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Dan Gillmor Reconsiders Linux on the Desktop
Cyrus writes "Influential San Jose Mercury News tech columnist Dan Gillmore has reconsidered his stance against Linux. He now says it's rapidly converging to a viable desktop OS
for the masses. "While I wasn't paying sufficient attention, the proverbial tortoise has been playing some serious catch-up.""
Yes, Wi-Fi is an area of spotty hardware support, as it is developing and changing so rapidly.
FWIW, I suggest using external WiFi bridges for desktop systems where internal cards are troublesome, and sticking to known-functional WiFi cards for laptops.
Of course, I try to avoid WiFi for my networks 'cause even its encrypted modes are not very secure...
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
Actually, the name IS correct in the title.
It's wrong in the article text - the man is called Dan Gillmor :-)
SSH..... don't tell anyone, but my secret is...
SSH..... don't tell anyone, but my secret is...
SSH..... don't tell anyone, but my secret is...
The real joke is that some folks think that their WIRED ethernet is secure. Now, you'll have to excuse me if I wax ethereal for a second....
Liberty you never use is liberty you lose.
There is no doubt about it: Xandros is good enough to give to people who know nothing at all about the internals of computers. I put it on an old Dell last month, gave it to my mother, and she did not say anything; the thing got onto the Net, let her edit her documents and send email and browse, print out her papers, and generally did a nice job, well.
Xandros is probably the best of breed, and they are starting to make it available at no cost via channels like Linux magazine covers.
But even so it's well worth the money (and my firm has bought dozens of Xandros licenses) and comes highly recommended.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
...on Linux in the server room first. Finally ACLs and extended attributes are in the kernel. Core utilities has gone through at least 4 minor versions with no ACL support by default (it's still a very hard-to-find and often outdated patch), and only with the latest ACL patch does GNU Coreutils correctly work with ext3 filesystems. GNU produces nothing that even comes close to Webmin in terms of usability and flexibility in server administration. LiLo is still broken when it comes to certain types of disk arrays in RAID installs. We still don't have a desktop environment that can recognize and set ACLs.
I'd say that the functionality of desktop Linux isn't the issue. We have graphical installers and lots of new and useful applications.
You haven't used a modern distro, it seems. They come with stock kernels. When upgrades happen, a new stock kernel is pushed to you from yum or up2date or apt (systems for keeping software current on different distros). You should only compile your own kernel if: 1) you're running on a specialized box and want to maximize performance (server, number cruncher, etc) 2) You're a hobbiest who wants a tuned system. Note that (1) isn't really necessary. You'll get a kernel that's specialized to your processor after install. And (2), well, just because the geeks do it doesn't mean you have to. The performance increases you get are generally modest.
Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
Installing packages on Debian: apt-get install packagename
Installing packages on Slackware: swaret --install packagename
Installing packages on Gentoo: emerge packagename
Installing on windows:
- go to store
- buy software
- go home
- pop CD in and run installer
- reboot computer
Which is easier?
"In Linux it's a pain in the arse to install a package, to uninstall packages, to do anything that's simple in Windows basically, it's harder in Linux."
Uh, I do it every day on several different distro's. With RH, for example, rpm is NOT that hard to use. Certainly not for removing packages. Debian's apt-get (and Kpackage for gui tool) is easier yet.
"Linux is basically nowhere near ready for the average user."
We have new 'average users,' small kids, non-tech folks, etc, using Linux, AND LIKING IT, daily. This statement is patently untrue when compared to observable fact. Mepis Linux is an excellent distro for new users, and many 'newbies' like it better than they ever liked Windows.
"I've tried Lindows and Xandros and both have serious flaws, Linux is atleast a decade off of a Desktop OS. This isn't bashing Linux, it's facing facts. Windows is miles ahead, the Mac is way ahead, and there isn't anybody else who stands a chance at the moment."
First of all, you might want to try more distros before you condemn the entire 'family.' DistroWatch
IMO, Linux is A LOT closer than than you think.
Computational Chemistry products and services.
4) rpm -i application_name
This how installing apps work for most applications on RPM based distributions (Redhat, Mandrake, etc). There are even GUI tools for RPM. I could be wrong, but double-clicking on a RPM (in Gnome or KDE) will launch it.
I say most applications because of course not all developer make RPMs for their apps. But most do these days.
You sound like someone who had a bad experience with .rpms. Guess what? So did I.
.rpms like the plague.
One of the main difference between distros is their package management so I avoid
Stick with apt-get, swaret, and emerge and see how easy software installation CAN BE.
Then sadly, you had heard wrong. It's been exactly the same for years, but people still seem to harp on about how hard it is to click on an icon to install.
I use Gentoo, which isn't exactly what you would call a newbie-oriented distro, and all I do is emerge programname to install something. The package management is far superior to Windows and has been for years, yet nobody seems to want to acknowledge the fact.
Another nightmare is the habit of some manufacturers to release completely different (technically) products with very similar names. Sometimes there are version numbers, sometimes there's a load of very similar names with patterns in the naming that have zero reflection on what it is. I'd agree though, buying a wireless card for Linux is fun, having one already and trying to get it working I haven't had to bear!
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
MSI3 (Windows Installer v3, currently in beta) is helping to get rid of dependancy problems, and will come with XP SP2. .NET has also helped get rid of the problem.
I do agree that maintaining software on my debian server is much easier and more fullproof than Windows. Instead of clicking through multiple dialogs, signing EULAs, and sometimes rebooting, just apt-get install (program)
Please read the article before modding the parent post offtopic - it's one of the main complaints of the author that his xandros distribution didn't find his wireless card correctly.
In Windows, it is not. There's no way to know within the borders of the "packaging system" if MFC42xy.DLL is installed, what version is, and if it is needed, there is no way to automatically install the newest version from some repository.
.dll's are installed, how many programs are using them, what version is installed, etc. If you've every made an Installshield package, you'd know that. You probably think that this isn't the case because you've had problems in the past. Those problems are a result of applications' install packages not being written correctly, not Windows missing a way to track .dll's.
That's patenetly wrong and has been for about 10 years. The Windows Registry keeps track of what
I would like to point out that I still have to go to nvidia's website and download and install their drivers after installing windows. The drivers that come with windows just do not work for 3d games.
George Carlin would love this. There is no proverb involving a tortoise or a hare. There's a fable, but no proverb. As such, there is no "proverbial tortoise".
Yes, my only tool is a hammer. And you're starting to look like a nail.
The problem is to know exactly which card will work
/etc, I don't recall exactly where, but I remember it was pretty easy to find.) When I was shopping for a card for my laptop, I just took the laptop into Staples and looked through the shelf until I found one that was listed.
Don't know about other flavors, but Debian-based distros have config files that list every known supported network card. (Somewhere under
I had never used Linux before about 2 weeks ago, when I purchased a copy of Xandros 2.0, deluxe edition ($89). I was sick of system crashes, spyware, and viruses with Windows, so decided to give Linux a try.
Here is my experience, so far:
1) Install was very easy. Answer a few wizards, and off you go. I chose to install as a dual boot with my Windows 98 system, which is very easy with the Xandros installer. It recognized almost all of my hardware, right off the bat. Easier than installing Windows, if you ask me. It found but didn't utilize my Comcast Surfboard modem, which is connected via USB, rather than Ethernet card(long story). I found the fix for this in the Xandros forums, which was a _one line_ addition to a configuration file. Worked perfectly after that.
Using the system has gone pretty smoothly. I can use Open Office to open and edit my Microsoft Office files (have only tried spreadsheet so far), and the preinstalled Mozilla browser works fine.
On the downside, the fonts are pretty darn ugly, and I am constantly having to increase the font size in Mozilla, as it defaults to too small of a font on some web sites. Not sure why. Also, a good portion of web pages print out really tiny. Not sure why.
To increase the size of the fonts in Mozilla, I tried monkeying with the video card settings and the font sizes in Mozilla, but I didn't have much luck. Pretty confusing.
The system has been *very* stable, and no spyware or viruses in sight. The included media player is much more stable than the Windows Media Player or Divx, which were constantly crashing under Windows 98. The file browser is brilliant--I can see my Linux partition and my Windows partition.
Overall, I have to say the system performance is about 30% less slower than Windows 98. It's just a lot less snappy to browse the web or open the Open Office programs (maybe 20-30 seconds in Linux).
I should mention my system is an old Dell 5100e laptop, 600 MHz, so that plays in here. May not matter much on a modern machine.
Another downside is the availability of software. It may be sacrilege around Slashdot, but I don't mind paying for a decent user interface, a proper manual, and software support for things like accounting software, etc. Packaged software seems like it's a non-starter for Linux--I just don't see any.
On the other hand, for most users, Xandros includes Open Office, and email reader, and a web browser, so this may fulfill some user's needs.
I intend to keep my dual boot setup, in those rare cases I need to run software that isn't available for Linux. Quickbooks and Kazaa, for example.
Xandros makes setting up a dual boot system quite easy for non-technical users, and it's very stable. I can imagine that for a lot of home users, this will be all they need.
If you're fed up with spyware and viruses, and don't want your data locked in the Microsoft Office file format dungeon, nor want to be locked into the constant upgrades that are a part of the Windows world, then Xandros has what you need.
I can be reached at my junk mail account, gregory underscore close at hotmail.
Cheers,
Gregory