In my most recent column, I wrote about some of the rough edges I think Linux still has — specifically the Ubuntu and Kubuntu distros. As you might expect, because I didn’t praise their OS of choice, I got dozens of curse-filled notes from Linux users.
Oh, wait. I didn’t. Those are Mac users I was thinking of. The Linux people sent me some nice notes, disagreeing in some cases, asking for clarification in others. As usual, a pleasant experience.
One thing that was mentioned was that I really needed to try PCLinuxOS. I had tried to get it, but at the time the various servers that normally housed it were down.
So yesterday I finally got it and installed it. And lemme tell you, it’s a nice piece of work. I really liked Kubuntu — rough edges and all — and PCLO is even nicer. Quick install, beautiful interface, and it deals with one problem I’ve had with other distros: Almost all the configuration options are in one place.
If I was asked to recommend a Linux distro, PCLinuxOS is definitely at the top of my list.
That said, PCLO still has some of those rough edges I mentioned. I took some screen shots to show what I mean.
After I installed it, it was time to reboot. I got the dialog box below asking me which bootloader I wanted to use: GRUB with graphical menu, GRUB with text menu, or LILO with text menu. (Click to enlarge.)
Well, sheesh, I have no clue. I like graphical menus, so that’s what I chose. But when you install Windows you don’t get cryptic messages like this. (Why would I want to delay booting “default image,” and what is that, anyway? And what is ACPI? You get the idea.)
Next I’m shown the entries on my boot menu, and given the opportunity to change them.
As I only planned to boot into PCLinuxOS, I wasn’t gonna mess with this. Nor did I know the difference between “linux” and “linux-non-fb.” (Nor was there any explanation.)
Finally, with everything done, I was told to “Please halt your computer, remove your live system, and restart your computer.”
The “live system” referred to the CD I had booted from. But the instructions were wrong. I didn’t need to “halt” anything. I needed to restart the computer. Further, the computer needed to access the CD while shutting down, so I couldn’t remove it.
The correct instruction at this point is “Please click finish, restart the computer. You will be prompted to remove the CD or other boot media before PCLinuxOS restarts.”
There were some other oddities during install. For example, I chose to wipe my hard drive and install from scratch, but that generated a cryptic instruction about restarting and choosing it again. I did, and it worked – but not quite the way the instructions made it sound.
When I tried to install on my laptop with a built-in wireless card, it couldn’t find the card and thus couldn’t go online. Instead, it gave me a URL when I could download “NDIS Wrapper,” but no further instructions.
Of course, I had to download that on another computer. I did, and I then popped it on a Secure Digital card I had, because the laptop had an SD port. Unfortunately, PCLinuxOS wouldn’t recognize it. I still don’t have the network installed.
And that’s what I mean by “rough edges.” Linux has clearly made the leap from geek toy to solid and stable enthusiast operating system. But to make that final jump to mass acceptance, it’s going to need a little more tweaking.
Besides changing the words in some of the installation dialogs (and adding more non-geek explanation), I’d like to see a distro that loads with only the best-of-breed apps for certain functions. There are at least five options in PCLinuxOS under “Internet/File Transfer,” and it took some trial and error to find a simple FTP program among them. Ditto for chat clients.
Instead, I’d like the developers to say, “We’ll install one text editor, one chat client, one FTP program,” and so on. Yes, they’ll have to make judgement calls, but that’s OK. I’ll still have the option to install alternatives when I’m ready.
For the most part, Linux isn’t hard to use, it’s just different. So there’s a learning curve. A cleaner, leaner install would help reduce that curve by reducing the number of decisions a new user needs to make.
Almost there. Almost.
The Fray
gnomic says:
OBTW, I’m switching from WIN XP to Linux in the next few weeks. Just need to finish building my new (E6600 dual core/2GB Ram/1TB DASD/Antec P180B ultra quiet killer rig) PC. Starting with Unbuntu 7.04.
Haven’t decided to run virtualization (Xen?) or Wine for running the essential Windows apps. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?
Leland says:
Andrew, you took the words out of my mouth. Sadly, I’ve yet to find the right book to match what-ever flavor of Linux I happen to be playing with.
You are right. The Linux folks are very close. But several of the software folks at NAB stated flat out that they would not produce a Linux version of their product. Their argument is a good one too.
Why invest the money to develop software for a platform that has so many variables especially when there is no reasonable guarantee that whatever version of Linux they write for will be compatible this time next year. They common thread is that while open source is good, it is not stable for the long haul because it is continually changing.
Maybe the Linux folks will hammer that problem out as well.
Bob Francis says:
Andrew, Nice review.
As a long time Linux user, I agree with most everything you say. Geeks still don’t have a real clue about “normal” users.
I think you should try some of the commercial, or near commercial distributions. Such as Freespire, Xandros, maybe Madriva. May current favorite, I have two, one for home one for work, as the work needs Windows 2003 server connection,and one of these works better than the other, is/are, home: Simply Mepis 6.5, and work: Xandros 4.0.
Both these distros try to address your points, and succeed, to one extent or another.
Bob
gnomic says:
Ubuntu experience so far has been great!
I couldn’t install the latest release 7.04 from the CD for some inexplicable reason, but installing the older version and upgrading has been flawless. The desktop is up and running and I’m slowly installing and setting up applications. The default “evolution” email app looks very much like Outlook. I use avast antiviral – FREE – on windows and now on the new linux box. I’m not trying to figure out the best way to port all my web sites and email to the new box. Then I need to figure out how I’m going to manage my ipod…. and what i’m going to do with thousands of dollars of Microsoft software.
BTW, if you haven’t built your own PC in a few years, with SATA drives (A TB is less than $300!) and newer modular power plugs, it is a whole new experience. It took me about an hour to build the new machine – including reading the manuals. Life is so much easier that the original 4.77Mhz PC!
I go my equipment from a place called zipzoomfly.com – way better prices than everyone else and no problems so far. I couldn’t find the combination of top-of-the-line features I wanted for less than $3,500 and this cost me less than $2K with the 1KVA UPS (but no monitor or printer). Its screaming fast and uses a lot less power with a more efficient power supply. And CPU prices have dropped $200 since I started. I highly recommend the http://www.extremetech.com site for build-it-yourself advice.
gnomic says:
And then.. back to XP..
The video resolution wasn’t right, so I tried to fix it. I installed the “restricted nvidia driver” and that made it boot to the command line. I lloked up how to fix it – and if I had a couple of days I probably could. It shouldn’t be this dificult. Sadly…back to XP for now. Once I figure out how to uninstall linux..
gnomic says:
Back to XP
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2709582#post2709582
gnomic says:
The biggest thing Linux could benefit from is usability engineering. Although much better (thank you Bill Gates for the competition) each year, it is still a OS by geeks for geeks. (and I’m still a geek at heart, so I mean that with all repect). Your review hits the nail on the head – many people really want an OS that works and doesn’t bug them, much like the macboys have.
We have met the enemy and he is ourselves. – POGO.