Manifold Merits of Linux
As this post is now overflowing with comments, a new post to discuss the merits of different Linux distros. Thanks to Ilan's comments. My summary of the front-runner distros is:
SLED
Pro: Wife-friendly
Con: Early stages of being consumed by Microsoft, DVD install
Ubuntu
Pro: Huge user community, vast array of packages ready to install
Con: Sluggish
Fedora
Pro: Long history of good support, lots of users
Con: Sluggish, requires DVD burn to install
Others in the running: Mandriva, Gentoo. Probably we'll all end up with different installations. Personally, as long as I can stream audio output to my Airport Express, as I currently do under XP with Justeport, I'll be happy!
SLED
Pro: Wife-friendly
Con: Early stages of being consumed by Microsoft, DVD install
Ubuntu
Pro: Huge user community, vast array of packages ready to install
Con: Sluggish
Fedora
Pro: Long history of good support, lots of users
Con: Sluggish, requires DVD burn to install
Others in the running: Mandriva, Gentoo. Probably we'll all end up with different installations. Personally, as long as I can stream audio output to my Airport Express, as I currently do under XP with Justeport, I'll be happy!
- sheikh X at 9:33 AM
24 Comments:
i am looking for a distro that will support my non-standard dell laptop resolution in its native 1280X800 out of the box. if it could wake the monitor from sleep so we didn't have to restart the computer every other time the lid shuts then i would be very very happy.
Adam, I had that exact problem with my HP notebook. I solved it by going to the power management setting.... Here there was a setting for what the laptop should do when the lid is closed. I changed that setting from "hibernate" to "blank screen" for battery power. I changed it from "suspend" to "blank screen" for AC power.
It solved this exact problem with me, I assume it will solve it for you...
i tried that, only i just stopped all special power mgmt (i thought). no difference. actually, it worked just fine until i went and enabled acpi in the first place (it defaulted to disabled). I wonder if something is written in the nefarios BIOS. i'm resolved not to worry too much about this because i will almost certainly be leaving Mandriva in the not too distant future. the distance of that future is roughly correlated to the amount of time it takes to download 3.6 gig DVD ISOs without errors...
Aha! Success at last.
Thanks to the magic of shell scripts the and the amazing XMMS music player I am now streaming wireless music. Step one in world conquest! This was a very good learning project, it only took about 12 hours, but I'm now nearly at the point I was at when I said farewell to Microsoft.
btw, XMMS is a very impressive music player, seems to be pretty lightweight and entirely configurable.
don't get too comfortable. i am installing fedora core 6 right now and James has yet to weigh in on the matter...
well i downloaded and burned that dvd image, installed Fedora and ... meh... it seems prettier than mandriva or ubuntu, but to tell the truth i am feeling kind of piqued that the extra 2.5 gigs of data seems to be entirely for flashy graphics, as near as i can figure. i know it is late but i think i'm fixing to install Ubuntu (again) right about now.
the extra gigabytes are very possibly software that you elected not to install. Databases, and different server software (eg Apach, MySql etc etc).
That's the big difference between Ubuntu and the other distro's.
Ubuntu's install is just a few programs on one CD and then you download the rest from the internet. The other distro's provide so much software you hardly need to download anything more.
But since I always install from DVDs I get from my monthly magazine purchases; I find it easier actually to use the non Ubuntu distro's. Especially since in south Africa there are caps on the amount bandwith you can download.
XMMS has been around forever. It got very good marks in the Linux Format review of different music players.
oh dear. i may have to reassess fedora. but not tonight... very bad problems with verizon internet connection in ubuntu and kubuntu. and ndiswrapper doesn't come installed. bleah.
The only distro I have encountered with ndiswrapper installed is Mepis.
My solution to this is as follows.
When I set up my computer I create a FAT32 partition that I can mount from any OS I boot up into; and I put the ndiswrapper source and make files in on that partition. I can do that from within Windows for example. In fact I originally downloaded Ndiswrapper using windows and saved it into a FAT32 partition.
After I do a Linux OS install, I mount the FAT32 partition and make ndiswrapper.
Bingo. I have done this hundreds of times now; and am becoming quite fast at it. The first time took me days of head scratching (a lot of it because I typed in the WEP code wrong for a day and half...)
Seeing I only have a wireless connection and no means of accessing the internet without ndiswrapper this is essential for me; as 99% of the distro's do not come with ndiswrapper by default.
As a backup I have a copy of ndiswrapper and the drivers on a usb memory stick.
yes i keep telling adam that a flash drive makes the world go round, but he wont listen. i have no sympathy. having said that, given that ubuntu's motto is that it should just work, it would really help if the ndiswrapper was part of the basic install.
i don't think much of nautilus. its slow - ilan, any recommendations for a different file navigator?
at this point i think that i will give Fedora Core another chance. I suppose i can probably tone down the graphics in a control panel somewhere, and otherwise it seemed to be working fine. still need to ndiswrap my wireless driver and still incorrect display resolution- but i haven't found a linux build yet that can lick those problems.
ilan, thanks for the tip on sticking ndiswrapper in another file system. i guess i'll do that if i have to. for the record Mandriva not only comes with ndiswrapper but it is built into a gui for configuring the system. i seem to recall having used it successfully in a terminal in another distro too once, but linux induced sleep-deprivation has eroded my short-term memory.
on the bright side i have become very adept at the fine art of drive partitioning and at configuring Lilo and Grub (wasn't that a Disney movie?)
also, now that i have crossed the DVD barrier i am toying with the idea of downloading the full dvd release of the newest Mandriva and trying to get that sucker to run for me.
Hmm. I am trying to think of something along your tastes. I really function from within the shell. Midnight commander is probably too terminal for you.. so what about Gnome Commander?
I have not used it, though. Harry, yesterday I spent the entire evening inside the console (ctl-alt-f2) ie not even running X-windows - and working completely within Emacs; and I was browsing my file system with ctl-x ctld-D, followed by ctl-n/Ctl-p and enter....
Last night of my Fedora Core 5 installation I upgraded my kernel to the latest stable kernel release; in order to make use of its better abilities to work with my ATI laptop graphic chip. I also had to install the source for the latest kernel in order to build and link in the ndiswrapper for my wireless.
Well thats it until Motzei shabat. I intend to focus a little on C programming then. And then on Sunday.... my 3 year wedding anniversary!
mazal tov to ilan and sandra. if you can make it to the reading on saturday night we'll toss back a few vodka martinis in your honor!
i am downloading the mandriva 2007 dvd release. if i can get the damn no screen problem fixed then that will probably be the OS for me.
well... Adam... after making such a fuss about OpenSuse being a "sell out" to Microsoft you decide on a distribution which prides itself on distributing non-free software as part of its core.
OpenSuse, Fedora and Ubunutu all are strict about only distributing open software. You then can add on the non-free stuff at your discretion. (like certain wireless drivers, certain graphics drivers, mp3 support, flash etc etc.) This process also makes clear to you what exactly you are using; and what is ideologically sound; and what is practical but not as ideologically sound.
So if you use Mandriva; I would advise you not to point your finger at OpenSuse - as this only makes you look silly.
i am not silly, nor inconsistent. i am neither an opponent of capitalism nor an idealogical fanatic of open-sourcism. I oppose predatory abuses of the liberties imparted by capitalism. microsoft is the enemy, not the free market of ideas or the commoditization of intellectual property. long live the revolution!
Oh. Microsoft is the enemy? Microsoft is just a company selling software. Just like Apple. Gates was just a bit cleverer than Jobs back in the day.
Why is Apple not the enemy?
apple has become a tentacle of the enemy of late. microsoft took control of apple's brain a while back as Steve Jobs was busy making movies in Hollywood and now apple is a microsoft zombie.
microsoft is the enemy because of its aggressive tactics destroying competitors, consolidating control at the expense of quality and otherwise strangling creativity in and around its domain. microsoft will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
your name is being knitted into a list that is being prepared because you have defended microsoft. despite the distraction of your unix expertise you are suspected of being counterrevolutionary.
Hmm. Is Dell the enemy too?
based on recent experience- i would say, definitely. in fact their evil armies have colonized the first partition of my hard drive. (our ancestral homeland of hd01) We will drive them out one day, and freedom shall prevail!
Are proprietary drivers (eg ATI and NVidia) and proprietary software (eg Macromedia Flash Player) also the enemy?
i guess that depends upon how they function in the market place: if they throw their weight around to crush competition and innovation or whether they unfairly exploit early advantages to the detriment of everybody excluding themselves: independent businesses, consumers, etc.
I am all in favor of people deriving financial benefit from their ideas and products. Predatory expansion and the use of resources to suppress others instead of developing one's own product is an abuse of the free market, not a natural offshoot of it. A hundred years ago there was a name for the kinds of capitalists who did business that way: robber barons. Many of them turned out to be very philanthropic after building their empires on the bones of millions, but it took many acts of congress to finally stop their nefarious schemes and allow for the growth of independent enterprise that ultimately fueled the emergence of the US as a global power.
The american antitrust enforcers have been asleep at the switch in much the same way that the UN is idly watching Iran seize more power and freedom in the middle east and just as the League of Nations watched Hitler gobble up Europe. Dell is Vichy France and Apple is Tito's Romania. ATI and Nvidia will have to decide if they are with the terrorists or with us.
Hmm. Sounds like you need to learn how to do some programming... in order to carry out the struggle for freedom from your digital oppressors.
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