Darkelve

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Okay, I finished Out of Order! Darkelve's Verdict: - Fully playable with Wine ! - Downside(s): no sound or music (but like I said according to reviews sound&music are not 'all that' anyway)

lol... I recommend you keep a Windoze install for a while... you never know you might need it again someday... That being said, I've done this for over 2 years but right now I'm also thinking about banning it out of my life forever... I'll miss my games though, maybe I'll put them on e-bay or something.

- Not based on Debian - My own personal encounter with FC3 wasn't that wonderful... it started out wonderful but after a while things started going wrong. Maybe it's just me, but I went back to Suse anyway. - But I agree you can learn a lot with the distro; and documentation is probably good as well I guess

That seemed strange to me as well... maybe a lot of Slackware 'fanboys' went en posted 'en masse'... or is there no such thing as a Slackware 'fanboy/fangirl'?

Right now you can see the winners on the front page: http://www.linuxquestions.org/

- Added Ubuntu's LiveCD to the list of Live CD's.

Okay, here's my desktop nomination for February! Window border & Style: Plastik Color Scheme: Custom Wallpaper: Deviantart Icons: Amaranth

Which is why I recommended Ubuntu...

In that case I'd recommend Ubuntu. Even though it's younger, its documentation seems much more complete: Mepis Knowledgebase: http://faq.mepis.net/ Ubuntu support pages: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/ You can find a LiveCD too if you want to try it first: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/download/

huh? that can't even be compared. That's like installing a cutting edge distro that is more so than cooker. Anyone that installs that crap deserves trouble. And still M$ recommends you to install it. How should WinXP users know this if M$ says otherwise? And if you do NOT install SP2, you're more at risk. Or did I miss what this Service Pack was all about in the first place?

Aside from being Debian-based... is there anything it should include or be able to do?

Hey man, relax! I should also mention that those 'geeks' make up a big part of the 'middle men', e.g. Joe User who does not even know where to begin for a simple task, asks help from a person which he thinks to be technically skilled. This is one of the reasons why Firefox has taken off so well recently: most of the 'middle' men decided it is better than that other browser that is currently out there, so they're installing it on PC's like crazy. I see your point about the nvidia drivers, sound, etc. BUT you are also forgetting one thing: it is up to you to make an informed decision about the product you buy, just as is with everything else. And pre-installed systems with Linux come a long way, since then OTHER people made sure it 'just works' (and pick the hardware pieces). Just like the hardware makers writing drivers for Windoze try to make sure it 'just works'. When more of these machines are going to appear, Joe User won't have to worry about nvidia drivers not functioning correctly, having trouble setting up sound, etc... plus it'll be much cheaper then Windoze all things considered. My own experience with Windoze (XP with SP2) is this: you have to put in a lot of work to make it secure and even then you STILL have to baby-sit it constantly! Again, a lot of those 'middle-men' do the babysitting for them (e.g. me for my parents... and if I didn't my parents PC would have been zombified by now!) Myself, I use SuSe 9.1 right now. If you want a home desktop but are using a cutting-edge distro like Fedora Core 3 for your home desktop... well chances are you will get frustrated. This is what distro's like Mandrake, Suse, Xandros, Linspire, ... are for. With SuSe I get 2 years of security upgrades and bug fixes after the version you bought is out. So I will only have to buy 1 new version every 2 years. For the price you can buy it, this is not bad at all. And you could still keep running it after support is discontinued... however that's not something I myself would feel comfortable with. At least when I buy a new version of Linux after 2 years, I know there will be lots of improvements and it will be worth it! As for the money issue, note that it's mostly not about money when people rant about M$. I can't say it better than this guy can though: http://www.euronet.nl/users/frankvw/rants/...teMS_intro.html A new PC, pre-installed with a recent and decent desktop Linux distro, can hold its own against WindozeXP and I'm serious about that. But choose whatever you wish: Windows, Linux, MacOSX, ... but at least make it an informed decision. One of my main gripes with Windoze is that often it will not let you use what you want to use!! All in all, I'm quite happy with my Linux installation ATM and curious about where it's heading.

On a side note, I installed Unreal Tournament 2003 on SuSe 9.1 today and it was hell easy! Also the gameplay experience was really good. I don't care about FPS -still do not- but it was fun for a while. Apparently, if the game publisher is willing to make an effort... it's not that big a problem.

Yeah, this has also been a main story on Groklaw a few days ago: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050202140308780

Here: http://www.againsttcpa.com/tcpa-faq-en.html point 23, they dispute the fact that it would make it safer against viruses though: Of course I know it'll be marketed as such. Same with the Belgian e-ID card, where BillyG suggested programming MSN software to make use of the Belgian e-ID would result in the holy grail of safe messaging... PS. aRTee, don't forget Belgium!

The computer has always been about the motto: "I can do that with my computer" Now with things like TCPA and DRM, the motto would be: "I cannot do that with my computer" Of course the industry players try to make it sound less ominous by technical mumbo-jumbo, vague reassurations and reassuring names like 'Plays for Sure' *cough* (which should be: "plays only when WE allow it to"). Computer users would be quickly informed by what you CAN do by their peers running something else. This is already happening with Firefox. I recently switched over 2 collegues of mine because of the extra features. But also, because of the overly restrictive web profiles, a lot of useful sites the employees surf to are inaccessible through Internet Explorer. While this is a 'feature' for the IT people probably, it is a burden on the actual USERS of the PC environment. When I said that with Firefox I don't have these problems, one immediately asked me to install it for them (the other collegue asked me to install it 2 months ago when she realized the technical merits). Another example in case is Limewire... lots of people are installing it because Kazaa in its current form is not useful anymore. Word gets around about these pieces of software. OpenOffice, I think, is slower on the uptake, since there aren't THAT many more things you can do with it that MS Office cannot. BUT only for things like 'export to PDF', 'Export to Flash', ... etc. people would consider switching -or using it alongside MS Office. When realizing the options, customers will always choose the product that gives you the most possibilities, freedom and features (if they are useful). My dad loves ripping his CD collection, making his own playlist and burning that on a CD to listen to in the car. You really think he'll give that up just because M$ tells him to? No, instead he'll turn to something that CAN do that. In this case, he'll probably even allow me to install a Linux/WinXP dual-boot just so he can perform this task! In this case, ease-of-use is not that important anymore and he will even be willing to learn some new things. And if I explain it well and make it easy for him to do with Linux what he used to do with Windows, he'll be satisfied. Maybe he doesn't 100% understand what all of this has to do with freedom and choice, but he sure as h*ll understands that if M$ makes it difficult or impossible for him to perform an important (for him) task, that he'd better get over it and use something that won't restrict him this much. The real danger is, like you say, in overly ambitious and restrictive laws, which often fail to take into account the issues like freedom, collaboration, fair use, ... . Once the snowball gets rolling it will really GET to a point where it is near unstoppable. At this point commercial entities will actually actively help overcoming these problems and making Linux on the desktop a reality, since at this point there is money to be made for them. But when we get to this point, it is important to at least have some structures worked out so the system keeps running smoothly. At this stage, however, M$ is still being considered by many as some kind of half-god company with divine powers... but under the right conditions, this climate can dissappear very soon! As aRTee says, pre-loaded PC's, along with smart and proper marketing, is the way to go. This way we will be able to convert (or if it's their 1st OS: sign up) at least a percentage of users that will be high enough to make a difference. And at that stage, hopefully games will come as well. Linux spreading the way Firefox is spreading now? It could happen! B)

Exactly the kind of information I can use! You mean the taskbar is the thing showing your running program's panels, right?

*Bump* Not interesting?

Oh yeah... how did I forget! Sorry!

shame on iphitus... i wanna vote! :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I saved my best for Februari too! :o

Download it here: http://linuxinformer.ducaet.be/guide.sxw Latest changes Changes: - Title changed from 'Getting up to speed with SuSe 9.1' to 'Understanding the Linux Desktop' (since that's all it's about IMO... I'm trying to be broad and general here) - added a lot of screenshots that were still missing - tried to explain what virtual desktops are - added a section called 'Files: documents and applications'. I think it's pretty cool! Check it out! I plan to include a lot more of these 'insightful' (I hope) excersises in the tutorial cool.gif I still need help ... especially with the 'Linux Basics' section! ;) Please tell me your comments/criticism/suggestions/... (Although I repeat that this is a BASIC tutorial... so no tutorials on setting up home networks, printer sharing, or building a Beowolf cluster! - not that I'd now how to do the last one) Especially tell me if something is confusing for you!! All help is welcome. Please note, this is a WORK IN PROGRESS.

Your probably right, i should. Woops !! OK, post edited and link to quote inserted. (Pester pester pester, Nag nag nag :P :D ) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why you tree-hugging, IP-stealing, Linux-loving communist hippie! Such little respect for our precioussss IP you have! :deal: (are those enough smilies to make it clear I'm joking? B) )

anon, not that I'm trying to pester you, but shouldn't you provide a source for the article if you are going to quote an article in full?

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050202162302114