(photo gallery to choose from, here)
When I started following Linux action on Twitter, one contributor stood out: mich_linux_guy. His tweets include, "Playing with the Android SDK", "Getting ready to install Fedora 10 on my son's XO laptop... Hope it's a win" and "Bought an Acer Aspire One at Costco for $350. Just installed Ubuntu 8.10. Did require fiddling with wireless packages. (googled it) Works!" Clearly this guy is into it. So I asked him to fill us in on what he's using, and here's what he said. - Doc Searls
My name is Don Stokes. I am a software engineer living in Oakland County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. I have a great wife and three fine sons. All of us are GNU/Linux users. I have a startup consulting business and am working on an MS degree in computer science at Oakland University. I spend much of my time telling everyone how great Linux is and why they should use it.
I have been working in the computer industry since 1981 when I joined the Michigan Air National Guard and maintained a flight simulator. At the same time, I was working as a repair technician for a company that manufactured memory and co-processor boards for the Apple II and going to school part- time at the University of Michigan. I began writing software to help me diagnose problems in production hardware that failed diagnostic tests. I quickly realized that working with software was more fun than hardware; there's less smoke and expense involved. For most of my career I've been, I been writing software in languages including BASIC, Pascal, C, C++, Java, and assembler. I've written software for computer hardware manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, and the defense industry.
A guy without a degree can only rise so far in a company before he needs to look for greener pastures. One day I was complaining to my wife about this and she suggested I take a break from my career and finish my degree. I did! It was a bizarre experience: sitting in class with kids young enough to be my own. At Oakland University, I used Linux on several research projects, including a web based medical image analysis application and a real-time PC-based controller. Now I have my own startup company. The focus of my business is to deploy Linux in businesses and factories, providing any type of assistance necessary. It is important to run a business on a reliable operating system; this is especially true on the factory floor, where failures could mean injury or loss of life.
The first computer I purchased was a TRS-80 model 1. I goofed around with some text-based adventure games and played with BASIC programming. The next computer I bought had an Intel 80286 processor. It came with MSDOS, but I bought a copy of IBM OS/2 to run. Eventually, OS/2 died and I was forced to run Windows NT. I think it was in 1999 that a friend at work (Ben - what happened to you? Call me!) passed me a Red Hat Linux CD. (It was actually labeled "Red Ass Linux".) It required a lot of tinkering to get it to work, but for me, this was "fun"! Eventually, I decided to make it my primary OS. There were a couple of times when I fell off the wagon and went back to Windows. The last was in about 2003. That year, I achieved maximum disgust with the bloating and poor performance of Windows. I finally made a commitment to Linux and never looked back. We only run Windows a couple times a year so that my son can program his Lego Mindstorm robot.
For our anniversary, I bought my wife an HP laptop with a gig of RAM. It had Vista installed and she wanted to keep it. After a week, the machine was slow enough to be annoying. She finally broke down and had me put Ubuntu on it. She uses it for her email, web browsing, and to manage the music on her iPod. Now she loves it (about as much as she's going to love any computer). I find it hard to imagine why Microsoft cannot make its current OS run well on a gig of memory.
Linux has matured since my first days with it. Back then, it was difficult to install and configure. Today, it is easier to install than Windows when you consider the installation of all the software you need to make the computer usable. All the software I use on a daily basis is free and almost all of it is open source. I use Open Office for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and simple databases. I use Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird for web browsing and email. Pidgin is my instant messenger. I use gcc for compiling my C/C++ source and eclipse for my Java development. I also use Apache web servers and MySQL database manager for systems I have developed. I also use Umbrello, Octave, Kino, and VLC on a regular basis.
My father bought a Dell laptop a few years ago and was frequently coming to me saying, "It's so slow, I can't use it!" I would say, "Dad, that's what happens to Windows after a few months of use." Finally, I had enough and convinced him to use Ubuntu Linux about a year ago. He mostly uses his computer for email and web surfing. (His wife plays games on it sometimes.) Since he doesn't have the root password or sudo rights, he can't mess it up. Since it is a lot harder to attack Linux than Windows, I don't worry about the security of his system. It's a great OS for him. My mom is next!
I ran Fedora until Ubuntu Feisty Fawn came out. Now I pretty much stick with it. Once in a while I will boot a live CD of another distribution to see what they are up to. I also have Damn Small Linux running on a couple of machines. It is amazing how much functionality you can get using this distribution on machines that most people would leave on the curb for the garbage truck.
The best thing about Linux is that its modular architecture makes it so configurable / customizable. If I want eye candy, I can run Gnome or KDE desktops. I can even run the X server with only a display manager if I want to maximize efficiency. On machines with low CPU or memory resources, I can run with only a command line on a text display with no graphical user interface.
Another reason I use Linux is the huge repository of free software. Kids have very short attention spans. Even the best games won't keep them content for long. With Linux, I can simply go to the Add/ Remove option on the main menu and choose from a gazillion free applications - all installable with a few mouse clicks. Many of these applications are very educational; it's been a great experience for my kids. Since they don't have administrator access, they can't corrupt the machine.
I recently downloaded the Android SDK for the eclipse IDE. It is amazing how easy it is to create applications written in Java for Android. I got so excited that I went out and bought a G1 the next day. (That's how long it took the local T-Mobile guys to get some stock). I'm currently writing a simple encryption application for storing private information like passwords and account numbers. Collecting devices that run Linux has become kind of an obsession with my family (okay, me). Here is our current collection:
I love my freedom! Random personal information: I use Go Daddy to host the website for my consulting business (on a non-dedicated Linux server). Visit me on the web at www.stokesautomation.com (it's a work in progress). My other interests include reading, mostly about physics. I hope to understand quantum theory before I die! My favorite quote is from Spinoza: "Let every man think what he wants and say what he thinks."