[olug] Disappointment and a question ...

Sat Apr 5 03:52:19 UTC 2014

I'd say Ubuntu -- Speaking as someone who helps others and my entire
family, including wife, runs ubuntu -- not a problem.  My kids have only
seen windows boxes on tv and in school.  If you want to see how most
distros would work/look on your box, most have a live version you can put
on a thumbdrive and try out before you commit.

My parents run ubuntu on their laptop.  Install fests are so last century
because yes, you can do it without dropping to a command line.  I encourage
you to take a look at what is out there right now.

I am not an ubuntu fanboy, just ask and I'll let you know how they gnomed
things up but in general, it is what I recommend.

Best,
Jeff

On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 9:30 PM, David Gilman <davidgilman1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> If you want usable out of the box and UNIX look at MacOS X.
> On Apr 4, 2014 8:19 PM, "unfy" <olug at unfy.org> wrote:
>
> > First up, I'm not looking for a flame war.  This is just a legitimate
> > question.
> >
> > -----------------------
> >
> > So, I've been using Linux since about Slackware 3.0 or something like
> > that. 1996/1997 or so.
> >
> > I used linux as my desktop OS for the longest time because I was tired of
> > how unstable windows was, etc.  I'd boot into windows to play games if
> > necessary - but my day to day life was under linux.  I even used it at
> work
> > with windows in a virtual machine.
> >
> > I eventually picked up a dell notebook that had XP SP1 on it (2003 ?) ...
> > and being open to new things, decided to give it a fair shake.  After a
> > month or so I was generally happy with how stable it was and decided to
> > leave linux behind as a desktop OS.  There was generally better hardware
> > support under XP ... and it seemed stable.
> >
> > I've stuck with linux / bsd as a server OS though.
> >
> > Fast forward to 2014 and a coworker has been fiddling with some different
> > linux distro's.  Ubuntu, Zoran (or whatever), and a few others.
> >
> > I had to walk away shaking my head.
> >
> > --------------
> >
> > The question:
> >
> > Is there a linux distro that is actually USEFUL to folks out of the box ?
> >
> > Something like a working control panel ?
> >
> > Base / simple configuration of services (with the understanding that
> > complex stuff will require editing a config file) ?
> >
> > Feedback when an application is loading in the background ?
> >
> > An error message if an application fails to load ?
> >
> > Non-cryptic cd/dvd burning software ?
> >
> > Customizing start menu / widget stuff isn't black voodoo ?
> >
> > Something where I don't have to drop to the console to fix 90% of the
> > problems ?
> >
> > Basically, it seems like looking back over the last 20 years - I've seen
> > different distros hit all of these subjects and sometimes complete said
> > task - only to change it / drop it a few releases later etc.
> >
> > Is there a distro that SIMPLY WORKS FOR THE HOME USER ? Doesn't have to
> be
> > the prettiest thing on the planet, but lets you accomplish everything ya
> > need to do out of the box ? And isn't a PITA to use ? Is there a distro
> > that quits trying to re-invent every aspect of the wheel with each
> release ?
> >
> > I know what I'm asking is a bit subjective - but seriously - what ever
> > happened to "this tool does one thing and does it really well" mentality
> > (see most of the command line tools) ?
> >
> > When subjectively looking at the 4 or so distro's my coworker fired up,
> > Windows 3.1, Windows 95, BeOS, OS/2, etc were all more functionally
> > complete.  Hell, I still think BeOS rocks :D.
> >
> > There is ZERO chance I'd use any of them as a desktop OS.  I'd be more at
> > home in the 2.0 kernel days and Afterstep / Windowmaker hehehe.
> >
> > KDE looked like it was trying pretty hard in the early pre-1.0 and
> 1.0/2.0
> > days to get things somewhat there....
> >
> > ----------------------
> >
> > Sure, most distro's come with the standard apps like open office or
> > whatever it's called these days.  And a couple options of browsers.
> Maybe a
> > few 'explorer' like programs.  A few media consumption programs. Some of
> > these applications may or may not work.  Others might offer some closed
> > source drivers that may or may not work on your hardware depending on the
> > age of your hardware.   (that brings up more fun.  want to run older
> > hardware - gotta run an older distro.  but then if you have a problem
> with
> > something, everything/one says you need to upgrade your distro... which
> you
> > cant cause of the older hardware etc).
> >
> > Is there a distro that has a checklist of "this is what this distro MUST
> > do from a functionality stand point", and then it sticks to making that
> > happen ?
> >
> > ----------------------
> >
> > With the above said, I did make use of Mythbuntu for many years on my
> HTPC
> > box (with two hauppage pvr-150's).  But - that was mostly just getting
> the
> > OS to run mythfrontend and mythbackend  and nothing else.  Did have to
> > patch alsa by hand all the time for HDMI audio over nforce 630i chipset
> > (don't think i ever pushed the patch upstream though heh).
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
> >
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-- 
Best,

Jeff Hinrichs
402.218.1473