[Sussex] Two operating systems & one camera...

[Gavin Stevens]

My stepson asked if I would get the pictures from his digital camera
onto a computer.

I installed the necessary software onto Windows 98 on Tracy's machine &
restarted twice (once for each app).

Once restarted & back on the desktop I connected the camera to the USB
port & the camera very nicely went into "USB mode". Less than two
seconds after this, Windows crashed - heavily.

Eventually, I resorted to the reset button & it re-booted. I connected
the camera once more & Windows this time said that it had seen the
device, but Windows explorer refused to show it. After a while, some
Epson photo manager/printing software popped up & offered its services.
Good job it did 'cos nothing much else was happening. Total time: nearly
15 minutes.

Later, intrigued by this wonderful experience, I booted Tracy's PC into
Debian & connected the camera. A USB icon immediately appeared, followed
by a cheery box saying that this USB device seemed to have photos on it
& would I like to copy them onto my hard drive? Total time: less than 10
seconds.

From this point on, I will not accept & indeed will argue against the
view that Windows is easier or more user friendly than Debian. This is
but the latest in a series of directly comparable events where Debian
has been quicker, nicer & just got on with it.

Gavin.