Linux, Still an Awkward Alternative (washingtonpost.com). washingtonpost.com - The choice of software to run our computers can get awfully depressing. On one hand, there's Windows XP -- expensive and woefully insecure, but it works on almost every machine out there. On the other, there's Mac OS X -- far more secure, but also expensive and restricted to Apple's own computers. [Yahoo! News - Technology]
This is really a sad state of affairs. I've used Microsoft products for 16 years now starting with MSDOS 2.01 and going through and including WinXP. NOT because it is my choice of companies to do business with, as I think MS is the biggest rippoff monopoly on the Planet; BUT, because it is easy to learn and use and affordable, at least one step at a time.
MAC's have only recently become affordable to the average user, even though you will still pay a bit more at purchase, AND, MORE for any Upgrades of hardware or software after purchase.
Linux is Affordable, most definetly; BUT, far from user friendly. Recently feeling that Linux had finally evolved into something that an advanced user could use I invested in a 2nd HD for my Dell P-III 700 mhz. I then bought a copy of Redhat 9, feeling it was the most widely used.
Well, it does work, and I have been able to use it; BUT, there are definetly Problems. 1st - I installed it as instructed after much research, on a Seperate HD from my Win2k pro. Installed GRUP on the Linux HD and setup the Pc to read ther linux HD 1st so I could choose with GRUB which O/S to use.
Well, the installation of Linux blew out my MBR on my win2k pro HD. So I setup linux and started using it. Initial usage has been acceptable, but there are apps in win2k that I need to use. I even installed a number of Open Source apps such as OpenOffice, and other equivelents or ports of apps I need.
Eventually I did need to reinstall my win2k pro. What a horror. Because I had installed win2k pro as an upgrade to winNT 4.0 I needed to reinstall winNT, then win2k pro, then reinstall ALL my applications programs. Well, that took an entire day. So then I had a working Linux and win2k system.
Well, I really wanted to give linux a good try. I installed a driver to allow me to access my win2k pro NTFS drives so I could access the data on them. That worked fine. I then installed WINE so I could run some windows apps in Linux, that worked fine. In fact I am running RadioUserland on Linux through Wine right now. So that worked fine.
But, I still want t be able to use both O/S's. Well, in using the Linux2NTFS driver eventually it corrupted my MBR on my win2k pro drive. So, I've been using Linux for the past month now exclusively. It is bearable with a number of drawbacks.
1. When I install, well actually compile, or make, an app in Linux, it puts it where it wants to, if I read fast enough I can see that USUALLY it will put bin files in the /usr/local/bin BUT, not always.
Linux also does NOT create a launcher on the desktop so I can just use the app. I have to find the appropriate bin or sh file and do this myself, sometimes with success sometimes not.
For instance, I installed HydraFax to be able to Fax documents from Open Office, like I can using WinFax Pro 10.0. Well I still can't get it to work even though it installed with NO errors.
The Networking/Internet access was easier to setup than on win2kpro, and I've found it to be a faster DSL connection than when I ran it in win2k Pro.
2. On Linux I installed an Apache/Mysql/Php distro put together by ApacheFriends, a group in Germany. On win2k pro I had installed Apache2Triad and it worked fine right out of the box. ApacheFriends Xampp/Lampp ALMOST works out of the box. Everything BUT, MYSQL works, and no matter what I've done I can NOt get MySql working ! I need this since most of the PHP apps I use NEED MySql, but they do work as far as they can with no db.
3. One of my biggest gripes with Linux though is that no matter what I do I can NOT get JAVA apps to run. I installed j2sdk1.4.2_04 just as I had in win2k pro. JavaWebStart WORKS ! BUT, I can NOT get regular apps to RUN ! I've manually updates the .bash .bash.profil;e and other config files that various people have advised me to do. I've Exported the PATH, I've even setup .sh files with the JAVA PATH manually written in. Nothing Works. I even did a 2nd install of JAVA, no change.
BUT, 1 really wierd thing that did happen. After doing all of the above, I have been ABLE to get JAVA apps with an installer to recognize and use my JAVA installation, AND to APPEAR as though they have successfully installed the APP. BUT, the APP will NOT run. I get main class not found and other errors that I 1st got when I started using Java in win2k pro, BEFORE I learned how to write classpaths.
I still think Linux is worth learning, I just wish it was a bit more user friendly.
I still need to use some apps in win2k pro, which means I have to 1st move all my data into Linux, so I do NOT have to use the LinuxNTFS driver. Then re-install winNT 4.0, then win2k Pro. I have decided to NOT use win2k pro for Internet access at all to just set it up so I can use MS Office and some other apps I really need to use.
Later this year I plan on purchasing a LapTop and have decided to purchase an Apple PowerBook. This way, even though its a lot of work, I will be able to use all 3 platforms, and use the BEST of each of them. I plan on putting a 3rd HD in my Desktop box, where ALL of my data will reside, so I can access it from any of the 3 platforms WITHOUT corrupting any of my O/S installations. Then putting a Firewall/Router on the desktop box between the DSL modem and the Ethernet card, so I can use any of the O/S 's I want for Internet access, or to interact with each other.
It's just that ALL of this SEEMS like a lot of WORK, and Expense to get the functionality I should be able to have with any 1 O/S platform. I still hate MS and will try diligenltly to use its products as LITTLE as I absolutely have to.
Curtis Seyfried
:lol: :lol:
I am overall quite a savy user, and can install and configure most any app, but this really has me stumped.
The one really GREAT thing that has come out of all of this is : My Radio Userland Weblog installation on win2k pro corupted and they could never get it fixed. So I threw away $39.95.
With Wine in Linux I have been able to install, configure and use Radio again ! !
