On Thursday 11 November 2004 4:54 pm, Jack wrote: > Okay, I've spent a couple of months playing with Mandrake Linux (10.1 > community) and here are my (unsolicited) impressions: > > 1 - I like the interface a lot. It is very customizable and, well... > downright fun!!! > > 2 - It appears to be rock solid in the programs that it will install, > and incidentally, there are tons of free programs available for it. > > 3 - It avoids that tedious Windows process of having to restart almost > everytime you install a program. > > 4 - Being able to drop down into console mode and having the flexibility > to further drop down into root is awesome! > > 5 - Download speeds seem to be better than in Windows. > > 6 - Security is better than in Windows and pushing the user to create a > non-root account is a wise move. > > > But unfortunately, I still don't think it's ready for primetime and > here's why: > > 1 - It never did "see" my Canon D760 copier/printer. > > 2 - Couldn't get my nvidia video capture to work, despite help from > experts like Anne Wilson. > > 3 - Couldn't upgrade to KDE 3.3, despite having the CD for it and > despite help from experts like Randall. I spent *weeks* on this. > Nothing I tried worked, nor did any suggestions work. > > 4 - I use voice recognition extensively (Dragon NS and IBM ViaVoice). I > don't believe this even exists for Linux. > > 5 - Most damning of all was my attempted upgrade to 10.1 official. I > completely wiped my drive to do a clean install, and after everything > was said and done, the official version could not find the internet, nor > my onboard (Asus P4P800) sound card. > 10.0 had no trouble finding these 2, nor did the community version of > 10.1. Luckily for me, I had imaged the drive beforehand, so I was able > to go back to 10.1 community. > > 6 - I spent the $170 or so bucks to become a silver club member, but not > once have I received an answer from Mandrake when I found myself stuck. > I was also forced to install Bit Torrent to download the new ISO's after > have waited for over 2 weeks (in vain) after my request for FTP access. > (I *hate* peer to peer networks and I didn't appreciate being forced to > use one, even though it did turn out to be pretty fast. I consider peer > to peer a security risk.) > > A mature operating system should not encounter these problems, I have a > pretty standard Intel 2.6 gz system with 512 mb of ram, and Windows has > never had a problem configuring my setup. > > I see great potential in Linux and I will maintain my dual-boot system, > slowly learning to survive in Linux while waiting (and hoping) for the > operating system to mature to a more usable state... > > - Jack
This isn't a remark to Jack - this is mostly to those who don't agree with what he said... Remember when you guys were new to Linux? I'm sure about 90% of you thought the same way. I know I did. There is a substantial learning curve to Linux - you cannot go to a software store and buy software for Linux (at least not that I've seen), and when you purchase a printer, video card, or any number of other computer related hardware, it's Windows that they support, not Linux. There are still lots of things that are lacking in Linux - mostly due to the fact that the companies who build the hardware get locked into providing just Windows drivers for it, and so it leaves it to people who have no real knowledge of the hardware to try to write drivers for it in Linux. Yes, Linux has come a long way - but it still doesn't have that "easy installation" and total all around support for hardware that Windows has. That being said, Jack, you ARE on the right track. Getting into the newsgroups and asking is definitely the way to go. For the most part, the Linux community is really good about sharing information, and there are solutions for most of the problems, whether it's just a simple hack or a total recompile. You will also ALWAYS step on someone elses toes with any opinion you make, so don't let that get to you. Everyone else has an opinion too, and it's just human to want to say your part. In my opinion, Linux HAS come a long way. It still has a long ways to go. That's why developers work on it constantly, updating, rewriting apps, etc., to make it better. When you think it is as good as it needs to be, well, you're in the same boat the Microsoft developers are in. See where that gets Windows users? Linux may never have the same "ease of use" that Windows has been incorporated with (for the most part), but therein lies its strength. Once you learn HOW to install something, you are that much more knowledgable for the next go round. You also don't have to worry about software installing itself over the network automatically, as is the case with Windows and worms. That's MY 2 cents worth... -- Take care, Randall Hobbs Programmer - System Administrator - Chip Castle Dot Com, Inc. Web Hosting * Programming * Software http://www.chipcastle.com
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