My Success Story So Far: Six Months on Pure Linux | MBHoy.com
Description: Today, Thursday 22nd Feburary marks six months from the day I formatted my hard drive, and left myself with pure linux. It was a GRUB ...
Keywords: Personal,Ubuntu/Linux,ubuntu, linux, success, story, amarok, gnome, kde, mbhoy, matt, dapper, feisty, edgy

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Posts or Comments 16 June 2007

## My Success Story So Far: Six Months on Pure Linux

Personal & Ubuntu/Linux Matt | 22 Feb 2007 04:59 pm

Today, Thursday 22nd Feburary marks six months from the day I formatted my hard drive, and left myself with pure linux. It was a GRUB error that started it all, on September 22nd 2006. I had a Windows XP and Ubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06 LTS) dual boot system, pretty simplistic. The majority of my hard drive was given to XP, as I’d only been using Linux for around a month. Anyway, you can read in full what happened here, but basically some simple fiddling around as root left me in a position that, as I know today was very, very easy to fix. But, of course being new to Linux I played around futher, destroyed my XP partition and decided to format. Upon cleaning my hard drive, Ubuntu became my Primary Operating System and to this day, I haven’t looked back.

The distribution I’ve been using for the best part of these past six months is Ubuntu, “Linux for human beings”. I started back then with Ubuntu 6.06, Dapper Drake and have since upgraded to 6.10 Edgy Eft. Ubuntu is based on Debian, and is available to use with GNOME (Ubuntu), KDE (Kubuntu) and XfCE (Xubuntu). I use GNOME, I like the minimalism and looks of GNOME, and prefer it’s layout to KDE. Both KDE and XfCE are also available on my system (presented with a menu at log in) but I choose not to use them. I’d reccomend Ubuntu to anyone looking to try out Linux. It’s completley free, unlike some other popular distributions and has a great user base willing to support you, as well as premium support available from professionals if required. To find out more on Ubuntu, head to the Ubuntu page at MBHoy.com, or Ubuntu.com.

I’ve got all my hardware working, printer, webcam, phone, PocketPC, iPod, etc, which is quite an acheivement as hardware support is usually the one thing that keeps people from converting completley to Linux. iPod support was easy, just compiled the latest version of libgpod, and installed amaroK 1.4.5 over that. To get the printer working, I had to swap printers with someone, I’m afraid to say. Lexmark are too stingy to develop Linux drivers for their all-in-one (printer, scanner, fax) range, so I had to swap for a standard Z601, which is printer only. Phone support was probably the easiest, just syncing via. bluetooth really, whereas PocketPC is a very hit and miss device that few people have managed to get working, with it being Windows Mobile based. Basically I just tricked synce into thinking my Dell Axim X3 was some form of iPaq, and compiled numerous drivers and pieces of software relevant to that. Result = Plug in and one click sync with PocketPC, brilliant.

Some pieces of software I’m liking at the moment are amaroK, Kopete, Firefox, Thunderbird, Vive, gFTP, VMWare, Multisync and many, many more. amaroK is, quite frankly, the best piece of software that has ever graced my screen. It’s worth convertng to Linux for amaroK alone, it really is a truly awesome media player, can’t fault it. It also lets me put things on my iPod, so it’s used constantly for playing, purchasing and iPodding my music. Kopete is MSN Messenger for KDE. It has some nice effects and lets me chat to my friends, nice. Firefox and Thunderbird are pure essentails, so much so that they come installed in Ubuntu, brilliant. Vive has been mentioned before here, it’s the single fastest DVD ripper I’ve ever seen, love it. gFTP lets me put files on the MBHoy.com server, VMWare lets me run other operating systems inside my Ubuntu desktop and Multisync syncs with my PocketPC. Brilliant line up, some worth trying out if you’re a linux user, or looking into if you’re thinking of converting.

In conclusion, I’d say my time with Linux has been both rewarding and exciting. I’ve learned many new skills and become a part of what is easily one of the most friendliest and largest community based projects worldwide. Before converting I had my worries, partly why I kept my XP partition for the first month. Dipping my toe into Linux wasn’t enough, I didn’t have the mind set or the motive to get things working, but once it was my only option and I was forced to make these things work, I realised just how interesting and fun it was not only to research and get these things working myself, but to see the results and share them within a community. Of course, my amazing set up that is dual monitor (17″ monitor on desk, 26″ monitor mounted on wall to the right), 2.1 Creative Labs speaker system, iPod, Bluetooth Phone, PocketPC, Wireless Keyboard/Mouse and so much more wouldn’t all be here today if it wasn’t for the wealth of Linux information and happy, helpful people on the internet, which has helped me so much with my six month journey. (Most of which, I have to say was at Ubuntuforums, a site you simply can’t afford not to visit as a aspiring Ubuntu user, or even a full-time linux genius)

Try it out today, Linux is free and me and thousands of others are here to help you with anything you need. I highly reccomend it, my journey so far has been a brilliant one, and I know it’s only just begun.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

### 5 Responses to “My Success Story So Far: Six Months on Pure Linux”

1. on 22 Feb 2007 at 6:47 pm 1.Dale (Problem Child) said …

   Good write there. Informative, I definately want to incorperate linux (unbuntu especially) into my lifestyle, even though I have just got a macbook running OS X obviously. I’ll most likely always run a linux on my Paralells, and use OS X as my main operating system.

   It’s nice to see Linux been used to it’s full potential, keep on going with it matt good luck

   Dale

2. on 05 Jun 2007 at 4:37 am 2. mark said …

   open a ticket if anything wrong

   i already fixed everyone’s databases.. they were a wreck

3. on 07 Jun 2007 at 5:35 pm 3. Matt said …

   Thanks Mark, glad (mf) host is back up.

   Unfortunately, this reached the top of Digg shortly after the downtime took full effect, and most people had to read an archived copy.

4. on 11 Jun 2007 at 11:11 am 4. dteam said …

   Honestly ..
   a true success story !!!
   still worried about getting my HTC himalaya pocket pc to sync
   BTW, you look to be the LORD OF THE GADGETS with all this tech stuff ;p

5. on 13 Jun 2007 at 11:51 pm 5. Is Linux REALLY Better? - Page 2 - Social Forums said …

   […] of what is easily one of the most friendliest and largest community based projects worldwide. My Success Story So Far: Six Months on Pure Linux | MBHoy.com Been on pure Ubuntu (no Windows installation) for 9 months now, about 10/11 impure. Had an amazing […]

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