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That said, I'm leaning away from all inkjet printing. It's expensive, so it's only good for low volume printing, but when used infrequently the cartridge heads dry out and clog. Pressing them against a folded paper towel soaked in hot water unclogs them easily enough, but it's a bit of a pain. If I really needed color printing on my desktop, I'd pay the extra money and get a color laser printer on eBay.

For the amount of color printing I anticipate, Office Max now offers $.45 per page color prints, and they're not inkjet, so the colors don't fade. Office Depot is more expensive. Both can print from a CD with PDF, etc.

For monochrome printing, it's hard to beat a used Lexmark network printer on eBay. I paid under $200 including shipping for a huge Optra T614. It's built for daily use in a departmental workgroup, so it'll last forever. 25 ppm, duplexer for printing on both sides, 25K pages per toner refill, and Xandros immediately recognized it and had the driver for it as well. All Lexmark laser printers except a few on the low end are Postscript printers, so Linux loves them.

Yeah, Lexmark was one of the first to try to apply the DMCA to toner cartridges (the anti-refill chips), but they still aren't as evil as HP which has definitely lost customer focus and quality during the reign of Carly.

I'm not running any sort of heavy duty server, so fucking forget dealing with Linux.

Umm, these days Linux runs on watches, PVRs, routers, desktops, toasters, and, yes, servers too.

It's also pretty easy to use, if you use the right distro.

are you saying you can do that with M$

Exactly!

I wouldn't dream of turning over a Windows PC to my 75 year old parents. Hell, my dad calls me to help talk him through the TV/VCR and recently DVD useage issues.

However, I've been thinking of getting them a notebook PC and installing Xandros Linux so they can get email, surf "the interweb", and download digital pictures from the camera. Xandros is easier than any version of Windows I've used, and I've suffered since Windows 3.1. Printers? Xandros knows my Lexmark Z52 inkjet and my big mutha Lexmark Optra T614 network laser printer. The drivers are already there, and installation couldn't be easier. No Plug-N-Pray (TM), no installation CD needed, and no need to reboot for changes to take effect.

I've been running Xandros exclusively for over two years for my engineering business. It runs 24/7 and I use lots of complex applications including mechanical CAD, electrical CAD & PCB layout, accounting, programming, etc. I'd NEVER go back to being a Windows luser and I'd certainly never subject my parents to the insane hassles of Outlook worm de jour and the weekly security exploits in Windows and IE.

There are other easy to use distros as well, and there is the Mac, so there is plenty of choice. If you want a computer, there is no need to play monopoly.

It's counter intuitive, but power users have a harder time migrating from Windows because of that one obscure application they just have to have. The average PC user who wants hassle-free internet, email, and office applications is best served by Linux, Firefox/Mozilla, OpenOffice, etc.

For those who are interested, their Open Circulation Editon is available for free via BitTorrent: http://www.xandros.com/torrent/xandros-201-ocd-ins tallation.zip.torrent. Too bad it's a moldy version, but still a good one.

Source Code
Much of the software that comprises Xandros Desktop is Free or Open Source software. Many of the licenses that govern the redistribution this software require Xandros to make the source code for these components available to anyone who receives a copy of the product. You can access the source code for the Free and Open Source software components in Xandros Desktop in our FTP archive.

PPTP VPN client
Whether you're using your work computer on the road or need to connect your home system to your company's network, accessing you're corporate virtual private network (VPN) is a requirement for many people. The new PPTP VPN client from Xandros makes accessing your corporate VPN easy.

I do not support pay distros. Fedora is free, why not Xandros?

Somebody didn't look at the downloads page, where you will find a free BitTorrent link for their "Open Circulation" edition. If you want to d/l using standard HTTP, there's a fee of a whopping ten bucks.

Oh, I see where you're reading that it's $199.98 (here)...but that is with the hardware as well...

Xandros, the leading developer of easy-to-use Linux solutions, today announced that Wal-Mart.com is carrying a fully loaded Linux desktop computer with the pre-installed Xandros Desktop Operating System (OS) for only $199.98. Built by Microtel and available at Wal-Mart's online store,* the new desktop PC offers a complete suite of pre-installed software for home, school, and small office desktop use. Blah, blah blah (blahs added)

"Keeping your system safe from intrusion from the internet is the job of the firewall but if there is risk of people physically accessing your system, then the encrypted home directory will appeal to you. You can easily encrypt your home directory so that none of its data can be read without entering the appropriate password."

I'm not sure "better" is the word you're looking for.
Though it seems it's geared more towards people/companies wanting to migrate from a Windows environment.
(see this page)

Deluxe version is $89.95, standard is $49.95.

Linux CD with the Xmas card - cool idea.

I'd only recommend mailing a CD to nerdy friends and relatives. For everyone else (most people), I'd wait until the latest Outlook worm trashes their system and they call you for help. Invest a couple of hours installing your favorite distro, with OpenOffice and FireFox. Give them a few obvious-as-hell icons on the desktop. Tell them "You're now running Linux so you won't have problems with computer viruses." Hopefully, a couple of months later when they're still enjoying a stable and secure PC, they'll tell their friends and relatives how great Linux is.

BTW - Xandros now has a free demo version. Not quite a live CD, but it will quickly partition a hard drive, install a boot loader with a dual boot menu, and not mess with Windows , in case anyone wants to give it a try. Xandros is very newbie-friendly. Other than the lack of crashes and infections, your relatives probably won't know it isn't Windoze.

I installed Xandros on my parents computer and haven't had to fix it since. I wrote about it for LinuxWorld. Yes, I know that switching OS seems like a huge step and frankly it is. But Xandros is the perfect distro for many computer users (basic office apps such as word processing, Internet, etc). The Xandros Deluxe edition includes Codeweavers CrossOver too so installation of things like Quicken and full version of Microsoft Office are possible, though Xandros includes OpenOffice.

It seems as though most Windows users that I've talked to don't care about the *name* of the program so much as they care about it just *working* and being compatible. OpenOffice is a great example of this. Show someone that they can read their old Word docs and that they can even save directly to PDF and they'll be an OpenOffice user. Yes, yes, yes. I know that there are things that OOo can't do but many (most?) users won't ever encounter those issues. Likewise, show someone that they can get their work done in much the same way and don't have to settle for IE's constant string of security holes, even post SP2, and Windows' poor performance and constant, never-ending critical updates and they'll be a Linux (and/or Xandros) user.

Since I installed Xandros on my parents computer I don't have to worry about my parents getting the spyware/adware/malware du jour or about the OS crashing for no good reason. They don't have to worry about clicking something they shouldn't or about their computer being "down" when they get yet another virus. I chose Xandros as an upgrade from XP Pro on their computer and it helped everyone concerned.

If I ever had to do tech support, which I'm just guessing I will at some point, Xandros is based on Debian which makes my life easier. At least I won't find myself in the position of having to tech support Outlook Express, a program I've never used, or any of the other disappointing, unconfigurable, security-hole laden programs that come from Microsoft.

Tom's other points like Windows peer to peer networking and ADS sign-on are absolutely critical in heterogeneous environments with Windows and Linux systems and vendors like Xandros that have made this functionality as easy as in Windows (Suse is making progress in this area as well.

The biggest impediment right now is finding large scale deployments where Linux makes sense. You need users who only have a few application requirements and those applications have to be available on Linux. Lack of applications is the number 1 impediment to adoption of Linux on the Desktop.

Another issue that comes up is how to manage those desktops and again, the same two players (Xandros and Suse) have decent solutions. Suse has Red Carpet (rebranded "Zenworks for Linux" I think) and Xandros recently announced xDMS which deploys and manages large numbers of desktops.

Tom's other points like Windows peer to peer networking and ADS sign-on are absolutely critical in heterogeneous environments with Windows and Linux systems and vendors like Xandros that have made this functionality as easy as in Windows (Suse is making progress in this area as well.

The biggest impediment right now is finding large scale deployments where Linux makes sense. You need users who only have a few application requirements and those applications have to be available on Linux. Lack of applications is the number 1 impediment to adoption of Linux on the Desktop.

Another issue that comes up is how to manage those desktops and again, the same two players (Xandros and Suse) have decent solutions. Suse has Red Carpet (rebranded "Zenworks for Linux" I think) and Xandros recently announced xDMS which deploys and manages large numbers of desktops.

Have to try it and see I guess but I'm not too optimistic.

Have to try it and see I guess but I'm not too optimistic.

When their servers chill-out a bit, and there's a decent DL speed, I'll probably snag it. I really like these 1-CD distros...I'm sick of spending three-hours downloading multiple CD's :(

Another notable 1-CD Distro is Xandros...it lacked the expandability I wanted, so I dumped it, but it's still a rather nice little Linux Distro, especially for beginners and Windows-converts. :)

It's interesting to see some of the work going on. It's based on debian but you can't just install programs from the deb sources anymore.

This has way too much new and untested cutting edge stuff in it for a professional desktop. I'm sticking with a 2.4 kernel and my Xandros desktop until some of this new stuff is hardened off a bit.

I'm seeing a lot of the same old stuff but no emphasis on Windows migration. No talk of Wine or CodeWeavers integrated like in Xandros. The VPN is nice for the business users but there is no talk of Windows peer-to-peer networking or Active Directory support so it's going to have a tough time fitting into a real corporate environment where Windows is still running rampant. I'll stick with Xandros.

make the leap dude! You'll be glad you did. The only thing I regret is not being able to play games, but my system is slow as molasses for running new games anyway, and I have a PS2, so that doesn't bother me much. I also have VMware in case I actually need windows for some sort of strange reason...

If you're really scared of moving to linux, I recommend Xandros : http://www.xandros.com/ It makes it relatively painless and you can still have a windows network up if you want (ie your parents refuse to switch to linux)

I went to the Xandros site thinking "Hey! Another distro to try. Time to grab an ISO!" Sadly, the download section of their site is relagated to the "About" page and they charge for the download... Except for the "Open Circulation" edition which has few of the features advertised here (It doesn't even come with Mozilla and has crippled CD burning software) The only edition to have all of this "killer" tech is the business edition for a $129 download fee (you get some books and some closed source-ware too).

Given the price, this doesn't look so "killer" anymore. In fact, it looks a bit over-priced. I may fork over $100 for a nice SuSE boxed edition, but I still have the opportunity to run the full distro for free if I take the time to download it instead. If I'm forced to pay $129 for a distro, why not just go pick up XP Home? What, if any, is the incentive for people to switch then? To pay one greedy company over another? Has anyone tried the "Open Circulation" edition that thinks the full version would be worth the cash?

I went to the Xandros site thinking "Hey! Another distro to try. Time to grab an ISO!" Sadly, the download section of their site is relagated to the "About" page and they charge for the download... Except for the "Open Circulation" edition which has few of the features advertised here (It doesn't even come with Mozilla and has crippled CD burning software) The only edition to have all of this "killer" tech is the business edition for a $129 download fee (you get some books and some closed source-ware too).

Given the price, this doesn't look so "killer" anymore. In fact, it looks a bit over-priced. I may fork over $100 for a nice SuSE boxed edition, but I still have the opportunity to run the full distro for free if I take the time to download it instead. If I'm forced to pay $129 for a distro, why not just go pick up XP Home? What, if any, is the incentive for people to switch then? To pay one greedy company over another? Has anyone tried the "Open Circulation" edition that thinks the full version would be worth the cash?

Next time, I'm leaning toward a nice IBM notebook, mostly because they've been standup guys lately where Linux is concerned, and HP CEO Carly Fiorina has been making a lot of noise about DMCA crap on all HP products. Just how the hell are they going to lock up a Linux notebook with DRM?

I'm glad that HP is shipping a Linux notebook PC, but this isn't some corporate altruism. The only reason for an HP Linux notebook is they see the writing on the wall and don't want to follow the next wave. You know, the big wave, where Linux sweeps over the entire planet?

A good stable distro like Debian stable, except made current and with a few tools to make things easier and painless, and we'd really have something. Hopefully the next release of Debian stable comes somewhere near this. Given something like that, Linux (or even *BSD) could become the commodity OS you just slap on any machine and get going.

Take a look at Xandros. Very fast to install. Automatic formating of your HD or resize Windows partition to make room. No package choices at install time, but all Debian packages can be installed through their interface or the apt-get system. Can read any NTFS partitions on your HD, and pressing the eject button on the CD drive unmounts the CD (sorry, but that annoyed me in RedHat 7).

It is free to use at home (providing you use the BitTorrent download. $10 otherwise), but there is a charge to use it in a business setting.

I've been using it at work for 4 months now, and I have not had any problems with it.

I think there may already be some distros that come near this, but I've been stuck in Debian-world for a while, so I don't know.

Now you can be stuck in the "Debian-world," and still have the nice UI.

Maybe they should use Xandros? It is just as easy to use as Linspire and they also have a business desktop with a desktop management server to make for easy deployment and management. SuSE/Novell may also be a good option if they come out with some type of management for easier deployment. While Red Hat has a great server, they have no real integration for management or deployment of business desktops, so I don't think they are a good option for the enterprise right now.

xandros oce download (via bittorrent)

Lindows Offers Free OS Download (via bittorrent)

I'd hold on until we see a real Linux desktop like Xandros or SUSE on Dell before I get excited.

Unfortunately, to install any of these versions without wiping out most Windows installations, you'll need to buy a third-party program to partition your hard drive.

I've been using Xandros Linux for 18 months. It allows Windows partions to be dynamically resized when it's installed. Very easy. Very painless. It does a very good job of easily networking with Windows as well, and autodetects and configures a *LOT* of hardware. It's a good Windows refugee distro for those who don't need the latest and greatest, and are more concerned with using their computer. It's not too good for people who want to play with Linux at the fundamental level. If you like Gentoo, you probably won't like Xandros. It's based on Debian.

Xandros 3.0 should be out 4Q04. Then I'll see how good the installer is at obliterating a WinXP partition. I haven't used XP once in the last 18 months. I only kept it to preserve my HP hardware warranty, if you can believe that. Anybody want an OEM XP Home certificate of authenticity sticker and product key?

• One good reason to think that they can do this right is their aquisition of the creators of RAV Anti-Virus last year. RAV was a great multiplatform (including Linux) Anti-Virus tool. Best configuration: external SMTP (MTA) using Postfix/Qmail with RAV Anti-Virus acting as a Gateway for internal-only Exchange 2000 server. I don't think that will be a config option with MSFT's "new" product, but whatever they got would surely be worth looking at.

• Then, of course, drop Windows and switch to Linux (SUSE, RedHat, or Xandros are places I'd recommend taking a look).

1. An installation process as straightforward and simple as Windows
True. Simple installation yes. Like windows no. Why? I haven't come across a newbie who can do a clean installation with windows(I am not including those recovery disks that just dump an image into hdd). No one complains about windows because not many newbies install windows. it comes pre-installed on their system. In linux I really like the 4-click install of XandrOS.Its clean and simple and asks minimal questions.
2. The device compatibility offered by Windows
this is going to a problem because not all hardware manufacturers want to openup their drivers. A lot of them have given out binary only drivers(Think Nvidia) but the drivers suck.
3. The level of cooperation shared by Windows applications
agree.
4. The games available on Windows
chicken and egg problem 5. The simplicity of changing system configurations offered by Windows
I find apple give more simplicity when it comes to changing systems. But if we narrow our vision to what both apple and MS does for usability, then we are bound to make the same mistakes. There are other designs that are much more usable than windows and apple for that matter. We just shouldn't follow windows, just because people are used to it.

Suggestion: Set-up your computer to Dual-Boot Linux with Window.

Step 1: Install Windows with extra unpartitioned drive space (about 3-5 GB should do, depending on your system). Step 2: Install Linux.

I'd suggest either Mandrake 10.0 or Xandros Desktop OS Open Circulation Edition.

Mandrake is very user friendly and Xandros is aimed at Windows users.

Step 3: Configure LILO for Dual Boot. (Easier than it sounds)

Alternately you can download Knoppix 3.4 and boot directly from the CD.

As soon as I get my hands on a copy, I'll attempt to review it.

Actually, it looks like it's available via BitTorrent already. Start downloading people! I want more bandwidth. ;-)

I even have a few guys who are going so far as to asking which "version" of Linux to run at home. So for the moment I'm recommending Mandrake.

But I totally agree with the problem (that was also present with RedHat) of 6-month reinstall's to get everything up to scratch. And don't even get me started on RPM dependency issues or issues between RPM's built for Mandrake vs those for RedHat.

Ideally I'd like to get a copy of Xandros to show these guys. Unfortunately, it too falls into the commercial category. Where's my try before I buy!? :(

OK, so the fans of the various distros are all comparing how big the penises of their favorites are. It's a fun exercise, but not what the guy asked about. I'd suggest that someone new to Linux look at: Mandrake, Xandros, Lycoris, SUSE, or Linspire. Each of these has a company behind it that's placing a high priority on making their distro accessible to new users, and that sounds like your top priority as well.

I dont get it. Why would users of Linux be interested in replacing Windows? I am a user of Linux, I dont see any value in replacing Windows unless I want all the people to call me asking for help.

Now if a distribution wanted to undertake the task of replacing windows, then you can blame them for not being user-friendly, etc.

Two other issues. I've generally been happy with the generic support of Windows applications, including IrfanView, Garmin GPS software, etc. But stuff written in Delphi seems to work fine except for disk I/O, essentially rendering disabled demo software without the ability to load or save files. It seems like a CrossOver fix for this one specific problem might open up a lot of Delphi applications.

Overall, I'd like to see CrossOver as a way for people to migrate to Linux by enabling them to run custom software where there isn't a good open source solution, not as a method to keep running proprietary Microsoft applications instead of OpenOffice, Mozilla, etc. Yes, I know I'm in the minority with this opinion.

I wanna load Linux on my laptop, but I have heard nightmare stories of trying to get wifi cards configured properly under Linux.

WiFi is getting a lot better under Linux. I haven't tried it with my notebook PC yet, but I will soon. I use Xandros Linux and it's pretty good about autodetecting lots of hardware. I'd recommend it as a distro that would be good for anyone switching for the first time, and wanting to do real world stuff with their PC instead of twiddling around trying to get Linux to work. They have a very active online user support forum that is a big help with issues like WiFi.

With any Linux distro, I'd advise doing a bit of Google research before buying hardware. In almost every hardware category, you will find stuff that works well with Linux, stuff that can be made to work with Linux if you have a day, and stuff that absolutely refuses to work with Linux. Why make it hard on yourself? Get the stuff that works with Linux and support companies that support Linux.

Just curious: I looked at this screenshot.

In the phase "create new session on screen X" what do they mean by 'session' and 'screen'? Is screen in the sense of display:screen as in :0.0 and :0.1? Or is a screen a different virutal desktop? Is a session a particular user's login session? Why not just call it "login as a different user" instead of "create a new session"?

And "lock current screen when switching" is ambiguous too. How can I both lock this screen I am looking at and still use it? (assuming a more nieve user)

i happened to come across these fantastic spyware removal sites. if you download their software you are guaranteed 100 per cent no more spyware
Debian
Mandrake
Linspire
Fedora
Mepis
Xandros
Suse
Slackware
Gentoo

This document gives a pretty fair set of evaluation criteria if you're looking at a desktop system.

http://www.xandros.com/products/evaluation_tips.ht ml

Since you brought up Xandros I'll pimp that for a second.

Xandros looks like it may be a decent Desktop system although it is a commercial distro and I don't want to spend the money to find out. This is the first I have ever heard of it so if they can come out with a Free/Lite edition and get on TechTV and somehow get the general public's interest it may take off.

But my question still is how will the second group react to these distros? Will they feel that they have lost too much control? Will they suffer from command line withdrawl?

Some people don't like smart installers because you don't learn anything that way. (On the other hand isn't that the point of a smart installer, to guess what you may not know?)

Personally I would be happy with a combination of Debian for servers and Xandros for Desktops.
* Misc *
Lindows
For info on Knoppix check out http://freshmeat.net/projects/knoppix/.

1. Download the source. (rest as root)
2. untar the archive: # tar -xzf someapp.tar.gz
3. cd to the source directory
4. # ./configure
5. # make
6. # make install

----

How many times have you seen instructions like this?

The other comments on the steps mentioned say "Thanks, that works great!" and things like that, but my compile threw errors and didn't work for me.

The problem is, which I learned after 3 years of daily linux use and 5 distros (including FreeBSD), is that you often need to specify options for the "./configure" step, and those option are found by doing "./configure --help". NOBODY EVER MENTIONS THIS! (sorry for use of caps, but this is a pretty huge problem.)

Compounding the problem is that once you do do a "./configure --help", you are given a huge list of options, but have no clue which ones (and what parameters you need to specify) to get your software to compile. Please tell me where I can find this if there is documentation as to a general process for trouble-shooting compile-options, because I have yet to find it.

Instead of the above example, how about some instructions like the following:

---
All steps are done as root (administrator). # is the root prompt of a command-shell, more info.

1. Change to the source-download dirctory:
# cd /usr/local/src/

2. Download the source (someapp-1.x.x.tar.gz, where the x's are replaced by the latest version numbers, see http://www.mysite.org/releases/ for the latest version information.
# wget ftp://dist.mysite.org/releases/someapp-1.x.x.tar.g z

3. Untar the archive:
# tar -xzf someapp-1.x.x.tar.gz

4. Change to the uncompressed source directory:
# cd someapp-1.x.x/

5. Configure the installer.

Most systems will need to specify the location of your Perl executable:
# ./configure --perl=/usr/bin/perl
Use the following command to find your Perl executable:
# locate perl | grep bin

Other common options that may be needed

There's no need to wait several years, Linux is already ready for the desktop. If you don't believe me check out Mephis, Knoppix, or Xandros.

I presonally prefer Gentoo Linux becouse of the freedom you have in choosing what applications you want on your computer, though for a noob, it is a bit daunting.

Obligatory Monty Python Joke: Maybe they should call it Luxury Yacht, but tell everyone it's pronounced "Lindows".

From the article...

I could have installed Windows XP, the current (and, I will acknowledge, far and away the best) Windows operating system to date, plus new applications. But that would be expensive.

This more expensive claim is bogus. Dan says he installed Xandros Desktop OS Version 2 - Deluxe Edition which costs $89, the same price that Windows XP Home Upgrade costs.

The recommended system requirements for Xandros and XP are almost identical.

So why hassle with Xandros when he could have just upgraded to XP and he would not have had to reinstall any applications, plus Star Office (not free) runs on XP. He could have avoided the hardware problems too.

Of course this would not have made for such an interesting article and this is must be Dan's true motivation...

Besides, it would feed a beast I'd rather not make any bulkier.

Then:

apt-get install weasel
apt-get install moneygrubbing
apt-get install ambulancechaser

I have limited experience with it, but Xandros seems to be a nice balance. It is currently based on Debian sarge (testing). It loads up a nice, friendly desktop that will feel very comfortable and familiar to most Windows users. However, with very little work, it can be set up to update from Debian directly and from any other sources of Debian packages.

[end of shameless plug]

I bought the laptop PC anyway because there were no decent laptops available with Linux then (but there are now). I never ran XP. I booted the Xandros Linux install CD and have been a very happy camper, even if I am a bit miffed about being forced to pay the Microsoft tax.

I'm optimistic about a major PC manufacturer offering Xandros Linux as an option. It's a great distro for users migrating from Windows. It's easy to use, without giving up any of the Linux security or stability. The deluxe version includes CrossOver, so it runs lots of Windows apps. It's based on Debian stable.

I'm still a bit concerned about HP CEO Carly Fiorina's announcement that HP products will be aggressively enforcing DRM. That seems to me to be a bad move that will only make their products harder to use. Hippy perspective: Like, who wants a piece of consumer electronics to, like, get up in your face and start hassling you? REALLY bad karma, man.