yamlsp – yet another my linux story post
14 Aug
tongiht after spending sometime getting jackfield to work (it loads, just without the widgets – lol), my room mate (he’s a windows admin, but uses ubuntu at the apt) and I started talking briefly about why we like linux. which of course has lead me to this.
I got into linux for one reason : i thought it was cool. i was around 17 when i first heard about it, and i found myself wanting to learn it right away. My dad is an ex unix guy (maybe thats why) and i loved hearing his storys about his “golden days” of baud, coffee houses, command lines, etc.
Also i really liked the idea of a completely different system than windows. Not only was it different – it was a challenge.
When i started php that only made me want it more.
Why?
I’m a strong believer that the only languages that run good on windows, either come from ms, or where originally made by allure. The language i loved developing in needed linux (php iis performance has always sucked ), adding on the fact that i used linux for all production serving.
Another big thing was the cool factor (yes, only a geek would say that). I thought linux was awesome. A os that you had to build from scratch, was secure, and the entire thing is built in c?! Just the fact that my tinkering could move past a limited command line and regedit, that I actually had to build what i wanted, it really got be fired up. I loved the continuous challenge of it all.
I also wanted to be able to share stories with my dad.
reality sucks
In reality i was like a horny virgin, i loved the act, but when it was done i sat there looking stupid – like now what. I’d load linux, setup apache, mysql, and php. Make a few aliases, play with gimp, maybe mount a few windows partitions, and then i was stuck. I had no idea what to do next. maybe try wine (really buggy then) or vmware. normally within a 3-8 days i was back in windows.
I did this a few times a year. i even used lightstep for a bit in an attempt to get somewhat away from traditional windows.
oxymoron
in the end it was my room mate that made me fully switch : a windows admin who only runs linux!
To say the least he put me to shame. Here i was a nix friendly developer, writing shell scripts, running apache, etc. and i did all this on windows.
the next week i started wiping every machine i had / except my dev machine. I eventually got my dev machine backed up and wiped, and i’m happy to say : i’m never bored anymore.
end results
the end result of all this is that all my machines run extremely better. a 1.8 p4 that used to drag in xp is going great in ubuntu, my dev laptop ( centrino 1.7 ) that was constantly hanging in xp, is multi tasking at least 2-3 times more and running a hell of a lot better. I don’t have to worry about security as much, learning alot quicker, and i finally can shut the mac boys up and back it up.
Best of all i have continuous challenges now. i can come home and find something fun to figure out, or some new way to do an old trick. when i was using windows i found myself frequently feeling burned out from the same routine, with linux theres always something, and when that stops : you can build something else!
what am i missing
oh yeah and the only thing i really need windows for now is flash (but thats what vmware is for).
end
to anyone wanting to make the jump i say do it, and if you get brain dead like i used to : try the linux courses
