[ale] A use for Windows . . .

[John Wells]

No offense, but I'm not sure what you're aiming to accomplish by posting
your bitches about Linux.  This is the second rather long list of
complaints I can remember you posting in the past few months...is there a
productive goal here, or are you just venting?

Please remember that the reason Microsoft has such good support for such a
wide range of equipment is because, rook or crook, they've often muscled
hardware manufacturers into making things work for Windows.  Also, a
manufacturer would be crazy from a practical perspective to not include
drivers that worked well with Windows....it'd kill their product because
Windows is simply everywhere.

Linux, on the otherhand, is not a high priority on the part of most
manufacturers.  As such, support for devices is often added by the
community through lots of brow sweat and teamwork.  Device support has
progressed by leaps and bounds since I started using Linux and it will
only continue.

But, of course, there are devices which remain unsupported.  There always
will be.

Does it piss me off when something doesn't work for me under Linux? 
Um...no.  I realize that people out there are working very hard to provide
this awesome product to me FOR FREE....  I choose to use Linux because I
like it very much, because I have NO BORDERS and am free to move about as
I please, and because I believe in what the Open Source community is
trying to do.

And, I might add, I am at a point where I can accomplish everything under
linux in a more efficient manner than under windows.

Still, it's not for everyone.  There's nothing wrong with people who use
Windows...it's what they're most comfortable with and has some benefits
for a typical user.  Let them have it.  While Linux has come a long way,
there's still a bit of a learning curve to get some things to work.

When I hit one of these "curves", I do everything I can to either a.,
learn what is needed, or b., find a work around.  This approach has not
failed me yet.  I even post on the Ale list quite a bit and some of my
posts have gone unanswered.  Does this incite anger in my soul?  Um...no. 
I know these folks are a helpful sort, and if they knew how to help me
they could.

So.....not to be mean, but if you're just going to bitch...maybe you
should ask yourself why you're using Linux in the first place.

John




ChangingLINKS.com said:
> It seems like we have an unusually high amount of Microsoft bashing on
> the  list lately.
> A friend told me to always "be for something" as opposed to "against
> something  else." The thing that I am for is speed.  My 2DO list is 99
> items long - so I  am impatient, and want things done yesterday - even
> if it means using  undesirable tatics.
>
> Here's an example:
> I knew that I was going to be getting married and I wanted to make sure
> that I  could take lots of pictures of the wedding and honeymoon. I
> researched  linux-compatible cameras online. I posted to the list and
> started a thread  discussing which camera to buy, what media, and even
> personal experiences  from the members of ALE.
> After visiting several stores to find a camera, I found that my choices
> were  basically limited to Olympus and Kodak. These were the brands that
> use  Smartmedia cards and were available. I paid extra money to buy a
> nice Olympus  camera. Next, I paid extra money to get the recommended
> "card reader."  I got married and took lots of pictures. When we got
> back from the honeymoon,  I tried to plug in and read the card to
> download the pictures. It wouldn't  work. I noticed that the computer
> hard drive light would flash (but nothing  else would happen). Next, I
> tried to connect to the camera directly. RedHat  8.0 comes with gtkam.
> Unfortunately, gtkam seemed to work with Olympus 500  and 600 but NOT
> 550. Moreover, gtkam recognized the camera as a Olympus 2040.  After
> spending an hour online researching, I posted a message to the board
> about the problem, detailing the hardware involved and asking for help.
> I got  0 responses.
> Flash back to the day we got home . . . . my new wife (who has much less
>  computer skill than I do) was able to download all of the pictures to
> her old  400 Windows machine within minutes. She put them in a special
> directory for  me.
> Finally, I decided to put my Win98 machine together. As soon as it
> booted up,  it recognized the card reader (I had forgotten it was still
> connected). Then,  I quickly transfered the files from her computer to
> my machine (Windows to  Windows). I zipped up the pictures, uploaded
> them to a server in California  and downloaded them into my Linux
> machine - but Linux I could not open the  zip file using "unzip" (it
> thought that the zip was part of a multi-part  zip).
> I set up Samba (for the first time) and transfered the files to my
> RedHat 7.2  box. I noticed that I only had to change one setting
> (completed with the  mouse - and no typing) for the Windows box, but for
> the Linux machine . . .  well, you know.
> Finally, I made my Windows machine Linux 8.0 again and used scp to copy
> the  files from the  Linux 7.2 computer.
> It doesn't stop there.
> I tried to use "Worker" to view the pictures. I would not work because
> my  install of RedHat 8.0 did have xview. I searched online for xview
> and found a  "better" program called "compupic" I installed compupic,
> and found out that  it was a program ported FROM Windows. Compupic has
> lots of nice features, but  when I deal with big graphics - my Linux
> machine crashes and I have to use  Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to recover my GUI.
> So, the goal to get the photos from the camera to the Linux machine was
> accomplished - but I had to rely on at least 1 Windows machine even
> though I  went faaaar out of my way to buy Linux compatible hardware. I
> am sure that  RedHat 8.whatevercomesnext will support my camera more
> automatically - but my  Windows.whatevercamebeforeXP-2000-NT supported
> it since late 1997. I have found RedCarpet to be a nice solution to
> getting my Linux box "to  work." I can do most things with my full
> install of RedHat 7.2 with RedCarpet  updates AND update agent updates.
> But, the "Ximian Desktop product does not  currently support [RedHat
> 8.0]."
> As much as I say that I _hate_ Microsoft Windows, it now has a home
> (through  Samba) on my desk. I use Linux for daily use (like Checking
> email, writing  this letter, Internet browsing -when I don't care about
> Java or Flash). But,  I am finding for the really tough problems
> (working special hardware, data  recovery, data encryption, faster peer
> to peer filesharing, installing new  programs to complete a special
> task, ultra easy file transfers between  computers) the "fastest" way to
> solve the problem is to boot up my Windows  machine.
>
> More Reality:
> I think that sharing this experience will yeild personal attacks, claims
> that  I could be a "shill," or a "Microsoft appologist." The amount of
> effort I  spent and the amount of help I asked for will be forgotten and
> I will be  labeled a "Luser." I should probably RTFM just one more time
> and "take more  time now to figure it out because it will be better for
> me in the long run."  Why not go buy some books, go back to school and
> pick up that CS degree?
>
> For the record, I don't like Windows for all of the reasons you don't
> like it  - I like exhausting lots of energy and being completely
> ineffective less.
>
> :wq!
>
> --
> Wishing you Happiness, Joy and Laughter,
> Drew
> http://www.ChangingLINKS.com
>
> ---
> This message has been sent through the ALE general discussion list. See
> http://www.ale.org/mailing-lists.shtml for more info. Problems should be
>  sent to listmaster at ale dot org.




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sent to listmaster at ale dot org.