Luddite with a Hammer
Technology has reached the tipping point of being way too intrusive. So this appeals to me! RFID chips are an invasion of privacy - you can't tell precisely what is encoded on these magical little slivers of silicon, yet you are supposed to carry one embedded in your passport to present to any officious beaurocrat wanting to read your record. It's like having a sealed letter of introduction. You can't but help wonder if engraved onto its diode array is "Warning, bearer is a serious nudnik. Give him the special search". Moreover, anybody close enough and with the right equipment can secretly read the information in your passport.
So thats it for now. I'm not uninstalling Ubuntu, but I think of that partition of my hard-drive as an impenetrable African Jungle, with lurking Sudos and prowling Synaptics. Until Windows Vista colonizes my boot sector and forces me out, I'm remaining camped at Windows XP.
The greatest evil of technology facing us though is the new Microsoft Vista. This bloated piece of malware appears to have shelved any goal of allowing PCs to be fast and powerful, instead having embraced the goal of implementing Draconian copyright protection. Imagine Darth Vader prowling the New York subway, beheading Chinese women as they desperately gather pirated CD's of 'Happy Feet' from picnic blankets.
So horrified am I at the advent of Microsoft's looming operating system, that I finally took the step of installing Linux on a partition this weekend. Readers of this blog have been encouraging me to take this step, and frankly, having done so I'm not so enthusiastic.
I chose Ubuntu, the open-source, 'free' version of linux that is apparently extremely popular. It took me about 3 hours to achieve an internet connection. Navigating the Ubuntu help site was like reading a Choose Your Own Adventure where every fork lead back to page 1. The instructions for activating my wireless card - a not uncommon Linksys USB device - were so abstruse that at first I thought they wanted me to make a sushi roll. The documentation was replete with helpful tips likendiswrapper v1.1, kernel 2.6.11.7 vanilla: kernel-oops! ndiswrapper v1.2-rc1 loads fine (EHCI loaded with modprobe ehci-hcd log2_irq_thresh=4) but oopses when unloading the module and the adapter is still plugged in (Kernel 2.6.11.7 vanilla)Then, having finally eeked out a connection to the net I found that (1) It was even more sluggish than WinXP and (2) Ubuntu doesn't play mp3s. Or to be more accuate, Ubuntu in its native installation doesn't play mp3s but with a little more hieroglyphic research I should be able to open them. Apparently its my fault, because I should be using 'ogg'. Don't smirk, so should you.
So thats it for now. I'm not uninstalling Ubuntu, but I think of that partition of my hard-drive as an impenetrable African Jungle, with lurking Sudos and prowling Synaptics. Until Windows Vista colonizes my boot sector and forces me out, I'm remaining camped at Windows XP.
- sheikh X at 8:38 AM
33 Comments:
i warned you not to use ubuntu and specifically cited wireless card problems. i can't help you if you just won't listen... i am using Mandriva (which connects much better and more stable than my WindozeXP) but i'm not 100% sure that i wouldn't have been better off with SUSE or Fedora. I'd welcome comments from others who might know- even if they don't quite rise to the intellectual heights of small rat-dogs in political discourse... your characterization of Ubuntu as "the open-source" distro is problematic, considering that pretty much all linux builds are free and open source as a matter of principal.
On the contrary, you recommended Ubuntu. You complain about just about everything, so why would I take your whining about wireless support seriously.
I take the view that having a large user base is likely to result in the largest collection of software - ubuntu seems to be the most popular distribution - also here. Not all distributions are free. In fact Ubuntu is not the 'most free'.
It's not an easy choice. I also don't like the Ubuntu graphical interface much. I'll probably switch to some other distro, after I recover from the shock of installing this one.
try kubuntu. it's ubuntu with a snappy interface
We don't use the term "nudnik."
I am using Fedora Core 5. I did not use SUSE 'cause I find KDE too bubbly for me; and I prefere using a GUI called Gnome. Its just a nicer name. I am running that on my laptop. I had to use Ndiswrapper as well to get my wireless working too. But it works great.
I keep installing different flavours on my desktop PC. Currently I have a flavour called MEPIS installed and have not bothered to uninstall it. Actually I have set up a couple of partitions there. I will be re installing SLES 9 there; as there is certified to run Oracle and I wish to play a bit with Oracle 10g on Linux.
I also am becoming very au fait with awk grep sed etc; and have installed windows versions of them when working with windows; but they work better on Linux anyways.
Ubuntu is not "the open source" distro - its just got a lot of force because of the money being poured in by billionare Mark. SUSE has Novell behind it; and Fedora has Red Hat behind it. Distros like Slackware are only maintained by one guy.
Other OS's like Solaris and BSD are also out there and pretty damn good.
And if you really want to go out there - check out the OS called Plan 9.
Harry from the way your desires from a computer I would recommend SLED 10. (SUSE)
Oh. And I deliberately did not buy a LinkSys USB device cause I did a search on recommended Linux wireless receivers and LinkSys did badly.
Do a search for recommended USB wireless devices for Linux and buy one. Its not as though they are expensive.
And buy a few books on using Linux.
I would recommend The UNIX Programming Environment
by Brian W. Kernighan, Pike for understanding the fundamentals of *ix operating systems. It does not deal with the graphical side of life though - but the graphical side is overrated anyways.
Start learning about text processors like latEx2e instead of WYSISYG editors like Word. And decide whether you prefer vi or emacs. I used to be a emacs fan; but have been finding myself moving more towards vi; its just so elegant instead of bloated and reminds me of the old WordPerfect 5.1 days with a flashing cursors top left hand corner and no more. Nostalgia. I hav e been using ed lately. But I think thats because sometimes I am pathological.
see i knew ilan would come through. i thought of ilan too when i saw the gnome interface.
the best thing about mandriva is the control panel- but as far as i can tell that seems to be just about the only good thing...
I would try Fedora or SUSE, but if Fedora doesn't use the KDE interface i wonder if my wife will have problem using it- i think gnome is a little techie for the gentler sex... on the other hand, there is something very screwy about how my dell laptop display interfaces with anything other than Windoze, and i read on one forum that it works great out of the box in Fedora.
does your recommendation of SLED 10 apply to the way my desires from a computer? please to advise
SLED 10 is the most user-friendly and nice on the eyes. KDE is more friendly to people who are used to the Windows GUI. I use Fedora cause I like the name and I like Gnome. Adam, I also think you would like SLED 10.
Essentially SLED 10 is probably the best distribution for those who want to use Linux because:
(a) they are frustrated with Windows (b) they are not programmers
Fedora (which is Red Hat) and Red Hat has focused on the server market and not the desktop. Ubuntu, although very popular etc, is still more oriented towards the "open-source" political people.
SLED 10 also uses Gnome as its default. But it offers KDE as an option.
Either way; Harry would still have to figure out how to use Ndiswrapper or buy a new USB thingie with SLED 10.
SLED 10 also offers all the same kind of stuff that Vista has (3d desktops etc).
I have not used it yet. I am getting more interested in the other OSes like Solaris, BSD and Plan 9. I will probably install one of those next (except for SLES 9 which I need to play with Oracle)
is Plan 9 from outerspace?
it appears that you actually have to pay to use SLED10 past the 60 day eval period. what gives? it notes that past this period there will be no updates and no tech support. of course this would make it no different from any other free linux distro provided that one could manually update from inside the OS and get tech support from the web. will there be annoying nagware after 60 days? any insight?
this is free:
http://www.opensuse.org/
comments?
Well. First SLED 10, is based on OpenSuse 10.1.
Now a little explanation of the difference.
Novell takes the community driven OpenSuse 10.1 and creates a version of all the software and patches that is rock solid. Thus it is now dependable and solid enough for running in a coporate environment. They need to keep it dependable by testing and certifying every update and patch as time goes by.
Its all about making sure it stays completely update with the latest patches and updates etc. Thats all. That s what you would be paying for, updates and patches. If you don't want you don't get. And if you are not running in a corporate environment why would you care?
But if you want the support you have to pay.
Its not possible to get support for OpenSuse. You can get updates and patches - but not with any promises or warranties or anything.
Its the same as Fedora and Red Hat. Red Hat is derived from Fedora but made more dependable for running coporates and banks etc.
I suppose OpenSuse 10.1 would be better in the long run; if you don't want the support.
But for a starting point SLED 10 is more dependable and user friendly. After that you can still software updates etc; just not certified ones. You would need to do it yourself.
But then OpenSuse 10.1 is what SLED is built from.
I would use OpenSuse; but a newbie would find SLED much better for hand-holding (at least for 60 days).
hmmm
Oh. Maybe this makes it clearer.
Red Hat - as I mentioned earlier is the same as SLED. You pay for support and updates.
Oracle did something very interesting. They said - stop paying Red Hat. We will take over providing support and patches and software updates - for much less money. And if you are using Red Hat for Oracle - doesn't make more sense to come to us? Read the article; it should explain the open source business model to you a bit better.
http://searchoracle.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid41_gci1232341,00.html
Fixed up link for Oracle Red Hat explanation
thaks for the thoughts ilan. actually i did get the ndiswrapper to work with the usb linksys and can access the internet. but i was very underwhelmed because it was so hard to get to work.
thanks for your recommendations - but i agree with adam, i'm not paying, so sled is out. i'll stick with ubuntu for a bit. perhaps after i customize it a bit more i'll be happier. my main gripe is that its more sluggish than XP.
kde looks too mac-like to me, so i guess i'm staying with gnome. i liked this description of the difference in cultures.
i'm afraid though that i'm not going back to vi. text editing doesn't cut it for me. i've tried open office, but i think its pretty lame compared to real office. especially the excel analog. any recommendations? also is there a small footprint app to play mp3s? on windows, i use coolplayer which is perfectly minimalist for my taste.
adam, well shosh isn't delighted by this project either. perhaps we can find a 'linux wives support group' for them to join.
if they weren't both preggers i'd suggest russian vodka in lieu of a support group.
and ilan, how does your better half (or worse in re OSes) feel about linux?
to clarify, for ilan: is opensuse the same as sled but without nagware/ disabling scripts
or is sled the same as opensuse but without tech support (which i'm too shy to call anyway)
i am eagerly waiting to hear because i am itching to download
re opensuse - a word of caution about novell and suse. i don't want to escape microsoft just to end back up in its clutches.
too BIG!!!
SLED is bits and pieces of OpenSuse stuck together very nicely and with tons of support and testings and checking that all the pieces play properly and perfectly.
Harry, no matter which completely Open distribution you use, you will have to deal with ndiswrapper. That reason is that you are using a proprietory driver to control the USB adaptor; and proprietory programs are distributed by open source distributions because they are not "open". You are wrapping the non-free binary up inside another "program" that makes it play properly without understanding its internals. (But this non-free program cannot be freely distributed.)It takes the interface and changes its interface into one that Linux understands. I hope that sort of makes sense....
My wife keeps saying she wants to learn how to use Linux. I refused to buy Office, so she uses OpenOffice already on windows and firefox. The only real issue is Skype. The Linux version of Skype does not yet have video; and she uses it on a daily basis to chat to family in Germany. But she does not really notice the difference between Operating Systems and just uses the one that is currently booted unless she needs Skype.
Hmmm. I think I will install OpenSuse 10.1 on one of my partitions on my desktop this weekend.
Harry, OpenSuse 10.2 (I have the DVD install for OpenSuse 10.1 otherwise I would be installing 10.2) has a built in MP3 player as well as iPod support (which includes allowing you to copy music from the iPod to your computer)
Here is a gnome OpenSuse link or KDE OpenSuse link
The Chameleon is cool.
Helix Banshee is the Gnome program for mp3 and ipod.
i agree that the chameleon is cool. i shouldn't have to download a whole dvd just to get running. all the other distros have a one cd starting package and then you can get online to expand. SUSE has a cd starter disk that is basically an install program which is supposed to connect to a remote server- but i couldn't get it to do so. buzzkill.
On Motzei Shabat I installed OpenSuse 10.1 and ndiswrapper to get my wireless working.
Here are my impressions.
All my hardware, graphics, sound etc were detected perfectly.
I was dissapointed a little with the software installer, because, unlike Fedora its not nicely seperated into categories.
I also found that there is no already created package for DrScheme (but that should be irrelevant to you.)
It pretty nice, I am using it now.
I think I personally prefer Fedora, though - either way Fedora is staying on my laptop. Because its installed and works and configured for all I need. But I am going to use it for a while on my desktop.
I think its perfect for my wife, and I am going to start teaching her using OpenSuse. It definitely looks girl-friendly so far...
Adam. I think I would recommend Fedora for you, now I have a closer look at OpenSuse.
I still prefer personally Fedora.
But having said that I am going to keep OpenSuse running; as it looks slick and well put together with great user-friendly support. And more girly, which is why I am still going to use it to for teaching my wife.
Actually, maybe OpenSuse is better for you Adam. The more I use it, the more I realise how user-friendly it is. Its more friendly than Fedora.
Actually I am now certain that OpenSuse it better for you.
I prefer Fedora, but I don't care about prettiness.
You're a Mac user.
Go for OpenSuse.
I just got DrScheme installed on OpenSuse.
So now I am much happier.
OpenSuse is the way for you guys to go. I think.
hmmm.
Hang on there Ilan. I feel slighted by being lumped together with Adam as a candidate suse user.
A nice girly software package like suse might suit Adam, but I need something robust and powerful. Quiche eaters like Adam might get by with a bubbly effervescent Mac-like desktop, but I'm thinking of this as a longterm project, with the end goal of switching my cluster at work to run under linux. I write video analysis software - 'pretty' is not helpful for me, though a line interface is a bit too primal for my taste - low cpu overhead and a good community of users is much more important.
I'm leaning towards Xubuntu which has the benefit of the Ubuntu user community but installs a low overhead desktop. I might just install it now.
harry and i are boycotting novell because they have sold linux out to the evil empire. you are welcome to you girly operating system with its diabolical undertones. i hope your intel processor chokes on it...
Harry, have you considered Gentoo? That is a power user Linux distribution which has a strong focus on performance and a large community support base; and focus on installing from source.
Ubuntu does have the largest community, that is true.
On the weekend I created 10 partitions on my desktop; and wiped my OpenSuse 10.1 installation. One partition for windows. One partition as a FAT partition to share between all OSes. One partition as a /home parition. One parition as a swap parition. And five paritions for different OSes. I then installed SLED 10 on one of my partitions; and started my wife on the "how to use SLED 10" quickstart tutorial that comes with it.
i am downloading a fedora installation dvd, and have been doing so for some time now. i'll probably still be downloading it some time from now... when it's ready and if we like it i'll make copies for harry and james. power to the people right on!
probably we need a new blog posting to reflect how far we've come...
why not just get a linux format or some other linux magazine that has a dvd with it? I do that every month and have many many different distros to choose from....
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