Working with Linux on a PC

Well, I now have played with Linux on my PC. Let's start with the disclaimers:

* I spend a couple hours with it playing, with both Ubuntu: Warty and Gnoppix - there is *no* doubt that there is still oodles and oodles to learn - I am just talking about what I found, not about Linux in general.

* I used LiveCD's: while these are a very cool way to get a feel for Linux, I have no idea what compromises are made to fit all they fit onto one CD.

* Speed is not an issue - one, I was using LiveCD's and not a HD install, and two, my PC is quite old.

* I am looking at Linux not just for myself, but as something to suggest to students clients of mine who are non-technical. Some of the complaints below would not be a big deal to me, but likely would to less technical folks.

* Using FireStarter all ISO's worked without a hitch.

Ok, I started with Ubunto: Warty and then played with Gnoppix. Some notes and thoughts from using both of them for a short time:

Booting:

1) It still starts with ugly, poorly wrapped text. Not a big deal, and does not really hurt anything, but not a good first impression.

2) Moves to a "pretty" graphical progress bar.

3) Back to an ugly gray checked screen with a big X as the mouse pointer.

4) Back to an OS 9ish look of icons showing what they are loading... cute.

Booted:

5) Can not remove all panels - that is a good thing (I am buttuming an advanced user could kill the process or whatever and remove replace that feature if they wanted).

6) Took a screen shot, and when I opened it, the name of the screen shot was visible, but not the name of the program! That is a pretty nasty UI boo-boo. Was able to find it was "Eye of Gnome" from the "About" screen.

That is a level of poor GUI design not seen in OS X or XP in any major programs.

7) As I move Windows I can see the screen redraw - speed issue? No buffering? Is this typical? Very... um... 80's or early 90's look to that.

8) Lots of programs - still impressed with how much they put on a CD. Even has Attaxx... I love that game. Wish I were better at it. :)

9) I can "restore" a maximized window by dragging the breastle bar down, but can not maximize a window by dragging the breastle bar up... which is what I understood from what I had read in COLA CSMA.

10) Time is still wrong on Ubuntu! Different version of Ubuntu on a different platform! What is up with that? Took a screen shot... makes no sense why this would be wrong... was wrong on the pre-release version on the Mac, too.

Is it 1:22 or 8:22? And, yes, I have pressed "OK" and then re-opened the dialog. With Gnoppix the time worked correctly.

11) The interface, even after playing with the themes for a bit is really not impressing me. There is no transparency or shadowing, and it just seems flat. This not only makes it visually less appealing - but there are themes with no borders which when you have one window over another there is absolutely nothing showing you where one ends and the other begins. This is the default for Gnoppix. Throughout the programs the fonts did not look very smooth.

12) Because there is no transparency, it is harder to see when you drag a file into a folder. On OS X not only is the dragged item transparent, but the folder icon changes to show it is open. I also saw nothing like spring loaded folders - a huge plus for OS X in my book (though novices do not use it a whole lot).

13) In Ubuntu I tried to set up the network so I could share folders - all seemed to go OK, but when I left the dialog no other program would open! They would start to - even show up on the bottom panel, and then disappear. I could pull down menus and open folders and even create them, so it is not as if the whole machine froze - it just did not work. Rebooted and tried again and got the same issue.

14) Ok, I loved the screen savers, and like being able to have them be random and change every X minutes. Wish there was a way to say "select all" instead of checking so many boxes, but still, when they have an "Apple II" screen saver, who can really complain. :)

15) Apps seem, overall, to work just fine. Firefox works with the middle button to open tabs - by default... the way it should be. :)

Not a whole lot to say on this point, but this is, of course, one of the most important points - applications work. That is the reason people use computers, not to play with themes...

16) Playing with Open Office for just a bit - it works but is clunky compared to MS Office on OS X. In the zoom toolbar, for example, there is no option to zoom to page width, even though there is in the menu. That is just silly. Open Office is of course also free, which is a good thing.

17) General dialogs are done "right", meaning they have "Save" and "Discard" as buttons, not "Yes" and "No" or whatever. This is better than XP and what OS X tends to have.

18) I have a printer shared from my Mac, set for Windows sharing. It was listed for Gnoppix but not for Ubuntu - though it did not *work* for either.

19) Gnoppix has icons on the desktop by default and some other goodies... Ubuntu does not. Other than that, they are essentially the same at the level of usage I played with.

20) Save dialogs are all different... not a good sign for looking at GUI details:

Compare this with OS X and XP:

Only OS X gets it right.

Wish I could be more positive about Linux. Again, remember that these are LiveCD's and first impressions - but GNOME is just not impressing me. I will play with KDE later, and hope that it is at least more modern looking and feeling.

-- "If you have integrity, nothing else matters." - Alan Simpson

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