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Thread ID: 68765	2006-05-10 06:28:00	XP wins - no more linux for me....	sam m (517)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
453747	2006-05-11 05:15:00	i have to side with sam on this. i've killed a few distros that i've tried, i could never work out how to string the modem nor could i find anyway telling me how to get my ipx/spx networking to work :( not to mention the over kill of half baked apps. there was 3 different modem config progs and none had all the features. who needs 2 audio configs when one good one will do. it felt like a lot of people where making little apps to do only the features they want without anyone overseeing the project to get one app to do everything that is required.	tweak'e (69)
453748	2006-05-11 05:42:00	I also agree with SAM. All distro's should have a STANDARD install option which is identical to all others, so open source developers can be assured of a basic level of functionality. What sets the distro's apart in the future is; 1) Management tools 2) Additional programs 3) Support options 4) Upgrade options None of these options should effect the STANDARD that is adhered to. LINUX could then go mainstream, I believe. BTW: I have always stuck with one distro (SuSE) and been happy with it's options.	KiwiTT_NZ (233)
453749	2006-05-11 07:48:00	All distro's should have a STANDARD install option which is identical to all others, so open source developers can be assured of a basic level of functionality. What sets the distro's apart in the future is; 1) Management tools 2) Additional programs 3) Support options 4) Upgrade options LINUX could then go mainstream, I believe. And one other thing: DirectX support....	pctek (84)
453750	2006-05-11 08:05:00	And one other thing: DirectX support.... That is a big ask, and if anyone did attempt it, Microsoft would probably do their best to stop it.	Greven (91)
453751	2006-05-11 11:00:00	I also agree with SAM . All distro's should have a STANDARD install option which is identical to all others, so open source developers can be assured of a basic level of functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BTW: I have always stuck with one distro (SuSE) and been happy with it's options . When you can have a play with something debain based . . The simplicity of updating or adding software in debain is seriously impressive . I use Mepis, which is debian based and wow . . Theres only been one thing i've added that wasn't a simply a matter of search, point, click and provide root password . That was audacity which wasn't (yet) found in the debain repository's , so i had to get some lib for oggs before it would install, but the process wasn't too hard as it new exactly what was missing and was installed and running within about 10 minutes . I'm not trying to convert you as SuSE has a lot of positives, but i really do think debian have got the future of updates/installs sussed . Linux being linux there are many approaches tried at any one time, and natural selection allows the best options to survive . hopefully all distros have it running that simply in future	personthingy (1670)
453752	2006-05-11 19:32:00	The main frustrations I had with linux was the incosistencies of apps. Eg - Ubuntu does not have a native DVD player, Xandros does. Mepis has one of the best, if not THE best media player I have ever used (Amarok) but it doesnt play all formats. All versions were able to connect immediately to the net via my network but some could not see the XP box and some I could not see the linux box from XP. Yes with a bit of tweaking, lots of surfing, more experimenting, some crashes - I can make it work - but......I would then come across another problem. I once spent hours trying to get a nice smooth font on one distro, I couldnt do it so got rid of it. I like the concept of linux and the list I posted I have tried over a number of years. I would have to say that Xandros has been my favourite, I was even going to consider the paid version but from what I could see the main difference was the 'crossover', I was still not happy with the fact it took far longer to boot up than XP. I liken learning linux to learning a foreign language. The best way to learn a language is total immersion. The problem at the moment is that the language has not settled to an agreed uniformity. I liked the analogy that natural selection would eventually evolve to a standard but in my opinion that is still a few years away, hence why I will wait. Sam	sam m (517)
453753	2006-05-11 21:57:00	The problem at the moment is that the language has not settled to an agreed uniformity.I certainly hope it doesn't. Once that happens, you no longer have a choice. One of the many things that appeals to some are that every linux distro is different. What some dislike in one distro, they won't find in another.. so will stay with it. I personally can't stand Fedora for instance, but there are others liike Jen who love it. I think Mepis is an alright distro, but there are others who don't. And so on...	Myth (110)
453754	2006-05-11 22:08:00	Ubuntu does not have a native DVD player, Xandros does. Mepis has one of the best, if not THE best media player I have ever used (Amarok) but it doesn't play all formats. Correct me if I'm wrong but XP doesn't have a naitve DVD player does it? Don't you have to install WMP10? And what formats can't be played in Amarok if you have all the codec's installed? And are you saying that WMP can play all formats natively? Can you play .ogg format in WMP without adding extra codecs? All versions were able to connect immediately to the net via my network but some could not see the XP box and some I could not see the linux box from XP. Yes with a bit of tweaking, lots of surfing, more experimenting, some crashes - I can make it work Well all I can say here is that my Mandriva machine connected to the network and let me access my windows machines out-of-the-box. I regularly copy files from Linux machines to windows machines and vice versa. I once spent hours trying to get a nice smooth font on one distro, I couldn't do it so got rid of it. Again the Mandriva fonts are spot on right out-of-the-box. I was still not happy with the fact it took far longer to boot up than XP. XP does boot quickly I agree, but that's hardly a big issue, the difference between Mandriva and XP booting up is ony a few seconds. Mind you it's been several months since I've restarted my Linux box.	Mackin_NZ (6958)
453755	2006-05-12 00:42:00	its a pity that none of the distros ship with mencoder anymore - that was a great program.	Greven (91)
453756	2006-05-12 10:29:00	I'm with Mackin_nz. I've tried a few, some debian ones are/were a nightmare to install, the last debian 3.1 didn't even install a gui, now thats user friendly I don't think Fedora does keep up with the latest kde ect, but no multimedia support. But it is the only dist that has got my scanner going. SElinux gets me, things have been moved to funny places, I don't understand it & it buggers me around so I dumped it. Mandriva 2006 boots faster than my xp install & does everything except work the scanner. My only ***** is the audio & video quality is not as good as xp's. My xp install was giving me grief until I ran a zillion utilities through it & defragged it, it was 67% fragmented. Now it's good. When they standardise linux so as to making driver writing a simpler task I think it'll make a big difference. What about EFI replacing BIOS that's supposed to load drivers before the os is loaded which I take means the same drivers can be used for any os. So I swap between Mandriva & XP at will & keep all the files I want to access on a seperate hd so I can access from either os	Phil B (648)
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