Linux......Come of age!!!!!

wolfman

chris667 wrote: »

I'm so sure Linux for home users is going to become a threat to Windows I'm currently starting a company to sell them. I'm not talking about it here (no spam!), but I truly believe there's going to be a revolution in home computer use really soon which Linux will be better suited to than Windows in its current form.

Windows will move on. For the average person it's still more user friendly.

chris667 wrote: »

But I think the biggest challenge to Linux is not hardware support, or wordprocessing software, it's discussions like this.:eek:

Word processing software is fine for the average user. For a power office user, Microsoft Office 2007 can't be beaten, but for most things OpenOffice is great.

Regarding hardware, Linux does support a lot of hardware out of the box. For stuff it doesn't though, it's still got a long way to go. For example, an Epson Stylus Photo 890. Quite a common printer, and it's been around for ages. There's nothing inbuilt into Linux for checking ink levels, or cleaning headers. For any Epson printer in fact. You could buy TruePrint but that defeats the point of Linux.

Fact is, windows has far better support. Vendors are slowly writing Linux drivers, but it's taking a long time. Your average user will want to just plug in a device, and it work. Or if it doesn't pop in the drivers CD. Not have to go online, search a forum, follow command line instructions etc...

My dad for example installed a new monitor the other day. Windows picked it up no problem. Linux didn't. It was still using the resolution of his old monitor. I had to SSH in and edit his xorg.conf for him. Not exactly usable. Don't even get me started on trying to run multiple monitors in Linux (if you have an ATI card).

I use Linux because I like the control, and don't mind spending time faffing around with stuff. I forced my parents onto it, which has and hasn't been successful. Every year it's getting better and better though. I still think another 2 years though is needed.

chris667 wrote: »

It's the same as people talking about web browsers. They say "Try browser xyz, it's miles faster than browser abc!". What does that actually mean? Have they actually sat there with a stopwatch comparing them? Or have they found something they like, and found a thread written on a forum somewhere where a couple of other people said so, and confirmed what they thought?

There's a lot of opinion out there, but people do run usage tests, and rendering benchmarks. To most users though, they won't notice much speed difference, and it's just personal preference.

tweeter

I've been using Ubuntu as a first shaky step with linux, but can't seem to get the same versatile results as Windows when dragging and dropping to a cd/rw to use it like a hard disk/floppy, (the process is called packet writing I believe).The suggestions on the Ubuntu site on how to do this, by helpful contributors, are too convoluted for a nubie like me to understand and follow at the moment.

Otherwise, its been a great leap forward so to speak.

fwor

Tweeter - have you tried Gnomebaker or Brasero?

They both have the ability to write data CDs and DVDs, and both have worked for me without any problems.

chris667

Just keep plugging away - you'll get there!

But in the meantime, have you thought about using USB flash memory sticks? They are peanuts from Crucial.com.

tweeter

fwor I have tried Gnomebaker and Brasero, but still find it won't work the same as Windows.I can't seem to get the multisession to work on cd's and it just fills the whole cd up when burning one file to it.

D.K.

I support the concept whole heartedly, but Windows does all I need and sorry but I just don't have the time to mess with Linux. However I will make the effort when XP ceases to get supported!!

[Deleted User]

D.K. wrote: »

I support the concept whole heartedly, but Windows does all I need and sorry but I just don't have the time to mess with Linux. However I will make the effort when XP ceases to get supported!!

By then Windows 7 will be making an appearance

thomas01155

I tried linux but my world of warcraft was jumpy on it

fwor

tweeter wrote: »

fwor I have tried Gnomebaker and Brasero, but still find it won't work the same as Windows.I can't seem to get the multisession to work on cd's and it just fills the whole cd up when burning one file to it.

Now you mention it, you're right, neither seem to support multi-session properly.

However, K3B does, and it's in the Ubuntu Hardy repositories.

I've just tested it and it seems to work - you just need to set the multisession options in the Misc section just prior to burning.

However, although it works and can be read correctly on a Win XP machine, only the first session can be seen under Ubuntu! Perhaps there's a config option somewhere that allows them to be read correctly but I've not yet found it...

tweeter

fwor
Thanks for the help.If you find the config option it would be nice to know.