> I'd love to know your secret for using YouTube and Google Video... On my machines, the the Flash player will load up, but the video simply will never play. When I do manage to play it (through mplayer, usually) it loses synch very quickly.
I use Mandiva Linux on my laptop, it works fine.
I use Opera/Konqueror/Firefox (I'm a switcher *gasp*). I got pretty much my flash support by doing: urpmi FlashPlayer
And then all my browsers supported Flash, being able to play google video and youtube stuff.
As for videos downloaded from google, under Mandriva I have kaffeine (using the xine engine), the win32 codecs (they're all in one package you can install called 'win32-codecs').
So the value of the OS is determined by a closed, proprietory technology.
> Linux support is non-existent. There are still some features that are not supported under linux or OS X that some people need. (ie. blackberry support)
You made this point already. Although I found it strange why you didn't get a iPaq. You can do the same stuff as a blackberry (theres even a push-pull mail mechanism software availible for ipaqs, which works the same way blackberry does) and a lot more with it. Plus you can sync it on MacOSX, Linux properly.
> Plus there are still some features lacking in Open Office that are deal breakers for some people. Personally I find the spreadsheet tool in OO to be lacking and still fire up excel for those few times I need a spreadsheet.
We use openoffice.org at work, even under windows and didn't have any particular issues. We don't even have any Microsoft documents.
> Windows is still the most widely supported platform,
Widely supported platform for... Blackberry? Then, yes. I suppose it is.
However, as for other hardware. Over the years, I've noticed manufactorers stop producing drivers for a piece of hardware (most common issue I've seen is laptop graphic drivers), then Microsoft releases a service pack... The service pack just breaks the driver entirely. Bye bye hardware, no fix.
Linux on the other hand, just seems to be supporting more and more hardware, and not deprecating support as it continues to evolve. Windows is losing support slowly it seems.
> until everything that works on windows works on some other platform, some people will never switch off of windows.
Linux is not a replacement for Windows, it's goal isn't to become one either. Please stop treating it as such.
> This is precisely one of the major failings of Linux. The big name distros should be all that a person has to look for.
I've noticed newbies to Linux who baught their Linux distributions don't have as many issues as ones who get it free.
> For someone who wants to easily get out of MS and into Linux they shouldn't have to spend ages doing reaserch just to find the right distro, especially when you will get a different recommendation from every Linux user out there.
Well, Linux isn't exactly a platform, it's just a kernel. Since many companies have their own distributions of Linux, and their own philosophies, people have a choice to find a Linux that best fits their philosophy.
Of course you can always stick with the first distro you use, just like you would windows. Nothing wrong with that.
> Linux users or 'Lusers' as I like to call them, consistantly fail to realize that user experience beats out technical specs every time.
In my expirence, people who started off on Linux (refering to those who don't get computers much), don't switch to Windows either and find the expirence on Windows OS also terrible (as the same type of windows users feel the same about Linux).
What is your point?
> Until Linux developers focus more on the user experience and less time on technical capabilities Linux will remain "not ready for prime time".
Have you tried KDE3.5?
If you have more descriptive suggestions, submit them to devs. I'm sure they'll appriciate your input.
> The major players could band together and release a special "n00b Linux" and promote the hell out of it in the mainstream as THE distro to get for beginners.
A lot of commercial versions (distros you have to pay for) are quite "n00b" friendly. If people don't want the support (features in the OS that make it n00b friendly) and think they can do it on their own etc. then, feel free to use free versions instead. Stop being cheap.
> It's easier to get people into something with simplicity. Once you get them in, and they're comfortable, THEN you present them with the myriad of distro choices.
It's easier to get people into Linux, if they use Linux before any other OS. Much like it's easier to get someone into Windows if they never used a computer before.
I've noticed over the years that people get attached to the platform they use (mine is AmigaOS, but you'd never tell).
I have seen the OEM software you speak of. Demo DVD software, whereby the codecs only worked for 30 days in WMP, then nag you after 30 days everytime you open WMP. Really annoying.
> That is one of the things that DOES make him a "typical" user. Most users outside *don't* want to play with the computer - they want to do stuff. And if they can't "do stuff" easily, without having to think, they just won't bother. > > THAT is why Windows is so successfull. It doesn't matter how crappy the O/S is on technical grounds, or how buggy it and the other software is.
I thought it was so successfull because of it's monopoly tactics.
> Put the CD in, click on a few buttons, and you can "do stuff".
Yeah, too bad KDE won't prompt you when you insert a DVD for example and ask you if you want to play it, open it in a folder like windows xp.. Oh wait, it does.
> Neither Linux, nor any other O/S, has any chance in hell of being a general windows replacement unless they become just as well packaged.
Linux isn't a replacement, nor is the goal to be a 'windows replacement'.
> Remember, folks - Microsoft has not, and never will be, a technology company. Bill Gates has not, and never will be, a geek - he's just an incredibly accomplished marketeer with funny looking glasses.
I quite like the new.net technology they came up with.
> What microsoft does well is market and package. And that really DOES count.
I disagree, Microsoft do far more than marketing and packaging to be 'well'.
> somehow, I'm imagining lots of OSS drones complaining about how stupid this feature is, while working feverishly to get it into OpenOffice and Star Office.
Silly person, this feature will go into Kontact! Not Openoffice.org.
> My Xbox could play all of those games and many more. In fact, my Xbox can play more NES and SNES games than the Wii will every be able to play. Even better, its been capable of doing this for at least 3 years now.
So what? PCs have been doing that for more than three years now.
> As far as other choises go, the obvious one Ubuntu is way too much a software for hippies by hippies. I would prefer some German precision in my Linux.
Are you trying to say Ubuntu is easier?
Here is a typical example of me doing something under SuSE and one under Ubuntu.
SuSe: Choose ATi driver from driver list in YasT's graphic card settings
Slashdot Mirror
> I'd love to know your secret for using YouTube and Google Video... On my machines, the the Flash player will load up, but the video simply will never play. When I do manage to play it (through mplayer, usually) it loses synch very quickly.
I use Mandiva Linux on my laptop, it works fine.
I use Opera/Konqueror/Firefox (I'm a switcher *gasp*). I got pretty much my flash support by doing:
urpmi FlashPlayer
And then all my browsers supported Flash, being able to play google video and youtube stuff.
As for videos downloaded from google, under Mandriva I have kaffeine (using the xine engine), the win32 codecs (they're all in one package you can install called 'win32-codecs').
Pretty much works always for me.
> I mean, try to sync a blackberry.
So the value of the OS is determined by a closed, proprietory technology.
> Linux support is non-existent. There are still some features that are not supported under linux or OS X that some people need. (ie. blackberry support)
You made this point already. Although I found it strange why you didn't get a iPaq. You can do the same stuff as a blackberry (theres even a push-pull mail mechanism software availible for ipaqs, which works the same way blackberry does) and a lot more with it. Plus you can sync it on MacOSX, Linux properly.
> Plus there are still some features lacking in Open Office that are deal breakers for some people. Personally I find the spreadsheet tool in OO to be lacking and still fire up excel for those few times I need a spreadsheet.
We use openoffice.org at work, even under windows and didn't have any particular issues. We don't even have any Microsoft documents.
> Windows is still the most widely supported platform,
Widely supported platform for... Blackberry? Then, yes. I suppose it is.
However, as for other hardware. Over the years, I've noticed manufactorers stop producing drivers for a piece of hardware (most common issue I've seen is laptop graphic drivers), then Microsoft releases a service pack... The service pack just breaks the driver entirely. Bye bye hardware, no fix.
Linux on the other hand, just seems to be supporting more and more hardware, and not deprecating support as it continues to evolve. Windows is losing support slowly it seems.
> until everything that works on windows works on some other platform, some people will never switch off of windows.
Linux is not a replacement for Windows, it's goal isn't to become one either. Please stop treating it as such.
> This is precisely one of the major failings of Linux. The big name distros should be all that a person has to look for.
I've noticed newbies to Linux who baught their Linux distributions don't have as many issues as ones who get it free.
> For someone who wants to easily get out of MS and into Linux they shouldn't have to spend ages doing reaserch just to find the right distro, especially when you will get a different recommendation from every Linux user out there.
Well, Linux isn't exactly a platform, it's just a kernel. Since many companies have their own distributions of Linux, and their own philosophies, people have a choice to find a Linux that best fits their philosophy.
Of course you can always stick with the first distro you use, just like you would windows. Nothing wrong with that.
> Linux users or 'Lusers' as I like to call them, consistantly fail to realize that user experience beats out technical specs every time.
In my expirence, people who started off on Linux (refering to those who don't get computers much), don't switch to Windows either and find the expirence on Windows OS also terrible (as the same type of windows users feel the same about Linux).
What is your point?
> Until Linux developers focus more on the user experience and less time on technical capabilities Linux will remain "not ready for prime time".
Have you tried KDE3.5?
If you have more descriptive suggestions, submit them to devs. I'm sure they'll appriciate your input.
> The major players could band together and release a special "n00b Linux" and promote the hell out of it in the mainstream as THE distro to get for beginners.
A lot of commercial versions (distros you have to pay for) are quite "n00b" friendly. If people don't want the support (features in the OS that make it n00b friendly) and think they can do it on their own etc. then, feel free to use free versions instead. Stop being cheap.
> It's easier to get people into something with simplicity. Once you get them in, and they're comfortable, THEN you present them with the myriad of distro choices.
It's easier to get people into Linux, if they use Linux before any other OS. Much like it's easier to get someone into Windows if they never used a computer before.
I've noticed over the years that people get attached to the platform they use (mine is AmigaOS, but you'd never tell).
If you're not in the States, you just add the non-free repositories, install, done.
If you're in the States, you have to deal with congress and a whole lot of other things till you can do that legally.
I have seen the OEM software you speak of. Demo DVD software, whereby the codecs only worked for 30 days in WMP, then nag you after 30 days everytime you open WMP. Really annoying.
> Lets say you go to a website like ohhhh cnn.com and try to watch a video there, how do you get around their setup?
Works 100% fine with the 'Totem Xine Firefox Plugin' here.
> Yeah, the thing is, if you have a DVD-ROM drive then you have legal software to play back DVDs in Windows.
I never got any software with any of my DVD drives, not even a driver CD. What are you talking about?
> I repeat the question: which Linux distribution offers the same thing?
If you mean a distro that can play DVDs: Debian, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Kubuntu etc. are certainly capable once you add the non-free repositories.
That's pretty much how my Linux system worked out of the box...
I can't even do that under windows out of the box. I need to buy those DVD codecs or dvd players.
> ohh, well, sorry sir, we don't officially offer "binaries" (WTF is a binary Joe Average asks)...
:(
Who cares? It's upto your distro's repository to provide it anyway.
Mandriva (You can do this graphically, but command line is faster to explain):
urpmi kmplayer mplayer win32-codecs
Dear god, that was hard, wasn't it?
> Or, you could choose an unofficial build...but you wouldn't want an unofficial build Mr. Average, only cretins use unofficial builds
Choose the official build for your distro.
> That is one of the things that DOES make him a "typical" user. Most users outside *don't* want to play with the computer - they want to do stuff. And if they can't "do stuff" easily, without having to think, they just won't bother.
.net technology they came up with.
>
> THAT is why Windows is so successfull. It doesn't matter how crappy the O/S is on technical grounds, or how buggy it and the other software is.
I thought it was so successfull because of it's monopoly tactics.
> Put the CD in, click on a few buttons, and you can "do stuff".
Yeah, too bad KDE won't prompt you when you insert a DVD for example and ask you if you want to play it, open it in a folder like windows xp.. Oh wait, it does.
> Neither Linux, nor any other O/S, has any chance in hell of being a general windows replacement unless they become just as well packaged.
Linux isn't a replacement, nor is the goal to be a 'windows replacement'.
> Remember, folks - Microsoft has not, and never will be, a technology company. Bill Gates has not, and never will be, a geek - he's just an incredibly accomplished marketeer with funny looking glasses.
I quite like the new
> What microsoft does well is market and package. And that really DOES count.
I disagree, Microsoft do far more than marketing and packaging to be 'well'.
> somehow, I'm imagining lots of OSS drones complaining about how stupid this feature is, while working feverishly to get it into OpenOffice and Star Office.
Silly person, this feature will go into Kontact! Not Openoffice.org.
Blogging has no need in a page-based editor.
How insightful!
> I find it funny that Nintendo fanboys are literally creaming themselves over a feature that Xbox had years ago.
I find it funny that Xbox fanboys are litterally creaming themselves over a feature that PCs had years before that!
> They don't give out information any earlier than they have to even if there is no reason to be secretive.
They keep their competitors in the dark and don't make promises which they could end up breaking.
I say their tact is good.
> My Xbox could play all of those games and many more. In fact, my Xbox can play more NES and SNES games than the Wii will every be able to play. Even better, its been capable of doing this for at least 3 years now.
So what? PCs have been doing that for more than three years now.
> Goto that utopia in the nation that is in charge of the UN human rights council.
Because if you're not with the US, you're with the UN!
> Actually nobody cares what you think as long as your not calling the shots.
I guess elections mean nothing by that logic.
> Elections are great, the majority chooses the leader for better or worse, we have them every year for just about every office in this country.
Yeah, we have that in many other countries, it isn't unique to the United States, nor does the United States have the best implementation.
> What a concept, YOU DECIDE the LEADERS and WHETHER OR NOT TO STAY so GET OUT NOW IF YOU DONT LIKE IT.
Pfft, silly man, diebold decides who not us.
> All the other bugs in linux must be fixed, huh?
What bugs?
I really reccommend you take a look at the alternative repositories availible for Mandriva, to expirence Mandriva to it's fullest
> As far as other choises go, the obvious one Ubuntu is way too much a software for hippies by hippies. I would prefer some German precision in my Linux.
I
Are you trying to say Ubuntu is easier?
Here is a typical example of me doing something under SuSE and one under Ubuntu.
SuSe: Choose ATi driver from driver list in YasT's graphic card settings
Ubuntu: https://wiki.ubuntulinux.org/BinaryDriverHowto/AT
I'd rather not click a Ajax > button to scroll.
> That's exactly what Java applets do. If you want to run an application in the browser, that's the appropriate mechanism.
Unless you're on a Mac (Apple's Java framework is terrible).
They would be a bad bot on the HTTP protocol technical, not adhering to robots.txt.
The NTP clients in d-link routers don't follow the NTP protocol for requests to stop using the service.
Source of statistics please.
LaTeX is the key.