On Monday 11 March 2002 13:04 pm After a lifetime spent studying flat-pack furniture assembly instructions [EMAIL PROTECTED],finally published his translation to a waiting world as :- : > Hi folks, > I'm baaaack! > Nothing much seems to have changed...... (sigh) > > <Big Snip> > > Linux in ANY flavour is a nightmare for the non-geek. > > The solution to getting Linux out there in any meaningful way is to > consider the logistics: 1. Nobody installs their own OS in the real world. > The PC is delivered - delivered with Doze already installed AND with a > suite, typically. I'd agree but only to a point, software written for Windows is regularly updated and a lot of people feel the need to upgrade, e,g, Word/Excel95 to Office97 to Office2000, likewise with non-MS software such as Photoshop. Similarly hardware gets upgraded or replaced due to breakages, by this I am thinking of printers/scanners etc which today are almost "consumables" All of this requires the user to re-configure (in it's broadest sense) their Windows installation, sometimes even from day1. for example a work colleague who describes herself as computer illiterate has just bought a new PC, it has Windows installed but as she already owns a printer she has to install it herself. 2. The Mandrake distro is now up to 8.4. [8.2 but whose counting :-)] The problems are > at exactly the same level as they were when I bought Mandrake's first > offering. My last try was M8.0. I have tried every one and NEVER got a > useful working system. ( Also everybody else's Redhat SUSE etc.) Never had > sound, or CD's, or a decent Office suite(lousy font displays), or decent > sane, Printing. Same as most people out there today..................
I have to disagree, I started with Caldera 1.2 (IIRC) and it took me about a week to get it up and running and needed me to search out old components such as graphics cards, printers etc which were supported, new ones simply would not work as they were too new to be supported, secondhand was the only way. Today the graphical installer is in my opinion as easy if not easier than Windows98 installation (I have no experience of any newer MS products) and even my USB scanner worked with a minimal amount of tweaking, which I accept did require me to be at least a bit of a geek, but this is my scanner which is quite new and no doubt within a release or two it will work out of the box, while other models already work. Sound works, CD-RW work out of the box. As for office suites, I am not really competent to comment as I don't use them in an office environment but as a home user the ones available are fully useable for my purposes. > > <Another snip too save bandwidth> > THAT is where I am finally going. > a) find *known to work* specs - Mb, SC, VC, etc etc. Put the box together. > b) install Win4lin so I can keep my beloved Frontpage98, VoiceXpress, Lotus > Smartsuite and stop fooling around with enormous NEW learning curves > instead of making money!! c) Enjoy the best of both worlds! I bought Frontpage to enable me to maintain my partners's company's website, it's now redundant because the tools are available either graphically or in the form of HTML editing packages to enable me to do the job from my Linux box. With regard to the enormous learning curve, I agree it is steep but any new product has a learning curve, whether it be Linux, Windows (witness the difficulties a lot of people appear to be having with Windows XP with older hardware/software) or even getting to grips with new domestic appliances such as VCRs & microwaves (this is not a facetious comment I am thinking of the difficulties experienced by my partner's parents when they recently moved house and needed to set up their TVs and VCRs) Similarly, they bought a telephone which is e mail equipped and despite a fairly straightforward handbook and a menu driven system of operation, they found it extremely difficult to use for about a month and needed to refer to me for help. > > NOW: > Is there anyone out there who has done something like this? Setup a > low-cost box (built-in sound,video sort of thing)? A businessperson - not a > command-line freak? Someone, was it Dell ? do/did this. I WANT to use the GUI. If we can't do it via the GUI > something is terribly wrong with the interface or something.....really - > after all this time and attempts. Someone who insists on not suffering the > inanities of programs written by very strange people all over again and who > has installed Win4lin? Maybe even got ViaVoice going? ( Came with M8.0 Big > Retail Box I never got it to go) Yes, I got ViaVoice to work > > There! My hypothesis and Xmas wish all at once. > > > HINT: It is 10 times harder to convert to a different system of operation > than it is to start with one. Why bother? AHHHH!!! But geeks LOVE it! They > love the strain, the pain, the anguish, the slow, inching forward in great > danger............... the non-physical equals of the nutters who climb high > rocks. Not neccessarily, I find it harder now to solve Windows based problems than I do Linux ones, I think it's a question of familiarity with the tools you are using. > > BUT - I must say this - I never saw more friendly and helpful people on any > support list who worked harder to help others than here on the Newbie list. Could not agree more. > > Thanks! > Him Again > (John Rigby) -- Poogle......... Derby,England ---- Linux MDK 8.1 with kernel 2.4.17-5 mdk using Kmail 2.1.1 (who is not really a geek, certainly not a computer professional in any way and is in fact trained as an accountant ) 5:07pm up 52 min, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.05, 0.07
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