Fedora 8 to Hardy to Fedora 9 to Hardy again!

I used Fedora 6 then Fedora 7 then Fedora 8! And I awaited for Fedora 9. I had few problems with Fedora, it had a bug with Java, it didn’t work! Fedora 8 did not have a driver for my XEROX Phaser 3117 printer. All else was good for me. My work revolves around Python, PyGTK, GTK+, C++ etc. So, there was no problem for me. It was great. But I looked forward to Fedora 9, as it should have good support for my printer, Java etc. etc.

Then Canonical generously sent me a Hardy(Ubuntu 8.04) CD. I tried that our, and saw that it supports my printer and Java also. “Great”, I thought, I switched to Ubuntu for temporarily, while waiting for Fedora 9. Ubuntu has everything under control! But the lack of the root account was a bit of a trouble, but I soon got used to it. I enabled 3D Hardware rendering by installing the driver from ATI. And it was going great! I installed softwares I needed for my work, like Komodo Edit.

Then I got my hands on Fedora 9. Last week, I was really excited, that I had the new Fedora! I installed it, and I was disappointed. The distro felt incomplete. It didn’t have a good proprietary driver for my graphics card. It had bits of bugs. It was really not better than Ubuntu as I thought it would be. I didn’t even tried out Java on that distro.

I finally realised the difference between Ubuntu and Fedora. I always thought, that Fedora was no less than Ubuntu. I really could not understand why everyone keep saying that Ubuntu is better and popular than Fedora. Hey, Fedora! Don’t take me otherwise, there is no offence! It is just that one month using Ubuntu, and when I went back to Fedora, it really didn’t feel right! Fedora 8 was far more stable, robust! But Fedora 9 is not that good I think. Please don’t mind Fedora! I am still a big fan of Fedora as I am of Ubuntu! I would gladly use Fedora 8, only if it had a bit better out of the box hardware support.

Then, with sad heart I went back to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. I am blogging from that right now. I have already installed what I need, mp4 support, so that I can listen to Tiesto podcasts from Radio 538, I installed mp3 support for music, ATI Fire GL driver, gnuplot etc. etc. And for my works, I am using Komodo Edit, and NetBeans (the most sexiest IDE). Life is fun again, but I can see the unused Fedora 9 DVD lying on the table.

[root@localhost ~]#bicycle>>computer>>linux

Can you feel the time when the people could use a PC after knowing a few elements of computer science? Can you feel the time when they had to repair the OS itself when they were in a fault? I cannot know how did they feel when they had to face such a problem. But I can understand one thing, they could use their computers as you use your bicycle now. I mean almost total control. When you have a accident with your bicycle, and have it’s wheels displaced, what do you do? You pick up a wrench and a plier and fling yourself on the bicycle, then with a bit of tinkering with that long screw driver, you fix the wheel yourself. Easy and simple enough. You were able to do that because you know every aspect of the bicycles workings. Just like that, the older computer geeks circumnavigate the problems they faced.

Now, things have changed, the realm of Microsoft Windows have made it a lot simpler. You have to install a program to run it. You have to move a few sliders and select some special menu items & tabs to fix almost all of the problem. You don’t have to use a hell lot of command to attain full control over your PC. But do you have that much full control over all your PCs workings?

It is true that you will not be able to use the old OSes like UNIX to attain full control. But you may be able to use the whole PC effectively, if you use Linux or BSD. These open source OSes will allow you to attain full control over your PC. And using Linux is a rare pleasure. Linux is often misunderstood, it is thought that the installation of Linux is hefty. But the truth is, Linux installation and making a Dual Boot System is even easier than making a glass of milkshake. The pleasure is in the circumnavigation of the problems you face. If you are a tinkerer type like me, you will eventually learn, that you can’t live without problems. And the problems you face in Linux is the pleasure that you should enjoy. And the method of fixing problems in Linux is so much different, that you will feel like a computer user using a computer of the past, who is using commands to win over the faults.

Try it! And don’t be separate from this special form of wizardry.