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Mom Meets Linux - A Lindows 4.0 Review
JimLynch writes "We just put up the first review of Lindows 4.0, with a twist. I actually gave it to my Mom to see if she could use it. Find out if Lindows 4.0 passed the "Mom Test.""
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A quick and dirty explanation is that linux is a kernel. Debian, Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake (and a few dozen more names I'll omit) are operating systems built on top of the linux kernel. These are linux distributions, so your first statement is correct.
After the thrashing that Consumer Reports gave the Lindows pc from WalMart.com in the latest issue, I hope they upgrade (one click?) to 4.0 and give it another go.
Another quick: BSD is built on the Linux kernel too?
:)
No, all of the BSDs (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD) have their own, self made kernel. They're all spiritual descendents from the original BSD, which itself was a fork of the original UNIX and made significant improvements to it. They now each do things in sufficiently different ways that they all have their own kernel, though a lot of things are shared when they can be.
In a way, your question isn't the right one; which BSD are you asking about? Unlike Linux, where Linux is just a kernel and the rest of the apps form whats called a distribution, the BSDs are a kernel and all the base things that make up an OS.
Just to confuse you more.
put explorer it in detail view :P
click on the column 'file type'
scroll down the list to see all the mp3s now clumped together.
select the clump of mp3s and drag them somewhere
This morning, a local TV news reported on Consumers Report's new research on cheap computers. The story centered on Walmarts cheap computer which (shockingly) did not have "Windows". They said it looked like "Windows", but isn't. The CR demonstrator showed the print manager window. He said there were too many icons, none of which were "Add Printer". He was confused with the "spooling" term.
Also, he plugged in a digital camera and an error message popped up. He did the same with a Windows system and it immediately started an install process. The short story: stay away from Walmart Lindows computers and buy Dell 2350.
Oh well. There are those who've used Linux and there are those who haven't learned it yet (like Windows used to be).
~afniv
"Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
Richard von Weizs
In Windows Explorer, there's no way to sort by extension. ;-)
Well, you can sort by "Type" which is mostly the same. Also, you could use 'Search for Files or Folders', search for "*.mp3", (using a subdirectory search if you like), select all files with 'ctrl-a' and drag them to the floppy. Still a lot easier than the ctrl-click method you describe and it might be less "alien" for a lot of users.
Mind you, I always use the command prompt myself
bash$ less COPYING
bash$ more CREDITS
Perhaps the most likely to get quick desktop realestate on common home user desktops due to its preinstalls, cheap price, etc, but it is also the most likely to ultimately give the impression that linux is not much better than windows wrt viruses and worms. The problem is the default root runlevel that lindows uses. NORMAL and proper linux users will be exactly that, USERS. Lindows users are root all the time. A proper linux user can, at worst, wreck their home directory if they are dumb enough to run an untrusted/untrustable script or application they've downloaded (at worst). A lindows user is quite possibly going to get owned like a windows user in relatively short order - and their entire system is vulnerable. Their system is rooted out of the box with full priviledges. No better, no more secure than windows.
The only thing really saving them is the lack of a macro vulnerability, activeX, and other windows-assorted crap and builtin insecurity. They are marginally safer than a windows user but only just.
Lindows should trust people to be smart enough and capable enough to deal with a separate root account. It can be simple. Have lindows setup a generic, invisable user account that anyone using the system would actually use. During startup/bootup, it would automatically start that account and take you to the GUI. During initial setup, have lindows ask for a password for root. The user never needs to use this until/unless they run a software update or install, at which point a dialog box comes up asking for a password. That's it. It would be at least minimally safe and no virus or trojan would have access to the system, only the generic system-wide user home.
In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
As the article mentions, you can use apt for free.
No, I don't use Lindows.
Maybe show your mom this music video (Flash): link.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I set up Dad's computer this way...the large files from the digital camera get cut down to somewhere around 16-32K each, which is better for sending them out over a dial-up connection.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Windows, Lindows, whatâ(TM)s the difference? At first glance, the Lindows desktop may seem familiar. But the Lindows directory and file-naming conventions are very different. In addition, the computer didnâ(TM)t detect or install a memory-card reader plugged into the USB port. Attaching a scanner, digital camera, or PDA will be difficult or impossible.
There is no Lindows version of Quicken, Outlook, or other such applications.
Our computer crashed several times during tests, and its built-in help system didnâ(TM)t help much.
I won't even start enumerating all the answers to their stupid comments.
To think that I almost trusted them for my next car purchase... I'll stick with automotive magazines because they are obviously a bunch of nincompoops when it comes to objects more complicated than a can opener.
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