[Gllug] frustrated with Linux

[Jonathan Harker]

On Saturday March 1 2003 00:49, Steve Nicholson wrote:
> skip to questions at end if you don't want to read about my problems.

<rant about Linux being too fiddly>

Firstly, can I just say I sympathise to an extent! However, here are some 
random points, before I get to your questions:

1. I would suggest (with my asbestos jacket on) that Debian is too fiddly, for 
someone starting out, to use as a desktop workstation. [insert usual 
disclaimer about those with relevant experience, etc]

2. (I may have misinterpreted your general feeling) You can't complain too 
bitterly about things being complicated to set up, when you're avoiding the 
stuff that is developed specifically to make your life easier and get your 
work done quickly with minimal setup (eg. friendly GUIs like KDE, Gnome, 
Mozilla, gui frontends for config files, etc). Of course, the tradeoff is 
often [another disclaimer: but not always] bloat/speed (which is why you've 
been persuing alternatives due to the 500MHz CPU...?)

3. May I humbly suggest Mandrake? 99.9% of the time, you install it, and it 
finds everything, and usually Just Works. It even includes some 
(comparatively no-frills, but functional) wizards to get things set up. I've 
found it to be a great introduction to Linux, and now that I've figured a few 
things out I would like to move to Debian, LFS or Gentoo (or a similar 
self-compiling distro).

4. You can make life even easier for yourself by making sure your hardware is 
bog standard common stuff that is likely to be supported (eg. SoundBlaster 
cards, etc - this is a whole separate topic!)

5. In hindsight, I probably would never have bothered if I had had to use 
Debian by myself. In fact, the only reason I got started in the first place 
is because my brother Steve installed Mandrake for me as I watched, and then 
demonstrated burning a CD, downloading something, compiling something else, 
processing a seti unit and playing an MP3 in xmms with some fancy OpenGL 3D 
plugin, all at once. I couldn't see Windows doing all that on a Duron 800. 
(Thanks Steve! :-)

> So some questions:
> 1. Would I be better moving to something like Suse or Mandrake on the
> desktop so it's simpler to get printing working, be able to install
> latest apps etc? Or stick with Debian, upgrade to testing and try to use
> some of unstable?

Yes. My suggestion is Mandrake 9. It has a large % of the desktop Linux 
market/mindshare, so there's loads of help, forums (fora?), etc. I can't 
comment on other distros as I have little experience with them.

> 2. Using Gnome or KDE so there is consistency in apps/key bindings?
> (speed is an issue here which is why I've been using ION and moved to
> MUTT for mail).

Yes, if your priority is to just get things done with the minimum of fuss, 
which it seems like it is. You can reconfigure all your KDE key bindings to 
be whatever the hell you like (not sure about Gnome). Unfortunately, you 
might have to upgrade your CPU though.

> 3. Would a faster computer help?  I'm currently using a 500Mhz AMD with
> 196Mb RAM, my main reason for not using openoffice is it's too slow,
> same with mozila, GIMP etc.  Although this in mainly opening new windows
> or rendering large pages but then this is what I'm doing a lot.

That 500 MHz AMD you mention, is that a K62-500, or one of the first Athlons 
(Slot A)? You may have to bite the bullet and get a mb/cpu upgrade, eg. 
Socket A/Duron (probably about 200 quid - sorry can't find the pound symbol 
on this US kb!). If you're doing a lot of graphic design, you may have to 
bump up your ram too. Luckily, 512mb ram is darn cheap these days - I got 
2x256 sticks a month ago for $180NZ (about 60 quid).

> 4. Any ideas of a free SIP client for Linux and Windows that are
> compatible? I need to find something that works through a firewall for
> voice so I can still talk to my dad in NZ and ditch Yahoo messenger or
> find a way to run it in Linux.  This is my main reason for keeping a
> windows box round at the moment other than for testing IE on sites.  I
> thought I had it sorted by running exceed on my Laptop so I could use it
> as a terminal for my Linux PC from my bedroom and still access to Yahoo
> but it keeps F crashing (not sure if it's win95 problem or exceed).
> </rant off>

Not sure what you mean... have you tried getting Yahoo Messenger working in 
wine? I've managed to get Sibelius and Trillian running ok. The codeweaver's 
wine preview works well (barring idealogical concerns).

> Thanks for listening.
> Steve.

Glad to be of any help!
Luv Jon

-- 
Jonathan Harker
www.jonathanharker.co.uk


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