Having being tormented by hajaar trojans, popups on home PCs using Windows platforms off late, I have converted them to Redhat 9.0 in the face of lot of scepticism and criticism from other users of the family.
Their main concerns are: a) Ease of use b) Ease of use.
The Redhat 9.0 distro was selected for no particular reason but because I had the CDs. Am not very happy though given that the CDs are a year old so support may not be available for number of things.
To be able to use linux successfully as a desktop for non power users, these are the barriers I faced.
a) Plug n play for devices such as USB Web cam, USB Hub, USB Card Reader. b) Internal Modem Dlink 560i+++ installation woes and lack of a versatile dialer to just click n connect for non root users. c) Winmodem detection and configuration woes.
The question is: Which linux distribution can I use which will act as an effective desktop for home users which will overcome atleast most of the difficulties faced above.
I am leaning towards the opinion that redhat 9.0 is not the best out there. (duh!). But whats a near ideal replacement? Gentoo? Lindows (avoidable?).
Remember it's a Desktop and not Server, so rock solid stability may not be necessary and sufficient condition.
thank you, Abhishek
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If you want a desktop get a distro which promises desktop like ubuntu 4.10 next release is coming this week.
Debian/APT-GET/DEB : Ubuntu is One CD distro which acts as a desktop. Some server software is given with it for choice of installation. Once when you install it you can Add/Remove Packages. but while installation it is like windows... it chooses default software for you and copies remaining software to the cache on your Harddisk. It is debian based so that you can install software from debian repos. Or Install Debian and convert it to ubuntu.
Redhat/RPM/YUM : My first experience with those was really terrible. YUM tried to update something always, before installing any software. it took about 2 hrs to get yum really started. then further it take 5 mins, while on deb/apt it is faster, I got no explaination on apt vs yum on google. but I didnt like yum
For Winmodem : if it is conexant (Dlink is conexant), you can get 14kbps driver on linuxant.org.
In ubuntu 2.60 kernel, I plugged and played usb gamepad wingman for FlightGear. It works fine. I also plugged and played PCI TV Tuner ;-)
I THINK 2.6 is better for plug and play.
On Apr 4, 2005 11:35 AM, Abhishek Daga abhishekdaga@yahoo.com wrote: ... snipped...
But whats a near ideal replacement? Gentoo? Lindows (avoidable?).
Remember it's a Desktop and not Server, so rock solid stability may not be necessary and sufficient condition.
thank you, Abhishek
Just like the old adage "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" the same is true for the Linux desktop i.e. you will get a lot of different opinions. You will have to decide which distro works best for you.
I personally prefer SuSE Professional - am using 9.2 on an AMD64 and I am quite happy with it. As for winmodems see http://www.linmodems.org/ for your model. There are other desktop centric distros like Xandros, Linspire that you can explore as well.
HTH, -- Arun Khan
Abhishek Daga wrote:
To be able to use linux successfully as a desktop for non power users, these are the barriers I faced.
a) Plug n play for devices such as USB Web cam, USB Hub, USB Card Reader. b) Internal Modem Dlink 560i+++ installation woes and lack of a versatile dialer to just click n connect for non root users. c) Winmodem detection and configuration woes.
The question is: Which linux distribution can I use which will act as an effective desktop for home users which will overcome atleast most of the difficulties faced above.
I am in the same boat too, looking for a viable linux alternative for my clients. I have used RedHat 8 (in my old pc), Xandros Personal, RedHatEL WS, EduMorphix, SuSe Server (was an older version, so no GUI compatibility) and PCQ Linux 2005 on my P4. The only distro that detected my internal DLink modem was Xandros Personal. This distro is the closest to Windows in looks and ease of use and even the webbsite advertises it as its USP.
Regards,
Rony.
On Monday 04 Apr 2005 11:35 am, Abhishek Daga wrote:
The question is: Which linux distribution can I use which will act as an effective desktop for home users which will overcome atleast most of the difficulties faced above.
mandrake10
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Abhishek Daga -
Arun Khan -
Kenneth Gonsalves -
Revant -
Rony Bill