So what got you into Linux?


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  1. #1
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    So what got you into Linux?

    Was it work, curiosity, boredom, a sick desire to punish yourself? Let's hear how it all started for you...

    I was a mainframe operator at a small bank in Maine. I was fairly new in IT, but very skilled in my mainframe duties, and learning Windows quickly. As the administrator of the PBX phone system as well, I was talking with the phone company tech one day when I asked him about the serial cable coming out of the PBX. He informed me that it dumped a raw data stream with delimited records of every inbound and outbound call placed through the system.

    Now H.R. decided it would be nice to have that data for their own evil purposes and it became my project to make it so.

    I started with the built-in Windows98 box used for configuring the PBX, with Hyperterminal. The records were piped to a text file, then sneaker-netted to an SQL server and run through a DTS script. This setup worked OK between the frequent reboots, but H.R. was now addicted to their data and demanded something more stable. I had no budget for a new PC and Windows license, and my boss said Linux is free and nothing is more stable. So I obtained a decommissioned teller PC (PII 450) and told the rest of the department my plans to set up a Linux PBX traffic sniffer. I was told, "You'll never be able to get it work in Linux, are you %$&*@# nuts?!?" That was it, now it was a matter of ego; it had to be done!

    I started with RedHat 8 and ran minicom to intercept and log the PBX traffic data, which led to my first JL post, but eventually worked fine. The network engineer told me that hardcore Linux geeks use Slackware, so I switched immediately, leading to my next JL post, incidentally...

    We later purchased a solid-state disk subsystem for the mainframe and needed a way to acces the web interface control screen without putting it on the LAN. Since I was already running the Slack box on its own subnet with the PBX, I plugged in the SSD, installed FireFox and java, and that was handled.

    I have since left the bank, but I check in from time to time and the old Slack 9.0 box is still running and has not been rebooted in almost a year. The new operator has vowed to take it home with him if it ever gets decommissioned, and he might even send it to me for the sake of posterity...

    So, what's your story...
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    Last edited by psych-major; 02-08-2005 at 06:49 PM.
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  2. #2
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    If you use the search function, you'll find many more of those stories.

    Well, here's mine in a nutshell. There were two reasons that made me switch:

    [list=1][*]rumors about Longhorn, Palladium and NGSCB[*]me constantly being an outsider at the computer science dept for running such a crappy OS like MS Windows[/list=1]

    "What can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence."

    Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

  3. #3
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    I never thought to search...

    Just had the type of epiphany that generally comes from avoiding a looming project, a paper for school in this case, and just felt like starting a new thread! ;^)
    Slackware current (Dell Latitude D610)
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  4. #4
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    being as i decided to change my career at 28, I realize that I had a lot to learn in a field that I had just played in. As an admin and a student right now i work almost exclusively on windows platform. I saw the beneifts of linux and new that I could learn it then or be very limited to my job choices. Now I can't believe I used to live without linux.




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  5. #5
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    In may of 2000 I saw TechTV (back then was ZDTV) and Leo Laporte said that if you were a real computer geek, you'd use Linux... So here I am.

    Justlinux (back then was LNO) was what kept me going. There were so many times where I wanted to quit because I couldn't get something to work, but JL lead the way. Most of the time, I didn't even have to post my problem. I'd find the answer in somebody else's post.
    Last edited by vhg119; 02-08-2005 at 07:35 PM.
    Vince
    "why are we rated as grasshoppers again?"

  6. #6
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    I was doing tech support in a help center for the general public, and quite simply grew tired of dealing with the same issues at home as I was at work.
    Knute

    You live, you die, enjoy the interval!

  7. #7
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    One morning, after the aliens had tucked me snugly back in my bed after a medical experiment in their ship, which took me to anteres prime and back, I woke up and said, "I should look into linux."
    -------------
    Folding is Fun

    I thought I made a mistake once, but, of course, I was mistaken.

  8. #8
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    Hm well first I remember my brother had a friend who brought over Mandrake 8 I suppose it was. We tried it out on a box with no luck getting X to work I believe. At the time, I had no idea what he was doing or what was going on because it was all CLI things, but it was rather interesting. Eventually one night later on I got fed up with the standards of Winodws 98 or whatever I had been using so I tried another version of Mandrake. Worked except without any luck on network, so I couldn't really get any help and I didn't setup a dual boot properly so back to 98 I was. Overtime I saw it on TechTV a few times too and I realized I had to get back on board and here we are. I think it was something like that.
    The Swain

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  9. #9
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    Windoze viruses and a pasion to learn new things.
    Linux reg. User # 298337

  10. #10
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    I thought the RH 8.0 Desktop looked cool (Gnome). No, I'm not kidding.

    Been addicted since, and now for technical reasons instead of asthetic ones!

  11. #11
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    For me it was the lack of knowing WTF was going on half the time in XP. XP's EULA. The last software I bought for windows...Norton 2004 pro.( $100, ouch!) Constantly having to agree to stupid licences that I couldn't even be bothered to read.
    Oh yeah, and hearing some vague rumors about linux being way more stable, virus free and cost free. Yee-ha! And Tux of course!
    Linux user #367409

  12. #12
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    I was bashing my computer has hard as I could with a baseball bat while the plumber was there and I told him windows 98(this was in 2000) had crashed again and I kept getting viruses, so he came over the next day with a brand new unopend box of mandrake 8.0 and he helped me install it and get what I needed he even showed me how to dual boot also dunno if he is a member here but if he is I just wanna say.

    Thanks Sevren(sp?)
    For everyday I rise, I'll thank U.
    No longer scared to die here.
    I've shed last tears and conquered all fears.

    See U when I get there...

  13. #13
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    I used to do ISP phone support back in Austin, TX. The ISP was eFortress based in Rhode Island. I got tired of the having to call the admins whenever I needed something done on any of the servers (it was a 99% Linux/BSD shop) so they created an account for me on their public shell server. They also showed me how to do a few things on the servers including manual SQL queries on the Radius server for testing password authentication.

    After working in Austin for a little over 2 years, eFortress was sold and the new company hired me directly and flew me to RI to be one of the 3 Linux Admins (the other two were my boss and the owner). I was in charge of all the servers, but most of my time was spent on the web server dealing with customers' hosting problems and helping them develop their sites. That's where I first experienced Linux as a desktop OS. I started with OpenBSD 2.9 (I think it was 2.9) and compiling everything from scratch. After I got sick of that I switched to Slackware and eventually Debian where is what I use now 3 years later.

  14. #14
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    It started out as me just trying to imitate my older brother who made the switch about a year before I did. I installed slack(also his distro of choice) on my 200mhz POS computer that i use for tweaking around, and after about 10 minutes I was hooked and installed Linux on all of my other computers
    Last edited by dannybunkins; 02-08-2005 at 08:29 PM.

  15. #15
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    It's different. I like to try different things.
    It's very customizable. I like to tweak things, and customize.
    It's secure and stable. I got sick of Windows crashing all the time (though 2000/XP were pretty good, unless I got a keyboard/mouse lock up)
    Most of the software for it is 'free'. I don't like the thought of paying hundreds of dollars for an office suite, or a graphics program, or, whatever. I also don't like the thought of downloading warez, to fill that gap.

    The licences that come with software. GPL (open source) Vs. EULA (closed source)

    In a Nuthsell, they can be summed up as being;
    GPL: You may freely distribute this software, and even make changes and re-distribute it, so long as credit is given, and the source code is made available.

    EULA: This is MY Software! I made it, therefore I say what you can and cannot do with it! You can install it on ONE machine, if you want to install it on others, PAY MORE TO ME!!! If I find out you've changed something about it you didn't like, or altered it to better suit your task, I don't care if you promise NEVER to re-distribute it, I'm taking you to court!

    I know which one I'd prefer

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