After a recent, freak accident, I was faced with the problem of replacing my computer's hard drive. Replacing the hard drive was easy. I took the cover off my machine, unplugged the busted hard drive, and plugged in the new one. The hard part was setting my computer up again.
I had lost the CD copy of Windows98 that had come with my computer, and, not wanting to fork out $200 for a new copy after having spent $125 on a new hard drive, I started looking for other options.
The only other OS I could find available at local retailers was Linux, and I thought the $30 price tag was manageable. I picked it up, payed for it, and took it home.
After putting the drivers on my new drive, I started the Red Hat installation. It was really easy. The installation program even partitioned the hard drive for me, something I never would have been able to do for myself, as I only know enough about hardware and programming to be dangerous. Unfortunately, once the OS was installed, the problems started.
Problem #1 was that I couldn't set up my e-mail/internet account. The program provided sections to input phone number information, but no place to input user name and password(s). Worse yet, despite my having installed my drivers, the OS wouldn't recognize my modem. While this made the lack of user name and password a moot point, solving one problem I had, it prevented me from using my computer for the thing I had bought it for: email and internet.
I figured it was no big deal, I have a few friends who eat, sleep, and breath computers, I'll just get one of them to fix me up later. I put problem #1 aside, and decided to see what else Linux had to offer. So I pulled out some old floppy disks with pictures of friends and family to check out the viewer program that came with Linux. It worked great. Well, more accurately, it worked great for one disk. After that, the file manager program wouldn't read my disks.
Oh, hell, I figured, maybe I was doing something wrong. Like I said, I'm not Scooter Computer. I decided I'd just listen to a CD while I called one of my buddies up and asked him how to fix the problem.
That didn't work, of course.
Not only did the Linux program not want to recognize my CDR, somehow it erased the drivers for it. I couldn't even get the computer to boot through it anymore. I shut the power to my machine off and hung my head in frustration. I realized at that moment that I had paid the $170 difference between Linux and Windows98 in time and frustration, and would have been better off going with an OS I was already familiar with than this unusual monstrosity.
I called my pal about the Linux and the problems it caused. He told me that problems were pretty common where Linux was concerned. He also informed me that people like myself, who know little more about programming than how to tell our drives and files apart, shouldn't buy Linux, because it's more text/program intensive than the very graphic Windows98. He said he had tried a Linux OS himself once, but was never able to get it to do everything it was supposed to do.
So now my buddy has my computer, and is reconstructing everything for me. He got me a copy of Windows98 cheap enough that, even with the $30 for the Linux thrown in, I didn't dump $200 down the toilet. I came close, but, still, under $200. Now I'm stuck using my work computer until he gets my machine back to me, but at least I learned a few valuable lessons:
1)Microsoft is the leader, not because they're a monopoly, but because their stuff is better than the junk people like Linux put out.
2)Stick with what you know.
I thought Linux bit the big one, and swear to stick with Windows until they start to stink as bad as these guys.




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