Dear Quavering Hopper,

On 08/18/2009 08:37 AM, Suhit Kelkar wrote:

Dear GNU/Linux Users Anonymous,

Let me confess it. I am a distro junkie.

I change distros nearly every month.

I really like distro X, which I'm sending this on. Yet I'll end up installing something else a couple of months later.

Productivity hasn't suffered, because I do writing/translation for a living, and OpenOffice is there on anything these days, but I suppose this installmania is a worrying symptom?

Although changing distros nearly every month might seem like fun in the beginning, such a promiscuous lifestyle has its consequences. It is a natural primal instinct to install as many distros as one can to ensure longevity of one's skills, but history has proven that polydistomy leads to problems in the long run.

It is quite common for someone in your line of work to be attracted to any distro that offers what you need (ie: OpenOffice) but soon you may find that you'll drift to the point that you feel that there is nothing wrong with paying for what you need -- that's when you'll install windows.

We are your friends and are here to support you. Yes, i know that "works out-of-the-box installs" are fariy tales and it takes time to find the right distro, the 'one' that'll make you happy, but believe me, distro hopping every month is not the way to find it.

You might feel like your productivity hasn't suffered but what about all the time and effort you spend making such-and-such distro happy ?

It might be that you are worried about commitment, which is natural. However, if you take time to understand each distro, know what makes it click, dig deeper, look for more than OpenOffice you'll realize, distros have much more to offer. You'll be ready to make a commitment to a single distro, when you find one that satisfies all your needs and when you feel that there is too much to lose and only the fleeting, temporary trill of being with something different, in moving to a different distro.

All that said, if you feel like this impulse in install has gone out of control, I suggest that you get some professional help. Someone who can guide you through figuring out what it is that you actually need, what it is that you are seeking out for -- perhaps the roots lie in your childhood experiences, perhaps you had to endure data loss when upgrading from windows 95 to 98 ...whatever the case be, remember that it really is up to you to take the first step.

You can choose right now to seek out and find that one distro that makes you happy or just keep on installing distro's every other month and then one day when you are old, wake up wondering where your actual ~ is.

cheers, - steve

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 8:37 AM, Suhit Kelkar suhitkelkar@gmail.com wrote:

Dear GNU/Linux Users Anonymous,

Let me confess it. I am a distro junkie.

I change distros nearly every month.

Few suggestions :

* Try GoboLinux if you havenot * Try Making your own Distro * Document weak and strong points

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 8:37 AM, Suhit Kelkarsuhitkelkar@gmail.com wrote:

Productivity hasn't suffered, because I do writing/translation for a living, and OpenOffice is there on anything these days, but I suppose this installmania is a worrying symptom?

It is known that every newbie starts like this and ends up with Debian (http://www.debian.org) after seeing their productivity suffers at some point of time.

Best Luck!