Mail Archives: djgpp/2000/04/05/19:43:40
> >> 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?).
Pretty good deal.
> >> 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?
Windows 95 is a massive pain to install... (almost harder + trickier than
Linux) When I installed, for some strange reason, it didn't install CD-Rom
drivers, and so when it 'boots windows for the first time' and is trying to
install all of these drivers, my CDROM doesn't work, and I can't install
anything. Also, if you have a 350 mhz processor or faster, windows wont boot at
all until you update some files. Windows 98 was just a pain to install. I had
it crashing for odd reasons, on 1 of 4 machines. This was really great. I'm not
sure of windows 2000, never used it before.
> >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.
Wow. I didn't know about that.
> >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.
I think you're right here too. I use KDE and the file manager thing autodetects
the file type. I never really use the file manager so I didn't know about this
one.
> >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.
Sorry, but when I wrote 'your grandma that uses her computer to write letters'
I meant that your grandma, who probably doesn't do a whole lot of technical
things, (like write software, or do 3D rendering or something) would probably
have a rough time installing software with RPM or tar.
> >> 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.
But they would still have to learn the new interface.
> >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?
I don't know what BSOD means.
> >> >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.
Yes, but, for example, my linux distribution didn't come with a some of the libs
that allegro uses to do graphics.
> >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"?
Yea, but what I meant was that you don't loose $12 million a day when your
machine locks up. This goes for WIN NT 4 also. Windows NT makes a horrible
server.
--
Jared Stevens
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