How Linux Greatly Changed my Life

In the Beginning

First i missed my one year anniversary on Ubuntu which was on july 5th 2008 ..its funny how i came to start using Linux .. cus my journey started in a flame war btw me and some “Linux Geeks” in the biggest online forum for Nigerians http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?top…262#msg1188262 ( i was such a witch back then ) i was supporting windows vista .. u know i have never used anything other than windows so i tot it was the best that computer can be .one thing that touched me was the continuous use of .. “open source” , “free”,(not the price free) and “community” by the linux guys .. this concept were alien to me but they sounded good and i have always wanted an OS where the community matters .. i didnt get that with windows and i thought that was how god made things to be .. so i MP one of the Linux guys apologized for being a jerk .. and asked him how i could install Linux .. if it had a GUI, if i could play music and use it like a general average user uses is computer without running geeky commands .. and he said yes and recommended i try Ubuntu .. so my journey began .. but it wasn’t an easy one .. i had to download the Ubuntu DVD.. (yeah i know i could have gone for the cd version but i wanted something big that wont require me to use the net too often) anyway it took me a week to download the 4gb dvd on my 10kbs modem.. b4 then i searched the web like i have never done before .. from blog to blog looking for how to dual boot and use Ubuntu .. i met many pple who told me that it was save and it wont kidnap me or my family. so

The BiG Change

mid night July 5 2007 .. the last bits of feisty fawn was downloaded .. it was i cold raining night .. so i grabbed a coffee .. went down to the closest thing to a basement in my house.. the it started .. i followed the guide to a T .. Gave Ubuntu 17gb out of my 160gb .. .. rebooted .. checked that windows was ok .. rebooted logged into Ubuntu .. and was greeted a splash and the welcoming sounds or feisty fawn .. for the first time in my life i was in a Desktop other than windows .. with the help of Adewale.. my former enemy now a comrade .. i setup Ubuntu for everything i needed .. with time i could do everything i did on windows on Ubuntu .. and because i used less and less of windows .. the vista partition started shrinking from 17gb-ubuntu – 45gb vista rest storage … it became 50gb-Ubuntu vista 20gb rest storage .. now its 50gb-ubuntu vista 0 rest storage

Giving to the Community
ever since coming to Ubuntu i have always wanted to be more than just a user .. i wanted to give back to the community and since am not a programmer or an artist and am always broke and cant donate .. i decided to with the help of Adewale form [url]ubuntunigeria.wordpress.com[/url] an Ubuntu loco that with the aim of promoting the value of open source and letting pple know that there is life outside windows .. to press home our point we got involved with many flame war in nairaland (the same forum where i was converted) and we objectively made the windows fan boys understand that Linux has moved from the bad old days of redhat and slax (no insult intended) .. we posted screenhots and and guides and howtos .. we left our numbers in the blog to offer support.. to bypass the lack of internet for most pple in Nigeria .. i made aptondvds that has almost everything that a new user would ever want .. we also used Ubuntu ultimate distro ..with is a wonderful distro for new users .. with time the calls started coming in .. people from all over Nigeria wanted to know more about ubuntu .. or get involved with our user group .. to make things easy we took in users from the different regions in Nigeria .. and we armed them with Ubuntu cds and aptondvds .. and if anybody request for an ubuntu cd ..we just directed him to the closest ubuntu Nigeria member to him .. so far the success has been quite modest .. i have been able to physically install and configure Ubuntu for more than 50 pple in Lagos alone .. not to talk about pple that we have influenced to make a switch .. for a country of 150 million pple that is tiny .. but remember to everyone that has changed .. it makes a different to them and we are a tiny group .. but we are highly motivated and passionate about what we do …

Payback Time

it started with call .. a certain Andy was having problems setting up dailup on his ubuntu box .. from his ascent i knew he wasnt Nigerian .he tried the guide i posted in the Ubuntu Nigeria Blog but it didn’t quite work.. and he called the number i left by the guide in case anyone had problems following the guide .. we went over the problem and got it fixed ..
next thing he send me an sms about job offers for linux geek in Abuja .. and he wanted me to come over for an interview .. i told him i dont have any certification in Linux and he said F that …i asked the community for tips and the responses were awesome .. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=821616
he paid my flight to abuja and the interview was has smooth as butter ..
the next day was giving the job .. at AUST Afican University of Science and Technology .. its a new University which is backed by the world bank .. the aim is to build a world class university that would build the next generation of African Scientist .. the schools uses only open tools and my job was to deploy Ubuntu on all their systems and laptops for the students .. their job was to provide me with free accommodation with all the convinces ,free food,free laptop,free desktop… plus i get to use the gym,swimming pool,tennis court if i want to… the internet is also free i control it BTW… all this for a guy who start using ubuntu last year and who has formal IT qualification i read law in school .. but there liked my passion and the fact that i have a very good knowledge of the linux desktop ..

THE AUST CHALLENGE
TO make things easy we setup system imager which i used to build a customized ubuntu containing the very best of open source science tools that i got from research online … we mounted the home directory of all the users on an Ubuntu fileserver using NFS and ldap was used for authentication …
i took the students on how to use ubuntu .. and in the first few days things were rough but .. now must are pretty cool with it and are having it smooth ..

How to Help
Any tips on how to effectively manage an Educational Institution .. would do

Thanks

My Biggest Thanks goes to Afolabi Adewale he was instrumental in making me what iam today .. he helped me a lot made my transition not as rocky as it would have been if i did it alone .. i cant thank u enough

Man2fish we started Ubuntu almost at the same time .. he installed Ubuntu b4 me and told me that the coast was clear and he had not yet dead .. we are still good friends till this day ..

SupaSonic
my very good friend he encouraged me to take the job when i was afraid i might now be good enough .. we also helps me sort out some issues i have with ubuntu ..

barbedsaber
he is my best friend in the forums .. he has been a good friend of Ubuntu NIgeria and helped me edit some of my post they .. u awesome mehn for being a good friend .. thanks

and most of all to all the devs and the community who without u i wont be where i am today .. u have brought meaning to my life .. at a time when things were really down for me .. i promise to always support the open source course in everything i do …