In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Clogwog
<BWAHAHAHAAA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:56:17 +0100
<20061219185619.AA45B7000085@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Mark Kent wrote:
>> begin oe_protect.scr
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> Why now is the best time to switch to Linux
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>> In the distant past Linux was the play toy of a group of
>>>> hobby-hackers...
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately, the "hard to use" stigma stuck with Linux. Even today
>>>> it still exists. I would say it is the major inhibition when
>>>> considering a switch to Linux. People are afraid of change. They
>>>> don't want to learn a new OS, commands, and file system. I
>>>> completely understand, but I believe that has all changed.
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://www.newstance.com/2006/12/18/why-now-is-the-best-time-to-switch-to-linux/
>>
>> It's a wonderful piece of FUD, isn't it? You pay a lot of people to
>> fill the internet and to tell everyone they know how difficult
>> something is, in over time, it's inevitable that those who do not
>> know will fall for the "majority must be right" fallacy.
>>
>>> Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
>> I will make you shorter by the head.
>
> When you pull your head out of Roy Schestowitz ass first, but that's not
> going to happen, isn't it?
It is indeed relatively difficult, comparatively speaking,
to set up a machine to use Linux.
Linux:
[1] Pick a distro. www.distrowatch.org of course assumes
that one can actually *browse* the Web -- requiring an
existing system. One could research at the library,
perhaps (either online or through magazines), but it is
an issue. Most people will probably pick one of the
top 5, if not the topmost one, which is currently Ubuntu.
A Google search for "Linux installation" throws one at
http://www.linux.org/docs/beginner/install.html which
appears biased towards RedHat but is probably as good a
place to start as any.
The checklist has some interesting quirks, probably because
it is designed both for the hobbyist/self/installer for
his own hardware, and for the individual who is about to
install Linux on someone else's machine (in which case,
he'll probably want to establish a comfort level on how
the machine gets set up, maintained, and if necessary
upgraded for his client -- and that depends on his client,
which could be Grandma, the kid next door, or the hardcore
techie gamer who knows every bit and byte in his hardware).
[2] Burn the distro, or arrange shipment. Libraries do
not come equipped with CD burners AFAIK. A friend might
help here, or one can go with Cheapbytes or maybe Ubuntu.
[3] CD in hand, one can now install. Most modern PCs
can boot from CD, if one fiddles a bit with the BIOS.
Of course one has to know how to *get* to the BIOS,
which among other things might require reading the boot
screen carefully.
[4] One is now in the installation subsection, picking
through various options (among them partitioning, which
might be a very interesting problem if the OEM decided to
put the OS in a single partition). At this point, Linux
installation is now easy enough -- BUT it still *needs to
be done*!
[5] Boot into Linux, and there you are -- if you've done
everything else right.
(It could be worse. I still have part of a 30-floppy
Slackware set. Not sure how complete it is; I don't
keep good track of floppies. For its part Debian
can be booted by using about 8 floppies and a lot of
downloading; it's great for seeding Gentoo installs, if
one has nothing else. :-) )
Contrast this to Windows:
[1] Plug in, you're good to go.
That is the power of preinstallation, augmented by the US's
tendency for instant gratification (which is beyond the
scope of this newsgroup of course). Granted, there are
vendors out there which will do the hard work for you --
for a price. Interestingly, HP is now offering a t5725
thin client running Debian for $450 base price; this has
a AMD Geode NX 1500, 512 MB flash, and 256 MB DDR RAM.
Apparently this is a low-power unit (6W, compared to a
Pentium IV's (Prescott) 100W) running at a maximum speed
of 1 GHz. Reasonably good for some businesses but the
homeowner will probably want something a little beefier.
I'll admit I like that notion, though -- Debian is one of
the "freeest" distributions out there, and one can wipe
it without too much remorse. However, it appears slightly
overpriced, although it sounds like a very quiet unit since
there's no disk drive as such, and power-miserly as well.
For its part Dell offers some workstations with RH
Enterprise preinstalled, but the cheaper units get a
FreeDOS disk and maybe a "good luck; it's yours" letter.
(I'll admit I'm tempted to buy one just to see how far one
can actually get. If the provided FreeDOS disk includes
a browser and burner software, with burner hardware,
one might actually get a fair distance. Of course this wouldn't
exactly be my first PC anyway -- that was long ago. :-) My
other machine can burn Ubuntu or Gentoo, no problem -- and
already has, in fact.)
There's a few other issues with Windows, which are
related to its relative insecurity; if one's lucky, one
can download anti-viral products and requisite patches
while sitting naked on the Web.
If not...well, it's been nice knowing you, OS; you're 0wn3d.
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Q: "Why is my computer doing that?"
A: "Don't do that and you'll be fine."
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
|
|
