Posts: 11
fendermon
Joined: 11 Sep 2009
#1
Greatings __{{emoticon}}__


and, congrats to all involved in building ( and/or supporting) a fantastic anti-bloat Debian interpretation!

I'm an under a year Linux user, (run several versions) but already I feel quite gratefull and will be looking for a way to contribute. In a small way I do now as I often put the Linux bug in people's ear at the large I.T. department where I work and am quick on the draw with the live cds __{{emoticon}}__ Antix is on my short list of favorites, good job.


Regards, Bill
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#2
Welcome to antiX, Bill.

The more people out there pushing the benefits of linux in general and the 'mean and lean' antiX in particular, the better. Have fun with antiX and any advice, ideas you have to improve antiX, just shout __{{emoticon}}__
Posts: 4,164
rokytnji
Joined: 20 Feb 2009
#3
Howdy and Welcome Bill from the deserts of Texas. Always nice to see a new user join the group. Lot of nice folks here.
Posts: 11
fendermon
Joined: 11 Sep 2009
#4
Hi Anti and rokytnji,

Definately a friendly group in Antix. I know that gets tossed out there on most (If not all) message boards, but I really sense it here. I,ve lurked for a while and haven't seen the ego contests and in-fighting that's so common. The atmosphere on the boards really is important (to me) and part of a distros experiance.

Bill
Posts: 1,139
masinick
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
#5
fendermon wrote:Greatings __{{emoticon}}__

and, congrats to all involved in building ( and/or supporting) a fantastic anti-bloat Debian interpretation!

I'm an under a year Linux user, (run several versions) but already I feel quite gratefull and will be looking for a way to contribute. In a small way I do now as I often put the Linux bug in people's ear at the large I.T. department where I work and am quick on the draw with the live cds __{{emoticon}}__ Antix is on my short list of favorites, good job.

Regards, Bill
Hi Bill, and Welcome to antiX! I was born in Detroit myself. I have lived in New Hampshire since 1985, but my mother and my oldest sister are still living in the northern suburbs, while the rest of us are scattered around the country.

I have really enjoyed both using antiX and participating in the forum with the wonderful people here. Hope you enjoy it too.
Posts: 11
fendermon
Joined: 11 Sep 2009
#6
Hi Brian,

Thanks for the warm welcome.
I'm roughly in Pontiac now. Never quite sure if I should throw the Detroit word out there anymore as the old girl ain't what she used to be. You have an impressive list of distros you use there. I try to push the envelope too when I can. I'm running Mepis, Mint, Antix, and just added Absolute (the Slackware eqivolent of Antix). That install scared the stuff out of me __{{emoticon}}__ Made the Antix install look like a day at the park with the kids.
Posts: 1,139
masinick
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
#7
fendermon wrote:Hi Brian,

Thanks for the warm welcome.
I'm roughly in Pontiac now. Never quite sure if I should throw the Detroit word out there anymore as the old girl ain't what she used to be. You have an impressive list of distros you use there. I try to push the envelope too when I can. I'm running Mepis, Mint, Antix, and just added Absolute (the Slackware eqivolent of Antix). That install scared the stuff out of me __{{emoticon}}__ Made the Antix install look like a day at the park with the kids.
I was actually born in Detroit, but I lived in Fraser for most of my growing years, and I also lived a year or two in Roseville and Warren. I started my professional career at the General Motors Building on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, and was there about six months before moving to the 500 Building on Rochester Road in Troy for a few months, before spending another 5 years at the GM Tech Center in Warren, working in what was called the GMISCA organization. I used systems at the GM Research Labs for much of that time, and got my full indoctrination into UNIX systems starting in 1982.

I joined Digital Equipment Corporation early in 1985 after GM purchased EDS in 1984, putting its IT operations under the management of EDS. I took a nice buyout package in 1985, which enabled me to purchase my first condo in Merrimack, NH. I stayed with Digital for 13 1/2 years before going into contract work.

It was in 1995, while part of the Digital UNIX Engineering group, that I became interested in Linux software. A number of guys in the DUDE group (Digital UNIX Development Engineering) were chatting about Linux and I decided to buy a Micron P100 desktop system to dual boot Windows 3.11 and Slackware Linux. I did not have broadband Internet access for another four years, so that first system was used mostly for local editing and using modem programs to connect to the UNIX systems at work.

In 1999, Broadband Internet services became available from home, so I started graduate school from home and started to use Linux more often. When I finished graduate school in 2001, I greatly increased my use of Linux at home and it has been my every day system at home ever since, and I have had a few jobs where I've been involved in testing systems migrating from UNIX financial services applications to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux replacement.
Posts: 11
fendermon
Joined: 11 Sep 2009
#8
Interesting post Brian,

I could only hope for such a focused (and successful) career path....No, I've done too much to mention __{{emoticon}}__

Lived in Michigan my whole life. As far as Linux goes, I guess I'm just a a little different than the people around me. When I'm told by mega$oft that I have to upgrade this or that or that it's time to buy anti-virus or my computer might soon burst into flames I just go"ummm don't think so." I get a blank look from most people when I tell them about Linux. I've only been into it for a little less than a year. I attempted Mandrake maybe 7 or 8 yrs ago but it didn't go well at all. Live and learn!

To the newcomers I would say stick it out if your challenged. I met resistance every step of the way from Mandrake, to techs at work telling me it was too hard, to people who couldn't imagine changing anything so central to our lives. It's probably an American thing...(it takes effort so.. it must be bad)

Recently I've been put on mainframe consoles at work running VSE and I'm hoping some of the command line tricks will work in both worlds. Dale
Posts: 1,139
masinick
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
#9
I've been pretty fortunate during my Linux escapades. My first Linux testing was in late 1995. I installed Slackware, taking the CD from a book, building boot and root floppies for it, then installing it on a Micron P100 desktop system. The installation worked perfectly. Slackware starts at the console, so that was GREAT. The first time I started up an X server, it worked, but I only had 8 color VGA resolution. Turned out I did not have the latest video driver. A search on the 'net helped me find one; I brought it home over the sneakernet - took a floppy to work, downloaded the driver and brought it home.

My Linux experiences have been much better than that since then. Slackware works like a charm. antiX, though, is a real gem. Not only does it work, it is fast, I can run it Live, load it into RAM and it is extra fast, I can load it onto a USB stick, run it that way, I can install it to disk, I can install the full version or I can install the base version and customize it to my heart's content.

antiX is an excellent blend between stability and flexibility. I can make it more stable by tying it to Debian Stable repos; I can make it more cutting edge by tying it to Debian Sid, or I can go in between by keeping it using Debian Testing for updates. I try all of these things with antiX at least once in a while. I enjoy antiX very much.
Posts: 11
fendermon
Joined: 11 Sep 2009
#10
Antix is nothing if not flexible. I just downloaded the base and am having fun with that. Antix and absolute are for sure two of my favorite toys. Now I need to figure out how to contribute something back. I paid a modest amount for my Mepis and Mint install.... but that is all. Any ideas?