First Steps

my different stages

First Time

In the spring of 2000 I had some time and ordered a brand new external link:SuSE 6.4 [en|de], read the big guide and installed it successfully. I had to get to know the new environment but SuSE did quite a good job and everything was usable right from the start. I can still remember how easy connection to the internet was: I edited wvdial's configuration file and entered the telephone number, the username and the password. Then I entered "wvdial" and I was online. That's it! And wvdial does not forget the data - as Windows always does. I tested the software on the six CDs and decided to use GNOME and Sawfish.

First Update

Time passed and I had to update some programs, since I wanted to compile the kernel. I looked for these updates at several sources on the internet but could not find the rpm-files. Thus, I had to compile these basic programs myself, *hrmmpf*. I could use them in this manner but the package-management-system on my computer wass then missing information about these programs: It still thought that the older program versions were installed. The more I used Linux, the more programs I compiled myself due to the lack of rpm-files.

Second Time

Having such a broken system, I jumped at the chance to reinstall Linux (yeah just like Windows;) when a good friend bought the new SuSE 7.0. Now I had the new external Link:KDE 2 [en] that impressed me and that I had used for some time now. But I got sick of its slowness and unreliability and returned to GNOME again. Then I needed a mailreader that was better than Kmail of KDE2 and tested each one that was available for Linux. Finally, I found Sylpheed that really fulfilled my requirements. I switched to more and more GNOME programs and finally downloaded the new Mozilla 0.8 that was quite better than the Netscape 4.7. During this time I thought about switching to Debian with its better package management, which I did after my "Abitur".

Third Time

Yeah, I installed "Debian unstable" and removed SuSE afterwards. Debian itself is very easy to use with some Linux knowledge. Since then, I always get the program I need without looking for it.

Future Updates

are not worth to be mentioned here since they are very easy.