3 minutes reading time
A friend gave me a Vista CD after I realized FreeDOS was useless on the Lotus Pink Inspiron (Dell actually released swappable LCD back covers in later versions, but I was stuck with the pink lid). Installed Vista. Was okay.
Then in a few days at an internet center / cyber cafe, whatever you call it (you know, the place you can go to watch some porn?), I applied for an Ubuntu CD on ShipIt, and I got it in the mail. It worked for a while.
Then since I didn't have a smart phone or even a proper phone with internet, I purchased something called an Idea NetSetter. It was a rebadged Huawei and they locked it down with an Idea SIM. The Idea connection was EDGE only, but I started downloading stuff anyway.
Then I purchased a Huawei 3G USB dongle. Not the locked down version with Idea or Airtel. The Idea was EDGE only, but this supported HSPA. Was nice. You can use any SIM. The UI even supported making calls if I use the Windows app. But in Linux, I had to rely on native Network Manager, which didn't support calls.
And since I use my same SIM for internet by removing it from my phone, I started dual booting Windows. Pirated Windows of course.
In Linux, I was using Unity only for a short time, then moved to XFCE.
GNOME 3 dropped, so I went to Fedora 15 for the 1st time. Had some issues. It didn't have the packages as much as Debian and therefore Ubuntu. Also tried openSUSE.
Went back to Ubuntu during their infamous Ubuntu Unity adoption. But I liked the direction GNOME was going. It was nice even with a touchpad, but I don't have the touch screen. Unfortunately they put a lot of emphasis back then on the touch screen, I think, at least from a user perspective.
Fedora had nice names: Lovelock, Verne, etc. But after Beefy Miracle (Fedora 17), I kinda stayed with Fedora. I often still keep trying distros, but kept Fedora as my primary OS since Beefy Miracle. (I even wrote a separate detailed breakdown on running Fedora 17 (Beefy Miracle) vs Windows 8).
In hindsight, I should have absolutely avoided spending 3 to 4k extra on the DVD writer when ordering the Inspiron. It could have come for 2 months hostel mess fee. It was only occasionally useful when I burned Fedora ISOs to give to random people. I am not even part of the Fedora Freemedia program. And so far, I burned discs for maybe five people in total.