RE: UNIX & Windows...????

["Atul Chitnis" <achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> ( It sounds crazy to hear that one has to change the graphics
> card if Linux is not aware of it!!!! )

It may sound crazy to someone who comes from a Windows background, but *X*
is not Linux! Linux is fully functional without a GUI, so let's first of all
put that baby to sleep - don't blame Linux for the inability of X to use
your Windows-specific machine components.

>  On the other hand , when I installed windows 95 ,
>  it was completed in 30 minutes flat. Everything was configured
> the way I wanted including the display & graphics stuff.

Does that make Windows good?

In that case Linux is better - my record stands at 19 minutes from the start
of a Linux installation to the time that the machine was connected to the
Internet and the LAN, sending and receiving mail and allowing LAN users to
browse the net. This included X and Netscape, on a KDE desktop that did
*more* than any Windows desktop can ever do. And this included all the
development stuff I could ask for - stuff that a Windows user would still be
filling a purchase requisition form for.....

Now I may be called a Linux power-user who knows his way around, but that
was not a factor in this case. All I did was stick the CD into the machine,
boot off it, answer a few questions, and then let the installation program
take charge.

The point I am trying to make is that "Linux failed to install" for you
because it was unfamiliar territory for you. You blame Linux for the problem
you had, instead of checking with someone before you passed judgement. You
expected your Windows knowledge to be useful in your quest to install Linux.

You expected Linux to be Windows. It isn't. Deal with it.

>    Now I am not trying to start a flame war here. But honestly ,
> how many people can the Linux-builders expect to know about such
> intricate Hardware details.

I think a reality check is seriously required here - how many Windows users
can install Windows? Let me give you the answer - virtually none. Give a
Windows CD to a computing newbie and ask him to install it, don't expect him
to be successful. People like that depend on their dealers or IS staff.

In German there is a saying (I think it exists in English, too) - "A single
swallow does not make the summer". Your's is an increasingly isolated case.
The reason is that unlike in the past, Linux now focusses more and more on
current, even state-of-the-art hardware. Most popular (even high-end)
display cards are supported. May I ask just what display card it is you
have? It wouldn't perchance, be a lowly SiS card? Or a i740?

> Though I have always loved the Unix world , for once I was really
> frustrated about this whole circus one has to perform when
> installing an Operating System!!.

I just *love* that attitude. Instead of saying "I have a problem installing
X for an xyz display card", you coredump completely and pronounce the whole
thing as a circus.

Have you ever tried to install SCO, AT&T, Solaris, AIX, etc? Tell me, on the
basis of *which* other OS install are you basic this statement?

Have you ever tried to install *Windows* on a machine that has a funky BIOS,
a bad display card, etc? You can't even *install* Windows if your graphics
card doesn't work as advertised or is unsupported! Linux, on the other hand,
will happily install *and* run without graphics, allowing you to get up and
running.

Pronouncing Linux "bad" because *you* couldn't install it (while millions of
users worldwide have had few, if any, problems doing so) is a sweeping
statement that one wouldn't expect off someone who claims to be familiar
with the Unix world.

Having said all that, could you tell us just what problem you have
installing X (not Linux)? What machine were you installing on? What were the
specs, what display card does it have? What distribution of Linux were you
using?

Maybe we can help you. But we won't if you stand there pronouncing judgement
on something we all use and love - all on the basis of an isolated, personal
experience.

Atul


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