It's been thirty days (I had a few late work days so the math is a little fuzzy) and this is my first time back on a MS Windows machine. Lets talk about what I've learned and done with Ubuntu 6.1 Linux. I installed it on two computers, a desktop and a laptop. I managed to get 95% of all my hardware working on both machines but it was a fight (more later). The only real problem I had was with a scanner and these are cheap enough to replace.
My over all opinion of Linux was good, not great, not wow, but good. The good things that stick out to me were the application add/remove programs with the Internet updates, the highly customizable desktop, and the nice way Linux handles multiple users. The bad I remember was the command line and the way Linux felt like MS Windows 98 (Windows over DOS). It felt like I was working on two different OS's, one a pretty point and click windows system and the other an ugly command line back end. Ubuntu Linux makes me think of “The Wizard of Oz”, “Ignore the man behind the curtains, I am the great and powerful Oz”, Ubuntu puts a pretty face (windows) on the ugly truth (command line).
I found almost all the applications that I was looking for except a good graphics editor. There is no Photoshop equal in the Linux world (or the mac or windows world either). GIMP is ok but it is not Photoshop. Firefox rules, OpenOffice is great, Evolution was outstanding and Rythmbox did everything I asked it too. I ripped CD/DVD's and burnt them back. I converted the audio/video files to different formats. I edited the imported video, I did work (word processing, spread sheets, ect) with easy. I kept up on my podcasts and moved things around with flash drives. I accessed MS Windows network shares, connected the two Linux machines through Linux shares, and remote desktoped everything to and from everything else. It was a good experience and I enjoyed myself.
The sad thing is my worse experience was with the "old guard" Linux Users. Not newbies or general users, it was the "founders". Their “totally free or not at all” attitude is holding Linux back to the point where the community will not grow, and when new users do show up asking why it can't be easier, we're greeted with “you don't matter, your just a stupid newbie”. If you ask a question from one of these “zealots” you are berated for not knowing the answer and told to figure it out yourself or switch back to MS Windows because the Linux Community doesn't need or want you. I came very close to just giving up because of this. I had trouble with graphic drivers and wireless networking because these “zealots” don't thing you should use non-open source drivers even if they are better, free, and gets your hardware to work. They are perfectly happy forcing their moral choices onto you even if it means that Linux stays stuck in the 1990's.
The biggest question is “Will I keep Ubuntu Linux on the Laptop”? The answer is a simple “yes”. Will I remove MS Windows from any of my other personal computers? No. Would I recommend Linux to be installed on any or all of my work machine? No.
As it stands right now, Linux is a nice “hobby” OS but is not universal enough for the business workstation, until something is done with the “zealots” who sacrifice functionality and compatibility for personal moral choices Linux will remain the THIRD OS behind Microsoft and Apple and be treated as a geeky elitist hobby OS .
There is some hope, on one of the news groups, I notice that Ubuntu in their next release will be including the non-open source graphic drivers. I think this will help attract new users and that will be good for Linux.
Anyone who is on this page trying to get MEDIA (mp3, wma, divx, ect.) or GRAPHICS CARDS to work, visit the link on my menu to the right labeled "WHAT UBUNTU LEFT OUT"
For all those who helped me and gave me advice, I would like to say "thank you" and to those "old guard zealots" I hope you "bend" just a little and get the community growing because without you there would be no Linux. It's been fun, I enjoyed the challenge and I now count myself as a new full fledge Linux user.
Written November 30, 2006.
13 comments:
Okay, which was I?
I thought of you as a standard user. The people that were killing me are the one's who write code for the OS. You are the one who pointed me to Automatix which fixed most of my problems. The "old guard" would have never pointed me to Automatix, they would have told me to use open source alternatives or just don't do it at all.
I think you and I agree, the non-open source hurts Linux but with out it Linux will not grow big enough to demand changes in the large companies that do non open source stuff.
I would like to have a choice on the Install, "Just make it work the best way possible" or "use nothing but Open Source" with trade offs.
With these choices people who just wanted it to work would start using it and as they learned they could switch.
I think it's backwards right now. You start off with the problems and have to figure out how to fix them. This turns many newbies off.
BTW, even though I'm using my MS Windows machines again, I'm writing this on a Linux box.
Thought you'd like to know.
I thought of you as a standard user. The people that were killing me are the one's who write code for the OS. You are the one who pointed me to Automatix which fixed most of my problems. The "old guard" would have never pointed me to Automatix, they would have told me to use open source alternatives or just don't do it at all.
I think you and I agree, the non-open source hurts Linux but with out it Linux will not grow big enough to demand changes in the large companies that do non open source stuff.
I would like to have a choice on the Install, "Just make it work the best way possible" or "use nothing but Open Source" with trade offs.
With these choices people who just wanted it to work would start using it and as they learned they could switch.
I think it's backwards right now. You start off with the problems and have to figure out how to fix them. This turns many newbies off.
From my favorite newsgroup, alt.comp.freeware:
Subject: Re: OK, I'm ready...for Linux
From: Stuzz
Newsgroups: alt.comp.freeware
"Bear Bottoms" wrote in
news:op.tjzxa3wbjo4m88@c57jw11:
> OK, I'm going to do it. What is the best single installation
> version/type of Linux for permanent installation. I'm going to wipe
> the hard drive of a spare computer I have (P4-1.8gig) Dell. So I
> will need a bootable Linux installation CD/DVD.
>
> Let's see how seemless this is going to be. I will report the
> progress.
>
Speaking of progress reports... http://my30daysoflinux.blogspot.com/
This is an excellect blog from a "long time Windows user". As you'll read
in the blog, he turned off all his Windows boxes and used Ubuntu
exclusively for 30 days (the 30 days of November (last month) to be exact).
If you decide on Ubuntu, I think this will give you a great overview of
what to expect.
Good luck Bear.
Regards
Stuzz
Good wrap-up to a good documentation on your Linux experience. And with the quote El Gee posted, I think I'm right when I said your blog would be a good resource for people who want to try their luck.
Where do you go from here? Will you keep blogging and if so, does it stay here or will you move on to another site?
If you get the itch to try out the Mac OS I'll be waiting to read about it :-)
I have already experimented with Mac OSX (I think I blogged it... right after Katrina) when I revived a Mac Cube for a Katrina family last year. It was a good learning experience taking a Mac Cube that would not work and troubleshooting it (It had a bad stick of memory) and reloading it and getting it hooked up to a network.
OSX is actually Unix with a very pretty window manager...so nice a command line is not needed, but is available.
Knightmare, where is the archive for your blog? I finally managed to get Ubuntu working on the Gateway Solo and I want to read up on your opening days with the OS. When I tried to research your blog, there was no archive options for November/December. I can't remember if this is something you can deactivate and I'm not in the mood to search settings. If it's a glitch I'm sure it'll pop up later.
The old Linux heads you ran into in the newsgroups actually do have an agenda: thay are scared to death that Linux will become popular enough and user friendly enough to challenge Windows. That's why they act the way they do.
Look at what has happened: Microsoft signs some kind of deal with Novell, and immediately proclaims that Linux is using Microsoft's intellectual property, and that users are likely to be sued. They knew this would eventually happen: they knew that, if Linux becomes a big enough threat to Microsoft, that the big bully would resort to this kind of thing. They don't want this.
The old guard wants to fly under the radar, and be largely ignored. All these new Windows-like distros and new users flocking to Linux are foiling their plans. Attracting WAY too much attention.
I can't say that I blame them. They've earned their stripes, so to speak, and resent all these know-nothing newbies crowding in, who clamor for more Windows-like interfaces, and don't show the respect by learning the basic command line interface first.
A poor metaphor, but isn't it kind of like illegal aliens crowding in and demanding that everything be served to them in their native language, without doing anything to gain any credibility first?
I'm a Linux newbie myself, but I have learned something very valuable from your experience - I'll learn without asking help, until I'm qualified to assist someone else myself.
Interesting analogy, and I tend to agree. I can imagine those new to the Linux game (me especially) wanting things to go smoothly and have things look and feel familiar. If I were one of the old guard I'd be wary and admittedly defensive of what "I" had built.
I now think it's only fair that people like me make more of an effort to learn the ways of Linux. If that means learning more command line features, I'm up to the challenge. It's hard to shake the Windows mentality, and I'm sure I'll have plenty of relapses, but for the sake of learning other methods I think it's best to adopt a "When in Rome" mindset.
Rycherox, I don't think I have any archive. I have the blog set to not archive and show everything.
Where to next? I think I will Let this blog stand with one additional post with links to anything else I do Linux related. (or maybe Mac)
Anonymous, I am a big believer in figuring things out for yourself too. I think you are right with the "under the radar" comment but I think they like having the knowledge and power that comes with it and don't want others to take it from them. They are the Alpha dogs growling at the young pups.
Right just read through your 30 days and have left some (hopefully useful) comments at pertinent points along the way e.g. avoiding re-downloading.
I've been installing Linux for a few years now but still mainly use Windows. I started with Redhat 5.x and quickly switched to Mandrake which at the time was considered the best for Windows users. Over the years i have seen linux come on in leaps and bounds when i first installed it I was editing obscure config files in the shell with X-Windows refusing to run (I am a Unix developer and have done some administration work on a few HP-UX boxes) and whilst I was able to eventually get it working smoothly by booting between Windows and Linux to find solutions and download extra files etc. I wouldn't have been able to do so without my Unix experience. Skip forward to the present and my last update which was Mandriva 2006 Free. the setup worked flawlessly, it detected all my drives including card reader, X-Windows, KDE my preferred desktop and various other stuff including basic multimedia functionality worked without me needing to edit lots of config files or recompile various stuff from source. Basically it has come on leaps and bounds but I still don't think its ready for the average user becaue when things do go wrong you soon end up knee deep in the shell and most of todays users simply aren't used to and quite reasonably don't want to use command lines for what should be relatively normal tasks.
Unfortunately Linux s still very under-represented in certain software areas. A few years back i wanted to install some dictation software on my then linux only box for my elderly mother to use. I discovered the free Linux version of IBM ViaVoice and found information on how to get it working in British English as it only came with US language files. Unfortunately this didn't work that well, required files of a discontinued and impossible to find Windows version if you wanted the other language files and required me to jump through a lot of hoops to get it running. (Ironically i got them off a cover disk which had the required old Windows version of the software from which to copy them on after I had given up upgraded to a newer machine and installed Windows for this reason). Also if you want to play major release games you need a Windows box. This is not to ay that for many users Linux isn't already good enough for desktop usage if they have the right hardware and want to perform certain tasks but the choices are not as wide ranging and comprehensive all the time.
Linux zealots and fan boys as with those of all OS'es are a scourge of the net. They remind me of my early days on the Internet where FTP and usenet were dominant and the beginning of the WWW where almost everyone around was a techie to a certain degree and hence in order tto do anything required a knowledge of obscure command lines. Those days are gone and now anyone can use the Internet without a high level of technical competency. linux is in the transition from a tech savy user base with a large number of Gurus and most users being techies to a more general user base with lots of naive users and these to groups aren't particularly compatible as one expects everyone to have RTFM'd, googled and finally either worked it out through trial and error or have a question worthy of their time whilst the latter just want things to work without hassle.
After reading your blog to try and assess what you thought of Unbuntu and if it was worth a look at as a replacement to mandriva, I am not sure Unbuntu or its KDE sibling has anything to offer over my existing distro. You seemed to have encountered similar problems and the solutions are similar and i may not benefit that much from its purported increased ease of use over Mandriva. Finally as work is beginning to shift from HP-UX to Red-Hat Linux a red-Hat based distro such as my current one may prove more useful in terms of transferable skills between home and the workplace (I already get a call when people run into problems as some know I run Linux at home albeit as well as Windows).
Thanks for the blog, hopefully it will let new users know the benefits and pitfalls of Linux. good luck on whatever platform or platforms you find yourself using in the future.
Great journey. Well written and focused, and I really enjoyed the tasks that you set a schedule with.
I've been using Linux for about three years now, and a good part of the excitement is how much changes and improves in three years; the other half is how much you learn about the system. I've primarily used KDE (its too cool to try something else!), however, so to read about your experiences in GNOME is a learning experience for me as well.
I found it particularly interesting to read about your analogy of GNOME/Linux with Win98/DOS. It is true that the GUI is a covering for the command line. It has more benefits than drawbacks for the experienced user, and once a machine is set up it'll likely rarely be needed for an average user.
In regards to FREE SOFTWARE vs Freeware, there is a big difference, but its in the licensing. A new user probably doesn't care, but one who falls in love with GPL'd software cares quite a bit. The 7.04 release of Ubuntu will more than likey bring in new users as it includes more proprietary drivers for their use.
Anyways, enough chat. Thanks again for the ride, and I'd love to read one of these about... hmm maybe Kubuntu (KDE) with the April 19th release of 7.04!
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