I tried a Mac and I liked it. OMG! I never ever thought I’d say those words. I’ve been knocking Steph’s Mac obsession for years. She’ll never let me live this down.
First a little history of my computer past.
Aaron the Noob (1994 – 1995)
OK, so back then the word noob wasn’t even a thing. But here’s where my story starts. I cut my teeth in the world of MS-DOS on my first computer. A used Packard Bell 386. Yeah man, that thing had 1MB RAM and ran at 8 mhz or 16 mhz with the turbo button engaged. Also a whopping 42MB hard drive. Heck yeah! That’s nostalgia right there.
What does ‘Aaron the Noob’ use his computer for?
I liked to play computer games on this old system. The old Dungeons and Dragons games were my favorite. Oh and I had Word Perfect 5.1 to write my college papers and print them on my continuous feed dot matrix printer. Awesome!
What does ‘Aaron the Noob’ think of Apple?
It’s a fruit right?
OMG! Aaron gets Windows! (1995 – 2001)
Soon after I got my first Pentium PC wich ran the brand new Windows 95. Mind blown. That paired with my 56k baud modem got me into trouble with my parents tying up the phone line.
But this is also when I got Microsoft Office. I was told in college that if I wanted to stand a chance at being employed I’d need to learn MS Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. Because that’s what real businesses used. So I got good at this and started learning Visual Basic too.
What does ‘Windows Aaron’ use his computers for?
I still played games. Better games!
I would install any program I could get my hands on. Which wasn’t very many because of limited funds (poor college student).
What does ‘Windows Aaron’ think of Apple/Mac?
Why waste my time? Businesses use Windows. And I hear Mac games suck.
Aaron Hates ‘The Blue Screen of Death’ (2001 – 2006)
I got fed up with constantly fighting viruses and the dreaded ‘Blue Screen of Death’ of Windows fame and went searching for alternatives. I decided to try Linux and decided on Mandrake Linux (now called Mandriva).
What does ‘Aaron Hates BSoD’ use his computers for?
I started using the included compilers to write some simple C++ programs an some other various things. Also around this time I’d discovered MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). I had even stuffed a Linux PC running MAME into an old Pac Man machine and made my own MAME arcade cabinet.
What does ‘Aaron Hates BSoD’ think of Mac?
Macs are too expensive and I have no money. Besides I’m all about Linux and open source now. So no thank you.
Aaron Loves Open Source! (2006 – 2016)
I got tired of constantly fighting with dependencies in Mandrive’s package manager (RPM) and started looking at different distros. I tried a lot of them including Gentoo, Debian, and Fedora but ultimately settles on Ubuntu. But today I prefer LinuxMint and Ubuntu server.
What does ‘Aaron Loves Open Source’ use his computers for?
Everything! I have Linux based servers running used to stream my music and video collections to my PCs, tablets, and Android phones. I run virtual machines in my Linux server for testing software. I do Android development, web development, and blogging.
What does ‘Aaron Loves Open Source’ think of Mac?
Steph uses her mac book for writing and just about everything else. Well that’s nice or her but macs are super expensive. And what’s the deal with the windows buttons being on the left side of the screen?
Aaron: Evolved (2017)
Several weeks ago I when out searching for screen recording and video editing software for Linux. I was totally striking out finding anything that was not super buggy or even worked at all. I even went back to Windows to see if I could find an open source solution. Well what I really needed was right in front of me. Well right in front of Steph. iMovie and SnagIt for Mac. It’s the best solution we’ve found. I’ve learned to use it and I like it.
What does ‘Aaron: Evolved’ use his computers for?
Well I gave Mac a try, and I don’t hate it and actually kind of like it. I still use Linux almost exclusively but not I also use a mac book pro. I use it for writing blogs, editing video for The Nerd Garden, editing pictures, and web development. Using the build in terminal I can easily ssh into my Linux servers. I can even run virtual machines using VirtualBox.
What does ‘Aaron: Evolved’ think of Mac?
I like it! I’m still learning how to use it and what software is available but overall I am a fan. Old Aaron would have never expected that!
What has Aaron learned?
I’ve been using computers for many years. It seems that the best equipment, operating system, and software I used depended on what I needed to accomplish. It all comes down to the right tools for the job. I wanted to play games, I used Windows. I wanted to develop Android and run servers, Linux. I wanted to record and edit video, Mac.
Use the right tools for the job.
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