I've been away from home for a whole and did apt-dist-upgrades remotely and just noticed that I'm on 3.4, when did this happen?


Also, I would like your views on the state of linux GUI apps.

I've got 2 PC's. A slow 400MHz and a 2800XP with a 128GFX card etc.

Now I do a lot of programming that could easily be done in linux, but I've always found the window managers and a lot of the graphical apps for linux to be buggy (I appreciate windows is also buggy, but its very rare for office 2000 to crash on me, and non of the linux cd burning apps work for me).

So the old box is my linux hobby box and the new fast box is my windows study box.


Basically I wondered how many people have the same set up as me, and if they don't and they use linux for gui stuff, how stable is it for them.

we use a couple of linux machines pretty heavily at home and they are generally rock stable. I shut down today to replace a dead sound card and had uptime of 31 days. I use Office at work but have found the current version of Open Office to work just fine at home. KDE is completely stable - some apps may not be but I think it is worth a try to see if the ones you use are.

Things have come a long way in the last few years...

I really appreciate the reply.

I am so close to switching my main machine to debian again. But I am trying to resist, because every-time I've done so in the past, its always been problematic.

The fact that I have multiple machines, I think I could pull it off during Christmas Break.

Thanks again for your input.

Hi,

If you run Sid, of course there will be some issues with crashing
but Sarge and some etch packages runs just fine. KDE is quite
smooth and runs fine, even on CD burning apps like k3b.

cheers

I usually use testing (I'll change my profile). Unstable breaks on a daily basis.

In no way do I want to start a flame on which linux apps suck versus windows equivalents.

The fact that linux gives me true choices (even if hidden behind a GUI) is what appeals to me, and I'm sure most users too.

I can totally relate to cape25's comment on linux progressing in the last few years. I've personally witnessed non-geeks install and use linux.

In the old days, within hours they wanted windows back. Now with dual-boot and live distros, they can play for as long or short as they want.

Open standards are the only way forward, no vendor lock-in or monopolies. As our generation of geeks grows and makes money from producing open products, I'm sure the old system will be left behind.

Sorry for that bit of philosophical insight, I was having a 'moment'


Regards,
Gavin