And to the people saying "these people need drinking water, not Linux!," MS was there too. I am sure MS is at all these 3rd world countries pushing there expensive products. No, Linux will probably not solve such issues as clean drinking water, but MS products WILL suck very scarce funds that should have been used to address such issues!
This is ONE "project" out of thousands and thousands of others on the net (which anyone can start) which happens to use the Linux kernel as their basic platform. No, this is not the official "Linux position." The only reason this project exists is because a group of people have a "particular itch" in this particular area, and rather than bitch about it on slashdot (and get modded up to 5, no less) like some wannabe news editorial writer, they construtively did something about it. This, in no way, prevents you from creating a similar project to make Linux look different, and many projects exist to do just that, but you will never know that because, just like many other/.'ers, you are too lazy to do a little research before posting. Why should you when the moderators are too lazy to think for themselves, anyway?
I realize you probably still don't understand what I am talking about, so here in an analogy. There are some women in this world that think all men abuse and beat women. They complain and they talk down about men, but they always seem to get in a relationship were they get knocked around. Me, being a man and having never beaten a woman, know this is a falsity. In fact, I assume the majority of men do no beat women. However, these particular women have certain choice parterns which constantly expose them to the same kind of man. Believe me, saying "men" encompasses as diverse a group as saying "Linux users."
My personal analysis is that you (and the moderators that modded you up) have been constantly exposing themselves to the same type of Linux user/developer/slashdot info. There are many more projects that make Linux unique than that make it similar to XP. However, like the disillusioned woman I mentioned earlier, you only know how to get information that reinforces your prejudice. Articles posted at slashdot about projects that make Linux "unique" probably go unnoticed by you, as you immediately scroll to the "XP look alike" article.
Believe me, you are not describing Linux users, just your stereotypes towards Linux.
"how I have started life as a drone." If you are a CS major, get ready for a life of flipping code as an employee for MsDonalds.
I've posted before here about why IT is NOT a profession since its standards are owned by a self-serving corp. (in contrast to CPAs, Lawyers, and doctors). I think this post rests my case . ..
Enjoy your life kid . ... btw, I will be making more than you, working less, and if we happen to work on the same project in the same company in the future, I will tell you EXACTLY what you are required to do, or you will be replaced by another drone (flipping VS.net, no less). And it has nothing to do with smarts or hard work, just the fact that I picked a real "profession" run on "OPEN" standards, governed by an organization looking in the best intrests of its professionals (AICPA), rather than its own revenue.
You can either change professions or TRY changing your current quasi-profession (but I doubt enough of you "get it" to accomplish that), just don't come back here 10 years from now complaining that you can't get a job, while the rest of us "non-geeks" are getting by just fine (thanks to financial reports written on Lamp, unsupported by my company's incompetent IS staff, which didn't slow me down a bit).
I know this is hard medicine to take, but if you are smart, you will take this to heart, otherwise enjoy your pathetic drone life, Chrismas came early.
One man's fragmentation is another's variety . . .
on
Linux in the Workplace
·
· Score: 1
So if markets hate choice, then why do we find such a large variety of choice in other products, like cereals? I guess the general public is more capable of handling the difference between two types of sugar coatings than it can comprehend the differences between to layers of window managing code. But the general public's knowledge will definitely change, in say, 50 years.
In fact, my only real complaint about your post is that it represents the basic short sighted view that plagues so many techies. Why predict until only 2004? Do you have some chronic illness? Otherwise, assuming you belong to the most common demographic group of/., you could be looking at 50 more years! What kind of attributes do YOU, as a lifelong user of computers, want to develop over the years?
Personally, I hate the thought of me being stuck on some candy-like gui hot off the corporate presses, old shaky hands putting me on the same level as a 2 year old (I'll already be pretty down about having to wear diapers again). So, in contrast, I plan on using Linux for the rest of my life (I am pretty confident that its GPL/Open Source characteristics will give it the longevity of your average Epic Poem). I currently use gui tools, but I also learn the CLI equavalents because they are the key to understanding the system and, when master, are much more efficient.
So, by the time I become a geezer I hope to be fairly knowledgible about Linux which will probably have changed a lot by then but so will have I, with it, every step of the way (hopefully with my own contributions to brag about). And though I may become feeble with a mouse, or whatever "one-size fits all" device that will be used then, I hope my mind will remain sharp enough to type or say (VR) a short, and to the point, bash command, or perhaps my own variant that I will develop after I retire for my own personal use. And though my grand-children will be able to kick my ass at Grandtheft auto 28, they will learn to revere my skills with open source tools which, without the pressures to bring investors a profit, have been allowed to be bent and pulled enough to fit perfectly into the lives of its users.
As we close yet another year, this might be a good time to step back and take a look at the "long-term future" that faces us. Death is usually an uncomfortable thought, but, at least for me, it is made even more uncomfortable by the thought that my life was insignificant and meaningless. Some people may feel it foolish to put so much in a simple "tool" that can be bought on the shelves of an electronics store, but, unfortunately, I have lived long enough to realize I will most likely not be immortalized in any of my descendant's history books for my accomplishments. For someone who is going to be forgotten, this is the closest thing to imortality I can get.
Open Source allows me to add my own page to history, even if it is a history that many choose to ignore, riducule, or trivialize. Nomatter how insignificant it is, it is all I have left of my childish dreams of being important enough to contribute to society. And, when thoughts of my own insignificant mortality creep up, it guides me to a more optimistic place where everyone lives a significant life and anyone can contribute to the betterment of humanity.
I predict that Open Source will continue to exist, because I will keep it alive. Unfortunately, this prediction is limitted by my lifetime, which hopefully will last a bit longer than 2004.
"And you should leave Microsoft, DRM, and all of the other/. buzzwords out of this -- they are not relevant at all to the topic."
Funny, I always thought that MS, RIAA, and MPAA had crappy business models because they depend on controlling the masses when freedom appears to be an innate human condition. I guess the fact that they make billions of dollars automatically makes these "good" business models in your book. And how exactly to explain this to your children?
for at least the next 600 days. The site just helped me discover "webmin" today which is going to greatly help me manage my family member sites.
I don't give to charities, but I do try to contribute to benevolent communities, and I do pay for services that help me become a more productive citizen.
If you have a problem with that then our paths should never cross anyway, so just move along to the topics that do interest you. . .
I will try my best not to be like the person you described above and will support Mandrake, even if it may be futile. They have been too good to me to abandon them now.
" Even if I were to give money to Mandrake, what sort of information do I have that would lead me to believe that they wouldn't just be in this hole again six months from now."
You must be a/. editor . . . http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/13/203822 1&mode=thread&tid=147 Here is a crash course in finance: increasing revenue by 30% and decrease expenses by 40% is a pretty good sign that a company is turning itself around . ..
"but I think we're all a lot more realistic about business realities than we were a few years ago."
. . . yeah, like if you are not Microsoft then you are a risky investment.
"make themselves a Linux for the working man who doesn't have the time to sit around for hours making it work."
They have been that for me ever since 6.1. I'm a financial analyst, just to give you some context.
Why do Americans get so confused and angry . . .
on
Mandrake News
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
when things aren't the same in a different country? America's FASB does not reach around the globe. Therefore, it is reasonable not to expect American GAAP principles to be applied in France, wouldn't it?
American GAAP are the most stringent in the world and compliance with the SEC can be very costly. Mandrake stock is not traded in the U.S. so they are not under the same rules you are accustomed to . . . get used to it, there are 6billion OTHER people in this world that don't live life like you do. Why should Mandrake incur more cost just because YOU think they should do things differently?
If you really want Mandrake to release F/S that conform to your conditioned expectations, start requesting that their stock is traded in the U.S. Otherwise, get used to people doing things differently . . .
edited /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
on
Mandrake News
·
· Score: 1
look, drakconf (the program you were using) is brand new, so I think your expectations where a bit too high.
For 3 years, I have been using "netconf" to configure nics. It exists in both RH and Mandrake and is stable, gets the job done. It is a GUI programnot as fancy as drakconf), and included by default.
Linux usually has many ways to do the same thing . . . passing judgement by only trying 1 or 2 ways seems inappropriate (not that Xandros, which I have never tried, isn't your dream come true of a distro . ..)
If you were a member . . .
on
Mandrake News
·
· Score: 1
you would probably have read about the fact that Mandrake has been thinking/trying to turn its development segment into a not-for-profit organization.
Not sure what are the obstacles,(plug) but you can get more information if you become a member;)(/plug)
Re:Good For Them
on
Mandrake News
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Five elements of Present Value Measurement:
1. The price for bearing uncertainty
2. Expectations about timing variations of future cash flows
3. other factors (e.g., liquidity issues and market imperfections)
4. time value of money (the risk-free rate of interest)
5 estimate of future cash flow
(Becker Conviser CPA Review)
The present value of money is the most basic element of the financial market. Companies need cash to operate and steady revenue to negotiate loans. This is why you do Mandrake more of a favor by becoming a club member and buying the CD at cheapbytes than just buying the packet, by itself.
No reason to feel guilty about "donating." However, a basic grasp of present values and revenue recognition might enable you to optimize your support of, imho, the world's best distro.
This is probably a result of contamination occurring within the experiment . . . I mean bacteria are everywhere and very resilent, resistent to heat, various poisons, and can even survive 2 miles under the ground . . . oh, wait.
I think this will help make wireless network technology more widely adopted by consumers. Once the wireless network community reaches a certain density over a large enough area, what will stop people from just connecting to one another instead of just to an ISP (think gnutella, but much, much faster . ..).
What would prevent a "wireless" internet from making all the internet "FREE" (in as many meanings as you can give "FREE")?
I had a similar problem with RH. Then I tried Mandrake 6.1. Never looked back . ..
9.0 has become the most important tool for my work now. It ain't supported by my company's IS dept., but what kind of support can MSCEs give me? I know the 3 r's by heart, and they don't apply to Linux.
With 9.0 I have: KDE3 Mozilla MySQL MySQLcc OpenOffice (connected to MySQL) PERL PHP4 Bash etc . ..
And if my life is missing some software, I head on over to www.mandrakeclub.com to make a request.
There is urpmi, which makes you LOVE rpms, not hate them. And there is drakconf, which most people who use it will just call "control panel" because that is what it looks like, except I have NEVER had so much control on the real control panel (in windows).
Seems like you had an issue with Debian. I would never recommend Debian to someone who has to look up a howto on how to use a CLI to make a floppy. Debian is for gods, which many of us are not. Don't take it so hard.
I get frustrated all the time with Linux, not because of it's limitations but because of my own. Most people in my line of work just use the tools available to them . . . Excel, maybe Crystal Reports. These tools are great, but not perfect, and I want perfection. My employer deserves perfection. So, instead of wasting time constantly updating a spreadsheet every month, I learn perl, MySQL, PHP, and whatever else comes my way. Only Linux makes this available to someone with no formal computer education, like myself. My company won't pay for tools unless they are 100% sure they are for someone who knows how to use them. But without the tools, how will I ever learn? That is what Open Source is to me.
Look, I'm sorry about your experience, but some of us don't have a lot of money to buy the best from MS. We couldn't afford to go 5 years to school to get a CS degree. As a result, we are limitted to only the most "popular" tools at work, destined to live life as excel drones. And some of us would rather die than live such a life, so we hit google and find out about alternatives. It takes time and can be extremely painful, but it allows us to escape our fate, gives us a chance to be something more.
To me, every frustrating experience I have had with Linux is like a trophy. It is my token of survival and of humanity. I often recall my mistakes and triumphs.
I have no clear memories of windows, just a thin blur too faint to be convinced of their existence . ..
But if you ever can't get a date on Saturday night, you might give it a try.
You can get a copy of Mandrake 9.0 delivered to you for under $10 here (shipping is expensive . ..): http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/cart .php? ba=pdtl&product=159
You also might want to try "Knoppix." You can get it from the same site. It boots and runs from your CDROM, so you don't have to install on your hard drive. Everything should detect automatically.
You do us all a favor by keeping up with the alternatives; Linux/Windows users alike.
Thanks for being open minded, I'll try to do the same.
"the pay ain't much, but we can get by on it. On the plus side, I get to spend all my time in my favorite development environments, working my own hours, and creating a system that will actually help people and make the world a better place."
And don't forget . . . the free marketing! I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of articles are published on this and that means more exposure, more offers.
Have a blast with the project but don't sell yourself short. You might think about turning this into your next career;)
Join a LUG or create your own. I know a guy who kind of "took over" a LUG I helped started and then became to busy to participate in. He got a really good gig through the LUG and paid for the LUG's new site, as a token of gratitude.
He knows his stuff and was always patient with everyone he explained stuff to. I lot of people come to LUGs thinking they can learn how to solve their own IT problem but instead they find it is easier pay a signficant amount of $ to this friendly guy they met at the local LUG.
What can I say, Open Source is a give and take institution. Give freely and often, and you are bound to be noticed.
"To qualify, businesses have to have an installation of LindowsOS machines and/or sign-up for the LindowsOS builder program (www.lindows.com/builders) and"
Me thinks this is a Lindows.com ploy to sell more Lindows:). I mean, why the focus on Lindows when RH and Man are bigger threats. Sneaky, though, and I bet even if MS didn't have such a policy, they soon would implement one.
Slashdot Mirror
And to the people saying "these people need drinking water, not Linux!," MS was there too. I am sure MS is at all these 3rd world countries pushing there expensive products. No, Linux will probably not solve such issues as clean drinking water, but MS products WILL suck very scarce funds that should have been used to address such issues!
This is ONE "project" out of thousands and thousands of others on the net (which anyone can start) which happens to use the Linux kernel as their basic platform. No, this is not the official "Linux position." The only reason this project exists is because a group of people have a "particular itch" in this particular area, and rather than bitch about it on slashdot (and get modded up to 5, no less) like some wannabe news editorial writer, they construtively did something about it. This, in no way, prevents you from creating a similar project to make Linux look different, and many projects exist to do just that, but you will never know that because, just like many other /.'ers, you are too lazy to do a little research before posting. Why should you when the moderators are too lazy to think for themselves, anyway?
I realize you probably still don't understand what I am talking about, so here in an analogy. There are some women in this world that think all men abuse and beat women. They complain and they talk down about men, but they always seem to get in a relationship were they get knocked around. Me, being a man and having never beaten a woman, know this is a falsity. In fact, I assume the majority of men do no beat women. However, these particular women have certain choice parterns which constantly expose them to the same kind of man. Believe me, saying "men" encompasses as diverse a group as saying "Linux users."
My personal analysis is that you (and the moderators that modded you up) have been constantly exposing themselves to the same type of Linux user/developer/slashdot info. There are many more projects that make Linux unique than that make it similar to XP. However, like the disillusioned woman I mentioned earlier, you only know how to get information that reinforces your prejudice. Articles posted at slashdot about projects that make Linux "unique" probably go unnoticed by you, as you immediately scroll to the "XP look alike" article.
Believe me, you are not describing Linux users, just your stereotypes towards Linux.
"how I have started life as a drone." If you are a CS major, get ready for a life of flipping code as an employee for MsDonalds.
.
.. btw, I will be making more than you, working less, and if we happen to work on the same project in the same company in the future, I will tell you EXACTLY what you are required to do, or you will be replaced by another drone (flipping VS.net, no less). And it has nothing to do with smarts or hard work, just the fact that I picked a real "profession" run on "OPEN" standards, governed by an organization looking in the best intrests of its professionals (AICPA), rather than its own revenue.
I've posted before here about why IT is NOT a profession since its standards are owned by a self-serving corp. (in contrast to CPAs, Lawyers, and doctors). I think this post rests my case . .
Enjoy your life kid . .
You can either change professions or TRY changing your current quasi-profession (but I doubt enough of you "get it" to accomplish that), just don't come back here 10 years from now complaining that you can't get a job, while the rest of us "non-geeks" are getting by just fine (thanks to financial reports written on Lamp, unsupported by my company's incompetent IS staff, which didn't slow me down a bit).
I know this is hard medicine to take, but if you are smart, you will take this to heart, otherwise enjoy your pathetic drone life, Chrismas came early.
So if markets hate choice, then why do we find such a large variety of choice in other products, like cereals? I guess the general public is more capable of handling the difference between two types of sugar coatings than it can comprehend the differences between to layers of window managing code. But the general public's knowledge will definitely change, in say, 50 years.
/., you could be looking at 50 more years! What kind of attributes do YOU, as a lifelong user of computers, want to develop over the years?
In fact, my only real complaint about your post is that it represents the basic short sighted view that plagues so many techies. Why predict until only 2004? Do you have some chronic illness? Otherwise, assuming you belong to the most common demographic group of
Personally, I hate the thought of me being stuck on some candy-like gui hot off the corporate presses, old shaky hands putting me on the same level as a 2 year old (I'll already be pretty down about having to wear diapers again). So, in contrast, I plan on using Linux for the rest of my life (I am pretty confident that its GPL/Open Source characteristics will give it the longevity of your average Epic Poem). I currently use gui tools, but I also learn the CLI equavalents because they are the key to understanding the system and, when master, are much more efficient.
So, by the time I become a geezer I hope to be fairly knowledgible about Linux which will probably have changed a lot by then but so will have I, with it, every step of the way (hopefully with my own contributions to brag about). And though I may become feeble with a mouse, or whatever "one-size fits all" device that will be used then, I hope my mind will remain sharp enough to type or say (VR) a short, and to the point, bash command, or perhaps my own variant that I will develop after I retire for my own personal use. And though my grand-children will be able to kick my ass at Grandtheft auto 28, they will learn to revere my skills with open source tools which, without the pressures to bring investors a profit, have been allowed to be bent and pulled enough to fit perfectly into the lives of its users.
As we close yet another year, this might be a good time to step back and take a look at the "long-term future" that faces us. Death is usually an uncomfortable thought, but, at least for me, it is made even more uncomfortable by the thought that my life was insignificant and meaningless. Some people may feel it foolish to put so much in a simple "tool" that can be bought on the shelves of an electronics store, but, unfortunately, I have lived long enough to realize I will most likely not be immortalized in any of my descendant's history books for my accomplishments. For someone who is going to be forgotten, this is the closest thing to imortality I can get.
Open Source allows me to add my own page to history, even if it is a history that many choose to ignore, riducule, or trivialize. Nomatter how insignificant it is, it is all I have left of my childish dreams of being important enough to contribute to society. And, when thoughts of my own insignificant mortality creep up, it guides me to a more optimistic place where everyone lives a significant life and anyone can contribute to the betterment of humanity.
I predict that Open Source will continue to exist, because I will keep it alive. Unfortunately, this prediction is limitted by my lifetime, which hopefully will last a bit longer than 2004.
then create a recognition program that could turn back into code.
"And you should leave Microsoft, DRM, and all of the other /. buzzwords out of this -- they are not relevant at all to the topic."
Funny, I always thought that MS, RIAA, and MPAA had crappy business models because they depend on controlling the masses when freedom appears to be an innate human condition. I guess the fact that they make billions of dollars automatically makes these "good" business models in your book. And how exactly to explain this to your children?
for at least the next 600 days. The site just helped me discover "webmin" today which is going to greatly help me manage my family member sites.
I don't give to charities, but I do try to contribute to benevolent communities, and I do pay for services that help me become a more productive citizen.
If you have a problem with that then our paths should never cross anyway, so just move along to the topics that do interest you. . .
For giving this issue some perspective.
I will try my best not to be like the person you described above and will support Mandrake, even if it may be futile. They have been too good to me to abandon them now.
"If you were REALLY a financial analyst you'd be trying to sell us some context; not giving it away for nothing."
You mistaken me with a "wealthy analyst."
" Even if I were to give money to Mandrake, what sort of information do I have that would lead me to believe that they wouldn't just be in this hole again six months from now."
/. editor . . . http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/13/203822 1&mode=thread&tid=147 .
You must be a
Here is a crash course in finance:
increasing revenue by 30% and decrease expenses by 40% is a pretty good sign that a company is turning itself around . .
"but I think we're all a lot more realistic about business realities than we were a few years ago."
. . . yeah, like if you are not Microsoft then you are a risky investment.
"make themselves a Linux for the working man who doesn't have the time to sit around for hours making it work."
They have been that for me ever since 6.1. I'm a financial analyst, just to give you some context.
when things aren't the same in a different country? America's FASB does not reach around the globe. Therefore, it is reasonable not to expect American GAAP principles to be applied in France, wouldn't it?
American GAAP are the most stringent in the world and compliance with the SEC can be very costly. Mandrake stock is not traded in the U.S. so they are not under the same rules you are accustomed to . . . get used to it, there are 6billion OTHER people in this world that don't live life like you do. Why should Mandrake incur more cost just because YOU think they should do things differently?
If you really want Mandrake to release F/S that conform to your conditioned expectations, start requesting that their stock is traded in the U.S. Otherwise, get used to people doing things differently . . .
look, drakconf (the program you were using) is brand new, so I think your expectations where a bit too high.
.)
For 3 years, I have been using "netconf" to configure nics. It exists in both RH and Mandrake and is stable, gets the job done. It is a GUI programnot as fancy as drakconf), and included by default.
Linux usually has many ways to do the same thing . . . passing judgement by only trying 1 or 2 ways seems inappropriate (not that Xandros, which I have never tried, isn't your dream come true of a distro . .
you would probably have read about the fact that Mandrake has been thinking/trying to turn its development segment into a not-for-profit organization.
Not sure what are the obstacles,(plug) but you can get more information if you become a member;)(/plug)
Five elements of Present Value Measurement:
1. The price for bearing uncertainty
2. Expectations about timing variations of future cash flows
3. other factors (e.g., liquidity issues and market imperfections)
4. time value of money (the risk-free rate of interest)
5 estimate of future cash flow
(Becker Conviser CPA Review)
The present value of money is the most basic element of the financial market. Companies need cash to operate and steady revenue to negotiate loans. This is why you do Mandrake more of a favor by becoming a club member and buying the CD at cheapbytes than just buying the packet, by itself.
No reason to feel guilty about "donating." However, a basic grasp of present values and revenue recognition might enable you to optimize your support of, imho, the world's best distro.
This is probably a result of contamination occurring within the experiment . . . I mean bacteria are everywhere and very resilent, resistent to heat, various poisons, and can even survive 2 miles under the ground . . . oh, wait.
I think this will help make wireless network technology more widely adopted by consumers. Once the wireless network community reaches a certain density over a large enough area, what will stop people from just connecting to one another instead of just to an ISP (think gnutella, but much, much faster . . .).
What would prevent a "wireless" internet from making all the internet "FREE" (in as many meanings as you can give "FREE")?
Me too. Similar experience, and I am getting my sister one this Christmas.
I had a similar problem with RH. Then I tried Mandrake 6.1. Never looked back . . .
.
.
9.0 has become the most important tool for my work now. It ain't supported by my company's IS dept., but what kind of support can MSCEs give me? I know the 3 r's by heart, and they don't apply to Linux.
With 9.0 I have:
KDE3
Mozilla
MySQL
MySQLcc
OpenOffice (connected to MySQL)
PERL
PHP4
Bash
etc . .
And if my life is missing some software, I head on over to www.mandrakeclub.com to make a request.
There is urpmi, which makes you LOVE rpms, not hate them. And there is drakconf, which most people who use it will just call "control panel" because that is what it looks like, except I have NEVER had so much control on the real control panel (in windows).
Seems like you had an issue with Debian. I would never recommend Debian to someone who has to look up a howto on how to use a CLI to make a floppy. Debian is for gods, which many of us are not. Don't take it so hard.
I get frustrated all the time with Linux, not because of it's limitations but because of my own. Most people in my line of work just use the tools available to them . . . Excel, maybe Crystal Reports. These tools are great, but not perfect, and I want perfection. My employer deserves perfection. So, instead of wasting time constantly updating a spreadsheet every month, I learn perl, MySQL, PHP, and whatever else comes my way. Only Linux makes this available to someone with no formal computer education, like myself. My company won't pay for tools unless they are 100% sure they are for someone who knows how to use them. But without the tools, how will I ever learn? That is what Open Source is to me.
Look, I'm sorry about your experience, but some of us don't have a lot of money to buy the best from MS. We couldn't afford to go 5 years to school to get a CS degree. As a result, we are limitted to only the most "popular" tools at work, destined to live life as excel drones. And some of us would rather die than live such a life, so we hit google and find out about alternatives. It takes time and can be extremely painful, but it allows us to escape our fate, gives us a chance to be something more.
To me, every frustrating experience I have had with Linux is like a trophy. It is my token of survival and of humanity. I often recall my mistakes and triumphs.
I have no clear memories of windows, just a thin blur too faint to be convinced of their existence . .
But if you ever can't get a date on Saturday night, you might give it a try.
.):t .php? ba=pdtl&product=159
You can get a copy of Mandrake 9.0 delivered to you for under $10 here (shipping is expensive . .
http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/car
You also might want to try "Knoppix." You can get it from the same site. It boots and runs from your CDROM, so you don't have to install on your hard drive. Everything should detect automatically.
You do us all a favor by keeping up with the alternatives; Linux/Windows users alike.
Thanks for being open minded, I'll try to do the same.
"B.S. Marketing, R.B. Pamplin College of Business, 1992" ;-)
You've never used Mandrake, have you (don't worry, it's a rhetorical question. We already know the answer. . .)?
Enjoy your bubble.
"the pay ain't much, but we can get by on it. On the plus side, I get to spend all my time in my favorite development environments, working my own hours, and creating a system that will actually help people and make the world a better place."
And don't forget . . . the free marketing! I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of articles are published on this and that means more exposure, more offers.
Have a blast with the project but don't sell yourself short. You might think about turning this into your next career;)
Best of luck!
Join a LUG or create your own. I know a guy who kind of "took over" a LUG I helped started and then became to busy to participate in. He got a really good gig through the LUG and paid for the LUG's new site, as a token of gratitude.
He knows his stuff and was always patient with everyone he explained stuff to. I lot of people come to LUGs thinking they can learn how to solve their own IT problem but instead they find it is easier pay a signficant amount of $ to this friendly guy they met at the local LUG.
What can I say, Open Source is a give and take institution. Give freely and often, and you are bound to be noticed.
Good luck!
"To qualify, businesses have to have an installation of LindowsOS machines and/or sign-up for the LindowsOS builder program (www.lindows.com/builders) and"
Me thinks this is a Lindows.com ploy to sell more Lindows:). I mean, why the focus on Lindows when RH and Man are bigger threats. Sneaky, though, and I bet even if MS didn't have such a policy, they soon would implement one.