Linked by Iain Alexander on Thu 17th Apr 2003 07:28 UTC
Several days ago I wrote a rather scathing article about my utter dismay and disappoint with Mandrake 9.1 and by association, Linux as a whole. Since then I have had many many flames and equally as many agreeing emails (is there a simple opposite word for flame?) Since then I have been trying, really really trying to get my system working fully. But time and again I'm coming up against the same brick wall of (un)usability, computer esotericism and down right idiocy. 
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Flashback. Summer of 2002. My motherboard is destroyed in a freak accident, with processor and RAM intact. I think *gasp!* I don't have any money! So I go to my techie friend, who says, "Hey, I've got an Emachines mobo you can have if you install Linux on your computer afterwards." No choice; so I back up my HD to cd-r's and get to work.
Step 1: Lycoris. Okay, it's all purdy, but install freezes at 98%. Try again. Fail. Try again. Fail. *sigh* and I break out the backup distro he gave me--Libranet.
I install that, run it, it detects everything! Cable modem, bastardized mobo, trashed Mitsumi CD-ROM drive! Now, I don't mean to spread Libranet propaganda; in fact, I have grown to hate it with all my heart. Thankfully, I've been replacing Libranet piece-by-piece with Debian. I don't understand the fuss about installing software. Apt-get it, or if it isn't in Debian, download the relevant lib*-dev packages and compile it. No problem. If you don't like it, apt-get remove will do the trick. Also, Win users: Note how Linux programs are so much smaller than Windows?
So really, I'm the "newbie meets Debian". My friend didn't help me much, mostly because I was too proud to ask. And now, I wouldn't use a shitty GTK+ pseudo-configure utility for the world--Libranet comes with a bunch of Perl scripts (that are not too difficult to read) launched from an app called "Xadminmenu". I've been replacing these with more flexible alternatives.
By the way, I've probably learned more about computers in the last eight months than in my entire life. Windows is a parasite. I wouldn't have thought of learning C or any sort of programming in my Win98 days, and yet here I am, slaving away at it.
Thank you, Linus Torvalds, for creating something that restored my faith in computers acting in logical ways.
So, Linux is WAAAAAY ready for the desktop. IceWM at least....