Streets Not Paved With Gold, Something Cannot Be Had For Nothing

[nemorathwald]

Thanks to phecda for this link to an Australian bake-off between installing Mac, Windows and Linux. It's interesting that their preferred version was Xandros, which I have been running on my already-existing Linux box for almost a year. I gave up on it because whenever I found cool software that I wanted to install, it was only available for two or three of the more common distros. Trying to install software, or even find it after it had been installed, made me want to throw the keyboard at the wall-- I thought a more popular distro would help that, not exacerbate it as the article hints. I installed Firefox on Xandros and then it only gave error messages when I tried to run it. This is the Open Source Web Browser, the end-user-desktop Killer App that I give to my friends, the only browser I use. It works great on Windows!

It's only just recently I found out the graphical user interface of Linux comes in varieties such as KDE, GNOME, etc., and is not part of the operating system. I always thought "operating system" = "desktop environment" and vice-versa. So apparently I'm stuck with the same experience I already had trouble with, no matter which distro I use. I'll get one of those For Dummies books-- they're great. I will master GUI before I even get started on the command line interface, because CLI is like driving with a stick-shift. It's like wearing a blindfold, feeling my way by memory in a 100,000 square foot warehouse full of shin-cracking footstools. At least with a GUI I have some use for the computer while I'm stumbling around in that.

I guess my reluctance to use that computer has just as much to do with the fact that I can't get the CD drive to work, and it's running on a Pentium 2. Now I have to seriously ask myself if I want to spend hundreds of dollars on a new computer with decent performance just to replace what's not broken: I've always been satisfied with my WindowsXP experience on an AthlonXP 2.4 Ghz, but I always want to do better or more if somebody tells me it's out there. The only two reasons I wanted Linux were #1: the word "free", and #2 everybody else told me I'd like it. So much for free. Just because you can run Linux on a toaster or a dead badger doesn't necessarily mean there's any reason to do so. This claim is deceptive to newbies who don't know the difference between OS and GUI. The real Linux is just a kernel, which sits there saying, "oh wow, I'm a kernel on a toaster, look at me."

I was correct when I said that helping to run Penguicon, I have got to get Linux. I just didn't realize the reason at the time-- the real reason is to get past the hype and learn the provisos and quid-pro-quos. That's why my determination is still resolute, but now I'm reserving judgement.

Comments

[phecda.livejournal.com]

But think of all the sysadmin points you'll be accruing by making it run!

Admittedly there is some hype out there, and Linux is still in many ways a server oriented OS. The Desktop geegaws that you get from the Mac and Windoze experience is an entirely different set of problems to solve vs. the issues required for servers. Desktops don't have quite the same requirements for remote managebility, stability and scalibility that server does. And on a server, the first thing you don't install is a GUI.

This article by Neal Stephenson on Unix may help illuminate some of disconnect that you're encountering.

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it would help to keep my eyes on the prize, as it were. I need to keep in mind what it is that I want to do that involves a "Hole Hawg" type of tool.

I'll go back in my LJ and try to see where I wrote down what that was.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

My Linux experience is limited to the MS of Linux: Red Hat 9. It installed without a hitch, and everything was easy. Had no issues installing anything on it.

This is why Linux won't dominate for a long time on the desktop. My dad can't install it, but he can figure out the install for Windows. It holds his hand.