Linux Format forums

[towy71]

I draw everyones attention to bbc online verdict on linux?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4565581.stm
discuss
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still looking for that door into summer

[Flea]

[smita034]

There are a few little bits that need ironing out before it will be full desktop ready;
Hardware, Software (Oh come one, don't say there are free ones, I know there is, but face it some people want to use Dreamweaver and PhotoShop! Not to mention playing games), software installation (Gentoo's portage works wonders, does everything for you - Including dependencys. There are other, just, not as clever imho) etc etc

we are generaly not "desktop" users. I'd see as a desktop user the old lady next door, my mum, my landlord etc etc.

[Nobber]

Is Linux ready for the desktop?

I'm not sure this oft-repeated question is either interesting or relevant any more. The answer is obviously Yes.

The question we could be asking instead is: Are people ready, willing and able to use Linux on the desktop? (And if not, why the bloody hell not?)
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800 LINES ERIC - GET BACK TO PYSKOOL

[Nigel]

[davecs]

[Rhakios]

I still find browser plug-ins a major PITA in Linux, getting them set up properly so that they work. With OS X I find they just work. So for those who need their browser plug-ins, I suppose they would say it isn't ready.
It's the only shortcoming I can think of though.
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Bye, Rhakios

[davecs]

What plugins, specifically?
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Asus Asus M2N32 WS Pro+Athlon AM2/4200+ — GeForce 7600GT — 2Gb Cosair VS RAM — 500Gb WD5000AAKS SATA Drive — PCLinuxOS

[Rhakios]

All browser plug-ins, one way or another, from flash through realplayer to acroread. I have never bothered trying to get any quicktime support, it isn't worth my time.
Sometimes flash (the least troublesome) works OOTB, sometimes it doesn't. Nowadays I mostly use realplayer in stand alone mode and download pdfs for reading, so I'm not too bothered.
But then it also depends on which browser I'm using at the time, they all seem to require some degree of individual setting up, whereas in OSX if I have the browser and the plug-in installed they just work.
Still, I'm not going to be tempted to go back to using Windows on my x86 boxes after 6 years of getting used to Linux.
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Bye, Rhakios

[davecs]

I know I've said this before, but have you tried PCLinuxOS? It comes as standard with Realplayer integrated into Firefox, it comes with KPackage so you can load the rpm of Adobe Reader 7 with the minimum of fuss. Most media "just plays" but you have to install libdvdcss from the PCLOS repositories to get Kaffeine to play DVDs.

According to the Plug-ins dialogue on Firefox, it can handle:

AI, AU, AVI, DOC, DVI, MID, MPEG, MPGA, PBM, PDF, PGM, PNM, PPM, PPT, QT, RGB, RPM, RTF, SDA, SDC, SDD, SDW, SGL, SMF, SMI, STC, STD, STI, STW, SWF, SXC, SXD, SXG, SXI, SXM, SXW, TIFF, WAV.

Can't see WMF though. I'm sure MPlayer can deal with them, though.
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Asus Asus M2N32 WS Pro+Athlon AM2/4200+ — GeForce 7600GT — 2Gb Cosair VS RAM — 500Gb WD5000AAKS SATA Drive — PCLinuxOS

[Rhakios]

No, and I'm not going to. I can get SuSE and Mandriva to play most things eventually. My point is that they don't just work. Which is relevant to this thread insofar as most new users will not be able to fiddle with things until they do work as I can. It's not a question of the packages being available, they all are, it's just whether or not they work without further effort.
DVD playback is easy in SuSE and Mandriva if you just follow the instructions at pacman in the first case and use the plf packages in the other. Indeed media playback is not the problem it's the bloomin' plug-ins.
Incidentally, I prefer Opera.
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Bye, Rhakios

[Flea]

[nordle]

Rhakios, fair point, as pointed out though, with firefox most of these extensions are a few clicks away.
And just think how many times a windows install requires you to download the latest drivers and suffer 26 reboots while it all goes on.

People who install O/S's will be used to going to grab some items, but with a Linux distro they should find it refreshing to only grab a few items and not re-boot.

People who don't install O/S's wont have to bother, as they should probably opt for something like Linspire (yes I like it), everything is already setup for you.

Its not perfect, but its quite good and getting better all the time.


EDIT: Flea, we made similar points at the same time, as your reply was not there while I was typing this, I hit submit and doh! I've just repeated a lot of what you said (without seeing your post).

[andychannelle]

I've not had a problem with plugins in about a year and a bit, and this is especially the case with SUSE9.3 which has Flash, Realplayer, Acroread 7 available OOTB. Though even before this, someone sensibly made the Flash player installable via XPI. Access to Quicktime was, technically, only slightly more complex than the the Windows install - just download the relevant version of MPlayer and the codecs and install. Two things to do instead of one, and no reboot.

Andy

[smita034]