banjo Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 are you crazy?!? Helpdesk are not reduced because of stabilty. Stability has nothing to do with helpdesk. If what you say is true this and so many other forums wouldn't be so busy Ya, well, I guess you would still get your regular complaints about the broken cup holders........ This board is way more helpful than the official help desks of the big box fnWindoze companies. The last time (and I do mean the LAST time) that I called the Gateway help desk, the woman who answered (after a 20 minute hold) did not have a clue what I was talking about (floppy disk resources) and finally just hung up on me. That was the end of Gateway for me. I think the thing that strikes me as being one of the things I love most about Linux is mentioned by Banjo when he says that he contacted the quantas developer directly for help and received it. How often does that happen on the windoz side of the fence?? Well, there are lots of boards where answers can be obtained for fnWindose problems, but it they rarely feature the developers. The Quanta folks are very approachable and are working their butts off to make an awesome app. Banjo (_)=='=~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthur Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 bvc, I'm pretty sure "Hardware" and "Installing Mandrake" have to be the busiest forums in this board. Pre-installed Linux would take care of that. Once ISPs and modem makers recognize linux, "Networking" will have a huge reduction in the "internet not working" posts which make up a big percentage. So we can concentrate on the "fun stuff" like more advanced terminal/shell programming, kernels, whatever. But solving hardware problems is still fun. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 What gets me is simple things like java and flash. Why can't all distros come with this running. I know that Slackware that comes with java and flash working. Now if Slackware can do it, why can't they all come with such simple and "internet" needed apps running. The big 3 don't. Mandrake/Fedora/Ubuntu (ok Ubunut is only in 4 but thats besides the point . ;P ) have java/flash working for the get go. Nope this is a strange quesiton that revolves somehow around the business model. I never quite understood why Mandrake don't include the 'FREE to USE' drivers for say nvidia or ati on the FREE to use download versions. They mutter about licenses etc. but its all bullshit .. if they can distribute them on the pay version they can distribute em on the free version. Flash etc. are all part of this attempt at making the distro crippleware ... as you say slackware can include it so why not MDK, FC etc. An extreme example is the suse free edition which is by all accounts complete crippleware.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 bvc, I'm pretty sure "Hardware" and "Installing Mandrake" have to be the busiest forums in this board. actually the most posts are in software. 5202 with 25585 replies. Hardware: 3045 with 15544 replies. Installing Mandrake: 2410 with 14132 replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 yeah, what he said... see, installing is the easy part ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbpersson Posted January 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I just formatted the hard drive of my Linux machine and put Windows 2000 back on there. I was using the Linux machine as a print server and it stopped talking to the printer. It sort of worked but not really. It would send the top one fifth of the test page to the printer and then would say there was an error. I uninstalled and reinstalled the print driver several times. I just didn't have time to fool with it, I needed to have my printer working. I installed Windows 2000 and now everything is fine. I installed Mandrake on an old machine just to have it, but I find that Windows is easier. Probably because drivers are written for it so they work. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Short remarks: Philips didn't invent the VHS cassette, they had their own competing system called Video2000 (VCC as abbreviation). Note that if you don't like Sony, you shouldn't like anything Disney - they tried to stop Betamax completely - didn't like the idea that people could watch videos over and over whilst just paying once. Google for it, lots to read. Anyway, I won't go into all the points of view as to why Linux is not progessing faster to become the main system on a large percentage of the worlds desktops. Instead, I'll just focus on what's going on with Linux. First, it was for and by hackers. Computer nerds. Then came more users, who have a high interest in computers - they got a system where they can be in control. Lots of those don't develop. Then the businesses got interested. IBM, HP, etc. for support, others as users. Some as both developers and users. Intel started running a whole waferfab on Linux, I think in 2002. I'm in the semiconductor industry, let me tell you, whatever you run your waferfab on is the most mission critical thing you have. Here the price of Linux is irrellevant, it's all about control. In the meantime, lots of internet stuff runs on Linux. Control, sourcecode, stability, security, you name it, all of it counts. Being able to support yourself counts too. Side note: Linux runs on so many embedded things, you can't even count them anymore. But this is not about embedded, so I'll leave that.... At work, the recommended design systems we have are RH Linux on Opteron dual cpu systems. This week I should get a Linux workstation too. On the home desktop, Linux has moved from 1% in 2000 to about 5% in 2004, against inertia and lock-in. If you have something new, there is no big push to hold you back. If you are moving 'against the stream' so to say, lots of inertia, people with interests contrary to yours, lock-in, etcetc are all blocking you. Now, Extremadura in Spain, Brazil, Vienna, etcetc are all looking at and implementing Linux. Take into account China and other far east regions, and the picture becomes clear: Linux won't be going away anytime soon. IDC and Gartner have independently calculated that the market share of desktop Linux machines will be 7 or 8% in 2008. This is just preinstalled machines. You can dislike these companies or not, believe their studies or not; I think this is a relatively cautious estimate. And who is going to make this all happen? You and me. And all those others. Mark my words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjo Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I'm in the semiconductor industry, let me tell you, whatever you run your waferfab on is the most mission critical thing you have.Here the price of Linux is irrellevant, it's all about control. I work in semiconductor as well. The equipment that we build runs on fnWindows 2000. It is inappropriate and causes all sorts of trouble. I have told the bosses that the next generation of our product will be on VxWorks and Linux, or count me out! Banjo (_)=='=~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 one thing linux might want to catch on about is browser plugins/media I care not to hear excuses about patent laws if joeblow can't install an os, the easy part, kickup email, get an email with a link, click on that link and watch a video, then forget it. Same goes for browsers and webpages. If joblow can't click on a link and watch a video or listen to a stream, forget it. I'm talking default. Forget joblow configuring illegal sources and installing illegal apps and libs. These should be default. Raise the price of the distro or the retail preloaded pc if you must but get it in there or forget it! B) just what do you think joeblow uses the pc for anyway? distros act like they have no money....ha! do you really think those ceo's are in the poor house? wake up already. If they didn't have money they wouldn't be contacting me, a graphics n00b, and offering me $ for artwork for their poor distros B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 i believe totem and/or gxine have browser plugins. and there's also realplayer 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 ..and the point is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbpersson Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 After a while the Windows 2000 machine also would not work with the HP printer. I used the built-in troubleshooter and it told me the USB cable was too long. I had to use the really short cable that came with the printer. One example of how Windows is so much more helpful than Linux.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 ..and the point is? uuhhhhhh....you said: one thing linux might want to catch on about is browser plugins/media i replied: i believe totem and/or gxine have browser plugins. and there's also realplayer 10. get drunk and forget what you wrote again bvc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 ;) Yeah, but the problem was your setup, not Linux.... I agree that in some cases Linux is not tuned enough for newbies, but then again, how often do you have this kind of issue? Meaning: that it would work erratically, that you need more info which Linux doesn't give you and Windows does, and where Windows error messages actually make sense and help you fix the problem? If you really really think about it, Windows isn't really ready for the home users desktop either. It just managed to be there. Mac OS X would be the most ready. And surprise, it's not there. Maybe minimac will change things there, I don't know. Preinstalled preconfigured Linux machines is what it takes, and get this: even without that, Linux got to where it is today. Here's a quote: The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebble to vote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieJohn Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Artee. Cannot stand two-faced Disney either. Back when I was an Electronics Technician when Video Recorders first came out, I remember reading articles that said that Philips held the main patents for tape cassettes of any size and shape. The size and style did not matter. (see Video and Audio) Obviously by allowing royalty free use, they became the de facto standards because everyone could use it without fear of law suits or unfair competition. Cheers. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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