My FOSS Journey

Robert W. Gehl, 15 December 2020

A recent Destination Linux podcast interviewed Neal Gompa, a Fedora contributor, and their first question was: how did you start using Linux? I won't recap Gompa's story -- I'd recommend listening to the show -- but suffice it to say it involves an old copy of Red Hat he randomly found.

I thought about Gompa's story and the question of getting started with FOSS and started reflecting on my own FOSS journey. As an academic -- and a non-computer science academic, at that -- I think my story is pretty unique.

Windows Vista, with Aero. I didn't have Aero, though. This image is from Wikipedia.

It all started with Windows Vista.

While I was pursuing my PhD in the mid-2000s, I was a stereotypical poor grad student. But I needed a laptop. I bought a Windows Vista computer -- a Compaq F700, to be exact. I spent more money on it than I had ever spent on a computer: $500. I bought it at Circuit City -- that should tell you something right there.

I loved that computer. I wrote term papers and my dissertation on it. I took it apart and added RAM. I lovingly blasted dust bunnies out of it. The Compaq and I were friends.

But it was sloooooow. Vista was awful. So I installed Ubuntu on it.

Back It Up a Bit

FOSS Academic

My FOSS Journey

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