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Hardy Heron Making Linux Ready for the Masses?
desmondhaynes writes "Is Linux ready for the masses? Is Linux really being targeted towards the 'casual computer user'? Computerworld thinks we're getting there, talking of Linux 'going mainstream 'with Ubuntu. 'If there is a single complaint that is laid at the feet of Linux time and time again, it's that the operating system is too complicated and arcane for casual computer users to tolerate. You can't ask newbies to install device drivers or recompile the kernel, naysayers argue. Of course, many of those criticisms date back to the bad old days, but Ubuntu, the user-friendly distribution sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth's Canonical Ltd., has made a mission out of dispelling such complaints entirely.'"
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Some distributions do provide that, such as Linux Mint. Also, the Dell machines that ship with Ubuntu include DVD support, and mp3 support with Ubuntu is just a mouse click or two away when you try to play your first mp3 file.
Ubuntu gets better with each release. When I first put Dapper on my Toshiba laptop, I had to fiddle around with the boot menu to get it to work correctly, and I had to remember to do this everytime a new kernel was installed, otherwise the laptop would stuff up on its next reboot. Subsequent releases didn't require this switch though.
The BIGGEST fix they've provided (and I'm sure everyone agrees with me on this) is the failsafe mode if X screws up. Who remembers about a year ago when XServer was updated and it killed the desktop? They quickly remedied the situation but for a lot of people I imagine that it either made them reinstall or switch back to Windows. Luckily I managed to downgrade my version because I hadn't cleaned out my archives in a while.
It's taken a while, but Ubuntu's getting there.
Summation 2
yes, though you have to click through a couple of dialog boxes for legal reasons. No more difficult than installing a plugin on your browser for Flash or Silverlight.
I've bricked mine with that before, but its easy to fix the MBR.
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
>Hardy Heron Making Linux Ready for the Masses?
Yes, but no more so than Mandriva 2008.1. I installed it this past weekend and it is about as slick as I have seen any Linux installation thus far. Everything just "works", and works well. It is gorgeous, fast, easy to use, seamlessly knit together, simple to update, loaded with helpful admin tools, and full of packages.
It is nice to know there are many decent choices for a high quality Linux desktop experience!
There are many issues with the grub boot loader and it is well documented. It is actually quite easy to mess up your system and make it appear to be bricked.
/boot/grub and edit the menu.lst to change everything back.
The most common version of this issue has to do with when a new kernel update occurs during a NORMAL ubuntu update. You click the orange star, choose update, let it download and install, then reboot and voila...no more access to any hard drive. It happens to my machine every single time.
I have to get out my liveCD boot with it, mount the main HDD partition, go into the
If you have customized your menu.lst you will also have problems the next time a kernel update happens as the update will wipe out your customization, so if you have modified the menu.lst file to make change the order in which the menu displays your choices and which os is the default, that will be wiped out and you could loose access to one or more of your partitions (hence OSes). I have see this repeatedly, and in the latest situation I have had to turn off all updates so it didn't brick this retired gentleman's system.
On my system it changes the hard drive number and I have to either boot with the livecd or remember to modify the menu.lst before I reboot the computer. Total pain.
Now I'm not supporting the idea that the installer bricked his unit. It didn't. I'm saying that making this sort of error and letting it stand for years without being addressed and then tossing it back into the face of the user (who just might be a retired friend who knows little about computers) is not the way to go about marking your product.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
I did my taxes on linux this year... all online and all free. I had to ignore a 'your browser is unsupported' message, but it worked. (granted my taxes were simple)
T
Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
Newbies don't install OS's.
If they try to install Windows on their Ubuntu system, Windows will destroy their access to their Ubuntu partition with no questions asked.
Maybe it would be a good idea to suggest those things in the manual, but its not big enough of a deal for Ubuntu or Windows to do it.
Either put up with the (admittedly horrible) norms of reliability in the computing world, or improve it yourself. There is nothing to gain by bitching about it for so long.
Somehow, Ubuntu is being flamed for this, even though it puts a lot more effort into playing nice with other OS's than Windows - which nobody seems to criticize here at all.
You're changing the wrong parts of grub's menu.lst. Next time have a read through the instructions at the top of the file, just under
### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
And.. don't change anything between:
## ## End Default Options ##
and
### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
Feel free to put additional definitions after the end of that block, and to change the way the other definitions are defined, adjust the 'comments' above the block.
Then, once you've done that, run 'grup-update' to apply your changes and see if it was what you were after. I usually make one change:
I change #howmany to #howmany=2 (that way I still have one history in case the new kernel doesn't work).
Hopefully that makes life easier for you...
'Bricking' is when you fubar your BIOS upgrade, or touch a hot wire to some random contact on your motherboard. It means the whole thing is totally and utterly up a creek and it can't be rescued at all.
Rendering your system unbootable however is something else entirely. Although you may have screwed up the data on your hard drive to the point of no (or really expensive) recovery the system as a wholeâ"and even the driveâ"are/is still 100% usable with a little bit of work; mostly/all in software.
Unbootable != bricked.
Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
Why not set the kernel-related packages to 'hold' status? Then, they won't be automatically updated (the updater will say "package X has been held back" or something to that effect).
When you're in the mood to update the kernel and perform all the liveCD booting that entails, you can manually update that package (unhold, install new version, hold again).
Meanwhile, you can still leave automatic update on to get all other updates automatically without fear that you might be in for a surprise dose of liveCD booting and MBR fixing (which I agree is very annoying if you had stuff to get done when it happens).
"Why are you watching the washing machine?"
"I love entertainment, as long as it's clean"
Bricked means unrecoverable by the end user. Being bricked means going back to the manufacturer for repair.
A system that can have the OS recovered or at least reinstalled by using a Linux live CD or a Windows CD is not bricked by any stretch of the imagination.
1440x90
Whoa! Really? That is one weird monitor you got.
And to answer your questions:
My webcam worked easier in Ubuntu than Windows XP.
My TV Tuner worked easier in Ubuntu than Windows XP.
And my laptop was pretty easy to get working with 1280x800
Never tried a temp sensor.
You didn't ask, but my printer worked MUCH better in Ubuntu than XP (somehow, Windows glitched and printed 20 pages of gibberish on the install when I hit "print test page" and got up to get something to drink, figuring now was a good time after setting up most of XP from a fresh install... I haven't risked wasting toner to fix it and just print from Linux)
I won't argue that it's easier than Mac OS X -- never used it -- but I will say it worked for me better than Windows XP. (before ubuntudupe or anyone replies yapping at me, please note the "for me" clause there...)
It's been quite a while since I haven't been able to get drivers for stuff, most of them were already there and required no hunting around at all. In fact I've had to hunt around the internet for drivers for xp installations for equipment where my linux installs just worked far more frequently. And then there's Vista - it won't play most avi's unless you hunt up something like vlc so it's no worse than having to find out how to install codecs on linux. If you are using ubuntu you don't even have to do that. And, well, lets face it, vista is the worst thing M$ have produced since dos4 and they want me to empty my bank account for the drm ridden pos when I can run debian for free???
You raise me a pc mag application, I'll up you the ante with thousands of apps in the repos that install with a single click, and they didn't even cost the price of a magazine. I need broadband? I do ok on an isdn connection but you have to fill your tank and drive to the shops (again, with wallet in hand) or hand out your credit card details over the net and still have to download some bloatware or wait for the postman.
It isn't linux that isn't ready for the desktop, it's windows.
"A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist" - Sir Humphrey Appleby
Linux Games..
http://savage2.s2games.com/main.php
http://www.eve-online.com/
http://www.wesnoth.org/
http://www.flightgear.org/
http://www.freeciv.org/
http://www.sauerbraten.org/
http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/
http://wz2100.net/
http://www.cubeengine.com/
http://lincity-ng.berlios.de/
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/
http://www.wormux.org/
http://www.secretmaryo.org/
http://www.ufoai.net/
http://www.bzflag.org/
http://tremulous.net/
http://www.eternal-lands.com/
http://www.enemyterritory.com/
Perhaps you could stop with the "No games for Linux" BS already as you obviously have your head up your ass.
I'm bored enough to argue pedantics this morning. According to the etymology of the word, something is "bricked" when it becomes like a brick; that is a solid and un-operable item best used as a paperweight, doorstop, or building material if you are so inclined. It is very similar to a "coaster" when referring to a burned CDR or DVD (and expanded to any disc these days) that is rendered unreadable. Since a computer with a bad MBR can be recovered via user intervention, even if it requires the user to go to the local software store and buy Norton Disk Doctor or whatever is en vogue with kids these days, it most definitely does not serve the same function as a brick.
The first time I heard the term, it was used to refer to DD-WRT installation. In this case, the only way to rewrite the OS of a commodity wireless router is through the router's own internal software update mechanism, which requires an existing functional OS. It does not have the capability of booting from any external media. If you try re-writing the OS and encounter a failure which causes the device to no longer boot, then you no longer have any means to restore a functional OS to the device. At this time, there is no software in the world that will allow you to fix this problem (if there is, then I would welcome the news). Your only option is to send it back to the manufacturer and claim that it "just stopped working one day" and hope the price of doing this is less than the price of a new wireless router. Until such time, there is nothing you can do in a user serviceable manner to restore wireless routing functionality to the device.