Sorting through the Linux lie: What it really can do

Chichago Sun Times ^ | 2005-06-23 | ANDY IHNATKO

[N3WBI3]

OSS PING

If you are interested in a new OSS ping list please mail me

[N3WBI3]

it'll be up and running before that sweet New Technology Smell has dissipated.

Well Ill give him this, if you buy bleeding edge stuff chances are it wont work in most Linux distros without knowing what you are doing. This is not a technical limitation of Linux in any way the vendors just don't bother to write Linux drivers, and wont release their specs to opensource programmers who would write them..

[Wayne07]

Knoppix or Gnoppix distributions are the ultimate in ease of use for Linux, but I basically agree with the author. Not really a player in the fight for the average consumer at this point. On the other hand, I think you could make a compelling business case to use Linux on the desktop for a company that has a lot of seats that need computers, but only need some simple network type apps (e.g. a web based CATI system). The cost savings in not have to buy XP licenses would be enormous.

[martin_fierro]

[martin_fierro]

I musta taken a wrong turn at 198.182.159.17

LOL

[NoClones]

the truth about linux comes out...

N3WBI3 beware...the linux fanatics are about to come out of the woodwork!

[N3WBI3]

Hey many around here (including our dearly departed GE) think I am one of those fanatics..

[ShadowAce]

(including our dearly departed GE)

Is he gone for good?

[joebuck]

A few years ago I would have agreed with this wholeheartedly but not so much today. I am basically a windows person, advanced user but not a programmer. I have played with Linux over the years mostly because I just like to play with and poke around in new computer software. I just installed the latest version of SUSE Linux (novell version) and I am very impressed. The last version of linux I installed was Mandrake about three years ago and it was a challenge even for me. Simple tasks like downloading and installing software and drivers was complicated and unintuitive, drivers were hard to find sometimes, 3D video drivers were often a bear to get installed and working and the KDE desktop had a patched together, unintegrated feel to it. I finally got reasonably proficient with it but I was convinced it was not for the masses but only the professionals and hard core buffs.

The latest version of SUSE (9.3) is vastly improved. Module for easy installation of downloaded files, very integrated feel, interface similar to windows and (seemingly) tight security. Networking seemed easier to set up and more intuitive than Windows XP. For home/office use I could set this up with openoffice and anyone familiar with Windows could make the transition in a snap.

I don't know what it would be like in a networked office environment because I am not familiar with linux server software. In any event, I don't think I could ever give up working in an exchange server environment anyway without a reasonably identical alternitive. In the final analysis, for home use linux makes a great desktop client if you are even moderately computer savy and don't expect to do any hard core gaming on the machine.

[N3WBI3]

Dont know, but its been awhile..

[Utilizer]

(including our dearly departed GE)

?

Did I miss something?

[N3WBI3]

And your system does not contain bleeding edge components.. Vanilla systems are fine..

[Lx]

GE's gone? Now who's going to save us from the communists violating our purity of essence by selling Linux?

[Wuli]

Your post about Linux is true, up to a point, as far as it goes but it completely masks where Linux is currently out-competing and growing faster than Microsoft, and that is in the network, application, Email and web server environments.

It is clunky and inadequate to most desktop users because the market has not yet created a great GUI interface to sit on top of it for the average individual PC user, and because as another poster noted most software publishers of desktop apps are not yet delivering their own APIs for Linux for their offerings.

I would not predict where MS and Linux will land, in the desktop market, in the next decade, but I do believe that Linux will eventually dominate in the server market.

The technies that know server operations also know how to tweak them and Linux is infinitely more tweakable after installation and dynamically than is the MS server OS. The MS server concept is to try to "be more" (pre-coded and internally designed) while the installation of a Linux server allows you to "make it more" with great variety and with a much more efficient base internal footprint/resource demand.

[joebuck]

Actually, my system has pretty bleeding edge componants. I built my box about 8 months ago to be a hard core gaming and media rig. I went top of the line on virtually everything, except I stuck with intel pentium 4 EE rather than trying out an AMD 64 bit system. (I stay away from first gen anything). The only issue I had when installing linux was getting the 3D renderer to work on the ATI Radion 9800XT video card.

[Utilizer]

I am currently experimenting with some Linux distros, and to date have been sorely disappointed. How about some more specs on the hardware you found to be so compatable with that particular one? I may try it if it is flexible enough to work with My admittedly older system.

[N3WBI3]

I may have jumped the gun, never having been banned myself I dont know how long a ban will last. the last time he was banned (a touch over a week ago) it was a few hours, this time is considerably longer..

[chuckles]

I have tried several distro's of Linux to no avail. I want to learn Linux. It comes from hatred of Windows, but alas, I just end up formatting C: and sticking Bill's disk back in the drive because I just CAN"T get Linux. The learning curve is just too great for me. Windows is weak, but it makes sense to me. Why do I have to "mount" a drive I don't find the least bit attractive? Just how many partitions do you really need? Where is the .exe file to click on to start something?

The best one so far has been Xandros, but I wasn't even able to get Firefox to work after downloading it. Xandros found all the right drivers and loaded them, and even had a generic driver for a winmodem that worked. It setup everything flawlessly, but then, I didn't have a clue how to even add a new program. Mandrake 10 and Suse 9.1 both messed up the installation and I was never able to boot to the GUI, just the cmd line. Does anybody truly want to NOT get to their desktop? Why doesn't it just load some generic driver to start the desktop if it doesn't know what video card I have?

I'm certain Linux is good and powerful and all that stuff, but the geeks need to start thinking like a newbie or it will never be accepted as "main stream".

[Utilizer]

Hmmm. Not so general-purpose a system you have, mate. That leaves Me to doubt that the distro you are so happy with is any more functional than the ones I have already tried out. Good luck to you, though.