I saw the recent posts so figured why not. At age eleven I got my first tablet (a Kindle Fire). This inspired me to everything I could about it, and as such I discovered Linux was what OS it utilized. Being visually impaired things that require minimal eyesight peak my interest as I can't play sports like football and for that matter don't care for them. People usually consider this laziness but I look at it differently; why run around like a hooligan when innovation can be made. So back on track. I started to study Linux and seeing as my older brother was what I thought as a tech guru I asked him about it. Turns out he had previous experience with Fedora and retired to Ubuntu due to pure simplicity. I studied Linux and so forth. The funny thing is I at the time didn't know a thing about Windows, but could explain the basics of the Linux filesystem. As is evident, people learn best hands on so when I received my first laptop (a Dell Latitude E5530) Ubuntu was instantly put on it. Worst experience ever. No magnifier whatsoever and as such you could imagine I was terrified. I sought for a DE that worked and stumbled upon Gnome. I installed Gnome, everything was a breeze. It just worked. A day later I tried Linux Mint Cinnamon having heard great things about it. I could not get over the fact that when my screen was magnified anytime my cursor changed form it glitched out. Now this is where I truly learned. I was scared of the command line. It was the end all, be all. I hopped to Fedora, and never again did I regret installing Linux. It truly was/is what Linux represents. Freedom. I was about 13 by this time and didn't know what I thought of it. If I had never used there's no telling how ignorant I would be today. I tried Debian, I tried Manjaro. They just didn't work at, not exceed my expectations. Today I use Gnome and OpenSUSE, I'm raising money for my first rig, I'm learning C, but best of all, I regret nothing. That is why I classify Fedora as the first distro I've ever used; I went around its learning curve and man was it worth it. In the future I want to make my own kernel as Linus did, but this time I want it to be more mainstream and future proof. Thanks for reading this, and I would just like to say this is the best forum I've ever had the pleasure of posting on.
You don't realize what a straight jacket Windows is until you've played with Linux. Install VirtualBox, load up any Linux OS without losing your current setup.
Want to do some web design? Checkout Turnkey http://www.turnkeylinux.org/ , they've got 100s of pre-built servers, such as a full LAMP server with WordPress ready to roll.
Linux system admin? Take a look at www.theurbanpenguin.com . Get behind the GUI for the real Linux experience.
How about building your own Linux distro? Here's two sites to get you started:
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
https://www.yoctoproject.org/
Very nice, I also dislike Ubuntu. I like where Fedora and openSUSE are innovating as well. Look out for Gnome 3.14 when it lands stable (it will be included in Fedora 21). It has some nice touch screen enhancements (if your into that). I agree with Geoff on the flexibility of Linux as well. I have to say SeekingSight, if you want to build a more mainstream, more future proof kernel, I say good luck to you. Kernel 3.17 has support for processors that won't be on the (consumer) market for another year. How's that for future proof. As for mainstream, it needs to take over more desktop and mobile user space, but most servers already use it. I will not deny the utility of the BSDs though. I think it would be good for you to check out as well. I suggest you start your BSD obsession (length of effect varies) with the topic of ZFS (the FreeBSD file system). The Wikipedia article on file systems is accurate and a good place to learn (not just about ZFS, but many filesystems).
You only learn when you are limited, I could make PCs run with stupidly old specs because of Linux, the fact is this, put your self in positions where you are not used to, and adapt, survive.
I will hopefully be going to uni as of next year, to which is outside of my comfort zone, I have not been in education in 2 years, but again we adapt.
Also I would recommend Arch for learning as well as Gentoo, its documentation is unrivaled, even Suse cant compete with its community, although they can be a bit elitest, most of the time they try to give you the information you need, just give them the information you have, and they will help you!
Linux is a blast.
On my desktop I use Sabayon and the stuff they have been doing is really cool. They have their own Steam OS built on Gentoo instead of Debian.
On the laptop I am running Opensuse since I need it to just work.
My phone dual boots Ubuntu Touch and before anyone says "eww Ubuntu!" Give it a try it is rather good.
Now I am just waiting for a good tablet with a 64bit EFI for Opensuse.
Mi is great to not have to rely on big companies to do your computing
Fedora touch... Anyone?
Is it out yet or still in beta?
It was a joke LOL. However Fedora Mobile is in beta AFAIK.