It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally migrated to Linux.
I’ve never had a problem with Windows at all and I absolutley love it, but I’m really taken by the ideas behind Linux. If I can also legally run an OS and a DAW for free how could I not? Another factor is the element of control. At first the thought of building an OS from various components seemed bollocks to me but after adding bits on and taking bits off it gives a sense of control you just can’t get in Windows.
A while back I tried out openSUSE 10.3 with KDE and Debian Etch with GNOME and wanted to fall in love so badly. I found the compatability a big problem as drivers very rarley “just worked”. I had to give up because I couldn’t get it to connect to the Internet without lugging my PC upstairs and plugging it into the router and sound and graphics just weren’t working.
This time around I had an idea of what I wanted an OS to do – music recording and production and web design. I had a more educated surf around and through my good mate Joe Barker was encouraged to use Ubuntu. This was around the time that Jaunty, versions 9.04 was about to make a release.
I’ve always had reservations about Ubuntu. Isn’t it just Debian for children? It’s always come across and whiney and too easy to use. But now with my previous Linux experience I knew this couldn’t be 
So I tested Jaunty in VirtualBox, got all impressed and decided I was gonna do it. Another quick surf around brought me to Ubuntu Studio. The distribution looked ideal for my wants. I got as far as 800×600 with no wireless. I persisted.
Within a week I had my wireless working and resolution back. The resolution looked at the monitors EDID and I was using an old LCD TV that reported it’s native was 800×600. In Windows it’s just a matter of un-ticking “Hide modes that this monitor cannot display” and I tried hard to get the same thing here. It didn’t happen so I found a 1280×1024 TFT lying around. The Nvidia graphics driver wasn’t working and I tried hard again to fix it with no sucess.
My first thoughts are this – man it’s ugly! I have to dedicate a good proportion of my life to getting it working and it looks like this? 
It’s free so I shouldn’t expect professional artwork or a consistent GUI. It does not compare asthetically or ergenomically to Windows in the slightest. The fonts are hideous beyond words.
One thing has to be said though – the community support is beyond emense. It’s honestly breath-taking. I’m able to diagnose my problems sometimes down to the exact detail using Google. The Ubuntu forums is full of litterally thousands of enthusiasts helping each other out. Ubuntu has a lot to boast about here and it’s inspired me to keep going.
I’ve persisted since and here’s a list of issues I’ve solved:
- Understanding NDIS wireless connection
- Coming to terms with EDID
- Making the fonts look a lot better
- Working with websites
- Recording and mastering
- Getting nVidia drivers working
I’m glad I’ve persisted. Now that everything works I couldn’t be happier. Compiz makes me smile a lot. I’m happily running it day to day without much to gripe about. It does what I wanted. I’ve even contributed back to the community 
I can’t recommend Linux if you’re not tech savvy or not looking to put a lot of effort into getting things working. It’s made me appreciate Windows a hell of a lot more. If you want astonishing results for relativley small effort and you know your PHP from your KDE then you should be using Linux today. Damn it’s so good.
