Distribution confusion
Posted 03-06-2009 at 07:54 PM by Indymaynard
Recently, I had to make a tough decision. Every Linux user will face this particular decision at least once whether they know it or not. I guess that the hardest part about it was that I didn't know if my choice would be good or bad. Even more frustrating was the fact that I believe that no one should have to face this choice.
For at least four years, Fedora has been my distribution of choice. It began when I tried Red Hat 9 for the first time. Honestly, my first experience was terrible with Linux. I couldn't tell you a better reason for my continuation than the fact that I was interested. But when it comes to computers, I have a lot of patience. This led me to lots of internet research.
After realizing that I had burned Red Hat 9 in 2003 and tried to install it in 2005, I found that I had made a serious error. Nothing looked good in GNOME and I didn't understand why there was no C: drive to find my files in. (Joke's on me!) My wireless card (Microsoft MN-720, Broadcom Chipset) didn't work. I couldn't figure out how to install the .bin file nVidia offered. Everything was wrong!
Somehow at work, the conversation came up about Linux, and one of my bosses gave me a copy of SuSE 10. I tried it out immediately and saw that it offered much more promise than my previous attempt. I couldn't figure out how to play my mp3's, but at least the interface was more understandable.
I'll try to cut the story short by just saying that I eventually discovered Fedora and decided that I would just learn it and make it work. I was desperate to get away from Windows, though I needed to dual boot because I liked my video games.
Since then, I've pretty much only used Fedora. I even installed it on computers for my family. I have become comfortable with it. It makes sense to me.
Then I tried to install it for a friend who wanted to play his Windows based games. Wine sent me away with my thumb in my mouth, crying for help from mommy. But what could I do? I told this guy that his 2007 game would run in 2009 versions of Linux. I couldn't backtrack and I certainly couldn't say that I would just give up and install Windows only to leave another person stuck with Windows. What do I do?
The time came for a critical decision. I chose to try the most popular of distributions: Ubuntu. My conscience was tearing me apart.
After burning the DVD, I plugged it in and went through the setup, which I found to be very refreshing compared to Fedora's Anaconda. And the system was ready in a short time. I feel guilty just writing these words!
After configuring Wine (if you can call it configuring), his games ran fine. "WTF, mates?" Everything just worked. I had no problems. Could this really be?
This is where I raise my question. Why should I have to choose a distribution? Why can't I choose one distribution to run my server, my desktops, my test machines, my game machines, my work machines, etcetera? Why couldn't I use Fedora "out of the box" to run my friend's games? The version was correct. The settings were correct (according to my research using the other almighty Google). Why can't it be as easy as installing the silly game?
Then, I wanted to use Postgres on Ubuntu. I had to use the command line (though I don't mind it, former Windows users do)! I even had to edit the config file (again, which I don't mind, but Windows users do).
Why do we have to have such a separation in the distributions? I understand Backtrack being a unique distribution, but what about the rest? Do they have to have such a difference? Do things have to be so different amongst them? Can't we just have a standard platform for most of the rest of the distributions? Even the set up of the files on Ubuntu is different than that of Fedora. How can we expect Windows users to move to Linux? How can we expect sense to be made from it all?
The obvious answer is that we keep adding to our online wiki and forum support for Linux systems. But I find that this will not be enough. After all, if someone can't figure out how to get their network card to work on Linux, what should make them continue to try when it "just works" in other operating systems? (As a sidebar, I'll admit that most network cards "just work" with Linux, but I use it as an example.)
Something should be worked out amongst the Linux community which inspires as much similarity and transparency as possible. I believe that this is the only solution to woes that may be experienced by Windows users wanting to escape what they think they are stuck with. Is this even possible?
I'll digress to think more on the matter.
For at least four years, Fedora has been my distribution of choice. It began when I tried Red Hat 9 for the first time. Honestly, my first experience was terrible with Linux. I couldn't tell you a better reason for my continuation than the fact that I was interested. But when it comes to computers, I have a lot of patience. This led me to lots of internet research.
After realizing that I had burned Red Hat 9 in 2003 and tried to install it in 2005, I found that I had made a serious error. Nothing looked good in GNOME and I didn't understand why there was no C: drive to find my files in. (Joke's on me!) My wireless card (Microsoft MN-720, Broadcom Chipset) didn't work. I couldn't figure out how to install the .bin file nVidia offered. Everything was wrong!
Somehow at work, the conversation came up about Linux, and one of my bosses gave me a copy of SuSE 10. I tried it out immediately and saw that it offered much more promise than my previous attempt. I couldn't figure out how to play my mp3's, but at least the interface was more understandable.
I'll try to cut the story short by just saying that I eventually discovered Fedora and decided that I would just learn it and make it work. I was desperate to get away from Windows, though I needed to dual boot because I liked my video games.
Since then, I've pretty much only used Fedora. I even installed it on computers for my family. I have become comfortable with it. It makes sense to me.
Then I tried to install it for a friend who wanted to play his Windows based games. Wine sent me away with my thumb in my mouth, crying for help from mommy. But what could I do? I told this guy that his 2007 game would run in 2009 versions of Linux. I couldn't backtrack and I certainly couldn't say that I would just give up and install Windows only to leave another person stuck with Windows. What do I do?
The time came for a critical decision. I chose to try the most popular of distributions: Ubuntu. My conscience was tearing me apart.
After burning the DVD, I plugged it in and went through the setup, which I found to be very refreshing compared to Fedora's Anaconda. And the system was ready in a short time. I feel guilty just writing these words!
After configuring Wine (if you can call it configuring), his games ran fine. "WTF, mates?" Everything just worked. I had no problems. Could this really be?
This is where I raise my question. Why should I have to choose a distribution? Why can't I choose one distribution to run my server, my desktops, my test machines, my game machines, my work machines, etcetera? Why couldn't I use Fedora "out of the box" to run my friend's games? The version was correct. The settings were correct (according to my research using the other almighty Google). Why can't it be as easy as installing the silly game?
Then, I wanted to use Postgres on Ubuntu. I had to use the command line (though I don't mind it, former Windows users do)! I even had to edit the config file (again, which I don't mind, but Windows users do).
Why do we have to have such a separation in the distributions? I understand Backtrack being a unique distribution, but what about the rest? Do they have to have such a difference? Do things have to be so different amongst them? Can't we just have a standard platform for most of the rest of the distributions? Even the set up of the files on Ubuntu is different than that of Fedora. How can we expect Windows users to move to Linux? How can we expect sense to be made from it all?
The obvious answer is that we keep adding to our online wiki and forum support for Linux systems. But I find that this will not be enough. After all, if someone can't figure out how to get their network card to work on Linux, what should make them continue to try when it "just works" in other operating systems? (As a sidebar, I'll admit that most network cards "just work" with Linux, but I use it as an example.)
Something should be worked out amongst the Linux community which inspires as much similarity and transparency as possible. I believe that this is the only solution to woes that may be experienced by Windows users wanting to escape what they think they are stuck with. Is this even possible?
I'll digress to think more on the matter.
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