Mason:
Thanks.
I posted the problem to the fedora forum.
So, since this is to introduce myself here goes:
I am from North Carolina. I have used linux off and on for several years.
I remember trying it back in the 1980's when it was on a floppy.
It was non graphical and hard for me to use.
When windows 3.0 came out I bought it (think it was 6 floppies).
Then I did not use linux much until around 2000.
I gradually began to wean myself off of microsoft because I got tired of all the virus problems my machine got thru outlook.
Although we used it at work and I was in the IS department for PC support at Bridgestone/Firestone, I was hoping that linux would somehow become more user friendly but yet remain secure. With Fedora and Suse it seems that my hopes were realized. Although I do not do PC support anymore,
I am glad that linux can handle most if not all of my needs. The latest needs it handles are:
USB support for my olympus c-700 camera (auto detect)
printer support for my hp3300 laser printer (including scanning)
dvd/cd writing for my sony and nec cdrom drives
usb support from my sandisk 2G compact flash, allowing me to boot linux from it
and by downloading and configuring xine I can play all my dvd's that I used to need my windows box for.
Oh, also, my weatherstation (Lacross WS-2315) downloads all its info via minicom and a
c program freely written for it on the web
don't know how long this link will last)
http://www.lavrsen.dk/twiki/bin/view/Open2300/WebHome
Oh, when I need a spreadsheet openoffice does fine, and when I needed a firewall,
linux had it built in (redhat) before windows 2000.
Interestingly enough, when I check to see how secure my system is I go to shields up:
(don't know how long this link will last)
http://www.grc.com/
and the linux install was always more secure than the windows2000 install even with zone alarm! Of course now that Vista is out microsoft has included more security and has it configured automagically.
When I saw how microsoft started to roll their browser into the OS I decided that I better consider what to use as an alternative, especially since they broke their relationship with java. It has been somewhat hard for me to learn how to use linux but now I am comfortable enough with it that I used it for almost everything. By almost I mean that if I want to run some of my old microsoft games I fire up windows or dos 6.1...
Linux programmers were generous enough to keep up with web browsers so that surfing the net was on par with internet explorer and probably more secure. I do all my credit card transactions on firefox or mozilla and have not had a problem.
My hope is that linux use will continue to grow (not just firefox browser from a windows machine) and that more companies will switch to linux as their main OS. This would provide more jobs for those to do linux support. Of course, to convince the managers of the big companies to do this requires exposure. One way this is possible is thru Cisco routers. Another is thru mysql. A third is to have the company security officer use linux to hack at windows systems for holes.
Please, no flames, these are my opinions not yours!
