On Tue, 16 Jun 1998, Scott wrote:
> Only a user who is familair with messing with an OS. I for one don't
> want to think about touching my OS in this manner. I doin't know C nor
> do I have any plans to know. I'll grant you that someone somewhere does
> fix it and updates are more quickly available.
Whether you are the one that fixes the software or not, the fact remains
that bugs are fixed more aptly. And the tech support is better, too:
there are no support droids in free software. If you find a bug, you can
mail it directly to the author of the code. He'll fix it himself if you
don't.
> Don't belive what you read. Sticking in the RH 5.0 floppy and having it
> do the install is only the first step in a linux setup. Have that 10
It's also only the first step in a Windows setup.
> do a modular install or do a kernel upgrade or download, modify, and
> install a network card driver. My guess is unless she is a geniuos this
Who ever has to do this? Nobody really unless they want to or they have
important (advanced) reason to. For example I like to recompile my kernel
without module support for security reasons. So I have to do that. Joe
User finds that Red Hat installs functioning modules for the default
settings for every card it supports. If your card isn't on the default
settings, you have to explicitly reconfigure things. It's the same way
with Windows especially if your cards are non plug-n-play. IMO Windows
still has a significant advantage in dealing with PnP cards because of a
lack of an automated way to configure them in Linux. But I think ISA PnP
cards are a transition technology that will soon be gone altogether
replaced by PCI. (I can hope!)
> support features as its competition. That includes manufacturer support
> (drivers) and common tools for creating add on programs. I should not
> have to compile programs I download from the net along with 3 libraries
It's really a conflict between the traditional Unix way and the way that
PC users are accustomed to. The rapid evolution of Linux is an additional
stumbling block to this; most programs are even harder to compile on Linux
than they are on other forms of Unix. This is because of a lack of
standardization. What program authors need to do is distribute along with
source the precompiled RPM of their package. This is becoming
increasingly common for free programs. But major application vendors for
some reason fail to do this. There are no StarOffice RPMs by StarDivision
for Red Hat 5 for reasons which remain completely mysterious to me.
Instead you must bludgeon libraries with a large block of wood, then
sacrifice a chicken at the Temple of Zuul, if you want it to run. I don't
understand this. If you want your program to run on Linux, why don't you
make it easy to install?
> I think things are starting to turn with support from Linksys (linksys
> offers phone suport for installing their network cards on Linux, states
> Linux as a supported OS on the box but still provides no driver),
Linksys drivers are included with the kernel. Why include a separate one
in the box? One of the serious technical problems with Windows is that
most of it really isn't compatible with the rest of it because every time
you install someting, it surreptitiously changes other parts of your
system. It is good that the kernel maintainers also handle the drivers.
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