Linux Works Even for Total Newbies

Really Linux.com ^ | 2006-03-07 | Rob Milner

[N3WBI3]

From our "Linux is for Total Newbies" series, courteousy of Robert Milner for reallylinux.com.

Still hesitant to try Linux? I'd like to share a revelation with you. See, for me, Linux adoption always seemed a bit of a battle to get out there on the desktop. No, I'm not talking about getting it installed. The major flavor providers have made stellar strides in set-up, making it a breeze.

Take a look for yourself at the powerful and useful features in Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, and SuSe.

There are easy to learn graphical interfaces like Gnome, KDE, or XFCE to name a few. Installation today is often simpler than any Windows full install. Therefore, no I'm not talking about installation and use. I'm talking about winning the hearts and minds of the Joe-average user.

Normally, when you mention Linux to them you get an expression on their faces as if you had asked them the square root of 232,543. They just don't know it's there. More importantly, they don't know they have a choice. Even though they are not necessarily tied to their operating system from one particular big, famous vendor.

It's with this in mind that I tackled an infected desktop PC and a laptop. In the interests of anonymity (and just to keep things exciting) I'll name the owner Jen.

Jen came to me with her desktop PC, that she had never been too happy with. She had described its erratic behaviour and instability and its growing problems. She had this machine built and installed by a self appointed expert. As 99% of you have probably guessed by now, it wasn't just infected, it was crawling with viruses and spyware. The laptop had been acquired from said expert and this time the advice was that Anti-Virus, Firewall, and Anti-Spyware measures were not necessary under Windows XP. What's that? Not necessary under XP?

If you have a similar idea, then please review a few articles like this and this to understand the dangers. And you may want to review this article to see the difference regarding Linux use.

It was at this point becoming a bit of bug-bear that I had to re-build yet another two machines that were so compromised and so infected. Besides, I had several major question marks regarding their licensing, making them pretty useless PCs. See, I'm the type of bloke that keeps my nose clean. I don't do piracy. When I told her the price of buying two replacement, properly licensed copies of Windows XP, she wasn't impressed, and suddenly much more aware of the true cost of ownership of proprietary software.

It is indeed expensive paying for your operating system in the hundreds. The point not to miss is that she did not desire to continue spending money on OS licensing and software replacements -- indefinitely.

So here was my chance to share an insight with her no one else had done. I told her about an operating system that was free, secure, and stable. One that would significantly reduce her fears of another infection and that would get the job done just as well as anything else. And she did not have to pay hundreds to own it.

I could see that I was challenging the MS comfort zone. To help reduce anxiety, I also mentioned that there was always the option to go back to what she was used to. And to her credit, she said yes, she'd try it.

For those who caution this approach, perhaps I should briefly explain. Jen is not losing access to essential files and software by making such a move. She will not lose access to her essential programs like Photoshop (Linux GiMP handles PSD files and with GimpShop you get an interface similar to Photoshop).

"Jen is not losing access to essential files and software by making such a move."

She will also have full access to all her Microsoft Office files (OpenOffice works without issue with ALL Office formats). Even if Jen were to use more extensive things like databases, OpenOffice.org includes database importing for ODBC and JDBC -- if she ever got into all that.

She doesn't throw away access to her DVD movies (a few great Linux players include MPlayer and Xine) and she doesn't lose out on access to things like her work PDF files. Moreover, there are plenty of well written beginner documents on nearly every Linux subject. Whew. Okay, hopefully the point is made. She can try it out and see whether she likes it.

So what happened? Now writing this some time after the event, I'm please to say: unabashed success! On both PCs, Jen has taken to Linux like a duck to water. Jen is now more productive, the machines are stable and have yet to let her down. She is spending more time on her computer. For me, what summed it up brilliantly was the unprompted praise as I got from her one night. She said, "That Linux thingy is much better than Windows."

The downside? I've created a Frozen Bubble addict. If you are not familiar with the game, you ought to try it. It's one of thousands (actually over 10,300) of exceptional programs that run on Linux.

And this takes me to the revelation. No, not the Frozen bubble bit. The fact that a home user who was only ever a through and through proprietary addict, so seamlessly migrated to Linux -- and enjoyed it. What does she get? Reliability. Cost saving. Security. And what do I get in return for sharing this? Less call back. Less fear of another clean-up operation. Warm cosy feeling. Linux works, even for a total newbie.

Linux. Try it. You might like it.

AUTHOR BIO: When he's not making a noise on the drums, indulging in surreal multi-media urges or helping on reallylinux.com, Manfromthezoo (Rob Milner) pays the bills by working in technical support for a U.K. Hospital, supporting thousands of users on different sites. This article comes courtesy of Robert Milner, published by reallylinux.com with permission.

This brief opinion piece should not be construed as factual information, and only contains the opinions and personal experiences of the author at the time of publication. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Microsoft, Microsoft Windows and WindowsXP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation both in the United States and Internationally. Notations MS and XP are included and refer to Microsoft Corporation and Windows XP. All other trademarks or registered trademarks in this opinion piece belong to their respective owners.

[ShadowAce]

Idiot.

He does this on purpose. He goes out and searches for the most convoluted, messy, ugliest way of installing software, then claims that it's the "standard."

For someone who claims to have never actually used linux, he sure likes to pass himself off as an expert in installing software on that platform....

[FLAMING DEATH]

Ha ha! Nice wallpaper!

Is that from the site about the kid who made his own flamethrower, then walked around the neighborhood lighting things up?

"I ended up learning to enjoy the time on my computer."

Amen. I have this bad habit of believing that there's always one more cool little tweak that I can find to do before bedtime (the Mountaineer titlebar theme and KBFX button are good examples). And there always are tweaks to be found if you look for them. This results in many nights of "Okay, at 1:30, I'm going to bed...nifty! I'm going to install that..Okay, at 1:45, I'm going to bed...Wow, that's cool! Wonder how it would work on my system?...Okay, at 2:05, I'm going to bed...hey...I didn't know you could do that!, etc.

When I get home I'll post a pic of my desktop that I have totally maxed out with eye candy (it's a little too much, actually, but it was fun to see if all the stuff worked). Lots of transparencies. Ridiculous. Sometimes, sleep deprivation impairs judgement.

[goldstategop]

Even that excuse is gone with Scott Moschella's Gimp hack known as GimpShop. Basically, he took The Gimp and renamed everything so Photoshop users could do work in it. Its still the same Gimp of course but now its more like the Photoshop digital camera buffs love.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[FLAMING DEATH]

I love it when you post stuff like this, because it reaffirms to all of us that you spend 99.89934% of the time talking out of your @$$ without having any clue as to what's really going on. I've never had to install ANYTHING by the method you described.

Again, because you're dense, from a Debian command line:

sudo apt-get install quake2

Or, from Synaptic, search for Quake, when the results come up, check it and click Install. The command line is much faster though, even if that's too tough for you.

I know that's reaaaaaally hard to comprehend. Take a day or two to soak it up.

[FLAMING DEATH]

Yep. He's sure talked about it enough.

[Golden Eagle]

You guys are trying to claim it's easy, yet you have to know all these tricks or secret locations for automated installs.

You surely can't believe I wrote that quake install do you? Of course not, I went to some Linux gamers site, and those were the instructions given.

Same with the official Firefox process - it came straight from their website.

So while you accuse me of not knowing what to do, you're actually blowing your very own argument to tiny bits! LMAO and fuuniest of all you didn't even realize it!!!

[Knitebane]

He is an expert....

Where, X is the mathematical symbol for the unknown,

and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure.

Thus, Xspurt, an unknown drip under pressure, seems to fit him quite well.

[Golden Eagle]

I'm not doing anything other than posting install processes listed on the internet for these products. If the posted procedures are wrong, then it's an obvious Linux problem, and a problem for any fools who believed your lies that everything was going to be straightforward and easy.

[Knitebane]

You guys are trying to claim it's easy, yet you have to know all these tricks or secret locations for automated installs.

Because we've actually used a modern distro of Linux rather than just guessing.

You surely can't believe I wrote that quake install do you?

Of course not. No one here has ever claimed that you have any technical ability whatsoever.

...I went to some Linux gamers site, and those were the instructions given.

Rather than using a modern distro and using the tools provided on that distro.

Same with the official Firefox process - it came straight from their website.

There is a difference between a generic install process that will work with any Linux distro, no matter how obscure or how stripped down, and an install process that is available on a modern desktop distro. Not that you'd know.

So while you accuse me of not knowing what to do, you're actually blowing your very own argument to tiny bits! LMAO and fuuniest of all you didn't even realize it!!!

No, we're just showing that you have no idea at all what you are talking about, as per usual.

[Knitebane]

I'm not doing anything other than posting install processes listed on the internet for these products.

I'm sure I could find an install process for a Windows app that requires buying a compiler and building it from source. That doesn't make it the proper way or even the easy way. It's just a possible way.

What you are doing is trolling for the hardest way possible and suggesting that it's the norm.

If the posted procedures are wrong, then it's an obvious Linux problem, and a problem for any fools who believed your lies that everything was going to be straightforward and easy.

The procedures you post aren't wrong, per se, they're just not necessary.

[N3WBI3]

You surely can't believe I wrote that quake install do you? Of course not, I went to some Linux gamers site, and those were the instructions given.

Hmmm so the man who once complained about me referencing 'some hacker web site' is now using Linux gaming sites as reference? The site knite pulled down. Shadow is right you looked for the worst instructions out there. The first link in a google search of 'Quake2 setup Linux' yielded this:

" RPMs, new Solaris packages available - Wednesday, December 4, 2002

Thanks to Vincent Cojot (Solaris) and Fabrice Colin (RPMs) we now have Solaris binaries and i386 RPMs available. Check out Downloads " http://icculus.org/quake2/#download simple binary install found with a simple google search..

I do hope you keep this up everyone here can see how desperate you are to twist the truth in this matter..

[Golden Eagle]

Case closed. Linux sucks for newbies, and your only chance of getting it to work easily is to hang around with condescending a-holes who think they're smart since everything they do takes longer to figure out than most people have time to waste.

[Knitebane]

Case closed, you're an idiot that has no idea what he's talking about.

You get Linux to work easily by using a distro that easy to use. There are several. What you don't do is search the Web for the hardest way to do things and then cluelessly execute the most complicated instructions you can find.

[Golden Eagle]

Too bad with Linux you're left having to fish around the web for instructions on how to do things, which may or may not be the best way to do things, but life sucks when you make the wrong choices in life, like listening to those that first claim newbies can handle Linux, then blast others for not knowing the command line! This is hilarious!

[FLAMING DEATH]

"You guys are trying to claim it's easy, yet you have to know all these tricks or secret locations for automated installs. "

Tricks? Secret locations? Are you nuts? From a default install of Mepis 3.3:

Just to reiterate, Synaptic is the point and click program installer for Debian. It's crazy that they would hide a "secret" location like that right there on one of the start submenus. Those crazy people, trying to keep us from learning their operating system. Sheesh.

"You surely can't believe I wrote that quake install do you? Of course not, I went to some Linux gamers site, and those were the instructions given. Same with the official Firefox process - it came straight from their website. "

Well, Mepis has it's own website that tells me how to install stuff. Works great, too. I'll just keep using that, rather than listen to an ignorant oaf, who, with agenda in hand, sets out to find the most complicated, convoluted instructions to make it seem like Linux is next to impossible.

"So while you accuse me of not knowing what to do, you're actually blowing your very own argument to tiny bits! LMAO and fuuniest of all you didn't even realize it!!!"

Earth to Turkey. You might as well have stated the application install procedure for 0S/2 or Amiga. It doesn't apply to my system. I figured that out long ago, but you're obviously too dense to clue in, because you don't want to.

[FLAMING DEATH]

So, by that logic, do you read a repair manual for an '80 Chevette to install products on your '05 Dodge Pickup?

[N3WBI3]

Too bad with Linux you're left having to fish around the web for instructions on how to do things

Hmm first hit in google 'install quake2 linux' equals fishing, finding some unamed 'gaming' site with poor instructions equals proof of difficulity... What color is the sky in your world.

BTW this post ignores 84 which require no web search and no terminal configuration.

[Golden Eagle]

Get real, that doesn't contain routines for everything I might want to use, especially if I wanted to (GASP!) buy something commercial in the store. Sorry if that's against your religion, but it is something normal people do.

[MikefromOhio]

I just want to know who is paying you so much to be a complete shill?


You seem to have a vehemence for something and doesn't REQUIRE it, which seems to indicate that you hvae an alterior motive.

[FLAMING DEATH]

It contains routines for everything you've posted.

sudo apt-get install quake2
sudo apt-get install firefox

There ya go.