Desktops

[Q Classic]

linux on the desktop is not a joke. it isn't ready for grandma sue and every tom dick and harry, but it's remarkably easy to set up and use.

it's the installation that'll block all the noobs, really.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
linux on the desktop is not a joke. it isn't ready for grandma sue and every tom dick and harry, but it's remarkably easy to set up and use.

it's the installation that'll block all the noobs, really.

I consider it a joke because, generally:

• Installation of software are needlessly complicated
  
• UIs are inconsistent
  
• Distros always install too much crap, or not enough -- why do I need four text editors?
  
• OpenOffice is no match for MS Office (sidenote -- our SPARC machines have StarOffice on them, and I use Office 2003 at home. We had to do a 100-page document due today, so last night I spent about 4 hours fixing all of the formatting "nuances" and slight "incompatibilities" with StarOffice )

It's not a joke if you're accustomed to it, or if you're a computer science geek, but to everyone else it's hellish.

[Method]

Originally posted by Grrr
Anyway, here is my lappie's desktop:

savinoff

[Q Classic]

Installation of software are needlessly complicated

resolved in gentoo.
"emerge x" installs it.

UIs are inconsistent

agreed.

Distros always install too much crap, or not enough -- why do I need four text editors?

resolved in Gentoo. only emerge what you want. which is why i have nano, xemacs, and vim; i don't have anything else installed (i chose to install xemacs and vim; gentoo comes default with nano).

OpenOffice is no match for MS Office (sidenote -- our SPARC machines have StarOffice on them, and I use Office 2003 at home. We had to do a 100-page document due today, so last night I spent about 4 hours fixing all of the formatting "nuances" and slight "incompatibilities" with StarOffice

agreed, but AbiWord can save in doc-compatible format.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Q Cubed

Installation of software are needlessly complicated

resolved in gentoo.
"emerge x" installs it.

True, but why should I have to use a command-line to install a program? Where's the wizards like Windows? Why can't I customize where I install it? Where are the options to create desktop shortcuts?

resolved in Gentoo. only emerge what you want. which is why i have nano, xemacs, and vim; i don't have anything else installed (i chose to install xemacs and vim; gentoo comes default with nano).

But you need to know what you're looking for in order to do that. I'm referring more to the GUI environments than command-line.

[Q Classic]

this is all true, and gentoo is far from an "easy-to-set-up-and-use" system. it's not plug-and-play, and it's not for grandma sue.

once it's set up by someone who knows what they're doing, it's very powerful and good.

linux isn't a joke on the desktop, per se; it's just not ready for the mass desktop market.

[Asher]

By the way, I tried to install Gentoo 2004.0 for AMD64 again last night. After the painful 2-hour install, I booted the system with a glorious kernel panic.

[Q Classic]

the install's not painful at all... at least, not on the systems i've been doing it on.

at least with gentoo, you could get through the entire install.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
linux on the desktop is not a joke. it isn't ready for grandma sue and every tom dick and harry, but it's remarkably easy to set up and use.

it's the installation that'll block all the noobs, really.

The noobs who don't have staying power. I looked at the instructions and it seems quite straightforward to me.

[Asher]

It's all straightforward in the instructions and documentation, but in the real world in Linux, components never seem to work together like they should. It's a gongshow.

I have yet to find a single Linux distro that will install on my new PC without weeks of manually hacking things and trying ultra-experimental drivers.

[Agathon]

I imagine the standardization of PPCs would make it easier on our side.

Still, from what I've seen there are plenty of good people on the net who would love to help a noob to Linux sort out problems - I'm certainly not too proud to ask.

[Q Classic]

asher, you do realize that not everyone has the brand-spankin' new setup that you do, right?

i've yet to find a piece of modern hardware that linux doesn't work flawlessly with--and thus far, all the computers i've placed it on have ranged from a p2/266 to a p4/2.0.

not everyone has a sata raid setup.

[Asher]

I'd imagine there's even less support for PPC peripherals in Linux.

There are no AMD64 ATI drivers -- at all -- and as far as I can, there's also no PPC ATI drivers.

The closest thing for AMD64 are unofficial 2D-only drivers from some code hackers that only works for Radeons up to the 9200 (DX8-level).

[Q Classic]

and i've never really had to manually hack things that took weeks at a time in gentoo, actually.

[Spiffor]

I am a n00b to Linux, and not a n00b to Dos/windows. I tried to install Linux in very good faith, to see if it could be a serious opponent against windows for those of us that are computer literate without being geeks.

Linux scored a few successes, but overall, the installation has to be left to geeks in order to work perfectly, and some geeky things are terrible for the average computer user: 1. security paranoia (with the root access being needed to install pretty much anything) and 2. double clicks not launching an executable file

Wjile I think Linux is decent for desktops for ordinary use, it is still inferior to Windows. Obviously, the terrible lack of games sure doesn't help.

(BTW, since I formatted my windows partition and re-installed it, I lost my dual boot. How can I restore it?)