Ubuntu is an open source operating system that I find much easier to use and do tasks with then Windows, Mac OS X, or FreeBSD. In this blog post, I will attempt to explain the history of my computer tinkering, and what led up to Ubuntu. I will also explain why I stick to Ubuntu.
As some of you know, I am 13(as of writing this). When I was a kid, I didn't know much about computers, in fact people knew a lot more then me. I was the usual kid that played games on the computer, and would download virus upon virus. Then I found out that the computer had more going on behind the scenes. Being very intrigued, I started tinkering. I began messing with Windows settings, overclocking, and taking apart my computer. I broke(whether it be a Windows installation or the hardware itself) countless computers. But I slowly learned. I then got interested in code, as code is the foundation of all software. I did some little programming things, and I broke another computer. Believe it or not, everything was regular.
I then learned enough that I stopped breaking computers. This brings us to April(ish) 2014. I went a good 6 months without breaking my computer. During this time, this is not only the summer that I learned HTML and CSS, but I also got introduced to the CompTIA A+ certification(which I still don't have). It was Christmas day. I set an Avast startup scan and a Windows check disk. It then didn't boot. I was so sad, because I had broken yet another computer. So I spent Christmas day 2014 trying my hardest to revive my Windows installation. I had no luck. So I gave up, as I had a very bad headache, and I felt terrible.
At this point, I just used the library computers and a laptop that my mom had. This brings me to February 2015. I made a video about Bill Gates for a school project, and I had to use several different Windows computers that belonged to a family friend(he got me started on computers). After I got the project done, he talked to me. He said that at this point, I was smart enough with computers to fix it. I pondered for about an hour, then I had an idea. Back during my tinkering, I tried Fedora(which never installed), because I had always seen Linux on download pages. I used a USB drive, and got Fedora on it. Fedora didn't install again.
So I read online that Ubuntu* was another option. I made a USB drive and it worked perfectly. Sure, it crawled most of the time, but it ran good enough that I kept with it. For the first few weeks, I hated it. The learning curve was a lot. But after a while, I liked it more and more. I ended up really liking it. Since this was the time that Vivid Vervet was being developed, I updated to the development release of that(in the first betas at that time) because I wanted bleeding edge. I subscribed to the development mailing lists, even though I didn't know anything that anyone was saying. I continued to learn.
This brings me to June 2015. I was over at a friend's house, and I happened to have a Lubuntu DVD with me. I convinced him to try the Live CD and he loved it. We dual-booted it with Windows. I started to have a fascination with Lubuntu. So I went home and installed the DE. I absolutely loved it. I then played with that a bit.
I then watched the Snappy Open House. I then worked with balloons afterwards to (unsuccessfully) get Snappy on my computer in a VM. Although it didn't work, I began to look into contributing to Ubuntu instead of just using it. I looked at the contributions that I could give towards Lubuntu, and then joined the Lubuntu Development IRC channel. I was greeted by wxl, who was very helpful to me. I then started to go to him for help on a regular basis, and he continued to help me. This is really when I started to look into the infrastructure of Ubuntu.
I then looked into the Ubuntu US Wisconsin LoCo team. I contacted Anthony Hook, who was the contact at the time, and I became the contact after our first meeting in years(or so I hear), which was in November. We have really grown since.
My first contributions to Ubuntu were in early August, doing some package QA. I ran wily at that time. I continued to look into contributions and I met a lot of people. Since in the past, computer tinkering was a solo act, and now I had people to work with, I spent the next few months just talking and kept my contributions to a minimum, although I read a lot about Ubuntu and learned a lot. This brings me to late November 2015. I had some conflicts with some people, and it was clear that I needed to focus more on contributions rather then just sitting back. So I took a step back from just talking to people and I made more contributions to Ubuntu then I had ever done before. I kept my social interactions to a minimum, and I really worked hard.
This brings me to today. I am continuing to contribute regularly and more intensely, and I am loving it so far.
The main question here is, why Ubuntu? Well first and foremost, this is how I started with Linux. I love the people, I love the infrastructure, and I really don't want to have to change that. Second, I have had really bad experiences with a lot of the major distros, trying them and not liking them. Lastly, Ubuntu is very stable, and is a good base that a lot of good people worked on them.
I plan on making another post in the future to set some goals for myself, but overall I think this is it. Thanks for reading! :)
*Keep in mind that my computer was a very old Pentium 4 desktop that crawled.
