What's Going On?

Having spent the last 6 years using a Mac at work, I am going to make the leap to Linux, full-time. I thought it might be therapeutic for me, and maybe informational for others if I documented this switch for future posterity. But first: a little background, I think.

I am not completely new to Linux or UNIX in general. At work, we use Linux and Solaris servers, and I had to set these up and I administer them when needed. I have never, however, tried to live with Linux as my general use desktop. It has always seemed too flimsy, and I thought that I would probably spend more time ironing out niggles than I would on actually working.

How did I come to this momentous decision? Well, the PowerMac G5 I use is about 4 years old, so it's gotten a bit long in the tooth. A new Mac Pro would be extremely tempting, but there was just no way to justify the cost. The decision was: get a PC or stick with the old G5. I must confess that has been a long time (about6 years) since I had to use Windows in anger, but most of my co-workers are Windows users, and it makes me cringe whenever I have to touch it. This isn't a Microsoft rant, but there is so much wrong with Windows that I was very very reluctant to switch. Besides, *NIX is now how I think, so going back to backslashes, C: and the dreaded Registry would be a real pain. So, what with all the recent Interweb attention on Ubuntu lately, I decided I would get a PC, try and run Ubuntu, and if that didn't work out, I'd swallow my pride and put Windows on it.

So this is what this blog will be about. The switch from MacOS X to Ubuntu. Wish me luck!