A Linux Story...

Every now and then we need a little perspective on things. I hope you enjoy this GNU / Linux related post I found on reddit. Looking forward to hearing your Linux story.

[BruceBigby]

Yes. My introduction to Linux was Yggdrasil 1994.

[johnmal]

I own a cleaning business and when customers are discarding their old computers, I will ask for them and throw mint, peppermint or Linux lite on them and give them to people I know need a computer. I usually give them to kids or elderly people and man oh man it makes their day!

[ozono]

I have always been a Windows user, but the crisis in my country became really dire. I had an old laptop at home, which is the one I used when I had to flee to another country. Finding a job was hard, as it is a very competitive market, and I had no references from a 1st world country, nor experience outside my 3rd world country, which I was told was a key part for them not choosing me for the jobs. I applied to around 30 jobs per week online, and walked giving out paper resumes. One month after arriving to that country, my old laptop died, and I was given an old Dell laptop that was even older than my laptop, but the Windows installed in it was corrupted for some reason. I depended on it to keep writting the cover letters CVs and navigating the job-websites. I went to a cyber-cafe and downloaded Ubuntu in it. It allowed me to install Ubuntu in the very old laptop, and for a year it helped me not only keep making my resumes, cover letters, writing emails, but I also took several courses on Coursera that helped me fit the profiles in the job applications. I had not used linux never before, and it saved my life. I got a job, and in fact knowing linux allowed me later to get a financial aid to study a PhD. The supervisor had stated that a requirement was to be able to work and code in linux and knowing how to use bash scripts. So, 2 months later, I traveled to another country, Canada.. and I am now in my last year of the PhD. Linux saved me from the data-entry/box carrying boxes jobs and the cleaning staff positions I held to be able to pay the rent and eat. I am now helping my family in my country, and have already used Manjaro, Debian, and CentOS, and I am helping everyone I can, to put their first foot in Linux. I am very grateful!

[TJWolf]

WOW, thats an incredible story Rob. Thanks for sharing.

[thegeriatric]

Nice story Rob. Good to see you again :)

[pctlc]

What a great story, thanks for sharing Rob!!

[hotroof]

Very insperational. Makes me appreciate all the work so many others have done and shared for the betterment of humanity.
As for snarky comments to new users.... I think treating new users in a polite and helpful manner is out duty to GNU/Linux. I think it is the ultimate default contribution to the community. Our experience and knowledge should be free and open source as well.
Thanks Rob.

[worldhello]

@1:17 It is not a GNU operating system, just because it has GNU tools in it. Those aren't necessarily the tools that define the OS nor does all Linux distros come with GNU tools. :)

[MdMozammelHossain]

Thank you for sharing with us. Thanks u/_Spell and Rob.

[daves.projects]

my first computer was a commodore 64. My friend and i would get on the 56K modem and talk. but nothing ever came out of that.

[meliodas.]

I can understand... Linux make me use my laptop usable.... When i will buy a new laptop, nothing's gonna change. I'll still use linux . 💘

[worldhello]

@5:31 That can be remedied by not living in the least populated shithole of a country where the stores close early and busses come twice a day.
@5:42 Don't sign contracts with data caps. 50 Mbit VDSL is plenty for most occasions.

[stevesveryown]

Great story! How can anyone give this a thumbs down? Must have been an arch redit

[skylion]

Nice, another reminder that I'm just lazy and won't do anything lol, good to see you again Rob! I missed that thick american accent haha, for some reason youtube didn't send any videos to my subscription feed so I thought you stopped making them :(

[tokeken]

I agree .this story touches everyone on many levels.very nice pick.I shared this on my (sorry, groan) Facebook page.

[debeeriz]

i have always found the mint and ubuntu forums newbie friendly, no so to some of the others, but then some people are lazy and dont do their homework and these forums dont take too kindly to those people

[hadeseye]

Whoa man! Haven't seen you in years. Search the net for: the linux command line by william shotts jr (linuxcommandDOTorg). He wrote why he doesn't use GNU/Linux but Linux/GNU. ;) His book is free in electronic edition - 5th internet edition atm. Btw your wallpaper reminds me of Tool band.

Did Linux change my life? I work in IT so I guess it did. Knowing more than "The one and only reliable operating system of all times" is much better than sticking to one, proprietary solution. Also learning BSD based systems, Solaris or IBM's AIX is pretty straightforward if you know Linux already. Many tools used on each of these systems are either exactly the same or very similar.


Btw I wonder will you ever do a CentOS review. 8 should be coming in next few weeks. Everything except release work is done. A good thing to consider. Stable, production ready, Red Hat compatible, free server solution which can also be used as a desktop.

[markusTegelane]

I have a horror story for you:
sudo rm -rf /*
(don't put this to your terminal)