Friday, July 18, 2008

your Linuxville guide is back.......

He's suave, debonair, speaks a dozen languages. Then gets assigned to Africa, can't find anyone he can talk to. Africa has I think 800+ languages and dialects. Linuxville is not that extreme but the words tech savvy mean slightly different things here. If you will allow me to say, how dare you come to my city not having done a little research to know some basics. Oh, we can accommodate everybody, we have bright lights and swamp gas, sidewalks and dirt paths. The common word is that Linux will run on anything from a wristwatch to a mainframe but, it is not the same Linux that does it. Design limitations, yes, this is why there are Hardware Compatibility List and Hardware Support and forums, because users think they are James Bond acquiring a gadget from Q. Let me relax.......... The latest complaint I hear is for wireless support. Since you didn't buy your laptop with the first intent of installing Linux, you need to know what kind of luck other users have had with Linux on laptops. Go to http://www.linux-laptop.com, for a start and by all means buy an ethernet cable, there are times when it's OK to be tethered. Speaking of gadgets from Q, ever notice some are so amoured by technology, they will buy the most extreme thing on the market, then cry "CRAP" when Linux doesn't work on their machine. The object is to accommodate as many users as possible, at the same time giving them all the opportunity to choose from a wide assortment of equipment while being flexible and changeable and adjustable and reconfigurable, yet stable. You are getting this for free and you still complain. You are getting the Rolls Royce and complain, the hood is locked and too few cup holders. Perhaps Linux should have commercials like the Bill G and Steve J show, in the Bevis and Butthead format or penguins the likes of Coke commercials. I, the Linuxville guide get so frustrated by folks so trained on MS, switch to Macs and refuse to admit, "Hey, this is different". They come to Linuxville with this attitude also. Please, buy the books, get the videos, get the latest news, find out where Linux is today. Now, back to tech savvy. The reputation that Linux is hard because you have to type in commands is generated by folks who are use to doing it. If you want that, you can have it, but the desktop GUI you have known and loved and expected in other operating systems is now and has been for some time a prominent feature in Linux. Games, Linux has games, lots of games, just not MS games. To cap it all off, nobody is going to harass you for knowing and using more than one operating system. People have the ability to learn multiple languages all the time. You can actually use 11% of your brain. MS is OK, use it, Linux is OK if it is useful to you. Linux does offer different stuff, surprise!! My intent is to provoke you, slap your face, get that man or madame of the world glazed look in your eyes to focus. When in Linuxville the DOS born three finger salute doesn't work, the proper etiquette is ctrl-alt-backspace. If you ask nicely I have a chance to exercise my excellent mouse-side manner to assist you, redirect you, guide you in all the ways of Linuxville. What's it like settling into Linux? It's exactly like that Russell Crowe movie, "A Good Year"............

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