[Gllug] frustrated with Linux

[Adam Bower]

On Sat, Mar 01, 2003 at 12:49:45AM -0000, Steve Nicholson wrote:
> applications to replace what I was doing on Windows.  The big problem
> I'm finding and reason for this evenings rant is that I have come to the
> realisation that I'm spending too much time trying to get things to work
> rather than using the PC as a tool for working.

heh, I recently had a hard disk failure and and only have windows atm (I only
use it for games) as I was running Debian testing and havn't downloaded the
latest jigdo images. I could reverse most of your rant against windows too, I
can't wait to get Debian (testing) back. :)

> composing a new one.  All the gecko based browsers now seam to crash
> that regularly that I've almost given up using them and constantly fear

This could be a motivation to try debian testing, I found all of the Gecko
browsers to be a bit unstable in the last stable release.

> I haven't managed to get printing working, still need to sort out
> someway to keep my contacts so I can access them quickly with out having
> to convert them multiple times for the client I'm using, the F-ing PC is
> still randomly locking up and rebooting itself (this must be software as

Have you checked all of your hardware? RAM? PSU etc. I have run Debian for
weeks on a desktop doing many things. It is incredibly unlikely to be software
in general, is there any particular application etc. that is causing this?

> again).  I like apt-get but find it frustrating when the latest versions
> aren't available of packages or the dependencies screw up other things I
> have set up.

Try testing, its very stable and a good compromise on the desktop, I run stable
on my servers (with a couple of packages from testing) and testing on the
desktop, I noticed the other day that I was running unstable on the laptop with
no problems for over 6 months now, although I am going back to testing for my
sanitys sake :)

> As much as I hate it I am seriously considering moving back to windows
> because things just work most of the time when I want to print, play a
> sound, look at an image open/close a window on a new app etc. I don't

Hmmmm, my windows machine will reliably crash if i try to print but have
forgotten to turn the printer on :/

> 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?

I would upgrade to testing for now, see if it fixes problems and if you are
still having a really bad time of it try Redhat at least its a kind of "defacto
standard" so generally lots of people may have the same problems with it as you
are having, from personal experience Mandrake could be a good experience for
you but I have seen far to many problems with things like supermount not 
working on certain machines (for no real discernable reason) and certain other 
things breaking dependant on hardware and the machine it is running on etc. 
Although you may want to give it a try I found as a newbies distro it was far
to unreliable straight out of the box.

If you have invested time in Debian so far I would try testing, its really 
good on the desktop and I fail to see a really good motivation yet to move 
away from it until you have at least tried out what testing has to offer.   

Oh and to try and configure printing, what is your printer? you could try
apt-get install lprngtool when you have upgraded to testing it sounds rather
good. Especially as its based on Redhats printtool which IIRC is the default
Redhat printermangler.

> 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).

Upgrade to testing and try both, for a morning each at least just to get a feel
of them and see if they are any better, if they do run really slow then looking
at what your machine is doing (use the commands top and free to see what the
cpu is doing and ram etc.) and consider spending a few quid on upgrades.

> 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.

500Mhz may be a bit slow for Gnome and KDE, what gfx card do you have and hard
disk? if they are slow too it could make a difference to the whole system
really. Also do you have anything running in the background that is unneeded?
It could be your machine is running lots of Daemons that you don't need sucking
up valuable resources. Personally I wouldn't upgrade the machine until I knew
that the hardware was creaking and needed upgrading, TBH windows 2000 seems far
slower on my desktop (Athlon XP 1700+ with 512MB of RAM and a quick IBM disk
and Nvidia geforce 4 gfx) than a debian desktop.

> 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

sorry I can't help here.

After reading what you have said I would give debian testing a go, try
lprngtool to try and get your printer configured and working. Try and work out
if you machine is running slowly due to a lack of resources or something else
etc. Try out the newer KDE and Gnome you can always go back to ION if they
don't do it for you. If you find Debian is still not being very nice try Redhat
and Mandrake. If all of these fail try windows, hopefully you will be full of
windows rants within a week and want Debian back ;)

Adam
PS I just noticed how many times I advocated Debian testing, 7 in total I think
I like it :)
-- 
"Step away from the Cathedral, This Bazaar is loaded"
jabberid = quinophex at jabber.earth.li

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