Frank Bright said:
I have a dual boot between Vista/Ubuntu Studio (I upgraded from Feisty).
I'm brand new to Linux - and never thought I'd ever be doing it. So I
can't compare Ubuntu to earlier versions, and first let me say I'm
fascinated with Linux and I'm liking it, but I can also share some facts
that I've discovered about Linux that the Linux cats don't shout too much
about:
- What time is it now? 3:42 am ok. well,....when things work, it's great.
But there are maaaany hardware compatability issues...Just spend a week on
the forums as I have. I've downloaded a new driver just released for my
Epson RX580 (I'm lucky that a driver is available). I've installed the
driver but there are unknown configuration issues that are keeping Ubuntu
from recognizing the printer. I've searched all over the net for 2 days -
no answers as yet. No support - and I'm getting few, if any, forum
responses, but Not because no one wants to help. It's more probable that
no one knows the answers. I'm wondering if that is more the reality than
people are willing to admit about the Linux community. It's all open
source, but that also means it's a work in progress. Money does have a way
of forcing people to make deadlines and find solutions. Think about that
when it comes to software and driver fixes.
- Synaptic keypads go wild on Both my laptops - I can barely fill out a
form with either of my laptops, or do a short forum post for that matter.
My cursor jumps to other areas; things get clicked that I didn't click.
It's a quick path to intense frustration. Again, I've read many posts, and
posted myself several times...no clear answers...It's possible that no one
knows the answers there either.
- One Linuxarion shared his experience with me of not having a driver for
some hardware and the only driver he finally found was made by a guy in
Germany, but there was no support or instructions - he had to compile and
configure the driver himself with no manual.
I could go on,....the next subject would be wireless issues, but I have to
sleep. As much as I like fooling around with Linux, I am losing sleep over
it. There is a real sense of accomplishment, however, when you do solve an
issue on Linux. It teaches you a lot about your computer, and when it's
set, it feels really satisfying. But I'm not sure I'll have the time to
set everything right the way I want it. This could take months.
Hopefully I'll have more satisfaction tomorrow; booting into Vista these
days sometimes feels like a wonderful fantasy in comparison. The graphics
are lovely and all my critical applications work,...Frank B.
Haha, hoho hehe, ROFLMAO! I feel your pain! ...And joy too... IMHO, Linux is
NOT ready for mainstream users. ...That is to say, the general user. I feel
it VERY irresponsible to be luring, (Or attempting to), the clueless to it.
That is not to say they, (Clueless), are unintelligent by any means, just
not tech savvy enough to use it completely. Sure, the Distros come bundled
with tons of usable software, that even the "clueless" can work with, but it
stops there.
I put off testing Linux for a LONG time because I heard from so many
that it takes too much "grey matter" and TIME to bother with. Finally, I
heard some good things about it, and that it had improved greatly. Ok, cool,
I give'er a try. Why not? I'm all for anything alternative I can install on
some of my computers so I don't have to pay lots of $$'s for, and of course
the alleged security etc. So here we go, I got a copy of Suse, (Highly
recommended by my tech brother), and proceeded to install. The installation
went better than expected, which I was glad for. I had nightmares of
horrific install probs, but it went well, so cool. I input what information
was asked of me, during install, but I had to guess at a few items, and the
"help" files were written in such a way that I felt they assumed I already
knew all about Linux and how to use it. Sadly later on, I was to find that
this is the norm for help.
I was impressed how easy it found and connected to my network, and the
internet, but that was the only easy part. When it came to connecting to
shared printers, I had a horrific time getting that done. Again, the help
assumed I already knew all about Linux, it's commands, and procedures. But,
I am not one to give up very easily and figured it out and have my printer
on a Hawking server working and one shared on another XP computer working.
Wooo Hooo! I prevailed! Wow! What a sense of accomplishment! However, during
the whole ordeal, and many cuss words, I couldn't help but think about how
much easier it is to set up print sharing on a windows machine, and how much
of a horrific nightmare task it would be for the general user on Linux.
Alrighty then, I was set up enough to goof off with it. I liked the KDE
desktop better so stayed with it. Stuff was quite similar to windows in the
way the interface works, so that wasn't at all hard to get used to. Hey, I
like this! I set up Gaim for chatting because I liked it better. Uh Oh, no
sound in Gaim? Ok Started checking help files, turns out I needed another
little file or two. Hmmm should be easy enough. THEN I started to read the
"how to." I gotta wa? Compile wa? Open a wa terminal? WTF Shouldn't I just
be able to download it and click on it and have it install it's self? NOPE
Not only will it not do it it's self, but the how to was, AGAIN, written as
if I knew all about Linux and it's commands. Ok, again I prevailed and got
the sound going. Woo Hoo! Another sense of accomplishment!
So played with Open Office and a bunch of other things, and was fun. Ok so I
wanted to get the latest greatest ver of Firefox, cuz hmmm, can't view video
on my fave news web sites, maybe I need to update, and get addons. Ok they
have been around a long time, and belong to the Church of Linux, should be a
snap to install. NOT! It too was not a simple download, click and install. I
had to jump through several hoops, and finally by trial and error and
logical thinking, got it done. But nope, no video on certain web sites.
Dang! no plug-in to view sites using media player! WTF again! Ok, maybe
there is a work around, but I have grown tired of the fight for now.
During all this, I found that I had a video driver problem, and get funny
graphics on the top of window bars. Ok not bad, and certainly livable, but
I'm a perfectionist, and it bothers me. Searched and searched, read and
read, and have grown tired of that too, as I have found nothing to fix it.
Ok, I'll refrain form writing ALL the problems I have encountered as this
has grown too long as it is. Although I really like the OS, I simply cannot
see the general user having a good, or even better, (As stated by the Linux
preachers), experience than windows. As with MANY, (Most?) users, I want to
turn my computer on and use it. I want an upgrade of a browser, or any
software to install it's self with out having to learn how to compile, learn
an OS language and it's commands, just to use it in a general fashion. Have
had similar driver problems on some of my windows machines, and after, oh,
maybe 30 - 40 min max of searching, no problem, got the driver, problem
fixed.
I too boot back into XP or Vista, and breath a sigh of relief. I watch for
Linux to continue to get better, but it just ain't ready for mainstream...
Yet... I'll continue to play with it, and have some fun at times when I
don't want to install anything, but as far as it becoming my mainstay?
NEVER! Not right now as it is anyway...
Oh, and just so you can't say I have only tried one, and give it all a bad
rap, yes I have tried Fedora, Red Hat, Knoppix, etc.
Cheers
