Mark Osborne([EMAIL PROTECTED])@Fri, Jun 23, 2006 at 02:38:21PM -0700:
>
> I am looking for some ideas on the best distro to abandon most of
> Windoze for. Some background.....
>
Hmm... I can relate. One thing to keep in mind, though... It's
almost less about using different programs and learning their
commands than it is about learning the mindset. Many of the newer
GNOME programs I see annoy me because their developers assumed that
the stuff they left on their Windows machine was *lacking* in
Linux. This leads to programs that ignore conventions and features
of unix that give it it's power and flexibility.
A couple of times below you mention wanting something that is user
friendly. The old joke in the Linux community is that Linux is
*very* user-friendly, it's just picky about who it's friends are.
:) Mostly that just means that if you think this will work an the
same assumptions that you are used to seeing in the MS world,
you're goign to get frustrated. Rather, the historical premis
that pushed Linux development is that you give the user the ability
to make the decision how it should act and look within the bounds
of convention and standards... generally speaking. They just assume
a smart person at the keyboard who is willing to use books, man
pages, and any other documentation.
All that is just to say that for many on this list, user-friendly
means it's well-documented, well-behaved, and obeys the user's
whims. All I have to do is learn how to speak to the program.
It's easier, of course, to learn to click a button than it is to
learn a language, but learning a language allows much more
explicit, brief, and rich communication.
So where lots of Windows refugees think that GUI = user-friendly,
lots of unix folks think the *commandline* = user-friendly. I
think it's worth it to recognize this difference. Giving that
change of perspective a chance generally makes a big difference in
the success of the newbie unix user, IMHO.
> I ran Mandrake 9.1 for a while. I had some issues around the WEP key
> for my WiFi, but it seemed like it was fairly stable, and Noob
> friendly.
>
> Forward to HDD crash, and subsequent issues surrounding LiLo, and it
> was back to WIndoze for a while.
>
> Well enough of that....
>
> I have a P5 1.7 Dell from ~2001 that is basically sound. Want to run a
> distro that is user friendly. Want to end my association with the Gates
> Empire, the only challenges are my iPod, and digital photos.
>
Should certainly be doable. It is likely that you will see better
performance results if you recompile your kernel and drivers, etc.,
but this is almost certain not to be necessary. You can usually
run with stock kernels from *any* distribution, until you feel
comfortable with the process of installing from source.
I just got an iPod nano, myself. You can actually install Linux on
iPods, BTW. I haven't done anything with it on Linux, yet. I will
be doing so, though. I don't anticipate problems, just a fair
amount of reading and thinking to get it right. Of course, that's
more work than the Windows users have to do, but I'll *understand*
my setup when I'm done. I find that valuable. (although I wish it
took less time).
> Any hope of going to one machine? My current windoze o/s is getting
> flakey (keeps trying to install new hardware every 10-15 sec that
> doesn't exist...with the subsequent annoying noise and
> interruptions...)
>
> If I need a new box, so be it.
I have Linux only in my home. My wife, and my 3 oldest kids use it
too. (ages 5, 8 and 10) It can be frustrating at times to have
others assume that you are running the same software you are, but
that is a cultural disconnect, not a software problem. You should
be able to do anything you want on your system, including your iPod
and digital photos. Be patient and look for the best solution. In
the event that you want to slowly wean yourself from Windows, you
_could_ (a) get a separate box, (b)run Windows under VMware, (c)
dual-boot, or (d) maybe even run them side by side with Xen (don't
know how or if that works, yet).
>
> Have been playing with Ubuntu.
I haven't used Mandrake, and RedHat is ancient history for me. It
rubbed me wrong in the early days years ago and I settled on
Debian, never to look back. I do have one Ubuntu box, but it's
really just Debian with a different package repository, and a
quicker release cycle. All of these (and others) are good, if you
ask me. Gentoo is a little tougher to get into as a new
distribution, but using it will teach you a lot about Linux and
your system that way.
I started with Slackware in.. gosh.. 95? It had no real package
management, certainly nothing that tracked dependencies and
versions. If I wanted to install a new program, I hunted for the
sources on the 'Net and compiled -- and I was new to unix. I had
never compiled anything in my life before that. I had to hunt
through Linux Network Administrator's Guide for the 2-3 distributed
pages that helped me get PPP drivers in the kernel, the pppd up and
running, the chat program running to control the modem, and the
modem itself all running together at the same time. Took me 3-4
days as a newbie... had no Internet, so I couldn't ask the list :).
So... dive in. Pretty and desktop oriented, or technical and
adminstrator oriented, it's a learning process, and the folks here
are pretty good about helping. Mandrake and Ubuntu, though seem
like good places to start for you, simply because they are somewhat
familiar to you. Take a look at the Linux Documentation Project
and look at the HOWTOs, and ask when you don't get it. :-)
>
> Thoughts?
^
/|\
Oh. umm.. yeah. up there |
Wade Curry
syntaxman
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