Try this again: is Linux Linpus any good?
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From: ray on 1 Jun 2010 11:55 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 Ok NoBalls - on the off chance that this is a legit post (which I doubt very much): 1) a DSL modem is a non-issue for virtually every modern linux distro. You plug into it and connect via DHCP. That's it. If there is a wireless router in the mix, then ease of setup may be determined by what encryption scheme is used. 2) I, personally, would be reluctant to USE a distro hardly anyone has ever heard of. Got the wife an Asus eeepc netbook a year plus back - it came with a dumbed down version of Xandros - which looked really mickey mouse. I did an install of Debian from the Debian eeepc wiki - it was zero trouble and EVERYTHING worked out of the box. It required about 50mb on a flash drive and then did a network install from there.
From: Stefan Patric on 1 Jun 2010 14:56 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
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
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