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On Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:38:56 +0000 Terry Hill wrote: > > So stick to a distro and make it work. > > That's an option, it's ubuntu I like from what I've seen. I'll get > the server edition and try getting a desktop running over the top as > you suggested the other day. > > > I've not used anything other than Debian since 1995... I compile my > > own kernels to make hardware work and I'm not afraid of installing > > other software when neccessary. All distros give you a choice of > > window managers, just you need to know how to select it at install > > time (or run-time), so you never have to take the package > > maintainers versions if you don't want to. > > I've been using xp for years now, and apart from it's increasing > flakiness and susceptibility to viruses, and of course that it's > distributed by a megalomaniac corporate entity with the moral fibre of > a cuckoo, I know how to make it work. Generally by plugging things in > and turning it on, occasionally sticking a driver disk into a drive. Do you *really* know how to make it work? I don't know your background so I cannot comment on you personally, but I do know that Windows is actually a helluva lot more complex than many people give it credit for (frequently unnecessarily complex, but complex none the less) and there are a helluva lot of people who think they know how to make it work. > Case in point: I just gave Fedora a shot. Live CD works fine, > installed and the mouse doesn't work. Rebooted to the live CD, mouse > works fine, went back to install, now it doesn't. Doesn't exactly > instill confidence does it? Still things get better all the time and > Linux goes from strength to strength. Perhaps it's the little touches > like not having to arse around to get a bog standard usb mouse working > that will make the difference rather than the next killer filesystem > though. The question is: do you lay the blame for this at Linux's feet, at Fedora/RedHat's feet or at the manufacturer of the hardware. I can't tell you how much it cheeses me off to hear people claiming that Windows supports more hardware because 'it just works' when frequently it doesn't bloody work unless you install the drivers that the manufacturer supplied. Fair enough, a 'standard' USB mouse should most likely not cause problems for most recent systems. > As for me, I'll get there as I am determined to do so in the end, but > it's a steep learning curve sometimes so I'm glad of the group here > Apologies to all if I've asked too much too often though, I was just > trying to sneak Linux into the house without too much hassle as > mentioned in the other thread. Ask away. Nobody was born with understanding or knowledge of Linux (or Unix like systems, or any computer systems) so we were all new to it at one point. > > Wi-Fi did work under Mandrivel, so rather than just blow a new CD > > rom with a new distro, why not take the time to work out why it's > > not working now? > > Because it stopped working for absolutely no reason - as in there was > no perceivable cause for the effect. As a linux noob, I just don't > know where to start. Wifi might have stopped working because Mandriva > doesn't like my dress sense or taste in suet based desserts for all I > know. Do not be under the misguided impression that it is just Linux that suffers from "it just stopped working" problems, and it is not always evident what has caused the issue. Case point - at a previous employment, on of my bosses had a MacBook Air. Now this, he claimed, should work with any and all wireless network because "it was designed for wireless... it's really thin and light" (I know... I know). It would seem, however, that the version of Mac OS X that was running on his MacBook had a known issue... if the name of the computer is too long, it will sporadically disconnect from both WEP and WPA secured wireless networks. Now this guy's name was fairly long, and OS X (by default) names your computer along the lines of "XXXX's MacBook Air". Grant. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html