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Living Room / Re: Switching to Linux for a week
« Last post by Paul Keith on January 14, 2009, 06:43 AM »urlwolf, ironically I actually found it to be the reverse. Within a week's time I was in OS heaven. No antiviruses. Fast PC. Lots of distroes to try out. In and out, in and out constant shuffling of distroes. If you get into trouble LiveCD. Synaptic Package Manager. Wine. Printer drivers already in CUPS. Auto-detection of everything. Pre-loaded apps and then after that it was hell...
Found out you have to have a separate user folder or you're a sitting duck and indeed that time came when Linux failed to boot. Multiple errors possibly being due to multiple causes with endless reading of forum threads. No one to call on the phone for Linux help. (not actual tech support, acquaintances) Linux people in-fighting and even some people's elitism feeling like the anti-DonationCoder when you start to ask for help. Wine feeling more and more like a ticking time bomb than an end be all solution. Unstable abandoned open source apps suddenly becoming the only other alternative to Windows software emulation. CUPS sometimes eating memory. Flash eating memory. Newer and newer Windows apps becoming more and more like a constant productivity waste as you need to boot back to Windows only to try those apps...horrible horrible times.
Already I see the Linux Fear Patrol rearing it's head in the comments section of that article.
Their motto: Sure Linux was supposed to represent freedom of choice but we'd rather use our freedom of speech to keep you from making YOUR choices
Tsk. Tsk. I would quote further but someone already wrote a decent rebuttal:
I stop reading the comments eventually. This whole "average users don't install an OS" crap makes me want to vomit. If this were true why would Ubuntu have become the pioneer of spreading Linux to the desktop?
See? The problem here is that it isn't the Windows users spreading this lies. It's mostly the Linux community.
Go to your regular Linux blog asking for recommendations on which Linux distro to use and a swarm of Ubuntu-nites will consume the thread in a hailstorm of words that the only other distro you will often hear have enough recommendation is OpenSuse. (which I hate more than Ubuntu for aesthetic reasons)
Found out you have to have a separate user folder or you're a sitting duck and indeed that time came when Linux failed to boot. Multiple errors possibly being due to multiple causes with endless reading of forum threads. No one to call on the phone for Linux help. (not actual tech support, acquaintances) Linux people in-fighting and even some people's elitism feeling like the anti-DonationCoder when you start to ask for help. Wine feeling more and more like a ticking time bomb than an end be all solution. Unstable abandoned open source apps suddenly becoming the only other alternative to Windows software emulation. CUPS sometimes eating memory. Flash eating memory. Newer and newer Windows apps becoming more and more like a constant productivity waste as you need to boot back to Windows only to try those apps...horrible horrible times.
Already I see the Linux Fear Patrol rearing it's head in the comments section of that article.
Their motto: Sure Linux was supposed to represent freedom of choice but we'd rather use our freedom of speech to keep you from making YOUR choices
Most users will not try to install to an external drive. I think that “installing Ubuntu was hell” is your fault. My mom (computer illiterate) is using Ubuntu with no prior instructions and doing fine.
You’re taking a Mac-user mentality and applying it to Linux, which is a recipe for failure before you even start.
If you’re going to approach this half-cocked and not do a proper install, you need to make a bootable USB drive with Linux on it (made mind-numbingly easy as of Ubuntu 8.10) and set your BIOS to boot from that. There is no reason to try and do an install of ANY operating system in the way you have just described. Installing to an external drive and expecting the boot loader contained on ANOTHER drive to boot to it without being overwritten is just daft.
This is why people think Linux is so “hard to use” - because unless there’s an iApplication to take care of everything, they don’t know what they’re doing. Please engage brain before fingers.
Install windows to an external drive without instructions or issues or STFU about Ubuntu sux. Also insted of using your roommates pc boot Ubuntu from cd on yours no roommate needed and a good way to diagnose and repair your only pc.
The problem is that there is no operating system that will do what you are asking. Of course you’ll run into problems if you try to do this REGARDLESS of the operating system you are trying to install. If you had run a normal installation it would have probably worked right. I understand that you are just trying to insert the CD and get the system running but it’s not a magical operating system either because what you are trying to do is not a normal scenario.
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I’d like to see you try to install windows anything to that USB drive without destroying your bootloader. Or OSX. In fact, I’d like to see you try to install windows to your main drive without destroying your current bootloader. The ‘average’ user uses the operating system that came with their computer, so while you declare yourself to be an average user, you are /trying to change out your operating system, making you not an average user/.
You also specifically stated that your goal was to ignore documentation.
Say what?
There’s about a billion hits for ‘install ubuntu on usb drive’. It’s well documented. This reads very much like “Linux is hard, m’kay”.
FWIW, I do not currently run any linux machines.
Tsk. Tsk. I would quote further but someone already wrote a decent rebuttal:
“is you fault” - Post 1.
“which is a recipe for failure before you even start.” - Post 2.
“like Microsoft Office 2007 in Linux without any terminal hacking” - Post 3.
“to see if it actually works ?!?!?” - Post 4.
“I wouldn’t recommend most anybody to install Ubuntu” - Post 5.
“Another install option would be to use wubi” - Post 6.
You’ve *got* to be kidding me!!! Seems as if his approach and his goals were perfectly valid. Install Linux on an external hard drive and try it out for a week. This is the kind of fanboy flak he gets?
That’s rich.
Sure, it can do a million things. Sure, it’s highly configurable….he only wanted it to do 3 things. Install, work and not screw up his already working OS. You know….the one you all hate?
Turns out that after 2 tries, it didn’t do either one of the 3.
And it’s his fault?
You bash him?
That’s rich. Can you guys stop looking down on Windows users long enough to realize that most people want an OS that works, out of the box, and doesn’t mess up your already perfectly working setup without performing rocket surgery?
Is that a bit beyond your comprehension?
When Linux gets there, give me a call. Yes, I’ve installed it. Yes, this was a trip down memory lane, though. But, I’ve got a flash for the author. EVERY app you install is this way. And, the fanboys will blame you for not knowing what they know and doing it right to begin with.
Enjoy. I’ll check back in on your progress. Good Luck.
I stop reading the comments eventually. This whole "average users don't install an OS" crap makes me want to vomit. If this were true why would Ubuntu have become the pioneer of spreading Linux to the desktop?
Also, I wish she had tried something/anything other than Ubuntu. It's nice, but for all Windows users, please don't think that Linux = Ubuntu. It doesn't. Mepis, PCLinuxOS, sidux, and openSUSE all would have saved her from her Day One meltdown.-zridling
See? The problem here is that it isn't the Windows users spreading this lies. It's mostly the Linux community.
Go to your regular Linux blog asking for recommendations on which Linux distro to use and a swarm of Ubuntu-nites will consume the thread in a hailstorm of words that the only other distro you will often hear have enough recommendation is OpenSuse. (which I hate more than Ubuntu for aesthetic reasons)
