(OT:) A gold star day at my house!

Anytime I work on something and it works after I work on it is a good day. What version of Linux are you using? I tried Mandrake once a couple of years ago and got it all going but they kept coming out with newer versions and I wound up going back to Windows because I never got the TV card to work with Linux.

I've tried a lot of them, but settled on SuSE...it seems to have the easiest time recognizing my hardware, no matter what I have installed.

I was going to try Debian, but after booting the 'Net install disk, it couldn't see my DSL router (! How the hell do you install over the 'Net if you can *SEE* the 'Net?!?!)

Mandrake was one of the easiest for a while, but it too fell by the wayside after it got bought out.

Ubuntu is real easy, sees most hardware and works seemlessly.

But when I really need to have connectivity and compatibility, let's face it, it's a Windows world...I have a box running XP and one running 2K.

I have two PC's, one a dual-boot Ubuntu/XP, and three Macs in the house.

All are networked and talk to each other just fine via CAT5e hardwired between two floors.

A Windows world? Take off your blinders, son. I own a small consulting company. Mind you, I'm thankful for Microsloth, er, Microsoft. If my customers all ran Macs rather than Windows boxes, I'd make no money at all.

Well, that's how I *USED* to make a living, but that's being covered in another thread...

Hmmmm...there are a few things I am having trouble with under Linux:

I can get MOST videos to work. Not all. Someone posted a "Hey Hachi" the other day and I still haven't seen it, since I haven't booted to windoes in a while.

SWF is a hit-or-miss. Depends on which distro I'm using and which browser.

Likewise for Adobe Flash. In one browser in one distro it works OK. Adobe has not seen fit to provide the world with a 64-bit Linux version at this time.

MOST everything else works. All my boxes see each other OK, and I can print from one system to another. It's just dealing with Web designers that know Windows and nothing else that are the big problem...

Ubuntu or SUSE have the easiest and most complete driver set "out of the box", though you're right about video drivers. They suck unless you've got a card made by someone with Linux drivers.

Suse did the best job with A-Flash. I only installed Linux on one PC because I needed a "UNIX" fix a couple of years ago. If I get an urge to go to command line stuff, now I just open Terminal in any of my Macs.

ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! I have a Genuine ATi Radeon 9550, got the drivers straight from ATi and *STILL* spent HOURS trying to get the hardware accel turned on.

I still don't remember what I did...I just load a driver and massage the xorg.conf file until it tells me I can turn on 3D Acceleration in SaX.

I never was able to get it going in Ubuntu 7.0/1...

There is also a "live" distro, Sayabon, IIRC that turned on acceleration right from the start. It runs fine off the DVD, but when you install it there is one big caveat: when you load new software, it's seemless, but what it does is DL the Tarball, UnTARs it and then compiles and installs. It's great because you get an app that you KNOW will run on your system, but it sometimes takes a LONG time to DL and compile an app!

IIRC the Mac OS/X is based on a combination of the NeXt OS and heavily reliant on FreeBSD...

This is why Linux is not yet for the masses. Hours on driver installation usually doesn't appeal to most people, for some strange reason.

Very true. Solid operating systems, the former Jobs brought with him when he took over as CEO again. I forget his predecessor (very willingly), who was, in a word, incompetent.

For the same reason that most car drivers no longer have to be amateur mechanics to enjoy their Toyota's. Those that do their own work, obviously enjoy the experience--sort of like a hobby while saving money, usually, at the same time.

Exactly. I had an interesting job yesterday. My other guy was busy, so I went to the customer premises which ended up being a church.

The pastor kludged together a network of two PC's and one iMac with dual-boot OS X and WinXP. The Mac couldn't see the wireless router via the built-in Airport circuit. The configuration was a small nightmare via a repeater to boost the signal to breach the 100 feet between the Mac and the Linksys router. After an hour, I finally got both OSs talking to the router. He'd been fussing with this since November.

WinXP on a Mac is a slightly eccentric animal. The first I'd seen, but it confirmed that no MS software will ever see my Macs hard drive.

A long time ago, when I bought my second computer (A Tandy NL3000

286@10MHz) it had a LOT of 'caveats'. I would spend hours getting hardware to work. I had to modify the printer cables to work with the two printers I had, that somehow worked just fine with the kludgey Amstrad I had before!

I said then, no *machine* is going to beat me, and I guess that still holds!!!

LOL! I don't know about 'enjoy'. Saving the money is the big thing!

I have to admit, there is a certain amount of satisfaction, both when you finish the job and wipe off the grease, and then again when it actually

*WORKS*!

I resisted XP until I bought a camera that wouldn't transfer the videos under Win2K. Needed XP in order to have full functionality.

XP is OK. I did like Win2K better, maybe even better than NT 4.0 (That's saying a lot! 4.0 was a GREAT OS, but not if you were into games...)

I use Linux for most of my computing, and esp for the Internet. A couple years ago at Christmas someone posted a link here that went to a page with some k00k holding an AK-47 and wearing an elf hat. Huh? Big deal...

All the people with Windows that went there reported that their Anti-Virus software went off like a Full-scale alarm, since the web page had a script exploiting a Windows vulnerability...

Then you win. When I solve a long-standing problem for someone, their usual reaction is to drop their jaw open. Most of them, really, have just given up mentally.

Frustration is your enemy when it comes to solving computer woes.

2K did have its hardware issues.

My son uses it for net access and his online finances. With patches, his chances of security breaches are far less than a WinBox. Given the chance, he'll use the Mac first every time.

And so it goes...again, and again, and again.

LOL! Yeah!

But, Linux has it's share of "Critical Upgrades" also. I think that the fact more people know Windows, and know it better leads to the exploited hacks. Fourteen year old kids can figure out how to open a hole in Windows...

But, the fact is, almost everything in Linux is controlled by scripts, and the entire OS is Open Source! Talk about a field ripe for the picking! And yet, it remains more secure...

A reflection on Linux users, perhaps? ;)

All true yet, as you say, the exploits just aren't there.

Rather a reflection of what most are willing to accept. Microsoft is just well-accepted mediocrity, with good marketing.

The chinks in the armor, however, are starting to be noticed by the general computer using population. Mac sales have gone up over 35% in just one year. Linux is being increasingly used for stability, and is making definite improvements in user-friendliness.

Notice what platform is missing at NASA? :

My B-I-L used to bug the crap out of me! Windows would throw an error like "Such-and-such.dll is missing or not found on path c:\yada\yada" and he'd ask me how to fix it! OK, once or twice, but by the 20th time?!?!?!

Or working on cars...

One of the biggest weaknesses possessed by those never acquainted with any OS's command line interface is not being able to grasp the idea of directory structure.

If they can't, like your b-i-l, they're probably doomed as to being completely computer literate.