Linux

[andrewducker]

Knoppix is a fantastic idea - a copy of Linux that you can run from CD - no need to install anything, just throw it into the CD Drive and reboot. I'd tried a copy about a year ago, on the old PC, but it didn't like the hardware for some reason.

However, I saw an announcement recently for a new release, and as I have a more recent PC now thought that I should give it a go - after all Linux is supposed to be The Future, and I should probably take a look to see what The Future looks like.

The answer, sadly, was low-resolution.

It didn't recognise my video card. Which is made by one of the the biggest producers of video cards in the world (Nvidia). And is over a year old (technology-wise).

I'm sure that if I spent some time googling I could find drivers or settings that would get it to recognise the card, and get it all working well enough that I could try creating a document or two.

Except that while I was stuck in low-res I decided to give browsing a go. And discovered that for some reason using Mozilla under Linux doesn't seem to be as nice as running it under Windows - the shortcut keys don't work as well, the display doesn't seem as smooth - generally it just didn't hang together as well.

Again, I'm sure I could fiddle for some time and get things working. But I realise something.

I don't care about the OS.

It's just there to let me run the applications I want - check email, surf the web, listen to music, play games.

My OS does all of that. It hasn't crashed since I installed it. There's nothing really wrong with it. There's certainly no reason to waste time on it when I can waste time on the applications themselves, which - let's face it - are the actual reason for owning a PC in the first place.

So until Linux becomes something I _need_ to know about I'm putting it back in its box. I'm sure that some day I'll need to know something that isn't Windows. Just not today.

Comments

[derumi.livejournal.com]

I use Knoppix as a rescue CD for when friends' OSes crap out and I need something to manipulate file systems with. It's handy to have for that reason. It could also be useful for taking with you on vacation to use on other machines/

[nameandnature]

I like Mac OS X myself: Unix underneath, but it just works and is very pretty without having to recompile your kernel or similar.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I agree - Mac OS X is operating system nirvana.

[lproven.livejournal.com]

S'true.

[trashcanglam.livejournal.com]

I heartily agree - I only really use Knoppix for when a system somewhere has spazzed out and I need a good set of tools to play about on it. Oh, and I thought you had an ATI card, not nVidia?

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I switched to solely using Linux about 2 weeks ago. I started with Fedora Core 3 which works really well out of the box (detected my nvidia card and everything [although I didnt allow it to use it as I had read there was a bug which meant your disaply would not come up unless you updated the drivers without loading the GUI!!!!!]) - it all worked find to begin with, but after a few days I started having to compile things - stuff got broken for no discernable reason, obscure FC3 things (like SELinux) would randomly break apps - but the apps had no idea what was the cause and so gave misleading error messages. Basically a total disaster.

The only reason I'm using linux is because I like all the techie stuff I can do with it - and I'd like to learn more of that. As a desktop operating system for someone who just wants to /do stuff/ though its hopeless.

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

Possible counterpoint

Conveniently just published 2 days ago and fresh in my memory. I like Mepis, which is the distro the author is discussing, but have spent a lot of my time with others because I'm actually enjoying the process of learning how to fiddle with stuff.

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

1024x768 max resolution (is that really low-res??) and no proprietary drivers is pretty much the norm for most distros out of the box. nVidia's drivers aren't open sourced, but they have released pretty decent linux binaries for people to use (ATI support is suckier). Some Linux distributions do automagically configure them, but most don't.

Not sure what's up with your Mozilla; using Firefox with other distros for me hasn't been much different than using it on XP (except the extra 2 buttons on my 5-button mouse don't work). Clunkiness might have had to do with running from CD?

You have hit upon the big obstacle facing desktop Linux though--having to install an unfamiliar OS and configure things is a huge barrier to entry. In fairness though, if a Mac person who had never used Windows had to install and configure it to use it for the first time, would their experience be much better than yours?

[lproven.livejournal.com]

1024x768 max resolution (is that really low-res??) and no proprietary drivers is pretty much the norm for most distros out of the box.

The hell it is!

Only if you're using something deliberately awkward like Debian. If you're on a recent commercial distro like SuSE, Mandrake or Xandros I'd expect whatever res. you want and it to be easily adjustable. If not, something's broken.

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

You're right, it's non-commercial distros that don't typically include the proprietary stuff. The free download editions of commercial distros are usually the same way though. Resolution options are a separate issue, and I was being stupid and lazy when I wrote that. :)

They depend on how X is configured which varies depending on the installation routine. Red Hat's Anaconda installer lets you pick your monitor from a list (and derives it's capabilities from that), while some others offer the chance to explicitly set what will be allowed. In every distro I've tried, 1024x768 is the default max if the monitor is unknown and the config steps are skipped or clicked through. With KDE, you can go to Control Center>Peripherals>Display to change it after the fact.

Knoppix is a LiveCD, so you don't actually go through those installation steps. If it's not letting andrewducker user a higher res it's because it's unable to determine what his monitor is capable of and doesn't want him to accidentally damage it, so it's using the safe defaults.

[lproven.livejournal.com]

[Shrug] If you don't care, fine. I'd still run Windows if I didn't want and like the experience of using Something Different. It *is* more awkward.

Everyone raves about Knoppix & its hardware detection. IME, it's not that great.

Advantages to running Linux as a desktop/client OS: stability, customisability, largely immune to the vast majority of all malware.

Snags: it's very clunky, its range of apps and device support is much poorer, it's harder work.

If you want it easy and smooth, buy a Mac. Same as it's been for 20y now but now there are even fewer counter-arguments.

[andrewducker]

there are even fewer counter-arguments.

Doesn't run HL2!!!