Well, my experience was always on and off: In the past, I always had my phases of trying it out, be it dual-booting, or outright replacing my OS, but always went back to Windows after a couple of months at most due to some software being Windows-only and both VMs and WINE not being sufficient.
But this year, with Windows continuing to get worse (built-in ads, the fact that it eats 60+ GB on a base install, etc.) and me needing Linux for uni anyway: I made the jump and thanks to the work being done with stuff like Proton for games and FOSS software now being good enough for general productivity, I’m happier than ever.
Obsessed? I like customizability and being able to tinker around, but in the end, it’s a tool like any other.
Ubuntu used to ship out free installation CDs. Since it was free, I figured why the hell not. Played around with it, loved it, but didn’t use it for much more than messing around.
A decade later those fond memories enticed me to buy a Raspberry Pi and play around with Linux again, and a few years later it became my main OS. It’s just so much fun to tinker with in a way that Windows never was, and nowadays it runs almost everything without a problem.
I worked with Unix before Windows was a thing. I've worked on windows, saw what a shitshot it was (and still is), and work with Linux instead. I do have Windows PCs at the lab for some renitent software, too, but it is always a step backwards when it comes to data procession.
I’ve been using Linux for something like 27 years, I wouldn’t say evangelical or particularly obsessed.
I started using it because some of the guys showing up to my late 90’s LAN parties were dual booting Slackware it and it had cool looking boot up messages compared to DOS or Windows at the time. The whole idea of dual booting operating systems was pretty damn wild to me at the time too.
After a while it became obvious to me that Slackware '96 was way more reliable than DOS or Windows 95 at the time, a web browser like Netscape could take out the whole system pretty easily on Windows, but when Netscape crashed on Linux, you opened up a shell and killed off whatever was left of it and started a new one.
I had machines that stayed up for years in the late 90’s and that was pretty well impossible on Windows.
I’m just now getting into it. Set up a laptop with Ubuntu running Plex media server. Been taking some real baby steps watching basic Linux tutorials.
It did take me about 4 hours to figure out how to mount an ext HDD so that Plex would have proper permissions to find the media. It was very rewarding to finally frickin resolve that! I’m still gonna keep pecking away and learn as I go while watching I keep watching tutorials.
@Lifecoach5000@Altomes just a heads up, if you add something and plex doesn’t see it, it’s permissions. It’s always permissions. I’ve been using Linux and plex for years and I always forget permissions. Or I used to before I wrote a script to fix it before I realize I forgot it.
Yeah I never truly resolved the proper permission settings - tried to understand and research and figure it out even though I’m a complete Linux newb.
My workaround was figuring out that I can mount the drive in the Plex directory and it finally could see the media. I had to override the default behavior when Unbuntu auto mounts it to a specific directory when you plug the HDD in while the OS is running.
Windows 10. I was originally okay with another windows version rather than just updates, and then my dad put it on his as an “upgrade” from 7. It was utter shit. Took an old but serviceable pc and turned it into fucking molasses. And that’s not even the worst of the bullshit, as it turned out.
So, I grabbed some CDs and burned on some distros and tried shit out. I liked what I found, with the exception of audio.
I’m definitely not obsessed. I don’t have brand loyalty, even when the brand is free as in beer. And I’m not evangelical in that I don’t inject linux into every fucking computer related conversation. But I do speak up for the fact that we aren’t stuck with only windows and no other options, and that I prefer Linux overall.
Now, I am a bit zealous about how much I fucking hate Microsoft and windows, but that’s a separate issue imo. But, again, I don’t inject that into every conversation.
I don't really have any one stand out reason. I first introduced myself to Linux in the late 1990s, buying a Red Hat CD and phone book sized manual that at the time cost a lot, especially as I was poor student. I think one of my tutors (I as doing computer studies) said that he ran Linux and I got nerdy and curious. It sadly didn't last long as too much of my other study was based around Windows.
Over time, Iecame to despise corporate monopolies, spying, manipulation, billion dollar advertising budgets, and turning people into products (not just Microsoft, but Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.) more and more, so I decided it was time (early 2010s) to give Linux a go again. I'd read people saying it was more usable for gaming than it used to be. Still required giving up some games since Steam Proton wasn't a thing yet but for me, I was making an concious choice to only support gaming that was Linux native (or games that I already owned that worked on WINE).
I distro hopped bit before settling on Mint. Used that for about 2 years and then got a new PC. Wanted to challenge myself more and went with Arch. I have enjoyed the customisation, freedom, privacy and ethically conscious choice ever since.
I wouldn't say I'm obsessed but I certainly try and free other people from the shackles of non-floss software as much as I can.
Cost and price … I could never afford much in terms of tech purchases 20 years ago.
Always collected second hand systems, first learned to find and use cracked windows copies, then when that got too complicated and difficult, found Linux and have never looked back. The amount of money I’ve saved not to paying for proprietary software, went into buying better hardware that I used to install Linux and OSS software.
Add comment