For me, it actually started in Middle School.....
There I was, browsing the Web on (of course) Windows.....
This was in about 2005, and I was, as always, pretty charitable, I think.....
I always liked sharing with others, and sometimes offered some of my food to share with other people..... :3 So there I was, browsing the Web, and I saw it: The Home Page of the GNU Project!.....
I don't think I had ever heard of Free Software, Open Source, or FOSS/FLOSS at that point, or beforehand, so that was all NEW to me.....
Software that people could share, and develop and give FREELY??.....
How SWEET and KIND!..... :3 But I would not even STRAY away from Windows, as it was all I KNEW!..... :3 Then, a couple of years later, I think, my Brother had gotten a Mac, which of course, ran UNIX..... We all know the close history of Linux and UNIX, and that was as CLOSE as I'd come to Linux, at that point....... :3 Finally, in 2011, I looked up something to do with Ubuntu on YouTube, or had seen a suggested Video, or YouTube had showed a Video in the same or a similar category..... The guy was using Ubuntu 11.04 or 11.10, or earlier..... :3 He had a Desktop Cube, which WOWED me!!.....
Why didn't Windows have this?!..... XD So anywho..... :3 I wouldn't yet try it until a while later, perhaps a week or a month or two or three..... :3 I looked up Linux online, and got Ubuntu, and saw WUBI..... I downloaded the Installer, proceeded to let it download Ubuntu itSELF, and got worried..... :< Would it destroy my Computer.....? (I was a n00b at the time, who never learned ANYthing about Programming, until about 2014 or earlier..... :3 I always referred to it as "my Computer", no matter what any individual part was doing at the time.....
) Anywho, it wasn't until I moved to a different State that I finally got the guts to let WUBI do it's thang!..... :3 So it went through the process, and when I was done, I had told my Mom, and she said: "You're going to wreck your Computer!"..... (I had a Toshiba Satellite at the time, with an SD Card Slot.....
) But after uninstalling it, and re-installing it MULTIPLE times, I stuck with a Dual-Boot (the WUBI way, of course.....
) So one day, I think I had removed it for GOOD (or so I THOUGHT..... :3 I was always longing for that cool, free Operating System, Ubuntu.....
) Anywho, I did the unthinkable..... I was trying to install GTA IV on Windows 7, the OS the Laptop (of course) came with..... :3 It wouldn't install, no matter WHAT I did..... (You can probably guess by now why the Console version is the more PREFERRED one.....) I had a bit of an anger problem with my Electronics, so I took my head, and RAMMED it into my Laptop..... Since everything BUT the Hard Drive was a Chip, or part of the Mobo, it was fine..... But my Hard Drive made the dreaded malfunction noise..... D: I felt BAD..... TERRIBLE, perhaps..... :< So anywho, some time later I had an idea..... I put 2 and 2 together, and I realized that I might just be able to install Linux to my USB!!..... :O I put Linux Mint on a USB, and whilst listening to a compilation File of different Dubstep songs, I opened up the Terminal (which I fell in love with, like Rob.....
), and I began to type in random Commands, feeling like a BAWS!.....
How little I knew then..... :') Naturally, Mint TRASHED my USB (a small-in-physical-size, 8GB PNY Attache), since USBs really aren't meant for an OS to be installed onto them (MOST of the time).....
Some time later (but not TOO much time), I got ANOTHER idea..... :3 What if I installed Linux Mint onto an
SD Card.....??
THAT might work!..... ^^ So I did it, and it actually held up to the load of an OS!.....
Now, we all know that Linux is, by it's very CODE, more lightweight than Windows, by FAR, but, SINCE it's an Operating System, it will, of course, Read and Write a TON to a given Disk, Flash-based or otherwise.....
I didn't know about Trim at the time, but nevertheless, the SD Card held up.....
(THIS is why Raspberry PIs use an SD Card as their Drive, aside from the obvious small form factor)..... :3 So anyway, once my Dad got me a Chromebook in 2014, I put Chrubuntu on it IMMEDIATELY (RIP Chrubuntu.....
) I Dual-Booted both Chrome OS Linux, and Chrubuntu Linux..... Great Battery Life, AND functionality, when I needed one or the other.....
But before he got me a Chromebook, my Toshiba got it's Screen cracked..... :< I was stuck with my Surface RT..... X( My Dad got me it, and of course I was grateful, but it still kind of sucked...... Here I was, stuck with NOT ONLY Windows, but a crippled version of it, no less..... I told my friend, who's Computer ran XP at the time, that I would rather use XP than use Windows RT..... Now, the only redeeming factor of Windows RT was that it had some Emulators (quite a good selection in fact
), and, though it was
hardly modular, the Hardware was actually VERY sleek, and well-designed..... (It even had a built-in Thermometer, which would warn the BIOS/UEFI of the Surface RT that it was too hot [this was because of the Summer weather].....
) Finally, I got the Chromebook in 2014, as I told you, the reader, and after THAT, I got an old Dell Laptop from a friend of mine!.....
It had Vista, a metric CRAPLOAD of Viruses, so I IMMEDIATELY wiped out Vista, and put Lubuntu on it..... (By that point, I knew that Lubuntu was generally better for older Machines that didn't have the best specs, by the 2010's standards)..... Then, about a Year or so later, my Dad got me an ASUS before he went to the other side, which got damaged a while after I had it..... :< The Battery leaked, which made it somewhat useless...... :< So there I was, practically out of a Laptop, and was stuck with my Chromebook (really not the worst thing in the World.....
) Then, someone got me a Dell Inspiron (one of the newest Models), which had a defect with the ACPI..... I transferred my old ASUS's HDD from it, which had MULTIPLE Linux Distros on it, to that new one.....
I had to take it back though, and put the Hard Disk that came with it back on there (I wiped Windows, and re-installed it, using the built-in "Reset Windows" option.....
) I got this Dell Inspiron 7559, and here I am, running FreeBSD and Ubuntu.....
And THAT is my story of how I came to know (and love, LOVE) GNU/Linux.....
