My History with Ubuntu

I had heard a lot about Ubuntu over the last few years and have read a lot about Linux and Ubuntu as well to familiarize myself with it. I had been using Windows XP all the while without complaint, so I really didn't feel the need to switch over.

I did order a free CD from ubuntu when version 5.04 (known as Hoary Hedgehog) was released, but I remember not being impressed with it then. I had just begun to learn about ubuntu then, and I was too inexperienced to dive into the linux waters.

I did keep watching the Ubuntu distros with some interest however over the years and kept ordering the CD's to try out, using them as Live Cds on my aging P4 computer. As I demanded more and more from my PC, Windows tried to keep up, but I seemed to be experiencing more glitches as the system aged. Recently, my computer failed me completed. I was unable to access my hard drives or log in at all. The system was not detecting the presence of any hard drives one day on boot up even though I didn't do anything unusual to my system the day before. I've been working with computers for years and feel comfortable with tinkering with the computer innards, so I tried several things to get my system operational without success. I eventually narrowed down the problem to either a system bios problem or worse, a complete hard drive failure. This still didn't help me to get access to my system until I tried using a Ubuntu CD that I remembered I had. I dropped it into the drive and rebooted my system. It loaded as a live cd and automatically found my hard drives. The two drives were not damaged, just not readable from Windows for some reason.

Since I had two hard drives, I installed Ubuntu on my second backup drive. Once I had Ubuntu installed, the system seemed to recover and start running like it never had before. I liked what I was seeing. It was just at this time that version 8.04 came out so I downloaded the iso and burned myself a DVD. (I ordered a CD of Hardy Heron as well just for the sake of tradition)

I now can boot from either drive. I managed to get Windows working again, but I'm booting each drive individually. For now I'm just switching cables inside the computer to choose which hard drive that I want to boot up.

I'll add some specs of my computer in future, as I add to this blog to help others who might want to know how I have it configured.

Today marks the start of my Ubuntu journey as I have installed Ubuntu 8.04 (the Hardy Heron) I've my main hard drive to load Ubuntu and I have my Windows hard drive set as my secondary drive which is mounted from Ubuntu so that I can access my files using Nautilus.