Paul Parr

I read your comment and the only response that a fellow newbie can say is that an open source system versus a proprietary system means making someone into a billionaire and paying for patches, patches and more patches!! To this day I could never understand the logic of paying for software that has bugs in them. We purchase, get a level of familiarization, spend again and repeat the cycle. I also have a comfort zone and re-learning a different OS takes time and energy. If it was not open source then we all would be paying directly or indirectly to support this business.

The difference with linux is you don't have to call a help desk across an ocean or have to pay the trouble shooter. With a little time your question will be answered or will be there somewhere from someone else and it is free!! I personally enjoy reading and learning from new technolgy so I am speaking from the opposite point of your view. Don't give up!!!

I still have my Amiga 2000 with the VideoToaster. (I don't know why I kept it either?) I worked in broadcasting once upon a time (NBC affiliate in Corpus Christi, TX), did weddings and wrote a few small commericials and just recently finished a one month course with COMCAST. I will be able to use their facilities now. I plan on writing and producing non-profit type shows (these are the only kind that they allow). I still love film and writing and to stay experienced with the medium this is my only option.

Take care
Frank

.. and learning a new OS can be fun..

That was'nt included in my original source. Would you care to post yours here?

But for those peolpe who are so enarmoured with the RTFM a brief aside below :

Congratulations! You have purchased an extremely fine device that would give you thousands of years of trouble-free service, except that you undoubtedly will destroy it via some typical bonehead consumer maneuver. Which is why we ask you to PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKE READ THIS OWNER'S MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU UNPACK THE DEVICE. YOU ALREADY UNPACKED IT, DIDN'T YOU? YOU UNPACKED IT AND PLUGGED IT IN AND TURNED IT ON AND FIDDLED WITH THE KNOBS, AND NOW YOUR CHILD, THE SAME CHILD WHO ONCE SHOVED A POLISH SAUSAGE INTO YOUR VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDER AND SET IT ON "FAST FORWARD", THIS CHILD ALSO IS FIDDLING WITH THE KNOBS, RIGHT? AND YOU'RE JUST NOW STARTING TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, RIGHT??? WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST BREAK THESE DEVICES RIGHT AT THE FACTORY BEFORE WE SHIP THEM OUT, YOU KNOW THAT? -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!"

I am not so sure that anyone really reads the manual any more. I don't know anyone in my near vicinity that ever does. And, they usually complain that it doesn't work right. I'm not talking about just computers. I don't think that too many people read the manual on anything any more. I guess that it puts everything on a level playing field then

This gave me the best laugh of the day. We have been trying to setup the control software for 2 heating system ISAC's on a win98 "mad"chine (The software dose't come in a linux version) for 2 days and nights. Blankitty blank ActiveX Controls. And of course you know who didn't read all of the manual first.

Golly I love linux and the people who use it. Ease of use seems to be the byword with Linux. The ability to search sites like this and news groups almost guarantees a answer in in very short time.

I don't read manuals, if I know how to get my device to work.. if I don't I read the manual..

Thanks to Uncle Bill and his Dumbing Down of America Policy, most of us have gotten out of the habit of reading manuals.

When I first started using Linux, I dutifully read the first few pages of the manual, got bored, installed the operating system by following the on screen instructions, and then read the manual only when necessary to figure out a problem.

Since, a quarter of the time, my issue wasn't covered in the manual, I clicked on the help item associated with my problem, and found that doesn't work most of the time.

I then went online. I started with Google, asked a few friends, revised my Google search, read a couple of websites, Searched Google again, bought a few books on Linux, then hit Google one more time for good luck.

Then I went back to the manual, and found the answer was there all along. It just wasn't mentioned by name in the index.

I'm experienced Linux user but I love easy installs. I want a distro that will install the way Knoppix boots, perfectly.

I'm not an experienced linux at all, but i think the way it is is quite good. At least the installation for RH9 and FC1 is very very easy. It's like windows install (ok, you don't have to put a serial ).
What I mean is that you cannot make it more easy. The only things installation asks if for the root access, the normal user account and which pakages to install (and you can just click to "normal installation" and the program installs a buch of software).
I'm really happy to have switched to Linux over a couple of years, as i learned A LOT on computers, the way they work and to solve problems...use your brain for something more than watching porno movies!!
It's really satisfying when you managed by yourself to get something work, and even more when you help other do it.
I'm happy to be a "Linux member" and try to get rid of that windoze bullshit. It's not that happy to reinstall the whole win every 6 month cause some (or almost all) programs are full of bugs (who among us hadn't had that lovely blue screen??).
Linux is not "newbie friendly" ? Yes and no....It is if that newbie wants a clone of win, it's not if you want to learn something new.

To the thread starter:
JOIN THE GENERAL POPULATION AND WE'LL CONSIDER IT.

I've had an assfull.

Where else can you get at completely zero out of pocket cost such high quality software? Where else can you get, for ANY DOLLAR AMOUNT, such high quality software?

Nowhere.

It's not meant to be easy. It's meant to be valuable.

I would tithe to the church of GNU, were it incorporated as such.

Thank you, Richard Stallman.

you can use lindows or windows and pay for support or make a donation to developpers or contribute to it.

Okay,

So you want to eat. You have two (maybe more) options:

Go to a restaurant. There, you'll have your food cooked for you, handed to you, and maybe it will be palatable. If not, you can complain to the manager. But you'll still have to pay, and it will cost you typically 3 times what this will:

Go to the store. Buy what you want to eat. Cook it yourself. If something goes wrong, you have only yourself to blame, unless you want to blame the producer or grocer, then it's still your fault for buying it in the first place. But you have to know how to cook.

You can have someone cook for you, and pay a premium, or you can cook for yourself, take some responsibility, save some money, and not be at the whim of anyone else.

I've been force-fed Microsoft pablem for too long. I'm ready to cook for myself, even if I have to learn how.

Another analogy:

Microsoft sells fish, but they are a week old. You see other people with fresh fish, and you wonder where they got them. They tell you they are free. They say:
"Go talk to GNU/Linux - they have nets and boats they'll give you, and will point to where the fish are. And they'll tell you how to fish. They'll even take you on your first few trips. All you have to do is learn and apply that learning, and you have all the fish you and your family can eat. You can even sell the extra fish! You just have to agree that you won't say you built the boat, made the net, or invented fishing."

Or you could just go buy MS fish, which are half rotten, expensive, and the same every day. But you never have to leave land or learn anything (not even that fresh fish are free for the taking!).

You choose.

I'm not embarrased to say that I downloaded 38 Slackware Linux floppy images using Windows 3.11 ten years ago. And I'm not embarrased to say that I have Windows Me on my machine today. But I'm typing this in Konqueror, under BlackBox, in Mandrake 9.1, on a GNU/Linux system.

Why?

Because I like to fish.

Thanks for the boat, Linus. And thanks for the net, Richard. And thank you to everyone else that has helped me learn how to fish.

Dan Whitacre

I hate the richest man in the world.

Is that wrong?

Especially since he has no degree, and I do. And he hasn't been in the military service, and I have.

I bet Bill runs RedHat at home.

GO PINGUINS!

Dan

Man, how often do people that HAVE to use computers install o/s's, applications, or anything else system-changing?

Rarely.

Most people that HAVE to use computers have "stable" old o/s's, and run old, reliable apps.

The BW3's next town over is running MS Windows 3.11 for the point of sale software! HONEST! I saw the system monitor app icon and freaked out. Hadn't seen it for ten years!

People that install operating systems do it because they want to.

People that fiddle with application settings do it because they are computer geeks.

Users are oblivious. Geeks are US.

Shut up and learn; if you want to be a geek, BE ONE!