each of my mail servers like a whole different thing, and how it didn't do my calendar (I got no love from the calendar plug-in and I wasn't in a geeky mood). If that's the reason you haven't switched, then go grab Ximian's Evolution instead.
Dave [4:57 PM June 20, 2004]
Dan,
What brand of wireless card? I may be able to help.
Dave
Dan James [12:22 AM June 21, 2004]
Hey Dave,
Thanks so much for the offer, fortunately for me you're too late :-). For the record it's a cisco aironet card. Nathan, a fellow slice, was able get it going. I'll get more details from him and post more details about the fix later on. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for the offer, fortunately for me you're too late :-). For the record it's a cisco aironet card. Nathan, a fellow slice, was able get it going. I'll get more details from him and post more details about the fix later on. Thanks again!