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Introduction—Day 1© Copyright Darrell Anderson. I am no stranger to personal computers. I have used personal computers in one manner or another since 1982. I have used the Apple II/IIe, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Amiga 1000 and 3000, DOS 3.x–6.x, Windows 3.x, the Norton Desktop for Windows, Windows NT4, and within the past couple of years, GNU/Linux. In the 1980s I used various online bulletin boards and I joined the world wide web in the early to mid 1990s with a Compuserve account. I don’t remember for sure, but I think I used Netscape 2! My first exposure to Unix was the late 1980s using dumb terminals and vi when I enrolled in a C programming class. The only thing I remember from that class is a missing semi-colon creates lots of hair-pulling! As a technical writer, I possess an advantage of seeing and understanding both the development side of products as well as the user’s side. That is, I tend to see both the forest and the trees. Thus, overwhelmingly I have been a user who continually sought ways to use computers as a tool to enrich personal and professional environments. Along the way I helped many people with their personal computers, both altruistically and for hire. I never worked professionally as a software programmer or developer, although as a technical writer, I have done more than enough macro programming and system customizing to appreciate the challenges of working in that vocation. Since 1991 I have used Microsoft Windows for my computer related work while tinkering with GNU/Linux only for the past two years. Although not using GNU/Linux for anything “productive” other than burning data CDs and ISOs, I have tinkered enough to be comfortable playing under the hood and getting dirty. Text editors and configuration files are no mystery to me. Oh, how I miss INI files from Windows 3.x! I spend most of my computer time using Windows NT4 Workstation, using NT4 since 1997. Before that I maintained an NT 3.5 Server for a couple of years, serving a small Windows for Workgroups network. Primarily I use Word 97, exchange emails with Eudora 5.1, and surf the web with Firefox. There are infrequent spreadsheets, some Visio drawings, occasional HTML editing, never-ending tuning of batch files, and twiddling with several utility programs. Hardly exciting! However, I have little desire to use the computer for much more. My computer is primarily a research tool and glorified typewriter and typesetter. With that background, some people might think migrating to GNU/Linux should be a snap for me. Just do it, right? Yet, I have yet to migrate—and for several reasons. Will I migrate? Should I migrate? Well, trying to inject suspense into this first journal entry is comical! The title already indicates the story and plot. I want to migrate! The unknown of this journey is how much “pain and suffering” I endure. Hopefully, however, through my journal I help others avoid similar mistakes. Publicly sharing my journey should help many people. I’m sharing this journal primarily for two specific groups of people:
One thing is certain. I want to migrate. Let the journey begin! Finis. |
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