Rick’s Rants and Raves

I’ve long wondered what was wrong with me–I can’t seem to stay engaged in a new project or activity for longer than a month. My life is (with few exceptions) a long line of short lived interests. This has bugged me because I perceive that most people seem to have long term interests: my neighbor and model trains, my dad and ham radio, my wife and D&D, etc. I’ve always had an interest in technology, especially computer technology, but lately that interest has waned because I get so crushed at work.

I think I’ve finally figured out what my “problem” is: I love the thrill of a steep learning curve. However, once the steep learning curve turns into a long slow slope, I get bored. I think that’s one reason I tend to enjoy technology in a broad general sense: there is no end of new product or OS or application. That’s also why I dearly love the library. I can check out an endless variety of books, movies and music in whatever topic I’m exploring this month.

Enter VirtualBox.

For many years, I’ve dabbled with Linux. I’ve never used it for long enough to consider a full switch from Microsoft. I frequently enjoyed trying out a new distribution, but I’ve been burned by dual boot setups a couple of times. With the advent of LiveCD distributions, I could try new distributions with much more frequency, but since you can’t save (much) using a LiveCD, its hard to really learn, play, adapt, etc.

VirtualBox solves this problem for me by allowing me to create virtual PCs, fully protected from the “host” operating system, and preventing any issues that might arise from a dual boot system. I started by playing with the Slax LiveCD. Virtual box makes this easier than ever since I don’t actually have to burn the CD and keep track of it. I just tell VirtualBox where the ISO is, and start it up. Very slick, no rebooting to go from Linux to Windows, and its faster than booting from a CD.

So my first virtual system installed is Kubuntu. I look forward to really enjoying the steep learning curve, and moving into the long slow slope.

So, instead of thinking that I have Enthusiasm ADD, maybe its more like I have a “Learning Addiction”.