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**Paul-B**

wrote:

On Feb 22, 2:46 pm, "Paul-B" wrote:
wrote:

As for Linux shipping with a lot of applications this is true.
However getting networking, printing, proper video and actually
being able to boot the system is far more important to me than a
lot of applications.

1. Download the Ubuntu .iso image 15 minutes
2. Burn to disk 4 minutes
3. Boot from cd into Ubuntu 2 minutes
4. Select install to hard drive option 5 seconds
5. Install routine starts and finishes 20 minutes
6. Remove disk, boot PC to desktop 1 minute
7. Set up sharing, connect to other
PC's on (wireless) network 10 minutes
8. Set up local and network laser
printers using cups 10 minutes

That's about how long it took me.

Cost? Nothing!

No time looking for drivers, no time installing applications, which
were all bundled with the o/s, no need for virus-checkers or spyware
checkers.

Paul-B

That's all very nice but I have one question?

Looks like more than one question to me...

How many months did you spend researching and hunting down hardware
that would work with Linux?

Umm, none, actually. I'd given up on Linux for years, for most of the
reasons quoted... I knew it was rock-solid (worked with Linux servers
for a while) and to be honest I didn't have the time to play around
with esoteric software to run a basic workstation when Windows 98 would
do the job.

Then a friend pointed me to Ubuntu (although I'd had a reasonable
experience with Knoppix as a rescue medium).

How many other versions of Linux did you try before you finally found
one that worked?

None. Plunged in wuth Ubuntu and have never looked back.

I've asked a number of people about their personal experiences with
Linux and each one said the same thing.

"Linux is fine if you pick and choose your hardware carefully and if
you happen to use a distribution that is well supported and works with
your carefully chosen hardware".

Stray far from that tennant and Linux becomes a nightmare.

So how long did you spend doing the research?

Or did you just happen to *get lucky* ?

I presume you meant "tenet"?

No, I wasn't "lucky"... I left Linux alone for years, because my
full-time job doesn't leave me with much time to play with operating
systems. It was only when Ubuntu, in both server and desktop flavours,
came into my sphere of knowledge, that I found the time to think of it
as a very good alternative, given the right slot.

I was amazed at how easily Ubuntu replaced windows on my bog-standard
pc, without any of the hassles even XP gave me.

Don't get me wrong... I like my current version of Windows, XP Pro with
all the SP's. But I'm not blind to it's shortcomings, any more than I
am to the shortcomings in Linux, and there are quite a few. As for
Vista, at the moment it's nothing more than a dog's breakfast of an
operating system... all my clients have been told I'll install it for
them if they want, but I won't support it free of charge, if they
insist on having it they can pay me £65 per hour to sort-out the
problems which willl surely arise. Needless to say no-one wants it, and
no-one has looked-for an alternative support service... I retain all my
clients.

Put it like this. My Linux rig is an Athlon 64-bit 3500 cpu, 2 x 200Gb
SATA drives (Silicon Image controllers), with a bog-standard Gigabyte
GA-KA8N Ultra SLi mobo and a SafeCom wireless nic. Ubuntu installed
without asking me for any of the drivers, including the chipset and
SATA drivers, and that's something which neither XP or Vista could do.

Which, to my mind, is rather good.

--
Paul-B