[ubuntu-us-mi] Introduction

[Matt Arnold]

Since this is my first post as a member of this mailing list, a word
of introduction. I live in Hazel Park. I've done most of the Penguicon
program books, been head of programming, been right hand man to four
Penguicon convention chairs, and I will be the Chair for 2009. I've
been an artist and graphic designer in the print industry for eight
years, but recently changed to work on a corporate website, intranet
and extranet.

I was introduced to Linux at the first Penguicon. I've been using
Ubuntu as my desktop for two or three years now, and I push it on my
family, friends and coworkers. I usually avoid the command line as if
it were a pitch-black warehouse where I bark my shins on unseen items
in the dark. But every month or two I experiment with something that
will stretch my meager command line skills and try to learn. Then to
fix what I've broken, I reinstall Ubuntu, or I get new hard drives.
GRUB for my latest set of hard drives currently offers me a half-dozen
Ubuntus which I broke, and one good one. When I installed Gutsy, I
used Symantic to install Mediabuntu on top of it. This broke the
splash screen, and most of the restricted packages like DVDs and
Flash. By failing you learn, or so I've heard.

This makes it sound like my experience has in some way been
dissatisfactory, but to the contrary, Ubuntu is quite forgiving of
normal use, short of all but my most ambitious fumblings. Who would
have imagined an operating system so easy to install that the
procedure is more painless than almost any simple repair measure? I
wholeheartedly recommend Ubuntu and am very excited about promoting
it, both in my Penguicon work and anywhere else.

-Matt Arnold