Jacques B. wrote:
If you check http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major, they
list the top 5 beginner friendly distros as:
1. Xandros Desktop
2. MEPIS Linux
3. Linspire
4. PCLinuxOS
5. Ark Linux
Jacques B.
Xandros is a marvel. I got a copy of the Open-Circulation edition free,
on CD, which came with a Linux magazine that I bought off a rack at
Barnes & Noble. The same mag included a free copy of Yoper (also on CD).
I tried them both. Xandros crawled into my box and went to work without
a hitch. It did EVERYTHING it's supposed to do. The boot loader's
performance is superb. The OS detected ALL of my hardware -- even the
stuff it can't actually use (my label printer, for example). All I had
to do was input my user info and my isp/modem-connection info, and to to
work. Problems weren't encountered until I tried to download service
packs and app updates, when the speed of my modem connection became a
prohibitive factor. I'll have to wait for broadband access before I can
resolve that issue. But given the performance of the OS to date, I have
no doubt that a broad-band connection will make the entire Xandros
system "a piece of cake."
Yoper, compared to Xandros, is a crippled piece of crap. Yoper brags
that their distro boots faster than any other. It does boot quickly
(though I'm not equipped to judge how quickly Yoper boots compared to
others), and that's about all it does, unless you're a Linux geek who
can get an Internet connection up and running with no help. On the other
hand, if you're the kind of person who wants to join a development
community, if you have a reliable system on one box and another box you
can put Yoper on, and if you're also technically savvy, then you can
join the Yoper community and give them a helping hand. They need one
very badly, as their Web site plainly shows.
Ubuntu, like Yoper, suffers badly in the hardware detection area. Ubuntu
crawled into my box blissfully, seemingly in its sleep, detected almost
none of my peripherals, and was therefore crippled when it awoke.
Internet connection and hardware detection in Ubuntu and in Yoper, I
believe, are for geeks only. With both Yoper and Ubuntu, I did what any
Windoze user would have done: I formatted the hard drives from a Windoze
CD and installed --
Fedora Core 5! Core 5 is beautiful to look at. Parts of it are beautiful
to use. Others are less than attractive. Hardware detection is a
failure. The system can't find my USB, hardware modem, no matter how
many times I plug the device in and unplug it. I'm working a thread
elsewhere on this list called "modem blues" and Antonio is working with
me to fix the problem -- but I'm pursuing that option (and typing this
message) in Windoze, because I can't connect to the Internet with FC5
(yet). I'm sure I can get the problem fixed on this list, but for all
that I have to say -- any Linux distro that requires new users to employ
the command line to resolve hardware issues is a failure, out of the box.
And I'll add that such failures seem inexcusable to me at this point.
I've been seeing Linux distros on the shelf in computer stores since
1994, at least. And if, after at 12 or more years in development, Red
Hat Linux still can't detect (not necessarily USE, but detect, at least)
every piece of 2-year-old, off-the-shelf hardware plugged into a
home-user's 2-year-old, generic PC system, then there's something very
seriously wrong at Red Hat. I admit that the situation is much improved
since I first tried Caldera Linux back in 1998, but "much improved" is
just not good enough. Hardware detection should be the FIRST priority of
any development team that hopes to achieve a large number of installs on
home desktops globally.
That's so simply because, with home users, any distro is garbage if it
can't detect and use Windoze hardware. Xandros fails for me because it
can't use my ($240) label printer. FC5 fails for me because it can't
detect my ($150) US Robotics voice-data-fax modem. I tried SuSE 8
Professional a couple of years ago and it, too, failed the
hardware-compatibility test. Not having tried SuSE 10 at this point, I'm
nevertheless already certain that it won't use all of my hardware.
New hardware is expensive, as everyone knows. So why should I spend a
hundred-odd dollars on a new laser printer to satisfy the demands of an
OS that I bought for $8.95 on e-Bay when Windoze 2k likes my old laser
just fine? I will do it because I'm bored with Windoze and feeling
adventurous, but 99.99 percent of Windoze users will not.
Now that I'm about to be attacked by a horde of people in Red Hats armed
with flamethrowers, I will don my asbestos suit and hunker down behind
my firewall. I'm sure I've pissed some of you off, but that really
wasn't my intent. This list has been most helpful for several days and I
hope to continue here.
Jimmy
