[infinitemonkey]

Quote:

You know, I get the feeling that they purposefully act to keep it a tweaker's OS and not something that would be suitable for mainstream use.

There are certainly some people like that, in my experience. It's probably a significant minority. I think that most of the developers of what you would call the core of Linux genuinely want it to be adopted, but even many of them have some contempt, whether they realise it or not, for non-technical users.

Honest questions are still too often answered with RTFM and legitimate complaints too often receive the response "Then write something better yourself."

Distributions like Ubuntu are trying, I think sincerely, to simplify things and make them work better for the average person. There is more than a little hostility amonst the hardcore Linux (sorry GNU/Linux) crowd towards Ubuntu, however.

Personally, I'm waiting on Haiku, the open source recreation of the BeOS. The BeOS was a thing of beauty. It was fast, incredibly responsive, and beautiful to look at, at least compared to other OSes of its day. Haiku is still not finished, and won't be for awhile, but when the first usable version is released, I'll be there.

 

[ken36]

I guess I'm not smart enough.

 

[PiccoloNamek]

Quote:

Personally, I'm waiting on Haiku, the open source recreation of the BeOS.

Now that sounds awesome. I'd be willing to take the time to learn about something like that.

 

[infinitemonkey]

The beauty of BeOS (and hopefully Haiku) is that it was incredibly easy to learn. There was a lot of thought put into the interface. I used it as my desktop for about a year, and while there was a definite lack of apps, I never felt so at home on a computer as I did that year.

Sadly, a combination of pressure from Microsoft, some bad business decisions by Be Inc. and some low-level design flaws in the OS that made it hard to program for, killed the BeOS before it really got rolling.

I'm getting all nostalgic now. I may have to put together a machine to run it again. I've got an old dual Pentium II motherboard here that's crying out for an OS from its own era. On the positive side, BeOS just flies on a P2. Even on old hardware, it's still snappier than Win2k on a Core 2 Duo.

 

[philodox]

BeOS was great in that it installed in under 10min and booted in under 10sec even on my old system. It was not so great in that I could never get my graphics card to work properly and there was no support for my network card.

 

[Bizzel]

The linux interface can be pretty swish too, for example here's some virtual desktop goodness with Compiz Fusion. I really hate the videos on youtube that show people writing with fire, spinning cubes, etc and then saying "l00k how l33t this is compred to Microsux Vista!" In my opinion there's no need for that kind of eye candy and it doesn't prove that anything is better. That said, compiz is wonderful if it's kept in check, this is the 'expo' plugin showing my two virtual desktops - it's just like spaces in leopard!

 

[hempcamp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aphex944 /img/forum/go_quote.gif As a bit of background, I used to run Slackware for over a year. I've had SuSE installed for around 6 months. Not only that, but I've setup Gentoo on several machines. It's been awhile since I've used it, but I figured I could remember enough to fix any small issues if I did encounter any. .... I really did think Linux was progressing in compatibility and ease of use. This has been an absolute disaster.

I've had similar experiences. Back in the day I ran linux as my main OS. Recent efforts have left me perplexed and frustrated. It's harder now with all the ease-of-use improvements to get a grasp on the nuts and bolts under the hood when things go wrong. I thought things would be so much better 8-12 years on from when I used Linux.

--Chris

 

[infinitemonkey]

Quote:

BeOS was great in that it installed in under 10min and booted in under 10sec even on my old system. It was not so great in that I could never get my graphics card to work properly and there was no support for my network card.

Yeah, using it pretty much required buying hardware with compatibility in mind. The things that worked worked pretty well, and the things that didn't work didn't work at all. At least there was no messing around. If there was a driver you were set, if not, there was no spending four hours editing config files with false hope in your heart.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by siegmund123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I read somewhere once that Linux is only free if your time is worthless.

A very apt observation.

 

[sschell]

Personally, I'm alright with linux not becoming "mainstream". The only reason why linux is mostly virus-, spyware-, adware-free is because it is not nearly as popular as Windows (which I believe has over a 90% market share of personal computers).

To the OP: Chances are, the graphics driver you were trying to setup was probably the Nvidia-made one, which according to Nvidia's website, doesn't support your card yet. You might be able to use a generic driver, but that probably would mean no 3D acceleration, no OpenGL, etc.

Unfortunately, "It Just Works" only really applies to Macs. Having a single company control the software and the hardware of your computer does have its advantages.

 

[Redo]

Linux is a headache. It's fun for a hobby, but when you try to settle down and just want to install something that isn't officially supported, you can't help but spend the next 1-2 hours tweaking just to get it to sort of work.

Plus I got tired of perma-crashing X11 just because I tried to change my mouse settings in the config.

 

[wafflesomd]

I've used linux for years, as my main OS even.

Just because you wouldn't put the time and effort into learning something new, is no reason to blame the OS.

 

[Redo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wafflesomd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just because you wouldn't put the time and effort into learning something new, is no reason to blame the OS.

Yes it is, some people require instant productivity with a variety of OS specific apps. Many people don't have the time required to put into an OS like linux, which is still light years behind even the OS's released in the early 90's for user friendlyness and app support.