07-11-2005, 10:43 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 420
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For myself, I had been interested in trying out Linux for quite a while, but until recently I only had 1 partition on my hard drive, and I didn't want to buy a nondestructive repartitioning program to try out Linux. Anyway, my laptop's hard drive died a few months ago, so when I bought a new one, I made myself a 20-ish GB partition for Linux and installed FC3 (the latest release at the time) there.
It seemed to work pretty well, and it even recognized most of my hardware automatically. Unfortunately, it didn't recognize my WiFi PC Card out of the box, so I had to look for drivers. I did find them, but then I found out that I had to compile them; it never worked right, even though I eventually found directions on exactly what steps are necessary to compile and install them. Anyway, after starting at command lines for several hours, I eventually lost interest, and have generally stopped using FC since then.  ops: (I still do have it installed though...)
The moral of the story? I consider myself to be a very knowledgeable computer user, but this was the first time I had seriously used Linux. If it was this difficult for me, then in my opinion the Linux community has a pretty long way to go before they can convert average Windows users en masse...
One thing that did happen when I was using Linux was that I got interested in switching to a non-Microsoft operating system. Linux seemed more fresh and interesting than Windows, where I deal with all the same annoyances that I've dealt with for years. This is why I'm now considering getting a Mac...  |
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07-12-2005, 05:47 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 795
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Hyperluminal
For myself, I had been interested in trying out Linux for quite a while, but until recently I only had 1 partition on my hard drive, and I didn't want to buy a nondestructive repartitioning program to try out Linux. Anyway, my laptop's hard drive died a few months ago, so when I bought a new one, I made myself a 20-ish GB partition for Linux and installed FC3 (the latest release at the time) there.
It seemed to work pretty well, and it even recognized most of my hardware automatically. Unfortunately, it didn't recognize my WiFi PC Card out of the box, so I had to look for drivers. I did find them, but then I found out that I had to compile them; it never worked right, even though I eventually found directions on exactly what steps are necessary to compile and install them. Anyway, after starting at command lines for several hours, I eventually lost interest, and have generally stopped using FC since then. ops: (I still do have it installed though...)
The moral of the story? I consider myself to be a very knowledgeable computer user, but this was the first time I had seriously used Linux. If it was this difficult for me, then in my opinion the Linux community has a pretty long way to go before they can convert average Windows users en masse...
One thing that did happen when I was using Linux was that I got interested in switching to a non-Microsoft operating system. Linux seemed more fresh and interesting than Windows, where I deal with all the same annoyances that I've dealt with for years. This is why I'm now considering getting a Mac... |
I never knew about Linux until a few years ago. It definitely is eye candy though. There is some cool in Linux that would be cool to see in Windows...but there are already apps out there that give the same effect. |
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07-12-2005, 06:12 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 420
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Wait, eye candy in Linux? Which distro?
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07-14-2005, 08:54 AM
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07-15-2005, 01:54 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 795
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Hyperluminal
Wait, eye candy in Linux? Which distro?
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Well so far, to me Ubuntu looks cooler than Windows...but I remember a few years ago, there was JAMD Linux, which I thought looked real cool. Or am I missing something? |
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07-15-2005, 01:54 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 795
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Darius Wey
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This is such an informative article. It is the kind of perspective that those disto developers should look into: through the eyes of "Regular People". |
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07-27-2005, 04:35 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 86
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Hyperluminal
Wait, eye candy in Linux? Which distro?
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Most of the exciting stuff going on in the linux eye candy department hasn't made its way into the mainstream distros yet, but it exists and can be used with some tweaking.
One example is Luminocity, a project which will eventually be integrated into GNOME and aims to have a completely OpenGL rendered desktop. The end result is being able to have video game style special effects with very little performance hit, since most of the work is done with the GPU.
Example videos: http://www.gnome.org/~seth/blog/xshots
Other great stuff that can be expected in newer releases of KDE/GNOME are vector graphics support systemwide, so buttons, icons, etc... will be completely scalable and do not have to be confined to specific shapes. Combined with OpenGL rendering, you can get graphical effects equal to those in Mac OS X or Vista.
Linux on the desktop is always changing... try it 6 months ago and chances are you'll already see improvements in today's distributions. Try it 6 months from now, and you'll see the same amount of improvement. That's the main advantage of open source!
I'd agree with everyone that hardware support is the biggest obstacle at this point; if your distribution of choice happens to work with all your hardware, the desktop experience is usually as easy and productive as Windows. So Granny might not be able to install and configure a Linux distribution, but she would probably have no problems navigating a Linux desktop that has already been set up. This situation will improve as vendors release drivers or bundle Linux distributions with their own fully supported hardware. |
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07-27-2005, 04:48 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 795
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Wow. I had no idea this was coming to the Linux scene. That is impressive. So you are saying that Windows Vista is supposed to have the same thing plus much more?
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07-27-2005, 05:02 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 86
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Vista is supposed to have effects like transparency, window shadows, and 'glass panes' covering windows that can have graphics embedded in them. The specifics aren't that important, though, since virtually any special effect can be created through the MS APIs or OpenGL in Linux.
The race is on to see whether any Linux distributors will include these features in usable form before Vista ships in late 2006. The Linux community is relatively optimistic about this. (KDE 3.4 already has built in support for window drop shadows a la Mac OS X, with more goodness to come.)
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07-27-2005, 05:52 AM
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News Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,553
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Project Looking Glass is also something worth looking at if you're into eye-candy.
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Linear Mode
