FC50 My Story

出自Full Circle 中文项目主页

MY STORY Written by Dr. Pu Kuang

I am a physician and a postgraduate student of Hematology. I live in the city of Chengdu, sitting in the southeast of China, a beautiful place where you can have much great food.

I first knew a PC when I was no more than five years old. At that time, the PC was nothing but a video game player with which I inserted a floppy disk and typed some letters, and played. I learned barely nothing but several commands in DOS. After a few years, I started to write some Basic programs when I was older. I was keen on programing, I tried to write some programs to draw complex curves and play music. I even tried to write a game myself but didn't manage to do so.

In 1999, I bought my first desktop. Intel Celeron 333, 64M memory plus 4M graphic card was a popular profile at that time in China. Anyhow, at that time, a desktop like that would cost an ordinary employee like my father almost one month's income. That desktop was pre-installed with Windows 98 by the retailer, a pirated version, of course. For most of the PC consumers in my country, Microsoft Windows was their only choice, otherwise they would pay much more for a Macintosh. But most of us did not pay for software, instead we spent no more than 1 dollar to buy a pirated CD with Windows in the flea-market.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the Internet boomed in my country. More and more people began to download pirated Windows systems packed inside a ghost file. I updated my second desktop's OS to Windows XP too. But I gradually found that such files were always packed with trojans and backdoor programs aiming at peeping into private information like credit-card passwords, codes for e-mail or Warcraft accounts, etc.

To get rid of these risks, I tried Ubuntu systems on my desktop, that was Ubuntu 7.04 or 7.10. The boot logo was so nice - more beautiful than what it now looks like. With great passion, I spent quite a lot of time to set up the system before I really began to “use” it, because at that time many settings can not be modified in a graphic interface. One of the most attractive things was that when you need special software, you can find almost any program you want and download it without difficulty, rather than search for it and its crack all the way around the Internet, and jump from site to site in order to locate a faster server. However, the system broke down several times, and finally it became unbootable. I tried to fix up the problem myself, but did not make it because I was not familiar with Grub. So I gave up, and sadly shifted back to the risky pirated Windows XP.

About 1 year later, I learned that a release version of Ubuntu system was available for netbooks. So again, I installed this system, but this time on my ASUS EeePC-1000HE. It was about one year and a half ago. Before that, I tried the OS the manufacturer offered and Moblin 2.0 (a system for netbooks initially developed by Intel but now joined with Meego). I was satisfied with neither of them. They had many defects in function and looks, unlike Ubuntu. This time, Ubuntu worked well and works well up to the very moment I write this sentence with OpenOffice. The system has been updated from 8.04 to 10.10 all the way. I am very surprised but so happy to find that Ubuntu really has made so much progress as it upgraded. For example, I can select any popular source server in a GUI instead of beginning with “sudo gedit...” So many applications like R-Kward (package for scientific statistics, and its GUI), Chromium, Adobe PDF reader, have been added to the Software Center or Synaptic package manager, so that I have almost forgotten how to type “sudo apt-get...” :-P. For a none-skillful user, using commands to do everything is really difficult, though now I can use them a little when necessary. Also, I am able to use OpenOffice Writer and Bibus (an application for bibliography management) to write my papers. To write in Chinese, I choose IBUS, a more convenient input method compared to SCIM, as the default input method. Also, I can make use of Jemboss (a package for biological research) to make alignments of the DNA sequences as soon as I get them in the laboratory, but without worrying about having the system infected by any trojan or virus. Another thing to be emphasised is that I can finally read Full Circle Magazine through Chromium (alias for Chrome web browser in Linux), and all the bookmarks and settings are cloned intact. Of course, I should not forget “gconf-editor”, with which I can easily set so many parameters that we might have set with gedit or vi.

In addition to all the advantages I have mentioned above, this time Ubuntu is becoming more and more good-looking than ever before, though many old users probably miss the classical Human theme. I enjoyed the style the designer offered for netbooks, these icons are large enough for ordinary users, and they have bright colors and look really lovely. However, I gave up this, because my netbook turned out to be quite slow. So I went back to the original gnome interface. I selected a nice wallpaper from a KDE wallpaper package I downloaded through Synaptic Package Manager. I also made a dock which I had always been crazy about since I first saw it on an Imac, docking all those commonly used programs on it as you can see in the first snapshot. I love the gmail gadget. It looks nice and will check mail for me every time I log in and tell me how many messages are left unread. On the system panel, I placed as few buttons as possible since the screen is relatively narrow. I set the background color to brown, for I would for once or twice miss the classic style of Human too. I reduced the number of working areas to only two, one for working, the other for entertainment. Simple is the best, isn't it? Thanks to god, in spite of the integrated graphic card, it can still display some special effects, for example, switching between working areas like what Windows 7 can do (see picture 2). I think this is even cooler. So I could always be somewhat flattered when I showed of my desktop to my friends. By doing that, I hope they would be struck by Ubuntu and began to use it too.

All in all, I am now more than satisfied with my current system. But can you believe there is even more to be expected? Though life as a physician and a medical student can be sort of mechanical and tiresome, Ubuntu really adds much joy and excitement to my life anyway. Spring is upon us. Although it might still be hiding behind the last folds of winter, the first rays of sun are starting to crack open a sky of murky white and grey. I know this because the reflection of what appears to be a "sunny but cold" morning continuously throws its glare against my screen, beckoning me to come outside and play. By the angle of the light, I know that it is a devilish scheme of the ice-queen of winter and her rascal friend "budding spring" to make me go outside for a walk... and, after noticing that it might look sunny, but is still cold, rush back in to pack up warmer than an imperial snowtrooper.

Yet today I am far too en-wrapped in my personal quest, that lies just beyond my grasp, to be lured outside by mother nature. Behind my keyboard, I embark on an epic quest to find and retrieve the holy grail of automated computing: I want to syncronise my latest podcasts to my phone, using an automated script. I might catch some of you frowning in puzzlement, mouthing the words "Knightwise, there are programs for that, programs like Itunes and stuff", and I must say you are correct. For years I have used this loyal application to download the gleaming gold of user-created content to my precious Ipod. So why seek other ways?

For one, it is the fault of a little green goblin. Well, not so much a Goblin as a Droid logo that stands for the technology behind my Smartphone - the htc Desire. Its “freedom loving, open source, anyone can play oh rootme! rootme! rootme!" calls border on the edge of slutty as the device tries to pry some "creative hacking spirit" from my mind. The second antagonist, its brown circled logo watching me like the eye of Mordor is my Ubuntu server. Tucked away behind our television, a hidden realm of infinite possibilities, endless tweaking, and complete customisation.

I stand before a vast landscape of ignorance, armed only with curiosity and enthusiasm, and wonder if I can bridge the void between the two towers? In the distance, the green android goblin dances around the brown mountain of Ubuntu, behind me my Ipod snuggles up to my leg as I sit in the shadow of a giant white Imac and the closed source technology it stands for. The grey wizard Steve tries to comfort me by whispering soothing words into my ear: "Why leave the walled garden? You can do anything you want here, as long as you do it my way". His words are tempting, soothing, safe. They almost take away the pain of having to manually download and synchronize all my podcasts to my Ipod before I leave for work. The white straight jacket of the Itunes asylum almost feels comfortable. Almost.

But, I choose to embark on the unmapped roads of the interwebs to reach my goal. To tweak, tune, hack, and script the dragon of technology to serve me and my green goblin. To have the power of the brown tower (that sounds wrong) at my fingertips, to become master instead of servant. I push open the white doors of the white kingdom. Behind me, somebody slays an open source unicorn to convince me to stay... but its death-cries are lost on the open roads I embark on.

My only map in this unknown labyrinth is "the google". This omnipresent oracle can be persuaded in divulging the right answers, if only you ask the right questions. When I, however, ask in what direction I must walk, it points me to 20 directions at the same time. "Which one is the right one?" I scream. "Every one" whispers the Google. Thus I use its directions to re-formulate my question over and over, trying to get a clearer answer, but there is just too much information out there. One of Google's arrows point me toward a gigantic square entitled "Ubuntu Forums". This magic place beholds both questions and answers yet its inhabitants are invisible. The square is littered with old matrix printer paper. Each "chain" consisting of a question and subsequently filled with replies, suggestions, and other answers concerning the topic. I wade around them for hours, but do not find the answer I seek, So, I pick up a blank piece of paper and write down my own question. I let the paper fall back into the enormous pile and wait as I look around. At the sound of rustling paper, I look back to see that an invisible friend has written an answer to my question on my thread... I reply, put the paper down, and wait ... the process magically repeats itself. Who IS this stranger? Why does he want to help me?

Slowly but surely the general direction where I want to go starts to become clear. With the help of my unknown library friend, we are able to define my quest clearer and clearer. I walk through the labyrinth, the forum thread streaming behind me like an endless letter, other strangers writing down their answers and direction as we go along. Suddenly, I hear the noises of babbling voices and rattling keyboards, around the corner I find a tavern called "The IRC”. “The place where everyone talks about everything, all the time" the google whispers when I inquire about the place. "The trick is to find the right room". Thus I wander inside this great establishment, and open door after door, peeking inside room after room. Some rooms are empty, some have patrons that do not speak, others are bustling with the chatter of voices. I find a chamber that bears the name of the brown tower, and step inside. After politely saying hello and listening to the conversations that go on inside, I ask if I may ask a question. "The statement is redundant" bellows somebody inside the room. "Asking if you can ask redundant". I almost turn on my heels and step outside, shocked by his attitude, as he slaps me on the shoulder, hands me a virtual pint, and says: “Ok, so what was that question”.

I tell the patrons my Epic tale. Of the road I have traveled, the arrows google has shown me, and I wave around the paper thread I brought from the library. This mysterious letter that seems to write itself. As by magic, several of the patrons in the room break from their conversations and start to help me. They discuss what I have achieved so far, they read through the Forum thread that is still being written, and throw up suggestions of their own. I marvel at the enthusiasm and friendliness of these strangers who take the time to solve this problem with me.

With their answers I race out the door, heading closer and closer to my direction. My own enthusiasm, combined with the knowledge I have acquired and the collective minds of the people helping me on my quest, seem to make the labyrinth crumble into one straight road towards my destination.

I am close! I call out to the people in the Tavern and the Library... " YES!" I hear them call... I slice down the last pesky bugs that stand in the way of my quest, iron out the last glitches of code in the script, and see the end of my journey coming ever closer. As all of us fix the last corrupt character in the script, I slide in my code into the gates of the Open Source Kingdom, my green goblin laughing and giggling with expectation. The giant gate clicks and the open source kingdom opens up to me. I look behind me, expecting to see the long, deserted stretch of road that led me here on my solemn and lonely quest. My breath catches in my throat as they are all there, the invisible helpers from the library, the patrons from the IRC-tavern, the many souls who wrote the arrows google gave me. A massive army of smiling faces that helped me in achieving my goal. I smirk at that stupid frodo guy who only had about 5 helpers while I seem to be accompanied by an army of thousands. All of them devoting a little bit of their time and effort to help me achieve my goal.

On the horizon I see "Jobs the Grey" utter a curse as he randomly rejects another developer access to the application store. "Because it’s Monday and my shoes are blue" he shouts at the questioning face of the latter.

As my code runs, and my green goblined Android phone receives the podcasting episodes via a script, I look back at the things I've learned, the friends I've made, and the goal I've accomplished. In the edge of my vision, I see a lost soul with a map, trying to find his way in the land of the open sources. She is a total stranger, yet I walk up to her... "Lets see what we can do to help you"... My army roars as we embark on another campaign.