Mail Archives: djgpp/2000/04/05/15:48:03
On Mon, 3 Apr 2000 17:50:03 -0600, Jared Stevens <stevja AT lineo DOT com>
wrote:
>> >>Linux works properly and it is free.
>> >
>> >Linux is not free at all, or i don't know what's free mean.
>>
>> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
>>
>> >At RedHat web site, personnal edition is 30$, Deluxe is 80$ and pro is 180$
>>
>> Mandrake is cheaper.
>
>The distributions are free if you have a really fast modem or a lot
>a patience. (Or a good friend with both. ) other wise don't be
>suprised if you have to fork over $30-50 for a good distribution.
I found Mandrake for $10 at Office Depot (or was that Staples?).
>> So you think the GNOME desktop will take "a long time" to get good?
>> Try HelixCode's GNOME distribution; it may change your mind.
>
>It's not the GUI, in my opinion, that makes linux hard to use. KDE and Gnome
>are very easy to use and navigate. It's setting the dumb thing up.
Or buying it preinstalled. BTW, how hard is it to set up Windows
from the Windows CD on a machine with a blank hard drive?
>Linux wont have the PnP support that windows has for another year
>(minimum). (Where you can plug something in, turn it on, and have
>a thing come up that configures the device and prompts for a driver disk)
Red Hat 6.1 does autodetect some hardware during boot. That's how it
found my serial modem.
>Installing software isn't as easy as it is in Windows either.
>Usually you have to download an RPM and install it.
How is that so hard? If your finder is properly configured, *.rpm
will be associated with `rpm -u' or something by default.
>It doesn't sound that bad to you and me, but your grandma that
>uses her computer to write letters would call it a nightmare.
My grandma (C_____ Yerrick) could easily (after one session with me)
start the computer, log in, start Netscape, log into her webmail
account, click "compose", type the recipient's email, type her letter,
and click "send".
Then she clicks "log out," and she is given the choice to log out to
gdm or to shut down the computer.
>> Then set up GNOME and gdm with "users can shut down the computer"
>> access, and give them an account on your box.
>
>It's not the same... they'd have to use software other than
>MS word or Corel office (unless they want to pay for another copy).
Applixware and StarOffice are freebeerware IIRC.
>That means they will have to learn the new interface and all
>the other stuff. It shouldn't take too long, but the general
>family's eyes, if its not broke, don't fix it.
Shouldn't BSOD be enough to convince them that it is broke?
>> >Some companies should start develop games over Linux.
>
>I agree. The guys who made Civilization kind of got the idea.
>
>> In fact, it's easier. The Allegro library for Windows has a much
>> cleaner API than DirectX, and Allegro works on DOS and Linux too.
>> So write your wingame with Allegro and recompile it on Linux.
>
>In some ways. If you use allegro, you have to either distribute your source
>code and have people compile your game on their machine. ( Which is not a fun
>experience, and not a wonderful way to distribute a commercial game either. )
RPMs can automatically compile and install a game.
>Or come up with a massive list of precompiled configurations for
>your game. ( Which is near impossible, and impractical. )
Or distribute Allegro in an RPM along with your game CD. Let's see...
doubleclick install, it pops up a terminal running a shell script
rpm -U alleg*
rpm -U quarter-life*
To play this game, open a prompt and type
quarter
and press Enter.
>What you would have to do is make your own libs, or buy/borrow
>someone elses, and have them all compiled into your program
>except stuff like libc and the standard X-libs.
Allegro can be statically linked too.
>I guess the way I see it is, Windows is probably the best end user OS, (other
>than MacOS) out there.
Mac OS at least doesn't mix DLLs from different versions of the OS.
This is at the heart of what makes Windows unstable.
>It is easy to use, and easy to configure. hen you are n end user,
>it isn't a priority to have your system on 24/7. Therefore, it is
>only an inconvinience when your machine crashes.
When your machine crashes and takes with it the game you've been
playing for eight hours, you call that a mere "inconvenience"?
--
Damian Yerrick
"I refuse to listen to those who refuse to listen to reason."
See the whole sig: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yerricde/sig.html
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