[Preston] Linux failure

[Dougie Nisbet]

On Tuesday 17 August 2004 17:02, J Howarth wrote:
> Hello Linux Users.  I have installed Mandrake 10.0 from three CDs from the
> front of Linux Format magazine,It will not recognise my sound card / modem
> / network card/ nor epson stylus 600 colour printer,or my digital camera.  
>  I have now unistalled Mandrake and installed Fedora Code 2, from two CDs
> from the Linux format magazine,result ---same problems as Mandrake.As a
> possible new user of Linux how on earth am I supposed to get all the affore
> mentioned components to work,It looks very complicated to get the correct
> drivers.also if I get the drivers in zip form,how do I install them.  with
> Windows xp it's very easy for not very expert users of the computer.      
> I think if Linux is to succeed with inexperienced Home users it will have
> to be easier to install and update drivers etc for all the attached
> equipment.      I may give up before I have started with Linux!     Help!  
> Jack   senior citizen,  Freckleton.

Hi Jack,

You'll need a whole different approach for Linux. There's no denying that in 
general you'll find it easier to install Microsoft Windows and have more 
success with getting your hardware automatically recognised. Linux has come 
along leaps and bounds in ease and simplicity of installation and hardware 
recognition but it's still likely to through up problems. 

I don't know if you're trying to move from XP to Linux or whether you've 
partitioned your harddrive to dual boot. If I were you I'd make sure you 
still had an XP bootable machine and had either another PC, or a linux 
partition on your existing one so that you can dabble and learn with Linux. 
You'll end up very frustrated if you abandon XP and find you can't do things 
in Linux that you could do in XP.

Another thing you could try is a distribution that runs directly from CD. 
Knoppix is the one that springs to mind. Knoppix has good hardware 
recognition and is a good taster for linux. It's based on the 'debian' 
distribution.

I think you need to break down your installation problems into more manageable 
chunks and people will help you a bit at a time. Post the error messages and 
people will have something to go on. Also there are the busier Mandrake 
newsgroups which are probably worth checking out. You'll need to treat Linux 
as a bit of an adventure and an opportunity to learn about Linux. If you want 
a straightforward Microsoft substitution then, despite what the linux 
evangelists tell you, Linux is not for you.

Dougie