Man, some Linux Users (or lusers as some like to call them) really like pain and suffering.
These days, user-friendly distributions like Ubuntu make it easy for even a novice to get a desktop installation up and running smoothly. However, try to get an unusual piece of hardware working, or use a less stable distribution or piece of software, and you’ll probably face a few “challenges”. Now, someone who just want to do some word processing might refer to these as “problems” or “reasons to go back to Windows”, however, I personally find them one of the most exciting features of the operating system. Every time I have a problem, it takes some work and liberal use of everyone’s best friend Google to get over it, but each time I learn a little more about the software I’m using.
(from: 8 Reasons Why Every Computing Student Will Love Linux)
Sidnei Silva 
A computer that you plug in and it just works? C’mon, where’s the fun in that! I want to compile kernel modules, nay, *patch* kernel modules every time I buy a new gadget. Even Stephen Fry said that’s what we’re supposed to do ;).
Definitely! I enjoy having to hack away my machine to get it just working fine… I don’t know if I’m crazy or just curious, but I take it as part of the “user experience” :P (just a peculiar type of user).
I’d rather fix up my OS than use Windows, just like I’d rather learn to drive than ride a bus.
I’m just waiting for the release which will set rabbit squirells loose and set off a deafening alarm every time there is a problem until I fix it. That will be even more challenging.
I remember meeting this young Brazilian at a castle in Austria, he was very excited to show me that he was running Linux on his iBook, and was showing me the ratpoison window manager, which he liked a lot. He had set up his own custom keybindings and said he was very productive.
I liked that guy a lot. What happened, Sidnei? :)
See, that was on an iBook. Linux Just Works ™ most of the time on Apple hardware. Tinkering with strange hardware just for the sake of feeling pain is insane.
As for ratpoison, I actually got pretty much the same setup on Windows Vista right now, using GridMove. :)
The context is very important here. It looks reasonable to me, and healthy, that a computing student finds exciting to learn new things, every time he has a problem.
No doubt it’s exciting, but it shouldn’t be all.
I’m feeling the pain myself, after using Linux pretty much all through graduation. Now I find myself expert in using ‘apt-get’, ‘gcc’ and ‘gdb’ but can’t answer 15% of a sample exam for entering masters.
Personally, my opinion is that using Linux might be good for your career but is a really bad choice during school because it will steal your focus.
i’m also one of those guys who runs linux on ibook, gentoo to be exact … so compiling every program you would say its a waste of time … maybe, but hell yeah its fun … my girl likes it – imagine what all you can do while waiting firefox to compile :)
and yes i agree with that “brasilian guy” … custom keyboard roks. and i always repeat “real men use keyboard only” (http://suckless.org/wmii/)
I agree, but must say that is where I am at right now with Plone. (Especially the Googling problems part.) And it feels a bit masochistic because we could have stayed with the safe CMS we had. But we aren’t masochists. Just hopeful for a time when we will know what is going on and causing the problems.
Sidnei,
I find it infinitely better to just use my computer and to be able to fix it if need arises than being totally unable to do even peek under its hood.
I am running Windows right now (current employment conditions) and I can really tell you it´s a painful transition back to a less civilized (and plain ugly) environment.
I think the pain you describe is mostly related to ill-behaved hardware and poorly thought out software I have decided to avoid long ago. Much like that iBook of yours, everything works like charm for me. Unless one enjoys pain (and some people do – you run Vista, after all), Linux is pretty painless these days.
And Anthony, Plone is not painful. It´s just very, very complicated. You can´t approach an alien spacecraft and expect to figure out how it violates every law of Physics without some effort. Still, it flies great once you grok it.
Is that the Slackware way of life?
I often complain, tongue in cheek, about how bad linux is. When I got a scanner, my computer recognised it, and asked me to install the correct software. Wheres the tinking and fun in that?
On a serious side, I’m finding I don’t need to tinker, which turns the computer into a tool, as opposed to a chore! Now I can spend more time looking at the interesting things on the net, like this blog! :)
since I’ve got my macbook I don’t look back to those linux days. It was fun for me to fix my system and to google for solutions but I recommend every user to try running a nearly user friendly OS like OS-X. Its a completely new experience not to think about how to make things work. Instead of it, having fun using the things that the OS offers you.
The reason why I had so much fun in fixing things was that there was a lack of fun in using it. Now things have changed for me. Even if it sometimes sucks like every other OS out there.