Why Linux isn't ready for desktops..

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: eminemrh25
I personally don't like Linux all too much... I've tried SuSE and Redhat, both of which took too much work to get running. I'm not talking generally, I'm talking about getting XPde installed, for those who don't know what that is, it makes Linux look like windows for people who liked the look of Windows.

It took me twice as long to install linux on my PC and it took me about a day of reading to install ANY program. Yet somehow, I have a DVD with Windows XP on it that will install in 2-3 Hours, install Office, McAfee AntiVirus, and a lot more programs, while only requiring me to chose which partition to install it on, I perfer that over everything. Installing XP alone only takes about 20mins on my PC...

I don't care if Linux is free, to me, it is only half working... I'd rather shell out some money and get a fully working desktop, cause I didn't spend around $800 on hardware for a half working OS on it. I don't like linux, needs to much work to get running...

Yes, and how long did it take you to make that autoinstall DVD? I'll bet I'ts not far from most linux distro install/tweak, and then it's good for a very very long time. And that DVD is great, if you don't want any choices. What if I don't want Office, what if I want Notron instead of McAfee. And remember, witht he licensing on Windows, you would have to custom make that DVD for every computer w/different licenses/app licenses, etc. Linux, you can build your own net install script one time and use it over and over. I (had) have a script on a server that would install RH9 with the custom partitioning/packages/tweaks/patches in about 30 minutes using PXE.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: KeyserSoze


I feel like a LOT of my frustration will be gone once I can just make sure my yum.conf file is fine with the right reposotories. AND then fully understanding how to execute programs once they are installed. (As opposed to a nice little shorcut already being there for you once you install a program.)

Don't give up on me fellas! :thumbsup:

Also, any Linux Guru's care to share their AIM SN's with me for help when I get stuck


KS

I can't speak up for yum, as I used apt for fedora, and synaptic. You can download synaptic with an:

apt-get install synaptic

I just found it easier for me. Though I was using the Wilsonnet.com myth tv guide to get everything setup. It includes all the processes to get the box up and running for myth, but also some easy setup scripts that get your repositories configured to download the packages you may want. IE a particular kernel revision. At least that was the case when I used that particular guide.

 

[groovin]

peoples experiences with linux is gonna vary alot, as with windows. i encounter more problems on windows these days than i do with linux... and its not because i am bad with windows, most of it is apps that refuse to install so i end up spending more time searching kbases or talking to tech support than i do tinkering with my linux stuff which just seems to work.

 

[doornail]

Just today, I ran into an example of how excellent package management has gotten with Linux. I was installing phpPgAdmin on our new 64bit server and got "Your copy of PHP does not support PostgreSQL. Please re-compile using '--with-pgsql' ". I thought, "Oh crud. Now I have to download and compile it by hand and it's going to lose sync with the repositories."

Did some googling and found out all I needed to do was:

# yum install php-pgsql
# service httpd restart

Problem solved. I was beaming.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: doornail
Just today, I ran into an example of how excellent package management has gotten with Linux. I was installing phpPgAdmin on our new 64bit server and got "Your copy of PHP does not support PostgreSQL. Please re-compile using '--with-pgsql' ". I thought, "Oh crud. Now I have to download and compile it by hand and it's going to lose sync with the repositories."

Did some googling and found out all I needed to do was:

# yum install php-pgsql
# service httpd restart

Problem solved. I was beaming.

That's one of the things I like the most . What do you do for the same problem on windows? The packages aren't there and you probably don't have the environment needed to build the whole thing from source.