On Fri, 2004-12-17 at 11:35, Baudouin, Andrew wrote: > John, > > The comments were serious. He "seriously" doesn't help his sister because > she uses Windows. That's ridiculous. > > > I seriously don't help my sister with Windows because she uses > Windows XP and I SERIOUSLY don't know ANYTHING about Windows XP. i > recently purchased a new, tricked out with all the bells and whistles, > Dell Insprion 5160 laptop which came with XP on it and I have probably > spent a total of 40 minutes in XP and that was to update XP, and > Norton virus scan and firewall and to install and run Ad-Aware and > SpyBot Search & Destroy.
> > If the family member wants to install, let's say, a card game to play on his > Xandros, how is that done? Can you click on Launch >> Xandros Networks >> type in the name of the game that you wish to install, click on Install, type in the root password, click on done and play the game. Pretty difficult huh! > Do they know how to apt-get? Why should they when there are GUI front ends to apt-get and dpkg like Xandros Networks, Linspire Click 'N' Run and Synaptic? > What if they > wanted to stop at Wal-Mart and pick up one of the Hoyle Solitaire's for $5. > Would that run on Linux? If they are running Xandros Deluxe Edition (pretty much any version since 1.0) there is a very high probability that it would install and run right out the box just like it runs on Windows, but even better. But why do that when they can run the ones that came installed or download any of the myriad of other games that are available from the Debian repositories. > > Let's say they wanted to install MythTV. Would they know how to recompile a > kernel for bttv/ivtv support and to disable preemption? Would they know how > to make sure their /etc/modules.autoload.d/2.6 stayed up to date? Why > would they need to? Once again, MythTV is available directly from > Xandros Networks. This machine has a Hauppauge WinTV stereo TV card in > it on which I am watching Paul Gates doing a cooking show as I am > writing this on a GREAT application called KDETV. When I installed > Xandros 2 on this machine, the installation routine found the card, > identified properly and loaded all of the modules needed to properly > run the card. > > There are no install CD's for device drivers for Linux. And those are needed because? My laptop is has a 3.2 gig Intel processor, with an Nvidia GeForce FX5200 video card with 64 meg video ram, 60 gig HD, Broadcom nic, sound and modem, and Todhiba 8x DVD+RW burner and both Xandros 2 & 3 identified and configured everything PERFECTLY! Driver CD's? What is that? > There is no > widespread cheap software library for Linux. Have you ever browsed through the Debian repositiories and/or www.apt-get.org? Oh, and for the most part, that widespread software for linus is not cheap, its FREE!!!!! > There is no "standard" version > of Linux. It will forever be limited to us geeks. That is where I think you are 100% off the mark. Have you looked at any of the distributions available that are targeted directly at the Window$ user? If not may I suggest that you download Mepis, Knoppix, Ubuntu, PCLinux, Suse, Xandros, or any of the others out there and take them for a test drive. I think you will be pleasantly surprised and that your opinion will change. > The sooner we realize > that, the better. That is the attitude and mind set that WILL MOST CERTAINLY keep Linux off the desktop and out of the hands of the people that need it the most. Linux on the desktop is NOT a pipe dream. It is here, now, today and with the recent events related to IE and the TREMENDOUS recent surge of adoption of FireFox by many Windows users, the number of people choosing Linux on the desktop will increase at an even faster rate. If you would like to try Xandros Open Circulation Edition, or most any of the others that I mentioned above, I've tried em all and have the ISO's on my hard drive, let me know and I will be delighted to hand deliver a copy to you for your evaluation. One last comment, I am not a computer profession, programmer, or Linux geek by any stretch of the imagination. I started looking three years ago for some relief from the grip that Microsoft had on me and my computing life and thanks to the strides that have been made by the linux community in general and the help of and from many of the fine people on this list and this lug, I have been happily and thankfully Microsoft free for over a year now. Ed Richards Cell 964-2606 > > Andrew Baudouin > Applications Programmer > AWC, Incorporated > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Hebert [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 11:24 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: RE: [brlug-general] [Paul Ferris: RANT_MODE=1] This Christmas, gi > ve the gift that doesn't keep on taking ... > > Andrew, > > I think you are taking the comments a little too > seriously. Not everyone on this list is a "virulent > fanatic" of GNU/Linux. I think Linux is great for some > things and not so great for others. > > MS Windows is great too, especially if you like > sharing your computer resources with others on the > Internet. ;) > > I've supported many family members who use Microsoft > Windows and wished a number of times that their first > computer experience would have been with Xandros or > some other desktop-friendly distro. It would have > reduced the number of times I had to fix worm-ridden > Windows machines. > > The way I look at it, it is kinda like getting someone > you love to quit smoking. You know it's bad for them, > but convincing them to quit can cause problems. > > Yule Tidings! > > John > > --- "Baudouin, Andrew" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > That's just great. That is definitely NOT in the > > spirit of Christmas...to > > deny support for anyone who uses > > Windows...especially a family member. > > > > This kind of virulent fanaticism is what turns off > > people from GNU/Linux. > > Frankly, I'm ashamed. > > > > Andrew Baudouin > > Applications Programmer > > AWC, Incorporated > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Scott Harney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 10:26 AM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [brlug-general] [Paul Ferris: > > RANT_MODE=1] This Christmas, give > > the gift that doesn't keep on taking ... > > > > Richards Jr, Edward C. wrote: > > > This is GREAT! > > > > > > > > > http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/28240/index.html > > > > Sounds like what I tell people as well. The people > > I do support run Linux. > > My > > Mom runs Linux. My brother runs Linux. My sister > > does not and she doesn't > > ask > > for or receive help. > > > > > > > > Enjoy and Merry Christmas, > > > > > > Ed Richards, PE > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > This email, including any attached files, may > > contain confidential and > > privileged information. Any review, use, > > distribution or disclosure of > > included information by unintended recipients is > > strictly prohibited. If > > you are not a named recipient or authorized to > > receive and / or act on > > information sent to a named recipient, or have > > reason to believe you are not > > or should not be one of the named recipients, please > > notify sender > > accordingly by reply email and delete all copies of > > this message prior to > > forwarding, copying or otherwise reproducing this > > message or attachments > > thereto. For information regarding the export > > control status of items > > discussed in this document, please refer to the > > project control list. Thank > > you. > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > General mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > > > > > > -- > > Scott Harney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > "Asking the wrong questions is the leading cause of > > wrong answers" > > gpg key fingerprint=7125 0BD3 8EC4 08D7 321D CEE9 > > F024 7DA6 0BC7 94E5 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > General mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > _______________________________________________ > > General mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. 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