I recommend Ubuntu to anyone interested in switching.

I’m currently using Fedora 9, and Damn Small Linux.

I also tried Mandrake 5 years ago. That was my first failed attempt to switch. I only had dial-up then, and I couldn’t get my winmodem to work (I couldn’t log on to the internet to get help), so I gave up after a couple months.

Ubuntu is the easiest distro to get. That’s mostly because their web site is the most user-friendly of the distros I’ve tried. When I say “user-friendly” I mean I didn’t have as many decision to make before I started my download. Having fewer decisions to make is a good thing if you’re exploring new territory. Ultimately Ubuntu, has just as many features as the other distributions I’ve tried, but Ubuntu is easier to download and just a little bit easier to set up.

My main hesitation with Fedora and straight Debian was that I thought I had to download 6 or 7 CDs. I later found out that both can also be downloaded onto one CD but when I visited their sites as a total newb I was intimidated by the 6-7 CD download and that seemed like the only option.

I’ve read some reviews that compare things like the distributions’s installation script, package managers, and even the games/apps that come pre-installed, but those differences seem insignificant to me. Ultimately, I’d say their all about the same.

The one distribution I’ve tried that is legitimately different is Damn Small Linux. I had a lot of trouble getting this distro up and running because I was trying to install it just like the other distros I’d tried. The problem with that is, DSL isn’t meant to be installed on a hard drive the way the others are. It’s supposed to be run from a Live CD, a flash drive, or frugal install. I didn’t know what “frugal install” meant, so I wasted 8 months fighting to get the traditional hard drive installation set up.
Eventually I found Lucky13’s blog about DSL and then I realized why I was having so much trouble. I still don’t know a lot about DSL yet, but I’m enjoying the puzzle and I appreciate Lucky13’s blog.

I did attempt a Gentoo install, but no luck yet.

Here’s the last line from chapter 8 of Grisham’s The Firm:

“He closed his eyes and watched them.”

Check out this story:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryannemc/155554889/

I’m sure everyone has a story like this: our parents, us, and our children.

I just finished Purple Cane Road by James Lee Burke. Here is a quote from the end of the book:

“Age has brought me few gifts, but one of them has been a degree of humility . . . “

Through our own stupidity, we hurt the people we love. (Through my own stupidity, I have hurt the people I love.) Not out of anger, malice, or cruelty, but out of selfishness.

That is why we need love and forgiveness above all else. When we are given undeserved love and forgiveness by our spouses, children, parents, and friends, then we learn humility.