Diary Of A Linux Newbie: The First Year

“Just a year ago — April 21, 2010 to be exact — I installed a
Linux distribution. I installed it from a DVD of Ubuntu 8.10,
Intrepid Ibex, that came with an issue of Linux Pro magazine I
bought from a news stand, and I put it on a hand-me-down eMachine
with 384MB RAM (the other 128MB being dedicated graphics). It was
the first time I had ever installed an operating system. In fact,
it was the first time I had ever installed anything at all,
anytime, anywhere. I had always just called for (and paid for)
professional help from a neighbor who extended me rates more
favorable than his enterprise customers paid. Raised at IBM, he had
become a born-again Microsoft True Believer and wanted to keep us
all happy Windows users.

“I had wanted to do something with Linux for quite a while. The
idea of a whole new approach to computers, one that allowed someone
without formal training to explore the way computers ran,
fascinated me. I was much too timid to leap into action at once,
risking my one and only machine (2002-era Compaq, Windows XP Home)
that contained several years’ worth of writing, notes, and
comparable trivia. Instead, I did what every ex-academic would do,
I read up on the subject.”

Complete
Story