Posted by
michael
on from the includes-two-of-every-application dept.
An anonymous reader notes that OFB has a short blurb about a new Linux distribution, Ark Linux, based on Red Hat and chasing the ever-elusive goal of being "easy to use for the masses".
I'm a season computer geek, but all of my experience has been with Windows, right back to Windows 1.0 days. Recently I decided to switch my network server from Windows 2000 to Redhat Linux. I chose redhat because it's the most popular distribution and, I supposed, would therefore have the best user community support.
My machine is a dual processor (P3 1Ghz) box and it has two 40GB drives connected to a highpoint raid controller built into the bios. I mirror the disks using this controller under Windows.
Most things went smoothly with the install. I was somewhat defeated by the implementation of RAID in Linux though. As much as the pro-linux crowd seem to rave about how good the software raid in linux is (and I'm sure it *is* good), it was a darn sight easier to configure in Windows. The SMP worked out of the box though and RH picked up all my hardware, I was impressed. Configuring my firewall was a pain, until I found the firestarter utility - I strongly recommend it if you're planning to use iptables.
But the point of this is my woes with printers. OMG. It took me three hours, several downloads, a couple of builds, many visits to groups.google.com && linuxprinting.org, much howto- reading and config file modifying just to get my new HP 5550 installed and (semi) working. And this was with a printer that is actually supported under Linux by the manufacturer !!
Hell's teeth, I don't care what the desktop looks like; it's a new operating system and I'll just learn whatever it comes with. Until things like installing a printer becomes as easy as insert-disk-and-go (like Windows), it'll be an uphill job to convert the masses.
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heh good luck. once it's as easy as windows it's going to crash like windows too.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
I'm a season computer geek, but all of my experience has been with Windows, right back to Windows 1.0 days. Recently I decided to switch my network server from Windows 2000 to Redhat Linux. I chose redhat because it's the most popular distribution and, I supposed, would therefore have the best user community support.
My machine is a dual processor (P3 1Ghz) box and it has two 40GB drives connected to a highpoint raid controller built into the bios. I mirror the disks using this controller under Windows.
Most things went smoothly with the install. I was somewhat defeated by the implementation of RAID in Linux though. As much as the pro-linux crowd seem to rave about how good the software raid in linux is (and I'm sure it *is* good), it was a darn sight easier to configure in Windows. The SMP worked out of the box though and RH picked up all my hardware, I was impressed. Configuring my firewall was a pain, until I found the firestarter utility - I strongly recommend it if you're planning to use iptables.
But the point of this is my woes with printers. OMG. It took me three hours, several downloads, a couple of builds, many visits to groups.google.com && linuxprinting.org, much howto- reading and config file modifying just to get my new HP 5550 installed and (semi) working. And this was with a printer that is actually supported under Linux by the manufacturer !!
Hell's teeth, I don't care what the desktop looks like; it's a new operating system and I'll just learn whatever it comes with. Until things like installing a printer becomes as easy as insert-disk-and-go (like Windows), it'll be an uphill job to convert the masses.
Never, ever lose a file again. Ever.