I got interested in Linux way back when I was in second year of engineering. I always wanted to work with this operating system, which was open, in the sense you could actually see the code running behind the scenes. Being a C++ programmer (atleast at that time) I wanted to see the C code being used in Linux kernel. Finally after some fight, I got my chance to look through the code and then I realized that my knowledge in C is miniscule. In Engineering level, the C++ that is taught or people learn by themselves is really like a drop in this huge ocean !! Nevertheless I digged into the code to understand what it does. But there were many aspects of Operating System which were unknown to me (I am an Electronics Engg, not a CS guy). But even the CS toppers of my college never offered me more than pure theory that they studied in the books and this digging into code required lot more knowledge than what you normally read for exams !
Eventually I bought myself a computer system which I could keep it in my hostel room. As soon as the system was in, the desperation for installing Linux was overwhelming in me. Most CS guyz ridiculed the idea, and said you will lose your hard-disk and all sort of crap. But I wanted to take some risk. I finally installed Mandrake (God Knows How I did it, But I am really happy that I did it). Mandrake at that time was the simplest Linux OS. I thought it is better to start with a simple one.
It took some time to get accustomed with how Linux works at the functional level. It was quite different from Windows XP. I made my system double boot so that I can have a failsafe for the data I keep.
As I started becoming familiar, I started doing some experiments with other distro's of Linux as well. The other one was Red Hat, which was less user friendly but more challenging. I thought this would give me good exposure, as I have to hack into the system to make it better for me.
The best thing that happened with me is when I came to know about "Linux for You", another magazine by EFY. It was supposed to be first magazine for Linux in Asia and I subscribed to it (I am a proud member of this magazine till date). The magazine gave me new distro's to try & fiddle and understand how the things are working. Eventually I started hacking into one of the open source code - MPLAYER. This was a command line (console) media player then and lacked a proper GUI. I developed one GUI in another open source design platform called GAMBAS. The integration was a failed attempt, as MPLAYER was coded in C, while GAMBAS had its own language. Nevertheless, I was happy with what I could understand in MPLAYER considering the time I could give it ( have to study for my Electronics subjects also right ?? )
Finally when my engineering got over, I decided to make my family independent of Windows OS. This junk operating system (Windows) used to crash like anything, and get affected by Viruses all the time. Linux offered a lot more resistance as we hardly have any viruses in Linux. So security to the data was ensured and I ensured my family moves to a safer and a easier linux distro called Xandros( a very user-friendly linux that was free once upon a time. Recently joined with Microsoft and started offering the OS with a cost, so I had to let it go eventually). But the best part was the family got accustomed to Linux. But there was a big hurdle. My parents use MS Word, Excel and they found it difficult to use their open source equivalents. Another Challenge !!
I got a solution -- CrossOver Office. I could actually simulate windows applications on my Linux OS. That was the best thing to happen. I installed and configured Crossover Office so that my parents could use the familiar MS Office Applications inside Linux. What more could they want??
I bought myself a new AMD64, 64 bit processor system along with ASUS M2V-TVM motherboard. This had turned my Linux experience horrible for last 3 - 4 months(from the time I bought this system & installed linux). The video driver is propertiary and I couldnt find any open source equivalent for this video driver. I tried installing many Linux distros, but none could give me a video driver for this motherboard, resulting in flickering of the screen. Searched all through the net, but many others have the same unresolved problem.( This is sometime when I thought I shud know how to code a video driver for myself)
However, Fedore Core 7 has come to my rescue. It includes the driver to run my video graphic adapter of my motherboard. Now I am back to Linux and back to blogging also :)
Linux may not be so easy to operate like Windows OS, but it definitely has lot more challenges that a techie would like to face. So if you are a techie, and if you are still using Windows OS, you are definitely missing something in Life !!!
