[NTLUG:Discuss] Discuss Digest, Vol 85, Issue 18

[Dennis Kaptain]

De: Chris Cox <cjcox at acm.org>

Para: NTLUG Discussion List <discuss at ntlug.org>
Enviado: viernes, 22 de enero, 2010 13:15:09
Asunto: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Discuss Digest, Vol 85, Issue 18

On Fri, 2010-01-22 at 12:36 -0600, John Austin wrote:
> It appears that the casual user is out of his league with Fedora.  I had a
> good installation of F10, but since that time none of them worked out of the
> .iso  My interest is to keep up with current trends; however this isn't
> paying off at all.
> John Austin a noobee for 10 yrs.

Yes... this is tough.  I mean, you WANT things to advance, you WANT
things to improve, so... you really want there to be a distribution
that focuses on "new" ideas and concepts.

Ubuntu, while they DO a bit of this, if the "usability" by a newbie
seems to be broken, they pull it and revert to whatever is "usable".
But, Ubuntu also tends to fail miserably if you try to step outside
of the boundaries of operation they believe defines a "usable"
desktop.

It's a tightrope.... and very hard to balance and please everyone.
(not sure if there's a good answer today, unless a distro want
to maintain TWO distros... Debian style?).


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am more of the lurk in the shadows kind of guy but I feel compelled to respond here.
I have been a Linux user since I gave up on Windows98. That's before Windows ME came out. I dodged a bullet there!

Over the years I have tried several versions of Debian, Slackware, TurboLinux,
DSL, Knoppix, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, and most likely others I have forgotten. I have used Gnome, KDE, and XFCE 
desktops. I have a RHCT and CompTIA Linux+ Certifications so I am by no means a newbie to Linux. I am currently a 
hard core Fedora fan boy. I started with FC1 in 2003. I now have F11 installed on 4 machines I have at home. 
No Chris, I've never tried SUSE. Maybe I should some day.

I also (because of my jobs) have used newer versions of Windows so I'm not completely clueless there either.

It is my observation
that Linux is easier to install than any version of windows if you include the drivers for every device you have and 
all the applications. Windows is not bullet proof or even stable (although I must say more recently Windows 7 
is looking much better). You will have applications crash. You will have data lost. You will have applications that
conflict with each other and cause headaches. Updates will break your system and cause things to fail.

In Linux (I can speak for Fedora 11) you will have the same kind of problems. I expect in other distributions you will suffer the same ills.
I've seen things break with an update. Programs that seg fault on start up and some just plain weird stuff.

The thing is, modern day computers and operating systems are very complex systems. Far too complex for any single
person to master on their own. That is why there exist teams of developers who make applications, kernels, drivers,
and who knows what else. Each person can take care of his or her piece and hopefully when they all come together
there won't be too big of a mess.

The difference is, in Linux you have a hope of fixing things. In windows... most likely not.

Between the various Linux distros. They are created for different purposes and targeted at different audiences. I am a web
developer which is what drove me to choose Fedora. Most things I need come with a standard install. Not to mention
things are sparkly new. That also means that they will sometimes be flaky. That is something I'm willing to live with for the features
that Fedora offers. For people that just want to check email, surf the web, and occasionally edit a document, I'd recommend
Ubuntu. I believe they are focusing on the desktop user and ease of use. For a computer science major, maybe they would like
Gentoo where you get to compile absolutely everything.

So which OS or which distro (if you made the right OS choice) has to be based on your needs and goals. Any user of any computer
really needs to learn at least a little about how to run their system or the little things that come up will cripple you very quickly.
Use the three finger salute to bring up Process Manager to kill things in windows and learn basic BASH commands so you can
get around your Linux system when you need to, even in the absence of a X windows GUI.

From there, just know. Things will go wrong. Just know what to do about it when it happens.

Dennis Kaptain



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