Re: [SLUG] Keeping wife on linux
Robert Barnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: My wife and I have a shared computer at home, however, I seem to be facing a loosing battle for her experiences with linux to remain pleasant. I am running fedora core 9 with additional packages from the Livna repository Get a Mac. Then either just use OSX for UNIX services and if possible wean her off evilware with dual booting MSW and for yourself, Linux of some stripe or another. Also, set the Mac up with the text/shell based boot sequence, which makes it look more UNIX-y. Then when she is conditioned to the environment, do the bait and switch. Linux is good, but there is no need to ever go near MSW. A Mac is a good middle step. It might be Apple's UNIX, but at least it's UNIX. rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED]http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html The price of greatness is responsibility. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Keeping wife on linux
Robert Barnett wrote: My wife and I have a shared computer at home, however, I seem to be facing a loosing battle for her experiences with linux to remain pleasant. I am running fedora core 9 with additional packages from the Livna repository Ah, an experience I know well. * We've not been able to find a way to purchase songs from Yahoo or iTunes. I've tried foxy tunes and wine without much success. iTunes isn't going to work. Every time a good free iTunes client gets a following Apple go and alter the iTunes backend to defeat it. I got it working under Wine, but it was a painful experience I wouldn't recommend. * We've had some difficulty with video codecs. Channel nine or ten is using a codec which includes advertisements but only works for Windows Media Player 10+. Is that still true, both the sites seems to have moved to flash? What you need is the Windows codecs download from mplayer.org. This is blatant copyright infringement (a copy of the Windows DLLs), which is why they aren't in Livna. I've been toying with using vmware and running XP SP2, but I think that it would leave me with two systems to maintain rather than one. I may also have to buy a new machine (dual core) to meet the system requirements. If you want to play videos flowingly and access the USB port for the iPod you'd better happier with dual boot. VMWare and Fedora are not a happy mix. You might want two try KVM if you have a CPU with virtualisation features. Which can be checked by looking for output from egrep '^flags.*(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo Otherwise Qemu is nice but slow. -- Glen Turner -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Keeping wife on linux
My wife and I have a shared computer at home, however, I seem to be facing a loosing battle for her experiences with linux to remain pleasant. I am running fedora core 9 with additional packages from the Livna repository Some nuances: * We've not been able to find a way to purchase songs from Yahoo or iTunes. I've tried foxy tunes and wine without much success. * We've had some difficulty with video codecs. Channel nine or ten is using a codec which includes advertisements but only works for Windows Media Player 10+. * I've also played a few DVDs in MPlayer and other players and just get the "Downloading movies is stealing" on continuous repeat. Is there a distro which is more likely to work with proprietary codecs? Or am I just better to stick to FC or possibly Ubuntu and use 3rd party packages as i have been doing? I've been toying with using vmware and running XP SP2, but I think that it would leave me with two systems to maintain rather than one. I may also have to buy a new machine (dual core) to meet the system requirements. Any suggestions? -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Keeping wife on linux
Robert Barnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: My wife and I have a shared computer at home, however, I seem to be facing a loosing battle for her experiences with linux to remain pleasant. I am running fedora core 9 with additional packages from the Livna repository Some nuances: * We've not been able to find a way to purchase songs from Yahoo or iTunes. I've tried foxy tunes and wine without much success. You are extremely unlikely to succeed, and if you do I wouldn't expect that to last for long, since you have to circumvent the security of the software to run it under Linux. Being unable to buy the music may be bad, but I assure you that it will suck an awful lot /more/ when you lose access to it after laying out the money. Personally, I would seek one of the unencumbered vendors who will sell you music /without/ DRM, allowing you to use it on any platform. Your wife's millage may vary on that, though. * We've had some difficulty with video codecs. Channel nine or ten is using a codec which includes advertisements but only works for Windows Media Player 10+. * I've also played a few DVDs in MPlayer and other players and just get the Downloading movies is stealing on continuous repeat. You will probably find another media player is much better suited to DVD playback; I find Xine works well, but more or less anything but mplayer should be fine. On the other hand, you will have a lot more joy just using an appliance to play back the DVD, in my opinion. Is there a distro which is more likely to work with proprietary codecs? Other than the ability to license the Fluendo codecs, no. That would be because, other than that avenue, you are stealing the codecs, so you get no vendor support. https://shop.fluendo.com/ I can't vouch for the quality or utility of the Fluendo kit, or how well it might or might not integrate with your distribution. Or am I just better to stick to FC or possibly Ubuntu and use 3rd party packages as i have been doing? Well, Fedora Core is never going to satisfy your desire for non-free software, by policy. I doubt you would get /much/ more joy out of Ubuntu, although I understand that licensing the Fluendo codecs is possible there. I've been toying with using vmware and running XP SP2, but I think that it would leave me with two systems to maintain rather than one. Also, unless you want to pay for the commercial VMWare Workstation then video playback under Windows is unlikely to satisfy you. I may also have to buy a new machine (dual core) to meet the system requirements. I can't really see why that would be needed. Any suggestions? If your wife isn't willing to accept the trade-offs of running Linux then you are unlikely to satisfy her easily -- because what she wants are (in my opinion) the short term convenience options: For example, buying DRM encumbered music from the stores you mention is easy under Windows, and only hurts later when (say) Walmart shut down their DRM servers and you lose access to your collection. In any case, my response would be to shrug, and let her purchase a computer and license all the desired Windows software out of whatever discretionary spending she has. That way she can decide if these conveniences are worth the thousands of dollars it will cost her to achieve. Regards, Daniel -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
