Alrighty... so having talked with some Linux fans, I was re-energized to try installing Linux yet again. Now, I realize already that some of the Linux Zealots are going to flame me, and that's fine. That's what the ignore feature is for.
But just to head off a small fraction of the flame bait before it happens.... I am a big fan of Linux becoming a dominate player. Few mainstream computer users are more hopeful than myself, that Microsoft someday either goes out of business, or becomes a seller of a super high end version of Linux.
So, you don't need to preach to the choir, I'm one of you....
Nevertheless.... The following are my observations as to why Linux will not go mainstream until these things are permanently fixed.
So my guinea pig for this was a Gateway Solo Laptop. It's a laptop, with a Pentium 3, at the hyper space speed of 0.7 Ghz. oooOOooo... flyin. Adding to that, the massive 256 MB of ram, and this sucker is set for Window 2000.
Remarkably good condition for it's age, and everything works perfectly. At work, production has stalled out completely. So I have spare time to play around, and thought this would be a great time to test my Linux muscles.... which don't exist yet.... but maybe someday.
So I looked up what Linux distribution would be perfectly good for a older but finely functioning system such as this.
I found Legacy OS to be the top suggested Linux for my system.
I used a USB flash drive to install the distro, and things honestly went well. I had a very good feeling about this, and eager to see what it could do. But things went down hill, and very fast.
First, it loaded into grub.... with a confusing menu. hda1, fd0, /dev/hda1, press c for help (none of which was helpful), type cat /boot/grub/usage.txt.... why?
Come people. The hard drive is completely empty, there is only one operating system there, just load the OS, and go.
I managed to get that set to Linux, although I still have to select and enter it every time I boot up, as if there was any other option.....
Minor problem you say? Again, if you want Linux to be mainstream, then you need it setup so that people who don't know linux are not sitting there staring at /hda1 , fd0, /dev/hda press c for help.
But I pressed on. It boots up, and it seems snappy and fast. Great. First stop, let's see if we can connect to the internet. The Windows system had been using a Linksys Wireless G PC Card to connect to the wifi.
The system promptly detected the card, and loaded drivers, specifically 3C95X drivers. For those who don't know, that's a 3Com Ethernet adapter, which of course is not the linksys driver for a linksys card, and doesn't work.
Ok, no problem. I had this happen before... just select the correct driver from the list..... from... the list.... which doesn't have the WPC54G Linksys Card. Ok, no problem..... I'll just download the drivers for the card on the USB drive, and install them.
So I just have to find the drivers..... for the WPC54G Linux.... which doesn't exist! Alrighty... ok... Linksys must be one of those extremely rare never used brands...
What to do. Load a windows driver! Oh you can do that? How? Using the Windows driver loader.... which is called? 'ndiswrapper' Who the heck came up with 'ndiswrapper', and how the heck is a normal average person suppose to know that 'ndiswrapper' really means "window driver loader"??
Ok ok... I signed up for this. So I go get the window WPC56G driver, put it on the USB, and......... ok.... where's the USB? No USB drive.... I can install linux from a USB flash drive, but never us it again? I hunt around for mount USB, and find it, while I discover "start pdrive auto mounting daemon". Well... why would I not want drives to auto mount? You think I plug in my USB just for the amusement of seeing it hang off the side of the computer?
So I load that up, and then re-install the USB drive. It pops up!.... and then a window telling me that the USB was connected pops up, and asks me if I want to unmount it....... really.... I JUST plugged it in... of course I want to unmount the sucker before I use it.
Disappointment is growing, but I move on. Load 'ndiswrapper', and click on the USB drive, (which I have to hunt for under /dev/ instead of just clicking on the USB drive)..... blank screen. New window pops up "Report on loading of module: No module was loaded".
BTW, side issue here. I've noticed that in Linux, they tend to say an entire paragraph, where four words would do "No network driver loaded". I don't need five paragraphs to say "It didn't work".
As of yet, I have not been able to find any links, or suggestions on how to fix the network driver, and the laptop doesn't have built in Ethernet. I would *ASSUME* that built in ethernet would have been easier to get running.
But my fun doesn't end there. So I thought, ok maybe I can't fix that, but perhaps I can at least watch a movie on it. So I look and behold there were a total of 5 media players installed. That seems odd to me. If all of them work, why install 5? Put the best one on there, and let people choose to install something else if they prefer. It's a waste of space, and confusing.
Of course, the key words were "if they work". Out of Kaffeine, Kmplayer, Mplayer, Smplayer, and VLC.... None of them worked. Every single one in turn, failed to play any of the several movies on the USB. Really?
Well how about a DVD? I popped in the Matrix, Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan. All 5 media players failed to play the DVD. The closest I got was a really old DVD, Running Man with Arnold, and it even failed after getting through the opening credits.
Really? This Distro was released in 2012, and it can't play a single DVD or regular movie file? Am I missing something? This is what other Linux Users 'recommended'?
Not to be deterred... I went and looked around for updates to Kaffeine. I downloaded the file, and went back, and expanded the file onto my laptop... and nothing happens. "Wrapper exited with a error."
I can't even get Kaffeine to expand, let alone install it. Further, I can't even find the existing Kaffeine on my system that doesn't work, to uninstall it. How does that work?
On my Mac, I go to the 'applications' folder, and find the application... and I delete it. Then I install the new one, normally by doing something extremely difficult called 'click and drag'... which works about like it sounds.
On this, I can't even figure out what folder the application is in, nor can I right click the application from the applications menu on the desk top, to select "show file", which would then go directly to it.
So then I decided, instead of messing with Kaffeine, perhaps a more well known media player would be easier. VLC, has been around for ages, and it's almost a defacto standard. So I went to VLC site, and got this....
VideoLAN - Official page for VLC media player, the Open Source video framework!
This right here illustrates the entire problem.
VLC for Mac OS X.
VLC for Windows.
VLC for Linux........ 11 different options. Do you see Legacy OS on there? So I did some hunting, and found that Legacy OS was built on Puppy Linux. Do you see Puppy Linux on that list? So I did some more hunting and found....... nothing. I have no idea which of those versions will work on my system.
At this point, I called it a day. I was done, at least for now. The most simple tasks are like pulling teeth. This is why Linux will be years and years before getting to be mainstream.
The most amusing part was "setting the time". Yes, Setting the time, was funny. The clock was wrong, so I click 'setclock', because spaces are too hard for names. A window popped up to set the clock. So I set it, and clicked 'done'. The screen goes black..... nothing..... waiting.... still nothing.... system is completely dead. 30 seconds..... 45 seconds.... Just as I'm reaching for the off button thinking the system locked up on the difficult operation of setting the clock, the screen pops back, with a window in the center saying "Screen may go blank, but will return"........... Really...... *after* the screen goes blank for almost a minute, it now wants to warn me that it might go blank, but it will come back.
Setting the clock causes the screen to blank out? And it doesn't warn you of this, until after it happens?
Seriously people.... Linux has a long long long long way to go before normal average people are going to use it.
But just to head off a small fraction of the flame bait before it happens.... I am a big fan of Linux becoming a dominate player. Few mainstream computer users are more hopeful than myself, that Microsoft someday either goes out of business, or becomes a seller of a super high end version of Linux.
So, you don't need to preach to the choir, I'm one of you....
Nevertheless.... The following are my observations as to why Linux will not go mainstream until these things are permanently fixed.
So my guinea pig for this was a Gateway Solo Laptop. It's a laptop, with a Pentium 3, at the hyper space speed of 0.7 Ghz. oooOOooo... flyin. Adding to that, the massive 256 MB of ram, and this sucker is set for Window 2000.
Remarkably good condition for it's age, and everything works perfectly. At work, production has stalled out completely. So I have spare time to play around, and thought this would be a great time to test my Linux muscles.... which don't exist yet.... but maybe someday.
So I looked up what Linux distribution would be perfectly good for a older but finely functioning system such as this.
I found Legacy OS to be the top suggested Linux for my system.
I used a USB flash drive to install the distro, and things honestly went well. I had a very good feeling about this, and eager to see what it could do. But things went down hill, and very fast.
First, it loaded into grub.... with a confusing menu. hda1, fd0, /dev/hda1, press c for help (none of which was helpful), type cat /boot/grub/usage.txt.... why?
Come people. The hard drive is completely empty, there is only one operating system there, just load the OS, and go.
I managed to get that set to Linux, although I still have to select and enter it every time I boot up, as if there was any other option.....
Minor problem you say? Again, if you want Linux to be mainstream, then you need it setup so that people who don't know linux are not sitting there staring at /hda1 , fd0, /dev/hda press c for help.
But I pressed on. It boots up, and it seems snappy and fast. Great. First stop, let's see if we can connect to the internet. The Windows system had been using a Linksys Wireless G PC Card to connect to the wifi.
The system promptly detected the card, and loaded drivers, specifically 3C95X drivers. For those who don't know, that's a 3Com Ethernet adapter, which of course is not the linksys driver for a linksys card, and doesn't work.
Ok, no problem. I had this happen before... just select the correct driver from the list..... from... the list.... which doesn't have the WPC54G Linksys Card. Ok, no problem..... I'll just download the drivers for the card on the USB drive, and install them.
So I just have to find the drivers..... for the WPC54G Linux.... which doesn't exist! Alrighty... ok... Linksys must be one of those extremely rare never used brands...
What to do. Load a windows driver! Oh you can do that? How? Using the Windows driver loader.... which is called? 'ndiswrapper' Who the heck came up with 'ndiswrapper', and how the heck is a normal average person suppose to know that 'ndiswrapper' really means "window driver loader"??
Ok ok... I signed up for this. So I go get the window WPC56G driver, put it on the USB, and......... ok.... where's the USB? No USB drive.... I can install linux from a USB flash drive, but never us it again? I hunt around for mount USB, and find it, while I discover "start pdrive auto mounting daemon". Well... why would I not want drives to auto mount? You think I plug in my USB just for the amusement of seeing it hang off the side of the computer?
So I load that up, and then re-install the USB drive. It pops up!.... and then a window telling me that the USB was connected pops up, and asks me if I want to unmount it....... really.... I JUST plugged it in... of course I want to unmount the sucker before I use it.
Disappointment is growing, but I move on. Load 'ndiswrapper', and click on the USB drive, (which I have to hunt for under /dev/ instead of just clicking on the USB drive)..... blank screen. New window pops up "Report on loading of module: No module was loaded".
BTW, side issue here. I've noticed that in Linux, they tend to say an entire paragraph, where four words would do "No network driver loaded". I don't need five paragraphs to say "It didn't work".
As of yet, I have not been able to find any links, or suggestions on how to fix the network driver, and the laptop doesn't have built in Ethernet. I would *ASSUME* that built in ethernet would have been easier to get running.
But my fun doesn't end there. So I thought, ok maybe I can't fix that, but perhaps I can at least watch a movie on it. So I look and behold there were a total of 5 media players installed. That seems odd to me. If all of them work, why install 5? Put the best one on there, and let people choose to install something else if they prefer. It's a waste of space, and confusing.
Of course, the key words were "if they work". Out of Kaffeine, Kmplayer, Mplayer, Smplayer, and VLC.... None of them worked. Every single one in turn, failed to play any of the several movies on the USB. Really?
Well how about a DVD? I popped in the Matrix, Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan. All 5 media players failed to play the DVD. The closest I got was a really old DVD, Running Man with Arnold, and it even failed after getting through the opening credits.
Really? This Distro was released in 2012, and it can't play a single DVD or regular movie file? Am I missing something? This is what other Linux Users 'recommended'?
Not to be deterred... I went and looked around for updates to Kaffeine. I downloaded the file, and went back, and expanded the file onto my laptop... and nothing happens. "Wrapper exited with a error."
I can't even get Kaffeine to expand, let alone install it. Further, I can't even find the existing Kaffeine on my system that doesn't work, to uninstall it. How does that work?
On my Mac, I go to the 'applications' folder, and find the application... and I delete it. Then I install the new one, normally by doing something extremely difficult called 'click and drag'... which works about like it sounds.
On this, I can't even figure out what folder the application is in, nor can I right click the application from the applications menu on the desk top, to select "show file", which would then go directly to it.
So then I decided, instead of messing with Kaffeine, perhaps a more well known media player would be easier. VLC, has been around for ages, and it's almost a defacto standard. So I went to VLC site, and got this....
VideoLAN - Official page for VLC media player, the Open Source video framework!
This right here illustrates the entire problem.
VLC for Mac OS X.
VLC for Windows.
VLC for Linux........ 11 different options. Do you see Legacy OS on there? So I did some hunting, and found that Legacy OS was built on Puppy Linux. Do you see Puppy Linux on that list? So I did some more hunting and found....... nothing. I have no idea which of those versions will work on my system.
At this point, I called it a day. I was done, at least for now. The most simple tasks are like pulling teeth. This is why Linux will be years and years before getting to be mainstream.
The most amusing part was "setting the time". Yes, Setting the time, was funny. The clock was wrong, so I click 'setclock', because spaces are too hard for names. A window popped up to set the clock. So I set it, and clicked 'done'. The screen goes black..... nothing..... waiting.... still nothing.... system is completely dead. 30 seconds..... 45 seconds.... Just as I'm reaching for the off button thinking the system locked up on the difficult operation of setting the clock, the screen pops back, with a window in the center saying "Screen may go blank, but will return"........... Really...... *after* the screen goes blank for almost a minute, it now wants to warn me that it might go blank, but it will come back.
Setting the clock causes the screen to blank out? And it doesn't warn you of this, until after it happens?
Seriously people.... Linux has a long long long long way to go before normal average people are going to use it.
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