My Desktop and Debian

You’ve heard it from the news personalities. “We interrupt this program … ” It’s my turn, now. “We interrupt this distro review for a late-breaking news item.”

Iowa City, Iowa - At approximately 10:35 p.m., CST Thursday evening, Tony Steidler-Dennison, author of Lockergnome’s Penguin Shell newsletter, was stunned to find his desktop in a state of Debian. The successful OS install brought to a close a chase that had lasted some three months, a pursuit that had taken a drastic toll on the author’s sleep patterns, eating habits and consumption of high-caffeine beverages. “It’s like winning a marathon,” a gaunt Steidler-Dennison noted. “I’ve been after this thing for more than just the past few months. I’d begun dreaming of that little swirly Debian logo in the past few weeks. I’ve become so obsessive that my wife thought it possible I was having an affair with someone named Deb. Man, it’s good to have this thing done.” Steidler-Dennison could not be reached for follow-on comments. His answering machine, while garbled, repeated a single phrase ad nauseum. “The search for Nirvana is over. The search for Nirvana is over. The search … ”

I hope you don’t mind if I take a few weeks to tell you all about Debian. It has, indeed, been a dogged pursuit. It was one I simply wasn’t willing to give up on. With your good graces, I’ll push ELX back for the few weeks Debian takes, basking and, hopefully, playing in the fruits of that pursuit. It’s what I’d intended to begin with.

Something else I’ll be basking in during the Deb review is the spirit of the Linux community personified in a newfound personal guru. I have grave doubts about whether I’d be looking at Debian on my machine tonight without the “beyond the call” spirit of Penguin Shell reader Steve Waterman. As soon as he finished reading Monday’s Penguin Shell, he fired off an email, volunteering to put in writing his own step-by-step Debian install guide. I took him up on the offer. Two days, a half-dozen emails and several stumbles later, he too celebrated electronically at this successful install. The guide was perfect. Even more important were the side comments - land mines to watch for and explanations of the process. With his permission, that install guide will become part of Penguin Shell over the next week, committed to the archive for the good of those yet to come. That one-to-one mentoring, rooted in a rock solid desire to share this great tool we call Linux, is the hallmark of our community. Thanks, Steve, from me and the others who’ll benefit from your spirit.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go play for awhile. Have a great evening. I’m sure I will.