Butterflies!
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:06 pm
Hi all,
just have to share this with you, and especially with all the beginners out there:
I'm sitting here in front of my wonderful Mint 12 LXDE laptop which is now running as smooth as none of my computers ever have run before, and while I'm reading and learning more about Linux and tweaking my setup, I realise that I actually have butterflies in my tummy!
Am I in love with my computer? With Linux? No, but it feels damn good nonetheless. Is that a little bit wrong maybe? Even if, I don't care! I got rid of that lead heavy stomach feeling of frustration and wasted time which comes with pampering Windows and its applications in an eternal battle to keep things the way I want them to be, and replaced it with an excited and productive flutter in my belly! That's a pretty good deal if you ask me.
I'm not the kind of person who tends to easily get excited about technology, nor am I an IT passionista. But if there is one thing that really gives me a kick, it's when things just plain WORK so I can get on with whatever it is that I want to do, rather than having to look after temperamental gadgets that should simply be tools that obey their master. And that latter is what Mint 12 LXDE has turned my old laptop into.
Yes, there are things that Mint 12 LXDE can improve upon - and I'm sure it will (something that can not be said of Windows, by the way). But the few things that I have found so far that I would like to see in later releases are harmless and not impacting on my productivity.
Yes, I also had some issues initially; but I found solid help here in the forums, and found solutions relatively quickly, even with one somewhat unusual problem.
I am truly amazed at many details of Mint LXDE, from how fast my applications run now to the fact that the user interfaces are so much better than in Windows that I do dramatically less clicks to perform the same task; sometimes, it's almost like magic, how did I manage to do this or that with hardly clicking anything? My wrists love it! Pretty much everything about Linux and LXDE seems to be a wonderful zero nonsense approach, and I like that it is not overfreighted with endless gadgets and goodies just in case I want to use a couple of them - if I want something, I can always add it, and the system really makes that amazingly easy, for example with the software manager. This really is computing how it should be.
My hat goes off to everyone who has put their work, time and heart blood into this, you've done an absolutely fantastic job people!
If I had a wish, it would be: Please, please, keep developing Mint in that spirit - simple, no fuss, no nonsense, lean, and a strong focus on making sure that things just work. And please stick with Ubuntu, and make sure there is always an LXDE version of each future release!
So, if you are a Linux beginner and are having some issues at the beginning, hang in there! It is absolutely worth it. I don't know about other distros, because I have never tried any, and I have a feeling that this is going so well for me that I'm not going to try many others any time soon either - but Mint 12 LXDE really rocks.
The difference between Windows and Mint LXDE, for me, is like the difference between having an old and complicated car that is difficult to drive safely and which you can barely keep alive with heaps of maintenance and wasted time, and a modern reliable one that is predictable both in the way it drives and that it will start without issues in the morning.
You should start an advertising campaign that Mint LXDE makes you feel 10 years younger! I'll go back to enjoying my butterflies a bit more now.
Happy greetings to all you out there, keep up the fantastic work!
Cheers,
Matt
just have to share this with you, and especially with all the beginners out there:
I'm sitting here in front of my wonderful Mint 12 LXDE laptop which is now running as smooth as none of my computers ever have run before, and while I'm reading and learning more about Linux and tweaking my setup, I realise that I actually have butterflies in my tummy!
Am I in love with my computer? With Linux? No, but it feels damn good nonetheless. Is that a little bit wrong maybe? Even if, I don't care! I got rid of that lead heavy stomach feeling of frustration and wasted time which comes with pampering Windows and its applications in an eternal battle to keep things the way I want them to be, and replaced it with an excited and productive flutter in my belly! That's a pretty good deal if you ask me.
I'm not the kind of person who tends to easily get excited about technology, nor am I an IT passionista. But if there is one thing that really gives me a kick, it's when things just plain WORK so I can get on with whatever it is that I want to do, rather than having to look after temperamental gadgets that should simply be tools that obey their master. And that latter is what Mint 12 LXDE has turned my old laptop into.
Yes, there are things that Mint 12 LXDE can improve upon - and I'm sure it will (something that can not be said of Windows, by the way). But the few things that I have found so far that I would like to see in later releases are harmless and not impacting on my productivity.
Yes, I also had some issues initially; but I found solid help here in the forums, and found solutions relatively quickly, even with one somewhat unusual problem.
I am truly amazed at many details of Mint LXDE, from how fast my applications run now to the fact that the user interfaces are so much better than in Windows that I do dramatically less clicks to perform the same task; sometimes, it's almost like magic, how did I manage to do this or that with hardly clicking anything? My wrists love it! Pretty much everything about Linux and LXDE seems to be a wonderful zero nonsense approach, and I like that it is not overfreighted with endless gadgets and goodies just in case I want to use a couple of them - if I want something, I can always add it, and the system really makes that amazingly easy, for example with the software manager. This really is computing how it should be.
My hat goes off to everyone who has put their work, time and heart blood into this, you've done an absolutely fantastic job people!
If I had a wish, it would be: Please, please, keep developing Mint in that spirit - simple, no fuss, no nonsense, lean, and a strong focus on making sure that things just work. And please stick with Ubuntu, and make sure there is always an LXDE version of each future release!
So, if you are a Linux beginner and are having some issues at the beginning, hang in there! It is absolutely worth it. I don't know about other distros, because I have never tried any, and I have a feeling that this is going so well for me that I'm not going to try many others any time soon either - but Mint 12 LXDE really rocks.
The difference between Windows and Mint LXDE, for me, is like the difference between having an old and complicated car that is difficult to drive safely and which you can barely keep alive with heaps of maintenance and wasted time, and a modern reliable one that is predictable both in the way it drives and that it will start without issues in the morning.
You should start an advertising campaign that Mint LXDE makes you feel 10 years younger! I'll go back to enjoying my butterflies a bit more now.
Happy greetings to all you out there, keep up the fantastic work!
Cheers,
Matt