As I just arrived on the forum, this is only a way of presenting me and of talking about the history of Linux seen through the eyes of a complete newbie.
I am well aware that this is not about technical requests or technical information about Debian but, as I found out that this forum has an "Off-topic" section, I thought I may write this story. Perhaps the moderators will yell at me (bad beginning for me…).
How I came to Linux and Debian
Until 2005 I used Windows.
It was a time when you could still fall upon a 3½-inch floppy disk.
It was the time when everyone had to met with the "BSODs", the Blue Screens Of Death: blue screens appearing each time Windows crashed, and, kindly and pleasantly, informing you that you were well f…
The time when, for penalty of system death, you had to get a register cleaner, an antivirus, an antimalware, and an anti-everything, and you had nonetheless to reinstall Windows every 6 months or else it would have become so slow that you could go and concoct yourself a nice cup of tea each time you had the cheek to click on anything.
The time, so, when you ended up spending more time maintaining the OS (Operating System) than using the softwares and doing your business.
The time when the people at Microsoft would sell you a very expensive new version of Windows or of Office every two years and, not being a cash cow and a half-wit, you had to roam the web to find the new versions and their install keys (oops…).
But when, at last, you got bored of having to get around this swindle and extortion, you progressively replaced those commercial software with FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), what I did: OpenOffice (the ancestor of LibreOffice), image viewer, Gimp, etc.
And the day came when I asked myself THE question: do I still really need Windows and why on earth do I go on spending my time trying to keep this so-called OS from taking water, and participating in the persistence of this fraud by using these softwares?
Several times I then tried to install Linux. I've had in the first place to learn about hard drives and partitions and how to make place on the disk for the trials.
At the time, Mandrake Linux (the ancestor of Mandriva) was the easiest one (at least that's what they said, guys who could have sold used cars, for that matter…) but I could not manage to install it. When I finally succeeded, the system was not usable.
Indeed I had entered the dependencies hell, the curse of Linux in this era. You want to install a software but it depends upon a package that is not installed nor even present in the system. You wander all over the world wide web to find the package but, when you work your way through its installation, you find out that it, itself, depends upon another package, and so on, and so on: that is the dependencies hell.
And then came Ubuntu! Its creator, Mark Shuttleworth explicitly said that he wanted a Linux for the end-user, the man in the street, and for the everyday desktop use, and not for the people who worked in computers and for nerds.
So, in august 2005 (19 years ago now), I installed Ubuntu. There, one had not to make several trials, and there was (almost…) no dependencies hell: unbelievable!
Well, nearly… Actually Ubuntu offered you a framework inside which you could begin to learn!
And, first and foremost, learn what was this very strange beast, I mean: a terminal! Why the hell would sane people want to use a computer by typing strange, convoluted, and esoteric spells into a black box?
Spells that would strangely and stubbornly refuse to work if you happened to forget a comma or any one of the other of its cabalistic signs.
Who were these guys? Or, rather, what mental institution did they belong to? And, most importantly, how came that they could be granted exit permissions?
Fortunately, there was not only Ubuntu but also the Ubuntu forums! And these were the refuges for the newbies, the sanctuaries where you could be saved. The French one, particularly, was wonderful.
Of course some grumpies and curmudgeons would answer your questions by an angered "RTFM!" (Read The F… Manual!). But at the time, for a few of them, how many wonderful computer professionals and nerds who would, with praiseworthy patience and persistence, answer your naive and primitive questions of ignorant newbies.
If I could go on using Linux, it is, without doubt, thanks to them! And I am very grateful to them because, from then on, for nothing in the world would I have come back to Winshit.
I write "at the time" because today I feel rather irritated seeing that half the answers on the forums actually don't answer at all but are of the kind: You've got either a problem or a bug with this software, why don't you use instead this other one? You want to do this, why do you want to do this? What are your reasons for wanting to do this or for using this software? Are you sure that this is what you want to do?
What? Why man, I'm looking for some help and computer knowledge and I'm willing to make efforts and learn something, I didn't ask for philosophical lessons!
Reactionary assertion here: the forums aren't what they used to be in 2005…
After that, for years, Ubuntu became more and more usable and polished and, for this reason, became the most popular Linux by far, until, in 2011, they dropped the Gnome 2 desktop environment for Unity and they engaged into this bizarre idea of creating an OS that would work not only on desktop computers but also on tablets and smartphones. We know that this ended up in a big failure…
The result was that Ubuntu, created for the desktop, became less and less usable on it. The softwares, as what was the case with the new Gnome 3, had less and less features.
Many years before, another pioneer, Clément Lefèbvre, had anticipated this state of affairs, had, in advance, drawn the conclusions from it, and had created Linux Mint. And the fun of it is that it was created with the same goals in mind as were those of the creation of Ubuntu: the man in the street and the easiest desktop use.
And also with the wise idea that one should not try to reinvent the wheel and that the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) interface is the wheel of desktop computers.
I was so bored and irritated by the nonsense and absurdities of Unity (or Gnome 3) that, in 2016, after 11 years, I dropped Ubuntu for Linux Mint in which I found back (even to a higher level) the common sense and practicality that made the success of Ubuntu.
To my taste (oratory precaution here so no feuds please) Cinnamon is, and by far, the best desktop environment I may dream of, neither too simplistic and non-ergonomic (Gnome) nor bloated with options (KDE), customizable just as is necessary so that your working environment suits you without you being lost in an ocean of options, and equipped with all the tools enabling you to do your everyday work with ease.
For 8 years now I had a wonderful Linux OS but in the last months I became more and more discontent with the last version, the 21.3, for having encountered with it several bugs and regressions, and regressions are really and by far the most infuriating thing: a feature, an option, something you used, disappears from the old to the new version of a software!
So I live tested LMDE, also Linux Mint but based on the more conservative, more tested, and more stable packages, those of Debian, the Rolls-Royce, and then installed it on a secondary partition. But, very rapidly the question came: why not the real Rolls-Royce?
In the Ubuntu years I had tried to install Debian but never succeeded in configuring a working system: almost everything was a pain in the ass, the wifi, the sound, the nVidia graphic card, etc. When you could find a solution in the forums, it would involve pages of terminal commands and configuration files modifications which was far beyond the pay grade even of a newbie who had tried to learn the basics of the terminal.
So I then undertake to test Debian 12 Cinnamon out of pure curiosity, quite reluctantly, and with almost no hope. To my surprise, in the live USB-key test I found no problem, and, after having installed the system on an other secondary partition, found that everything worked to perfection and that I could not find any bug (and none of those that drove me away from Mint). I could install the graphic card driver with no more than 5 words: sudo apt install nvidia-driver.
For this we may be grateful to the Debian maintainers of the last years who wisely decided that Debian may now be for everyone, that it should work on the hardware people actually used, and that the wifi should work out of the box for anyone willing to use Debian and not only for post-doctorates in computer science… At last, Debian included the proprietary firmwares in the install images.
So here I am: in the months (years?) to come I'll see if I finally got the most reliable Linux system, Debian, combined with the most ergonomic and wonderful desktop environment, Cinnamon.
And here you have it: 19 years of the history of Linux seen through the eyes of a complete newbie (who still wouldn't make it out without the nice nerds who spend time helping on the forums…), how it is that strive and endeavour to use Linux people who never studied computer science in high school or university and never worked in computers (actually I'm an MD, a physician).
P.S. As you may have guessed it, English is not my mother tongue (I'm French) so I beg for your leniency for any mistake in vocabulary or syntax or any awkwardness of style.
I am well aware that this is not about technical requests or technical information about Debian but, as I found out that this forum has an "Off-topic" section, I thought I may write this story. Perhaps the moderators will yell at me (bad beginning for me…).
How I came to Linux and Debian
Until 2005 I used Windows.
It was a time when you could still fall upon a 3½-inch floppy disk.
It was the time when everyone had to met with the "BSODs", the Blue Screens Of Death: blue screens appearing each time Windows crashed, and, kindly and pleasantly, informing you that you were well f…
The time when, for penalty of system death, you had to get a register cleaner, an antivirus, an antimalware, and an anti-everything, and you had nonetheless to reinstall Windows every 6 months or else it would have become so slow that you could go and concoct yourself a nice cup of tea each time you had the cheek to click on anything.
The time, so, when you ended up spending more time maintaining the OS (Operating System) than using the softwares and doing your business.
The time when the people at Microsoft would sell you a very expensive new version of Windows or of Office every two years and, not being a cash cow and a half-wit, you had to roam the web to find the new versions and their install keys (oops…).
But when, at last, you got bored of having to get around this swindle and extortion, you progressively replaced those commercial software with FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), what I did: OpenOffice (the ancestor of LibreOffice), image viewer, Gimp, etc.
And the day came when I asked myself THE question: do I still really need Windows and why on earth do I go on spending my time trying to keep this so-called OS from taking water, and participating in the persistence of this fraud by using these softwares?
Several times I then tried to install Linux. I've had in the first place to learn about hard drives and partitions and how to make place on the disk for the trials.
At the time, Mandrake Linux (the ancestor of Mandriva) was the easiest one (at least that's what they said, guys who could have sold used cars, for that matter…) but I could not manage to install it. When I finally succeeded, the system was not usable.
Indeed I had entered the dependencies hell, the curse of Linux in this era. You want to install a software but it depends upon a package that is not installed nor even present in the system. You wander all over the world wide web to find the package but, when you work your way through its installation, you find out that it, itself, depends upon another package, and so on, and so on: that is the dependencies hell.
And then came Ubuntu! Its creator, Mark Shuttleworth explicitly said that he wanted a Linux for the end-user, the man in the street, and for the everyday desktop use, and not for the people who worked in computers and for nerds.
So, in august 2005 (19 years ago now), I installed Ubuntu. There, one had not to make several trials, and there was (almost…) no dependencies hell: unbelievable!
Well, nearly… Actually Ubuntu offered you a framework inside which you could begin to learn!
And, first and foremost, learn what was this very strange beast, I mean: a terminal! Why the hell would sane people want to use a computer by typing strange, convoluted, and esoteric spells into a black box?
Spells that would strangely and stubbornly refuse to work if you happened to forget a comma or any one of the other of its cabalistic signs.
Who were these guys? Or, rather, what mental institution did they belong to? And, most importantly, how came that they could be granted exit permissions?
Fortunately, there was not only Ubuntu but also the Ubuntu forums! And these were the refuges for the newbies, the sanctuaries where you could be saved. The French one, particularly, was wonderful.
Of course some grumpies and curmudgeons would answer your questions by an angered "RTFM!" (Read The F… Manual!). But at the time, for a few of them, how many wonderful computer professionals and nerds who would, with praiseworthy patience and persistence, answer your naive and primitive questions of ignorant newbies.
If I could go on using Linux, it is, without doubt, thanks to them! And I am very grateful to them because, from then on, for nothing in the world would I have come back to Winshit.
I write "at the time" because today I feel rather irritated seeing that half the answers on the forums actually don't answer at all but are of the kind: You've got either a problem or a bug with this software, why don't you use instead this other one? You want to do this, why do you want to do this? What are your reasons for wanting to do this or for using this software? Are you sure that this is what you want to do?
What? Why man, I'm looking for some help and computer knowledge and I'm willing to make efforts and learn something, I didn't ask for philosophical lessons!
Reactionary assertion here: the forums aren't what they used to be in 2005…
After that, for years, Ubuntu became more and more usable and polished and, for this reason, became the most popular Linux by far, until, in 2011, they dropped the Gnome 2 desktop environment for Unity and they engaged into this bizarre idea of creating an OS that would work not only on desktop computers but also on tablets and smartphones. We know that this ended up in a big failure…
The result was that Ubuntu, created for the desktop, became less and less usable on it. The softwares, as what was the case with the new Gnome 3, had less and less features.
Many years before, another pioneer, Clément Lefèbvre, had anticipated this state of affairs, had, in advance, drawn the conclusions from it, and had created Linux Mint. And the fun of it is that it was created with the same goals in mind as were those of the creation of Ubuntu: the man in the street and the easiest desktop use.
And also with the wise idea that one should not try to reinvent the wheel and that the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) interface is the wheel of desktop computers.
I was so bored and irritated by the nonsense and absurdities of Unity (or Gnome 3) that, in 2016, after 11 years, I dropped Ubuntu for Linux Mint in which I found back (even to a higher level) the common sense and practicality that made the success of Ubuntu.
To my taste (oratory precaution here so no feuds please) Cinnamon is, and by far, the best desktop environment I may dream of, neither too simplistic and non-ergonomic (Gnome) nor bloated with options (KDE), customizable just as is necessary so that your working environment suits you without you being lost in an ocean of options, and equipped with all the tools enabling you to do your everyday work with ease.
For 8 years now I had a wonderful Linux OS but in the last months I became more and more discontent with the last version, the 21.3, for having encountered with it several bugs and regressions, and regressions are really and by far the most infuriating thing: a feature, an option, something you used, disappears from the old to the new version of a software!
So I live tested LMDE, also Linux Mint but based on the more conservative, more tested, and more stable packages, those of Debian, the Rolls-Royce, and then installed it on a secondary partition. But, very rapidly the question came: why not the real Rolls-Royce?
In the Ubuntu years I had tried to install Debian but never succeeded in configuring a working system: almost everything was a pain in the ass, the wifi, the sound, the nVidia graphic card, etc. When you could find a solution in the forums, it would involve pages of terminal commands and configuration files modifications which was far beyond the pay grade even of a newbie who had tried to learn the basics of the terminal.
So I then undertake to test Debian 12 Cinnamon out of pure curiosity, quite reluctantly, and with almost no hope. To my surprise, in the live USB-key test I found no problem, and, after having installed the system on an other secondary partition, found that everything worked to perfection and that I could not find any bug (and none of those that drove me away from Mint). I could install the graphic card driver with no more than 5 words: sudo apt install nvidia-driver.
For this we may be grateful to the Debian maintainers of the last years who wisely decided that Debian may now be for everyone, that it should work on the hardware people actually used, and that the wifi should work out of the box for anyone willing to use Debian and not only for post-doctorates in computer science… At last, Debian included the proprietary firmwares in the install images.
So here I am: in the months (years?) to come I'll see if I finally got the most reliable Linux system, Debian, combined with the most ergonomic and wonderful desktop environment, Cinnamon.
And here you have it: 19 years of the history of Linux seen through the eyes of a complete newbie (who still wouldn't make it out without the nice nerds who spend time helping on the forums…), how it is that strive and endeavour to use Linux people who never studied computer science in high school or university and never worked in computers (actually I'm an MD, a physician).
P.S. As you may have guessed it, English is not my mother tongue (I'm French) so I beg for your leniency for any mistake in vocabulary or syntax or any awkwardness of style.
Statistics: Posted by Curius — 2024-06-28 09:11 — Replies 0 — Views 9