Linux Easy Nope

[The PIT]

Did Suse and Debian at work and it certainly chugs during install.

[Nowhere]

Well, OTOH you don't need to reinstall it as much

[schmosef]

I gave up on installing openSUSE. I downloaded the DVD ISO twice (once with a download accelerator and once without) and both times the downloaded file was corrupt.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I liked how the Amiga handled installs;

All system libraries (DLL's) to Libraries folder
All device drivers to a Drivers folder
All program files in that programs install folder, not scattered to the winds
NO REGISTRY; setups in each programs .ini file in its folder
etc.

XP committed seppuku the other day and wouldn't properly recover even after trying a repair install with the CD. Ended up getting another HD to do a clean install without touching the old stuff. And of course, even though all the applications I had before were all still completely intact, most can't just be copied over from that drive, they have to be installed all over again. During the entire process I couldn't help but think "If this was an Amiga, I wouldn't be having this problem."

Oh, and when I tried OpenSUSE a while back I had fun trying to troubleshoot why the GUI wouldn't load. Turned out I had get real nVidia drivers for my 7600GT, the included ones didn't work at all.

[The PIT]

XP committed seppuku the other day and wouldn't properly recover even after trying a repair install with the CD. Ended up getting another HD to do a clean install without touching the old stuff. And of course, even though all the applications I had before were all still completely intact, most can't just be copied over from that drive, they have to be installed all over again. During the entire process I couldn't help but think "If this was an Amiga, I wouldn't be having this problem."

Oh, and when I tried OpenSUSE a while back I had fun trying to troubleshoot why the GUI wouldn't load. Turned out I had get real nVidia drivers for my 7600GT, the included ones didn't work at all.

Now if you use system restore (If you like me you turn it off) all you need is Bartpe and do a manual restore. Then nine times out of ten you need to remove the spyware and viri you've got from porno sites.

Thats the general procedure I use for student laptops. The rest of the time it's failing hardware failure or users installing four or five firewalls and virus checkers. Very rare it's XP thats cocked up these days. Normally end user being naughty.

Linux needs to standardise itself. One of the problems is that every distro does things it's own way.

[cjolley]

Pit,
Try Linux Mint Bianca

It's based on Ubuntu.
You could do the KDE one. I don't much care for KDE though.

PS The auto updater will prompt to update to Ubuntu 7.04
DON'T DO IT.
When Mint updates to that base there will be a new release of Mint.

PPS The two things that gave me the most trouble were:
1, Root is a disabled account. The password to enter administrator mode is your own pw.
2, Haven't gotten vpn to work yet.

[The PIT]

Sounds like you found some interesting glitches already so I'll give it a miss. I think theres some problems with ATI drivers as well.

[cjolley]

Well, at this point and for desktops, I consider linux a hobby thing.
So interesting glitches are, well, interesting.

The root pw thing is just normal ubuntu functionality.
I just didn't know about it.

vpn? Well that is a typical linux problem and exemplifies why I don't think it's ready for prime time yet.
I set up connection manager to handle vpn connections and created one for my work.
Tried to log in and didn't connect. Not surprising for a first try, possibly I forgot to specify a domain or something.
However, it gave no error, and simply disappeared. Not just that connection, but the entire vpn connection management system.
I assume I will have to un-install the pptp plug-in and start completely over.
Just because a connection failed!?

OTOH, now that I can share Thunderbird datafiles between my OSs, I haven't been logged into XP for about a week.
So at least it's gaining routine usability.

[The PIT]

Well, at this point and for desktops, I consider linux a hobby thing.
So interesting glitches are, well, interesting.

The root pw thing is just normal ubuntu functionality.
I just didn't know about it.

vpn? Well that is a typical linux problem and exemplifies why I don't think it's ready for prime time yet.
I set up connection manager to handle vpn connections and created one for my work.
Tried to log in and didn't connect. Not surprising for a first try, possibly I forgot to specify a domain or something.
However, it gave no error, and simply disappeared. Not just that connection, but the entire vpn connection management system.
I assume I will have to un-install the pptp plug-in and start completely over.
Just because a connection failed!?

OTOH, now that I can share Thunderbird datafiles between my OSs, I haven't been logged into XP for about a week.
So at least it's gaining routine usability.

LOL just shows it can as freaky or freakier than winblows.

Still get these people who say it's growing it's growing. They've been saying the same for ten years or more and it still hasn't taken off. Out of interest I looked at web sites access logs and 0% of people accessed the site using Linux. Winblows at 99%. A huge gain in the market.
Yup it's a hobby desktop which you play around with now and then.