lets share hw our love affair wf Linux started

[szeli]

l see this Opensource community is gettin quite alot of ppl interested in Linux n Opensource. so y not we start a thread to share hw we got into it and hw it has/had/will play a part in our careers/lives?

i'm never a guru jus a casual user.. nevertheless let me start e ball rolling

1st heard of Opensource in poly (96-99) SP batch bt was too blindly downloadin freeware n coping wf projects to actualli research more. was nonetheless intrigued by e power of e Opensource movement n community..

fast4ward2 2002, finally ORD frm NS, havin a helluva time tryin to gt a proper job..
1 day gt a call from a BMT buddy.. started chatting bout hw2 b more employable. he pushed e idea - y nt pick up Opensource n Linux, sure will take off sooner or later so he had bought this 'PC World Linux Minibook' complete wf Redhat 7.1 n Mandrake 8 from Borders a few days back.. Needless2 say, i expressed my interest n my good fren gladly made me a copy of everything!

it didn't really made me employable but the fun i've had with it was unquestionable.. was too stuck in e shell of M$oft. bt i learnt a great deal bout e workings of an OS.. alot of cursing n swearin @ y the howtos n faqs n man-pages always seem2 miss out very important stuff for e newbie.. bt guess i had to learn e hard way.. haha

finally gt a programming job where i cud play around wf Opensource stuff like Linux (of course!), CVS, UltraMonkey (High Availability n Load Balancing), Zope (Python Application Server)... made my day!

well din last too long though, e company wound up n now i'v landed in a helpdesk job.. hell mayb nt so related bt i try2 keep up abit.. try2 find/use all e Opensource alternatives n try n gt e chance to use them in my workplace (dun tell my boss i'm surfing net! ) sadly nowadays dun really play e normal desktop Linux alot, bt still got my IPAQ fitted with Familiar Linux

i've still got hell lot to learn.. heh n i encourage more ppl to join me in my Opensource journey or love affair as i put it in e title of this thread!

share yr experiences!

cheers,
szeli

 

[bioanarchism]

rolling out with tux the ranger

I rolled out with Nixnation, a spinoff from Enixus Pte Ltd, a open-source solutions company (whose current status is unknown). People like Sim Bajaj (who churns out codes really fast), Eric Dixon (quite a party animal) and Rick Bath (dude with a beer can always) are the ones who introduced me to the group. Nixnation is a group for *nix geekies. Its aim was to gather like-minded people and spool them on an adventure to renounce and share their knowledge for *nix amongst one another. At first the group is hyperactive. Well, over-hyped actually. Gradually, it became inactive before being defunct.

It doesn't really matter if there were LUGS or other linux-orientated organisation because I realised that *nix would always stay strong because there are people who are willing to share and help out with one another. I convey my mindset by helping out others in the same way that others have helped me too. Its just like 'paying it forward', except you do it *nix style.

The *nix community - it exists because we do for we are the core of it (although we have to face the fact that the Windows OS will be around as long there are newbies around; its a fair balance).

Just remember: The command line is the front line

 

[lwkoh]

Hav been curious about opensource for many years but the ground support is very much lacking.
For example, when a kid want to start to use a computer, the 'only' choice is m$. The os is literally pushed into his brain, not much choice. With the attraction of apple growing, there may be a little choice in future.

So, did not really touch linux because friends around all dun know how to teach me.
Then 1 month back, I need to format away my chinese winxp and load in normal winxp and was thinkering with the tot of maybe do a dual boot with linux. So i just check out this forum and saw a post where a few noob like me are posting to ask for help. So casually, I just post for help. Just a short post, 3-4 sentences, i think.

THen come 3 emails from kind souls like Thomas, Brian & another I can't remember. All offer PRACTICAL HELP. They invited me to meet up with them and guide me thru the whole process of installation. My god, I cannot quite believe that type of willingness to help each other. Most of them say that this is their 'small' way of paying back to the community. I dun see m$ cultivating such community spirit.

So, I took up Brian's offer and meet up with him early one morning, really paiseh troubling him on a good saturday morning. He even help me to install winxp cos that is the 1st time I install winxp from scratch. THen come debian. Debian is smart enough to recognise my xp and install a grub to handle it and smart enough to detect Brian maxonline network and go into the respository to download the latest software. COOL. m$ make u pay a leg for their latest. Quite refreshing.

After that, I've install & flush out linux about 25times in 4 diff machines.
Tried debian, fc3, ubuntu, ubuntu ppc, yellow dog linux4.0 & 3.01, damn small linux.
THe debian gang is alot more slick and straight.
The redhat gang is more friendly and cosy.

For noob reading this, try out redhat gang 1st. WHichever distros are ok. U r going to flush it out any time soon anyway till u come to 1 u like personally

 

[lennardseah]

got tired of m$ products, so i decided to try slackware/redhat/mandrake

 

[liangtam]

Hates MS for their stupid software in about 3 years back. Heard Linux is a good choice and is open source, so jumped over by installing RH and reading up RH's manual.

 

[etegration]

Long story cut short, was running IIS and WIn2k then with XP and now Win 2003 then tried out Apache on Redhat now using both and mixing. Win 2003 with Apache/ mySQL/ PHP, Redhat 9 and Fedora also running for learning too (when there's time), and i still run Windows 2003 with IIS6. hey why not? You see, i see a lot of ranting here, "i dump MS products cos' it's stoopid", cos MS just suck blood but what they use? Windows of course. It's the skills you have and know, knowing just one thing is NEVER the way especially in IT and it never hurts to know more anyway.

 

[bioanarchism]

Long story cut short, was running IIS and WIn2k then with XP and now Win 2003 then tried out Apache on Redhat now using both and mixing. Win 2003 with Apache/ mySQL/ PHP, Redhat 9 and Fedora also running for learning too (when there's time), and i still run Windows 2003 with IIS6. hey why not? You see, i see a lot of ranting here, "i dump MS products cos' it's stoopid", cos MS just suck blood but what they use? Windows of course. It's the skills you have and know, knowing just one thing is NEVER the way especially in IT and it never hurts to know more anyway.

I couldn't agree more. You hit the spot with your comments. I agree, knowing more is better than just ranting about which is better or not. Yes, its good to advocate something that you like but it is fair to keep an open-mind and not shut yourself out from other feasible possibilities, including Microsoft.

Everything has a balance - there are pros and cons, and it applies to everything else, including operating systems. Its what you know, and how much you know that counts.

 

[roo7]

linux is always a "want to learn" thing.. but with distros that were so old that are virtually impossible to install for a noob like me...

decided to drop the idea of trying.. till a day.. my fren show me his freebsd laptop.. was tempted to try again.

so i go ahead d/ling freebsd 4.x the release b4 4.9, after a few coaching manage to get things working and that started my journey into the *nix world.

after messing around with freebsd, realise the kernel have some problem support a few of my hw. decided to try linux.. went to slackware 10. from then onwards, there is no stopping me..

sometimes trying by yourself is hard.. once you have somebody assisting you for a jump start.. you will be on your way......

 

[tazzie]

it's all too long ago, but to the best of my recollection... i woke up one morning with a RedHat 4.2 CD in my hand, and the rest was history...

 

[jf]

it's all too long ago, but to the best of my recollection... i woke up one morning with a RedHat 4.2 CD in my hand, and the rest was history...

wha-wha-what??? that's IT??? sort of expected a longer version from u, hai... Is that how ur fascination with red (the phrase "red bag" suddenly comes to mind, lol) came into being, btw?

anyway, my "love affair with linux" started out with my "hate affair for microcrap"!!! Would have typed a long entry, but u know what, alas, mozilla crashed on me (blame it on a runaway process that ate up all the system resources), so that'll have to be for a next time....

 

[Lss]

my first taste of linux was two years ago on knoppix and then i installed rh9 to test gave up soon and then in 2004 i decided to give it another go when fedora core came out since then i have been using. always wanted to learn more but i cant seem to remember enough so i have to resort to guides and books haha.

 

[Dumb_Terminal]

Fell In Love with Linux when "Gpart" restored my partition Tables.
and did a :Grave Robber " Thing to get back my data...

From then On Got my hands really dirty with it...
with untar, make install & compiles....

Mandrake Really Got things Going.... Becos it was wayy Cool Nice package and
Really Made something of an IMPACT on the Desktop.

 

[amiatrome]

Natural progression.

 

[lennardseah]

there was xbill and xboard as entertainment too

 

[galeron]

hm...for me i start using linux at the start of 2004 as i joined a fledging web hosting company. so thats how the story goes.

 

[jf]

hm...for me i start using linux at the start of 2004 as i joined a fledging web hosting company. so thats how the story goes.

hmm, and what is the name of that company? care to share?

 

[tazzie]

wha-wha-what??? that's IT??? sort of expected a longer version from u, hai... Is that how ur fascination with red (the phrase "red bag" suddenly comes to mind, lol) came into being, btw?

anyway, my "love affair with linux" started out with my "hate affair for microcrap"!!! Would have typed a long entry, but u know what, alas, mozilla crashed on me (blame it on a runaway process that ate up all the system resources), so that'll have to be for a next time....

heh... really, i think that was how it was. back then, there wasn't much to go on, and redhat was decent too (gasp! shock! horror!) but anyway, i dun remember what happened the night before and i think i vaguely remember my cousin giving me that CD

and no, i dun have a love affair with redbag these days, though fedora still tickles me in the right places when i need a quick install... and work does ram it down my throat, though the enterprise edition isn't too bad. it's got what companies want; support, shorter release cycles, support, stability, support and err...support.

...sh!t...i miss those CLI installers and no, i'm not going to use debian

did i mention? i just got myself a brand spanking new powerbook...time for some kernel fun!

 

[jf]

heh... really, i think that was how it was. back then, there wasn't much to go on, and redhat was decent too (gasp! shock! horror!) but anyway, i dun remember what happened the night before and i think i vaguely remember my cousin giving me that CD

ha! ok...

and no, i dun have a love affair with redbag these days, though

i think u misunderstand me here - remember u told me to look out for a "red bag" as well during the meetup? that was what i was alluding to.

fedora still tickles me in the right places when i need a quick install... and work does ram it down my throat, though the enterprise edition isn't too bad. it's got what companies want; support, shorter release cycles, support, stability, support and err...support.

hmm.... yeah, i guess u would love the support. Having ur own engineer is good, "in'nit"?

...sh!t...i miss those CLI installers and no, i'm not going to use debian

neither am i... ha! try living in the past, lol. (debian fans, feel free to chime in should u not treat this as a joke)

did i mention? i just got myself a brand spanking new powerbook...time for some kernel fun!

hm.... a different kind of kernel fun, no doubt. Have fun!!!

 

[lwkoh]

heh... really, i think that was how it was. back then, there wasn't much to go on, and redhat was decent too (gasp! shock! horror!) but anyway, i dun remember what happened the night before and i think i vaguely remember my cousin giving me that CD

and no, i dun have a love affair with redbag these days, though fedora still tickles me in the right places when i need a quick install... and work does ram it down my throat, though the enterprise edition isn't too bad. it's got what companies want; support, shorter release cycles, support, stability, support and err...support.

...sh!t...i miss those CLI installers and no, i'm not going to use debian

did i mention? i just got myself a brand spanking new powerbook...time for some kernel fun!

Yellow dog linux will be cool for your powerbook but 4.0 seems to be a little screw up
i'm on 3.01and it is based on redhat

can also try out ubuntu ppc for your power book, the slickness is simply unforgetable
then u will start debianing

u mention support 4 times
how much is the support and what exactly do they support?
how can i contact them in singapore?

 

[Makando]

I think my 1st contact with Linux should be a set Redhat 6.2 CDs I got from *gasps* my neighbourhood Ah Beng "installer" shop. Well... I didn't have a CD writer back then. Hehehe. Didn't do much with it actually. Just wanted to experience it's look and feel as a desktop system. Wasn't too impressed if I should say. I remember seeing a set of burning gears frequently when some apps I was running crashed.

It wasn't until Version 7.3(Redhat) that I really started using it. This time as a server instead. SAMBA, Apache, Sendmail and all that jazz. At that point, I was still relying heavily on Redhat's GUI tools for the administration & configurations but the often unexpected results eventually weaned me off them.

Now X is no longer found on my servers as it should be. But Webmin always find's its way into all my servers. Hahaha. Lazy me.