Linked by Barry Smith on Tue 23rd Dec 2003 20:02 UTC
So far this series has checked out Lindows 4.0, Libranet 2.8.1 and MEPIS 2003.10. Meanwhile both Lindows.com and Xandros have been busy little beavers and spat out new versions of their software, each on the same day. Since I am trying to find the best bang for my buck in a Debian based commercial distro, and since I am already a registered user of LindowsOS, I felt compelled to download a free copy of Lindows 4.5 to have a second look at this thing.
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1.) The reviewer's hardware is certainly not outdated. I'd say an Intel i810 P3-1GHz machine is squarely in mainstream. Maybe you can't buy them new now, but A LOT of them were sold not too long ago, and there's A LOT of them still in use. You shouldn't have to buy a new PC to upgrade or change your OS. If you want people to do that, then they'll stick with Windows which is preinstalled and virtually included in the price of a new PC. For the record, I'm in the IT field, and I currently own 4 PC's: a clone PII-350MHz, an IBM PII-450MHz, a Compaq K6-2-500MHz, and an IBM PIII-500MHz laptop. Of the 4, I'd only expect trouble on the Compaq during the install of an OS. And, with Windows 2000/XP/2003, that's the only ones I've had driver trouble with (except for a $5 sound card I got for the IBM...but I expected trouble there). Outdated? Yes. Should still be supported? Absolutely.
2.) Yes, the reviewer's setup of an onboard AGP card and a seperate PCI card is a tad odd. But, since they're still selling PCI cards, I'd guess more than most are realizing do it.
3.) Re the video card issue, I'd think that it should be pretty trivial to either (a)default to the chosen primary adapter, or (b)ASK the user what to do. Maybe even having to send signals to both cards and asking to press 1, 2 or 3 depending on which they see (or both for dual monitor setups). How difficult would that be? For something as important as OUTPUT or INPUT, an OS should NOT guess. Complain fast and complain loudly.
4.) Linux hardware detection and kernel and module drivers are inconsistent. I know that a lot of this has to do with hw manafacturers not producing drivers or not releasing specs, but that's not an excuse for an end-user distro. Once again, if you're not DAMN SURE that you'll work, complain fast and loud. I'd advise this complaint to happen BEFORE the distro is installed and taking up space on the hard drive. Perhaps something similar to "winnt32 /checkupgradeonly" to warn of potential conflicts, missing drivers, etc.
5.) If you get thru the install process, you should have a usable system. That means video, keyboard, mouse, and functional GUI. Modems and NICs should be a very close second on that list. Excepting modems and NICs, I don't think I've EVER seen a Windows machine not get that far (without faulty hardware...not outdated hardware, FAULTY hw).
6.) Why don't distros have a CD worth of driver modules, and just copy the ones needed? There's no shame in asking for the install CD for added hardware. Windows users are used to it, and if there's enough space on the HDD the CD can be copied there as well. If the driver exists and is somewhat common, include it. If it doesn't exist or isn't included, WARN the user that it won't work. Default to EASY, advanced users can tweak and modprobe if they like.
7.) Linux and Linux apps, in general, are WAY too talkative. Nobody cares what they're doing...half (or more) of the users don't understand it anyway. It's always nice to have the OPTION of seeing verbose status and logging messages and maybe even saving it to a file, but a progress indicator is more than enough as a default.