Goodbye Fedora Linux
For the past five years, I have been a die-hard Linux Fedora fan. I have sung its praises to the highest mountains. Fedora has the ability to do anything “Windoze” (intentionally misspelt) could do, only better.
Fedora Linux does not get viruses, it does not need defraging, and best of all, it’s completely free. Software was also free. No pirating, No blue screens of death, just pure computing bliss. Linux did not even see the fancy copyrighting on CD’s and ripped them to my personal library with ease.
I didn’t mind having to play around and get mp3’s to play. I loved the freedom of having most of the software I ever wanted at my fingertips. Most software.
Fedora was my best friend. I could run command lines like nothing else after just a few months. It was significantly faster than “Windoze” as well. It used less resources and makes even older machines run faster than they ever did brand new.
That is, of course until you needed something extra to work. Try to make your iPod work with Fedora Linux and you have a days work ahead of you. Visiting forums, running command lines, and ripping out your hair trying to get it to work.
Recently, I decided to take my writing career more seriously and wanted to be able to write in the peace of the outdoors. I wanted to be able to muse over past adventures and mishaps in the peace and quiet of the woods. I wanted to be able to use my computer anywhere and upload new stories, photos and chat with friends on Yahoo Messenger.
The simple answer to this, of course was an Internet stick. This small USB device allows you to access the internet wherever you can use a mobile phone. The bandwidth in Canada is very limited, but it would work well for the little bit I would use it.
Visiting a local mobile carrier, I proudly announced that I run Fedora Linux on my laptop and needed an Internet stick which would work with it.
The clerk looked at me like I had two heads. He had not heard of Linux and had no idea what Internet stick he had which would work with it. Some research on the internet revealed the Novatech U998 would be a good match. I signed the contract and hit the road expecting to enjoy my new found freedom.
I spent seven days attempting to get the Internet Stick to work correctly with Fedora Linux. I checked all the online forums. I made phone calls to my local computer stores. They did not support Linux. Nothing seemed to work.
A decision had to be made. Do I return the Internet Stick before I am bound by a two year contract, or continue to fight the uphill battle with Fedora Linux?
A third option came to me. I could Install the copy of Windows 7 which came with my new laptop.
I felt torn. Like breaking up with your spouse. I needed something new and useable, but the old had been there for thick and thin for over five years.
Freedom overriding nostalgia, I decided to install Windows 7 on my laptop computer.
I was surprised how fast and easy the installation went. After installation was complete, I promptly “activated” my Windows 7 and was very surprised.
Without spending an afternoon searching internet forums, Windows 7 connected to my wireless home network. The USB internet stick worked flawlessly. I was even able to install all of my favourite cross-platform Linux programs. GIMP (like photoshop), OpenOffice (like Microsoft Office), and even Pidgin (like Yahoo Messenger) all worked flawlessly with Windows 7.
Sadly I have to expect viruses, product keys, messy hard drives, and dozens of other shortcomings which made me leave Windows in the first place. But in the end freedom won out.
Freedom to create, talk, and publish articles and content from virtually anywhere.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
AUTHORS NOTE: November 2010 brought the release of Fedora 13 Laughlin. I have since re-installed Fedora 13 on my HP laptop and the wifi networking is phenomenal. I certainly won’t miss Windows 7!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
AUTHORS NOTE: In 2012 Wolfmaan switched to all Macintosh operating systems
4 thoughts on “Goodbye Fedora Linux”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Scott Mumford said…
I hear ya, bro. I’ve been a Linux fan (Sidux & Debian) for 3 or 4 years now. (VISTA pushed me to penguin love!) But I now dual-boot with Win 7. (Gotta have my Photoshop and Illustrator.) I still use Debian testing a lot, though.
I must say that the latest Ubuntu installed like a dream and “just worked” on an old lappie.
Don’t give up on the penguin!
Dont give up on Linux! Windoze sucks ass!
I have to agree. I have been around since Redhat 4 days (1996 or so) and recently upgraded an Ubuntu from 10.x to 11.10 and it broke. simply a mess. broken depends etc… I backed up and finally gave up. Decided to give fedora 16 a try. It has the new Gnome 3 OMG this sucks, but the worst part, it has grub2. Well, grub totally failed to see several of my drives and so many hours now of editing, os probes, mount/unmount, etc… and I’m done. Simply done. Windows and Mac do not have these issues (at all). granted I’m using efi and solid state drives but still, this is pathetic.
Try editing grub2. There is plenty of help avail on the net IF I want to become an expert at grub and read the entire grub2 faq. This is what I have done in the past but ya know, I’m done. I just wanted to upgrade a few things and two different Linux distros have made a mess of it enough to finally throw in the towell.