Hi Obet. According to Obet Verzola: > From: Roberto Verzola <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:43:58 +0800 > Subject: [plug] need advice > > I'm informally helping an office convert to FOSS, and after months of on-off > effort, its system administrator submitted a memo about "shifting back to > windows", citing the ff reasons: > > Hardware > - linux versions depend on hardware specs. Eg, ubuntu may not work on a new > pc > but other versions may
AFAIK, all PCs are supported. It only matters when speed and memory are taken into consideration. If a machine is kind of low-end, there are Linux/BSD variants to choose from. If you still want to use Ubuntu, there's Ubuntulite http://www.ubuntulite.org. > - unable to detect scanner, camera In my office one scanner is not (yet) supported. We dual-boot one machine so that the scanner may be used. But in time, we'll definitely dump the scanner (through bid or buy-and-sell) and buy a new supported one. With cameras, the workaround is always use the memory card read through a card reader to have access to images taken through the camera. But if you're talking about the camera's direct connectivity to the computer, that's a problem indeed. > - very hard to backup a file when linux encounters a problem or crashes I assume you're referring to OpenOffice.org files. I understand that version 2 handles file recovery much better. > > Software > - not all plugins are available in firefox for linux I agree on Rom's comment. > - kopete doesn't have file transfer Yes, GAIM is a right alternative. And I guess there are other apps to choose from. In my case, I use centericq (terminal-based) :-) and it has file transfer as well. > - cannot play movies and other presentations > > Printing > - uses all colors even if we are only printing black > - inability to share a printer or even use a network printer > - compatibility of printers depend on what kind of linux you are using > - no support for 3 in 1 printers It's a problem, I agree. We also had the same situation (it's my fault for not having been conscious about Linux support when I approved its purchase). Our solution was just use the photocopy service and rely on separate printers and scanners instead. Of course, that means we've no longer maximized the printing and scanning components. A painful, much less wasteful, tradeoff, indeed. > > I really have another job so I can't give too much time providing detailed > support. I expected the sys ad to work out the problems himself, if I point > him to the right direction. Apparently, he thinks Windows will be easier for > him overall. > > Any suggestion will be helpful. If I can show that half or 2/3 of the > problems > he raised could have been solved had he tried harder, management might indeed > ask the sys ad to try harder. I'm not questioning the capacity of the sysad, but I think what he needs thus far, first and foremost, are patience and a community to help him out. Dong _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
