> Well, from my experience with people running field systems, that's > not really the case. I'm restrained because I'm talking, in part, > about other people's work, but lets see what I can do within the > constraints.
Okay, first of all, my original statement concerned using Linux for home productivity use. That means email, web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, mp3s, etc. So you are getting pretty far afield from my original statement. It sounds like you are saying that when you are using specialized hardware, it is hard to get or keep hardware drivers working with Linux. If that is what you are saying, you have my full agreement. Drivers for Linux are rarely written by the manufacturers -- they are usually written by third parties. So the Linux drivers of the highest quality and greatest availability are those for which many hackers own that piece of hardware. Occasionally you will see a hardware company writing the Linux drivers themselves, but it is rare. So, specialized hardware has little to no support in Linux. > That's true. But, consider even a user who is developing applications > software. If it is on a network, the solution is to do regular > backups, so that no more than a couple of days of work can be lost. > In my case, I do regular backups myself. When I was hit with a virus > that required me to reformat two machines, I saved 99% of what I had > done. How many hours of downtime did you have? > Every hour I sit down and work to understand Unix is a non-billable > hour. If I've saved my data, it soon gets to the point where it is > cheaper to buy a newer faster machine that debug the present machine. I think you are oversimplifying. As I spent time over the years mastering my Linux machine, I became faster at getting tasks done and fixing problems in the rare cases when they occurred. I probably put almost as much time in messing with Windows, but the control and speed I have with my Windows machine is much less. So, in my case I have the "costs" spent learning Linux, which are not inconsiderable, but I only had to do it once and now I am more productive than I would be in Windows, which "pays" for itself continuously. (Think of it as funding for basic research to improve your future :-) Now, you would no doubt claim that for you, the costs of learning Linux outweigh any productivity gains that might accrue. I would accept such an argument, but not the oversimplified one you give above. > Ah, I tried that. For example, when I rebooted and rebooted Linux because I > had a file error, nothing happened. About the only time you need to reboot Linux is when you change hardware or kernels. So I'm not sure why you kept rebooting (my computer has been up since Jan 9, and only was down then so I could add some new hardware). > I tried man and got very little that was helpful. If I already knew > the command (IIRC it was e2fsck, but I was just told it by someone was > able to access professionally for field system work I was doing) then > man would have helped. But, I don't think I could have typed man boot > problem. + man -k check | grep file ExtUtils::Manifest (3perl) - utilities to write and check a MANIFEST file File::CheckTree (3perl) - run many filetest checks on a tree [ (1) - check file types and compare values access (2) - check user's permissions for a file cksum (1) - checksum and count the bytes in a file e2fsck (8) - check a Linux second extended file system fileno (3) - check and reset stream status fsck (8) - check and repair a Linux file system fsck.ext2 (8) - check a Linux second extended file system fsck.minix (8) - a file system consistency checker for Linux pathchk (1) - check whether file names are valid or portable podchecker (1) - check the syntax of POD format documentation files setfsgid (2) - set group identity used for file system checks setfsuid (2) - set user identity used for file system checks sum (1) - checksum and count the blocks in a file test (1) - check file types and compare values validate (3perl) [File::CheckTree] - run many filetest checks on a tree cxpm (1x) - Check an XPM (X PixMap) file - XPM 1, 2, or 3. So, you could have used man, if you were willing to spend a few minutes trying a few search terms. True, you would have to guess that it was a file system or file problem and that you wanted to check your file system, but you'd have to make the same connection under Windows as well. Also, you didn't have to call e2fsck directly. fsck is a front end to the file system specific programs, and will figure out that e2fsck needs to be run. fsck is pretty commong across *NICES, so now you know that when you need to check your file system on almost any UNIX system, use fsck. > And, StarOffice is a big step down from M$Office, IMHO. The browser > is a step down too. For example, it only sorts on name, not date > modified, etc. Ughh, don't use the StarOffice browser. Mozilla or Galeon are excellent, however. With Mozilla you can turn off pop-up windows so the evil websites can't pop up ads on your screen. By the way, Mozilla is also available for Windows. I highly recommend it. http://www.mozilla.org/ Also, I wouldn't recommend StarOffice either, unless it is just to maintain file compatibility with Windows users. There are, IMO, better programs available. > I can use Linux/Unix and have off and on for years. But it appears > to be designed for people who like working on computers to work on > computers, not for those who work on computers to do something else > that they really want to do. I think that this is a YMMV issue, and I > certainly don't want to sound like I think that Windows is better for > all users. I'd say that the original design was like that, but now there is a great diversity of software designed for programmers, but also for productivity users. Have you spent much time in KDE? Almost as easy to start usinga as Windows, and getting better all the time. > If people like me don't find Linux a convenient operating system, how > will it make gains outside of a small group of computer geeks? If you are talking about home productivity use, from what you've said I don't think you've given Linux a fair chance. I recommend you get a hold of the most recent Mandrake distribution, install it and set it to start KDE, and then use it for a while. You can even install it onto your Windows file system. -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.com/
