[rant] As a long time Linux user, I can only applaud Microsoft's attempts to finally crack down on piracy of their software.
I don't mind people running their OS of choice. And I can understand why some people will have never heard of alternatives to Windows. I can even understand how less computer litterate persons can be surprised if you can't read that Word/Excel/Whatever file they just sent you.
Where my patience ends is when someone says "Why don't you use MS Office like everyone else?", only to find out they are running a pirated version of both Office and Windows.
If you want to use Microsoft's software, pay for the license. There are cheaper alternatives if Windows is too pricey. Some are even available for free, if you've got enough bandwidth to download them. Personally, I've paid for a couple of Linux distributions through the years. [/rant]
God hates us all, you know it's true, God hates this place. - Slayer 1726 Posts 10/03
Posted - Aug 1 2005 : 11:55PM
Well at my work (a computer store of all places, LOL), we updated the 2 computers with the new update you speak of - totally fucked up one of the comps - format and reinstall!
What flavor of LINUX are you running? I tried my hand at Red Hat 6.XX and threw in the towel due to driver issues along with other annoyances. A few years later, I figured I'd give Mandrake (ver 8.0) a shot since I had heard and read that it was one of the more user friendly distros. Lastly, I fiddle around with Knoppix, but I became disgruntled like in the past.
Finding help online is helluva chore. I can't tell you how many times a reply to one of my posts for help on any of the various LINUX forums started out with, "DID YOU RTFM, THE DOCS, FAQ, STICKYS, ETC???" Or another played-out gem, "LET ME GUESS N00B, YOU'RE A FORMER WINDOWS USER SO THINKING IS NOT AN OPTION?" Yea, I've been conditioned by M$ over the years since getting my feet wet with DOS 3.11 and using every OS since that time. Quite a few LINUX geeks possess a certain brand of arrogance I haven't quite figured out, and most have a contradictory outlook in that they prefer pooter users dump M$ in favor of a distro they deem the shiznit at the moment, and if the n00b can't figure out how to operate/manage a LINUX distro, well, that person is too friggin dumb and not worthy Maybe sometime in the future when I have the time to burn, I might d/l the ISO for Debian or SuSE since I've recently heard they're the most stable and user friendly.
BTW, I take it you have Open Office installed on your system? I've been using for a few years now
People who use Linux will have "Geek for Life" engraved on their gravestones . So it has been said , and so it shall be . Here endeth today's lesson . . . . . . . .. . . ... .. .. . . . . .. .... . . . .
I'm sorry if anybody wants to add anything to this thread, but Lee O has just shut down the debate with his undisputable conclusion. Please leave the thread in an orderly manner!
Slackware, but I wouldn't recommend that to WHINING WINDOZE NOOBS *ahem* sorry, I mean someone new to Unix clones.
I haven't really kept up with what new distributions have popped up for some years now.
I used to hear good things about Mandrake (now Mandriva and I have no idea why they changed their name), but I never tried it myself.
Last time I installed a SuSE distro, the installation was very easy, and it came with a truckload of software on a DVD filled to the brim. It was honestly a little bit easier to install than Windows, because I didn't have to dig out several driver CDs from various manufacturers, each with their own installation program.
Remember, just as many computer virgins can't figure out how to install Linux, they couldn't install Windows either. It just came pre-installed on their machine. Neither is particularly more difficult to install and maintain than the other. It's just down to what you're used to. I've been a Penguin convert for nearly 9 years.
I don't know if anything has changed with Novell buying SuSE, but in the old days you got 60 or 90 (can't remember) days of free support. The forums at http://www.suseforums.net/ and http://forums.suselinuxsupport.de/ are AFAIK still running. They might prove less hostile than Usenet.
The free personal version of Redhat is now called Fedora. I've heard some icky things about it, and frankly wouldn't recommend it to a newcomer.
I've never tried Debian myself. It somehow looked like it was too much trouble to install, but I could be wrong.
There's a pretty comprehensive list of distributions at http://distrowatch.com/ . Look around.
AFAIK, at least SuSE and Mandriva are available as natively compiled versions for AMD's 64 bit CPUs.
You'll most likely want to use a desktop environment. (Take my word for it if you don't know what I mean by 'desktop environment')
Some distributions include both the two major desktop environments, KDE and GNOME. Some include only one. Even those that include both, generally concentrate more on one of them.
I'd very much recommend going with a KDE based one as opposed to a GNOME based one. Personal choice, but I can't stand GNOME, and KDE has some features I don't want to do without anymore.
If you're installing it on some old hardware, a less RAM hungry desktop called XFCE might be better though. Or perhaps even the initially spartan (and quite frankly hideously ugly), but endlessly configurable (including visuals), FVWM window-manager.
Err, well, yeah, I guess it must be around here somewhere. I rarely use an Office package at home these days, so the smaller, quicker, K-Office (of course) suits my needs well enough.Unmarked grave for me then.
Screenshots from Slackware here. And yes, it features the semi-transparent windows that we, ze vhejning vendouze nuubs, won't get until Longhorn, eehm, sorry, Vista arrives.
i gave suse a go on kperv's rec about a year ago(thanks again, it was a godsend for the time i needed it), it's totally solid and i can't say enough good things about it. i'm back to debian, but that was my first real love after i trashed a partition with fedora(not uncommon at the time). either suse, or debian if you're a little more gung-ho are solid and have been for a while. admittedly, work has me back on windows a lot now, xp's fine and i've got very few complaints to be honest and i've got it running on some of my frankenstien boxes i just don't have the drivers for in linux. honestly, if you know you have the drivers and can spend an hour or two doing some homework, there's nothing scary about linux at all and you'll be functioning about as fast as the switch from win98 to os_ or os_ to xp takes you.
the one thing i can't find outside of windows is a decent alternative to speedfan. i can't stand computers that make noise, to the point of hacking up cases and suspending hardrives and i need something more tunable than the stuff to control fanspeed in the bios. dammit.
Some pretty garish screenshots in that bunch, but they show some of the variety that's possible with different window managers and themes. None of it is limited to any specific distribution.
I expect most Windows users will find transparent windows just as useless and annoying as I did once the novelty wore off.
jamesn, I don't know for sure if there is anything for controlling the fan speeds, but for kernel 2.4 you needed something called lm_sensors to monitor fan speeds, case temperatures, etc. I think I remember reading something about it being possible to control the fans through lm_sensors on some chipsets. lm_sensors is included in the 2.6 kernel source.
It's true that it's already there, but it's not used that often; it seems though as if it will be more commonly used in Vista - check this thread for examples.
I work myself in the software business and we have products for all platforms (Unix/Solaris, Linux, Windows, Mac OS) and I have worked with all of them.
Mac OS X is a really good, stable operative system.
Linux is also quite good but a disadvantage as I see it is all kernel versions and flavors available. Some drivers don’t work on some kernel versions and vice versa. And some drivers are really unstable.
Windows – new Vista looks really promising and this time around we get a new architecture in other words it is not based on the NT platforms something XP and Win2K are with all its related security issues.
Also if you use software that costs money, well then I think you should pay for it. There are free alternatives available.
Another thing that annoys me is all people that believe everything that can be published or available somehow on the internet should be free and that copyright and patents mean nothing. Music, movies and software shouldn’t be free. I don’t know how many bands I like that have lost their record contracts due to shitty sales, and then figures show that they have been downloaded as hell for free. Generous record contracts that were common in late eighties and early nineties will not be seen in the same extent today.
Do we actually get a protected ring zero this time? It would be really nice never to experience another blue screen of death.
Security-wise, I'll believe it when I see it. M$ has always been driven by the need to satisfy diverse partners' software and to make their OS super user-friendly. Forcing a strict regimen on the code monkeys and enforcing software security will surely cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Vista is just the latest revision in the Windows NT line, the same as XP was. It's still based on the same original architecture and code base. Maybe there's a lot of marketing out there that makes people believe that Vista is a completely new operating system written from scratch. It's not.
Microsoft always do this: promise that the next version of Windows will be amazing, and solve all the problems. Somehow I doubt it will. It's always the next version...
Have to hand it to Microsoft, they are great at marketing.
Like when Billy Boy acclaimed the launch of Win98 notwithstanding its handful of minor enhancements over Win95 OSR 2.5??? IIRC, the OS crashed when Billy Boy was showing it off to the fawning press corps
