In late 2012 or early 2013, I purchased a new laptop from the computer department of my local London Drugs. Despite money not being nearly as much of an issue back then, I still opted for a PC that was around the $700-$800 CAD mark. For some reason or another, 18 year-old me got a London Drugs house brand Certified Data laptop with only 4GB of RAM.
It wasn’t awful for its time, could play many contemporary games on medium or high settings, and came with Windows 7. It helped through many a late-night essay or YouTube video binge, and its keyboard was (and still is) a dream to type on.
As the years went by though, its boot-up time got slower and slower, its keyboard became less responsive, as well as a myriad of other performance issues that I am not qualified enough to give details about. The point is, I needed to have a reliable PC again.
I would periodically cleanup files, viruses, and other clutter, as well as defrag, but I was just tired of Windows. That’s when I had an idea: try a new OS!
I had previous experience with the Mac OS, but I wasn’t really thrilled with that, so (after some research and recommendations from a friend) I decided on Ubuntu Xenial Xerus. I was able to download and install it very easily on my old laptop and the interface is a breeze (well except for Terminal, but I am learning).
New Life
At first I was hesitant to nuke Windows 7 from the HDD, but after reading up on some of the problems with dual booting, as well as still having all the existing clutter and programs that I no longer use, or never used to begin with, I decided to go ahead and have a Ubuntu-only PC.
The boot-up is now extremely quick, and it no longer feels like the computer is struggling to load basic programs. The only thing left to do now is replace the spent battery. After that, this machine will be good as new!
Ubuntu is a whole different ball game, yet still familiar enough to pick up the important stuff with ease.
There is however, still an elephant in the room. That elephant lies in the way Linux’s user input works. I will have to learn more coding in order to properly make use of the Linux-based OS. This means learning new keyboard shortcuts, Terminal commands, and how the directories work. It will take time, and probably a lot of frustration as well.
Some Linux releases have nearly identical GUIs as Windows (such as Zorin), but it just didn’t make any sense to nuke my PC and then re-install something almost the same when I could just re-install Windows 7. Might as well learn a thing or two and step out of that oh-so-comfortable zone of mine.
This image has nothing to do with this story #themoreyouknow.
Compared to Mac and Windows, Ubuntu is a whole different ball game, yet still familiar enough to pick up the important stuff with ease, but knowing how to use all three major operating systems can’t possibly be a bad thing, right? A jack of all trades but a master of none is still better than a master of one.