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New page: My first exposure to anything that looked Linux was providing technical support on a UNIX based system. This was both my first job and my first exposure to an enterprise level operating sy...
My first exposure to anything that looked Linux was providing technical support on a UNIX based system. This was both my first job and my first exposure to an enterprise level operating system. For the first six months I hated the cryptic nature of the UNIX command line tools and woke each weekday morning with a sinking feeling that I was going to once again spend a day battling this operating system. Gradually I began to appreciate the power, flexibility and simplicity of the various components that comprised the UNIX operating system.
In later years I moved into other areas of the IT business and used UNIX less. After relocating across country I found myself faced with setting up a network of systems for a new office and found myself immersed once again in the world of networks and operating systems. I very quickly standardized on Linux as the operating system of choice and very quickly found myself re-using many of the skills I'd learned from my UNIX days together with much that is new in Linux.
In order start broaden my Linux knowledge I decided to attend the monthly local Linux User Group meetings. At these meetings I was humbled by the depth of Linux knowledge of the other attendees and learned more about Linux from these experts than I ever could have hoped for. One week a member of the user group committee announced that a representative for Ubuntu would be speaking at the next meeting, at which a loud and sustained cheer rose up from the audience. At this point I had never heard of Ubuntu and had no idea what it was that these experts were so enthusiastic about. All I knew was that if these people thought it was great then I had better find out what it is. I drove home, fired up a web browser and searched for Ubuntu. I quickly found out it was a Linux distribution. How can these people be so excited about "just another Linux distribution"? I had to find out. I slid the Ubuntu Linux Live CD into my CDROM tray and booted from it. Several hours later I had my answer. Ubuntu Linux was a nice, easy to use and easy to maintain Linux system. Clearly, a lot of work had gone into making Ubuntu easy to try, install and use, and yet I could still drop down to the low level to perform the more advanced tasks I was used to performing when I needed to.
Having just finished writing the PHP Essentials and JavaScript Essentials on-line books Techotopia I was ready for change from scripting languages. It was time to write about Ubuntu Linux and try to give others to chance to find out why Ubuntu Linux is such a popular Linux distribution. The first edition of Ubuntu Linux Essentials is now complete but will continue to evolve as Ubuntu gains new features and I learn more about it. I hope you find it useful.
In later years I moved into other areas of the IT business and used UNIX less. After relocating across country I found myself faced with setting up a network of systems for a new office and found myself immersed once again in the world of networks and operating systems. I very quickly standardized on Linux as the operating system of choice and very quickly found myself re-using many of the skills I'd learned from my UNIX days together with much that is new in Linux.
In order start broaden my Linux knowledge I decided to attend the monthly local Linux User Group meetings. At these meetings I was humbled by the depth of Linux knowledge of the other attendees and learned more about Linux from these experts than I ever could have hoped for. One week a member of the user group committee announced that a representative for Ubuntu would be speaking at the next meeting, at which a loud and sustained cheer rose up from the audience. At this point I had never heard of Ubuntu and had no idea what it was that these experts were so enthusiastic about. All I knew was that if these people thought it was great then I had better find out what it is. I drove home, fired up a web browser and searched for Ubuntu. I quickly found out it was a Linux distribution. How can these people be so excited about "just another Linux distribution"? I had to find out. I slid the Ubuntu Linux Live CD into my CDROM tray and booted from it. Several hours later I had my answer. Ubuntu Linux was a nice, easy to use and easy to maintain Linux system. Clearly, a lot of work had gone into making Ubuntu easy to try, install and use, and yet I could still drop down to the low level to perform the more advanced tasks I was used to performing when I needed to.
Having just finished writing the PHP Essentials and JavaScript Essentials on-line books Techotopia I was ready for change from scripting languages. It was time to write about Ubuntu Linux and try to give others to chance to find out why Ubuntu Linux is such a popular Linux distribution. The first edition of Ubuntu Linux Essentials is now complete but will continue to evolve as Ubuntu gains new features and I learn more about it. I hope you find it useful.
