Try this again: is Linux Linpus any good?
in [General Linux]
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From: General Schvantzkoph on 1 Jun 2010 16:36 On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:56:58 +0000, Stefan Patric wrote: > On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:13:49 +0000, General Schvantzkoph wrote: > >> On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:46:16 -0700, RayLopez99 wrote: >> >>> Update: Linux anti-Windows trolls please keep out. Aragon this means >>> you, Chrisv, SinisterMidget, etc. I want to followup and ask whether >>> Acer supports Linux Linpus, and whether, since the Acer PC does not >>> have a CD/DVD (unless you get an extension USB type, which I might >>> get), it's safe to say Linpus will last say 5 years without having to >>> do a clean reinstall. >>> >>> So for this non-power user who only surfs the net to check email, I'm >>> thinking that I might get her a $300 ACER Aspire R3610 M330 320G RAM >>> 2G Mini Desktop LINUX--running Linpus Linux (what a stupid name; >>> sounds like a disease). >>> >>> But my concern is that though the screenshots look good from what I've >>> seen in Google, if it's already factory installed can she plug it into >>> a DSL modem supplied by one of the Baby Bells, will the modem be >>> recognized, and will she be good to go, so she can check her email at >>> Yahoo email, or, do I have to do something to make the dang system >>> work? >>> >>> This is an ideal user--if ever there was one--for Linux, but unless >>> Linux needs zero hand holding and installation help, I'm not going to >>> get it. Personally as a power user I cannot see myself using anything >>> but a first class OS like Windows. >>> >>> Seriously, Linpus Linux--is it any good? Serious replies only, though >>> I am copying COLA. >>> >>> RL >> >> Why would you want to use an obscure distro like Linpus?, just install >> Fedora 13 or Ubuntu. If it can run Linpus it can run any distro so you >> can use whatever you want. It takes 20 minutes to install Fedora so it >> shouldn't be a concern that you have to do it yourself. > > I wouldn't recommend Fedora 13 (or any Fedora version, for that matter) > in this instance even though I've been using it as my main OS since Core > 3--about 5 years. > > Fedora is a "test bed" OS for new features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, > and as such is "cutting edge" software, which means there can and are > problems. Also, the support cycle is very short, about 13 months, with > a new release coming out every six months. Now, that is not to say that > Fedora is unstable, crashes or is badly or sloppily coded. It's just > not for the beginner. Also, in line with Red Hat's open source > philosophy, there are no proprietary codecs, drivers, etc. included. > They must be installed separately by the user from third party sources. > Detailed instructions for this are available, and it's not hard just > time consuming. > > Better that your techno-challenged lady go with an "all inclusive" > distro like PCLinuxOS 2010, the LXDE version for the lightweight GUI > environment. > > Stef The first question to ask in these situations is who is going to be maintaining the system, you or the user? If it's you then you want to choose the same system that you normally use, if it's the naive user then you might want to use some newbie oriented distro although if they are going to be calling you every time something goes wrong or they want to do something new then you are still better off having them use a distro that you use. I have exactly this situation with my sister. She has minimal needs, basically just web browsing and e-mail and she has absolutely no idea how computers work. I've had her running Linux for years, either CentOS or Fedora depending on the needs of the moment. I have an account on her system that I can ssh into so that I can fix problems or install packages remotely (she lives in Chicago, I live in Massachusetts). I prefer to use CentOS for this purpose because it's so stable. However sometimes I'm forced to switch her to Fedora because there is a hardware requirement that CentOS can't handle. Currently I have her on Fedora 13 because CentOS 5.5 can't handle the scanner on her new HP All in One. She doesn't know the difference between the two because her environment looks the same to her. I've set up the bottom panel with launch buttons for the couple of applications that she uses. I've also set myself up as the administrator of here comcast e-mail account and I've set up a gmail account for her which is synced to Thunderbird, this allows me to add contacts to her contact list. Having done all that I can handle any problem that she has without to much effort on my part. Later this year when CentOS 6 comes out I'll switch her back to CentOS but in the meantime Fedora 13 will work fine for her.
From: Rick on 1 Jun 2010 17:24 On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:46:16 -0700, RayLopez99 wrote: Try this again: is Linux Linpus any good? If you really wanted to know, you'd ask in a Linpus related forum. > > RL ^^^ And I see you still can't format a signature. -- Rick
From: Stefan Patric on 2 Jun 2010 01:03 On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:36:54 +0000, General Schvantzkoph wrote: > On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:56:58 +0000, Stefan Patric wrote: > >> [snip] >> >> I wouldn't recommend Fedora 13 (or any Fedora version, for that matter) >> in this instance even though I've been using it as my main OS since >> Core 3--about 5 years. >> >> Fedora is a "test bed" OS for new features for Red Hat Enterprise >> Linux, and as such is "cutting edge" software, which means there can >> and are problems. Also, the support cycle is very short, about 13 >> months, with a new release coming out every six months. Now, that is >> not to say that Fedora is unstable, crashes or is badly or sloppily >> coded. It's just not for the beginner. Also, in line with Red Hat's >> open source philosophy, there are no proprietary codecs, drivers, etc. >> included. They must be installed separately by the user from third >> party sources. Detailed instructions for this are available, and it's >> not hard just time consuming. >> >> Better that your techno-challenged lady go with an "all inclusive" >> distro like PCLinuxOS 2010, the LXDE version for the lightweight GUI >> environment. >> >> Stef > > The first question to ask in these situations is who is going to be > maintaining the system, you or the user? If it's you then you want to > choose the same system that you normally use, if it's the naive user > then you might want to use some newbie oriented distro although if they > are going to be calling you every time something goes wrong or they want > to do something new then you are still better off having them use a > distro that you use. The better option is to use a distro that "works out of the box," and once set up and configured needs no maintenance. PCLinuxOS is one such distro and is really designed for the neophyte. It has a long release cycle--several years, is stable, has good support for all releases, and the company's been around for a while and is in it for the long haul. > I have exactly this situation with my sister. She has minimal needs, > basically just web browsing and e-mail and she has absolutely no idea > how computers work. I've had her running Linux for years, either CentOS > or Fedora depending on the needs of the moment. I have an account on her A friend of mine had similar needs, but was truly technophobic. She really thought technology was "evil" and would ultimately destroy mankind, but that's another story. However, she needed a computer. I installed PCLOS 2007, IIRC, on a old Dell notebook of mine (500MHz PIII, 256MB RAM) to give to her. It was around 5 or 6 years old then. PCLOS recognized and configured everything properly. Plus, I didn't have to install anything additional. I was surprised. I manually configured the dial up through a GUI interface. That was novel at the time. She wasn't going to be using broadband, but I set it up anyway, so I could update the system and applications through my broadband connection which I did only that one time immediately after the install. She used that set up for two years without any maintenance at all, and the system never broke. That really sold me on PCLinuxOS as a solid, stable OS for general, non-techie users. RE: CentOS 6--I'm anxiously awaiting its release with plans to either use it or Scientific Linux (also based on RHEL code) as my primary OS. I'm tiring of Fedora's short life cycle even though since FC6 I've only upgraded every third release. I want to install an OS once and have it live on the system for 5 to 7 years--the average time between my system builds--with updates, of course. Stef
From: Aragorn on 2 Jun 2010 02:39 On Tuesday 01 June 2010 17:29 in comp.os.linux.misc, somebody identifying as Stroller111 wrote... > On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:46:16 -0700, RayLopez99 wrote: > >> Update: Linux anti-Windows trolls please keep out. Aragon this >> means you, Chrisv, SinisterMidget, etc. The name is Aragorn, with an "r", and _I_ am not the troll here, Ray Lopez. >> I want to followup and ask whether Acer supports Linux Linpus, [... I have explicitly mentioned this in my reply to you on comp.os.linux.setup, even though you did not actually ask that question, and when I had given you that reply, you didn't care to read it and claimed that nobody had replied to your questions. But just for the record, I'll humor you and re-iterate: Yes, if Acer supplies that machine *with* Linpus Linux installed *from* the factory, then they *are* guaranteeing that it will work with this particular operating system, and then - as any computer brand does - will even provide for a limited customer support that *includes* the use of this particular version of Linpus Linux on this particular machine. >> ...] and whether, since the Acer PC does not have a CD/DVD (unless >> you get an extension USB type, which I might get), it's safe to say >> Linpus will last say 5 years without having to do a clean reinstall. Distribution lifecycles - by which I mean: the time that the distribution vendor supports the distribution release with additional updates and bugfixes - are listed on the distribution's website. You can see for yourself, if you know how to use a web browser and a search engine. In addition to that, since one of the other posters mentioned that Linpus is based on Fedora, you can glean extra information from the Fedora website with regard to lifecycles. That said, no GNU/Linux distribution - and this also applies to any other operating systems - will be supported with new updates and bugfixes for five years, because once those five years have expired, several newer distributions will already have come out in the meantime. Some distributions such as Gentoo or PCLinuxOS use the "rolling release upgrade" mechanism, where the distribution is automatically upgraded to the next release by simply keeping the system updated. As such, simply keeping the distribution up to date will automatically result in the distribution becoming identical to any new major release. Most distributions however do not do this, so that when a new release comes out, you really do have to install it again. This is why it is recommended to keep "/home" on a separate filesystem, so that this filesystem need not be formatted when installing a new distribution and your data remains safe. Whether "/home" *will* be on a separate partition or not on this Acer machine is something I cannot tell you because I don't own the machine, and it's the hardware vendor who installs the operating system and who picks what goes where in terms of filesystems. I do however presume that the folks at Acer are clever enough to realize the importance of having "/home" separated from the root filesystem. >> [...] This is an ideal user--if ever there was one--for Linux, but >> unless Linux needs zero hand holding and installation help, I'm not >> going to get it. Personally as a power user I cannot see myself >> using anything but a first class OS like Windows. I have told you - i.e. Ray Lopez - before that you should lay of with the very deliberate flamebaiting if you really want serious technical advice, and in one of your earlier threads you actually bragged about how hard you try to insult us and get on our nerves. That said, the only thing that's really first class about Windows is the CDs or DVDs it comes on, because they make excellent skeet shooting targets. >> Seriously, Linpus Linux--is it any good? Serious replies only, >> though I am copying COLA. There is nothing serious about you or your question, Ray Lopez, so lay off. > Linpus is an Asian targeted distro, > > http://linuxbsdos.com/2008/02/20/linpus-linux/ > > There's yer link, Ray Low-pest I remember from my time in comp.os.linux.advocacy that many of these Wintrolls will deliberately pick a distribution of which they know in advance that it could possibly give them some problems, so that they can then come to Usenet and whine about those. -- *Aragorn* (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
From: despen on 2 Jun 2010 10:00 Stefan Patric <not(a)this.address.com> writes: > I'm > tiring of Fedora's short life cycle even though since FC6 I've only > upgraded every third release. I want to install an OS once and have it > live on the system for 5 to 7 years--the average time between my system > builds--with updates, of course. Since FC 8, I've upgraded to 9, 10, 11, 12 simply using yum to apply release updates. It's gotten steadily easier. 11 and 12 applied with no issues at all.
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