When I was at the New York Code + Design Academy (NYCDA) in 2018, I was one of 5 students who used Windows 10. The problem with that was the teachers and TA wasn't always hipped to how stuff works in PC. A few students told me I should get a mac computer. The problem with THAT is Macs are over a thousand dollars and I couldn't afford one at the moment. I also would tell them to get me a Mac if you think I should have one so badly. Nobody obliged.

When we got to Ruby On Rails, I realized I was in trouble. A lot of Rails isn't fully supported on Windows and I was running into a lot of unique problems that the teacher and TA can't solve.

One afternoon, I finally broke and after some encouragement, I decided to dual boot Ubuntu into my windows machine.

Why Dual Boot?

The question I keep getting is:

Why dual boot? Windows sucks, just wipe it clean.

I hate to inform you but for me, this isn't something I want. I left Windows on there for troubleshooting proposes and also so I can keep my files in since I was still in the boot camp. I also am a designer and unfortunately, there aren't any good designer products for Linux. In the future, I do want to purchase a separate machine and wipe it clean and have it all be Ubuntu.

How did I dual boot?

A TA from the main campus of NYCDA sent me this video.

I played it on my phone and followed the steps to dual boot. It took me about 2 hours to do it but it was worth it. I by no means think this is the best video. It helped me as a beginner.

I Love it!

I have moved most of my programming to Ubuntu. I feel more comfortable using the terminal and learning new languages on Ubuntu. At times, I am on Ubuntu more than Windows. I have been finding out there are a lot of apps I can use that is open source and free. I only go back over to Windows if I really must use my Adobe products or play The Sims.

I like that I can update in the terminal. It feels cooler than how Windows does it. How Windows handles updates is time-consuming when stuff gets updated and the less said about which release doesn't wipe your files the better (this didn't happen to be but I remember what a mess that was.)

Issues with Ubuntu

Aside from the aforementioned design software problem, there is one major problem I have been having since I had it on my machine. It would lock up unexpectantly. Not freeze, lock up. The cursor would freeze and all functionality of the machine would stop working. I can't even access the keyboard. I cannot find a solution to this problem online so I do a force restart (hold down the power button to restart it.) I know that isn't good for the machine but at this point, I learn to accept it as an ongoing issue. If anybody has experienced this and know how to solve it, let me know in the comments.

I also have been having weird issues with updating Ruby which I only noticed today. I didn't realize there was an update and when I went to update it, it still stayed with the previous version. As you probably guessed, I don't use Ruby on Rails since finishing at NYCDA. This minor issue is keeping me on my toes since I find that I love troubleshooting problems. If you want to help me troubleshoot this problem, post in the comments below.

In Conclusion

I love Ubuntu, aside from the issues I have been having. It's making me a better programmer and if it weren't for the people at the now-defunct NYCDA, I probably would never have gotten a chance to use it.