Well said. Roy
Linux: Fast, friendly, flexible and .... free! Support Open source. <*,)}}+< Only dead fish go with the flow! ----- Original Message ---- From: Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, September 1, 2008 1:09:32 AM Subject: Re: [LINUX_Newbies] Re: Hello all : ) On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 04:42:30PM -0400, Joe Takacs wrote: > > I have been strongly considering going to Linux for a while, but > "testimonials" like this give me second thoughts. > > While windoze is certainly not without problems, it does "just work" (at > least for me). > > Which is the best Linux distro that "just works" without a lot of hassle? > > Joe Takacs So much of this depends upon your hardware. For example, many low end laptops use the Atheros AR5007EG card, which is not supported out of the box. Also, "What works" is often in the eye of the beholder. Yes, Fedora often has issues. Mint is probably an even better choice than Ubuntu as it adds in various restricted programs by default. For simple email, web browsing and docs, almost any of them come close to it Just Works(TM). However, I don't think any of them will do everything you want without a little googling and such. In fairness, you don't see Apple advertising "We don't really worry too much about security updates," or Windows advertising, "Our Windows genuine advantage will, at least once, cause you to have to call us for a number even though you have legitimately bought your copy." That is, there's hype in Linux too. Wireless is often a problem. Sound is often a problem, mostly because, in my humble opinion, the developers didn't leave well enough alone--two years ago, it usually just worked, now it often requires a bit of research depending upon distro--Fedora is one of the worst on this--the developer made some choices with which many people disagreed, but considers various bug reports to not be bugs, but user misconfiguration. For example, one sometimes has to take the highly unintuitive step, to get sound to work, of editing files in /etc/security/ console.perms. d/ because last November, they decided to tie sound in with ConsoleKit, a program only necessary if you use Gnome--errm, a program that WAS only necessary if you used Gnome. Various things won't work--such as Active X pages and the like--Linux is still not a good choice for gaming. One thing you can do, to see if there's a reasonable chance of your hardware working without problem is to run a LiveCD, and see if the various programs you need will work. Almost all distributions now have a LiveCD to let you try before installing. As for Fedora, I use it because my job involves CentOS but that's a little behind on various programs--it' s the price paid for having a very very stable system. As each distribution involves learning its individual pain in the neck quirks, it's just not worth it for me to go through time learning the various quirks of say, Ubuntu--it would probably take me as much time as it takes to make my Fedora system work, especially as I'm fairly familiar with the way RH based systems are put together. However, on Fedora forums, you will frequently see new users come on and say, Fedora doesn't work with X, Y, and Z, but they worked in Ubuntu. Most of the time, if the user is simply frustrated, and doesn't seem all that interested in putting a lot of time into getting it working, the old timers will, politely, suggest that they might be happier with another distribution. -- Scott Robbins PGP keyID EB3467D6 ( 1B48 077D 66F6 9DB0 FDC2 A409 FA54 EB34 67D6 ) gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys EB3467D6 Mayor Wilkins: I have two words that are going to make all your troubles go away. 'Miniature Golf.' __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now at http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this list, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] & you will be removed.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
