The WSJ article was fair-handed
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| nalf38 Oct 19, 2007 2:07 PM EDT |
He pointed out some legitimate issues. Ubuntu/Fedora/OpenSuse users can't play mp3s or DVDs out of the box, and I don't think newbies are going to give a crap that it's a legal issue. Hartly wrote that the ability to play commercial DVDs does not come out of the box on Windows, either; he is mistaken. As someone who recently completely dumped Vista for Sabayon, I can say from experience that Vista does play DVDs, just not very well. I think Mossberg of the WSJ made some mistakes, though. I've never had an issue getting my camera to work, but I use Picasa. Mossberg doesn't say what app he used. He said his touchpad was over-sensitive & didn't know how to adjust it. I don't use Gnome or Ubuntu, but in KDE, the Ksynaptics tray applet adjusts touchpad sensitivity just fine. Surely there is an equivalent Gnome utility. I don't have an iPod and I don't think anyone should buy them, so I can't speak to that. But I use Amarok and it is known to work just fine with even the newest iPods. My problem with reviews like Mossberg's is that they are all essentially "installation" issues. I'd like to see a review of a Linux system with all the necessary codecs installed. Then there's little to bitch about. |
| rijelkentaurus Oct 19, 2007 2:21 PM EDT |
Quoting: Hartly wrote that the ability to play commercial DVDs does not come out of the box on Windows, either; he is mistaken Did you buy a laptop with Vista preinstalled? If so, it probably had licensed software on it for playing DVDs, and if a vanilla install of Vista can play DVDs, then Microsoft has payed a licensing fee for it, and that is passed to the consumer. |
| nalf38 Oct 19, 2007 2:56 PM EDT |
Yes, I'm sure MS pays license fees to have DVDs play in Windows Media. Of that, I have no doubt. That wasn't my point. It does work, out of the box, regardless of license fee or legality issues. |
| dinotrac Oct 19, 2007 3:07 PM EDT |
The WSJ article was a mite pessimistic, but not far off. The whole codec thing would be mystery meat to a Windows user. Windows and Mac provide licensed software that is facilitates things Linux users have to hunt around for. Ubuntu doesn't. The touchpad thing -- well, I don't know how to do that under GNOME, either. I'm sure there's a way, but, that's the point. Something you don't know about doesn't do you any good. Linux is still a bit of a challenge for Windows users, at least those who don't have Linux guy handy to smooth the transition. What a huge leap forward that is, however. Once upon a time, Linux was ready for Windows users, period. Now they just need a bit of help to get things going. |
| nalf38 Oct 19, 2007 3:17 PM EDT |
"The WSJ article was a mite pessimistic" Yeah, good point. He basically starts off the article by saying that he would not recommend it. And from my perspective, clicking on a few buttons to install mp3 and DVD functionality should not be such a big deal, but I'm a Linux guy, and I'm used to it. However I do think that his pessimistic approach is an accurate reflection of the average computer user when confronted with something 'new,' so I found it appropriate, in a way. But the pros of Linux far outweigh the cons (again, my perspective). I can't imagine why anyone would put up with the virus headaches of Windows or the relatively enormous cost of a Mac machine, when you can get the same functionality out of a whitebox computer and Linux, with a little extra tweaking. Thank goodness Mossberg didn't mention wireless. |
| dinotrac Oct 19, 2007 3:21 PM EDT |
>Thank goodness Mossberg didn't mention wireless. Hey! I've got my wireless working solidly now. Whew! All it took was ditching my old realtek rtl8187B-based USB dongle and replacing it with a ralink 2561 based pci card. Oh -- that and the new mad80211 stuff. No windows drivers or anything. Woo hoo! |
| nalf38 Oct 19, 2007 3:27 PM EDT |
There's a Broadcom kernel driver for my card, too, but it doesn't support WPA, last I checked. I'm stuck with ndiswrapper, for now. I'll eventually buy a card that works natively with Linux. |
| dinotrac Oct 19, 2007 5:37 PM EDT |
> I'll eventually buy a card that works natively with Linux. Mine is an airlink that cost me about ten bucks at Fry's. I fearlessly predict that wireless will go the way of ethernet and (mostly) printers and sound -- unsupported cards will become the exception rather than the rule. |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 20, 2007 9:26 AM EDT |
When I bought the Pavillion for Mom, the Broadcom card wasn't supported in 2.6.18, which is what Debian Etch has. But 2.6.21 did have it, and the Ubuntu forums provided where/how to get the microcode binary installer for it as well. Hardware support under Linux is continuously improving, _despite_ the hardware manufacturers. |
| techiem2 Oct 20, 2007 10:59 AM EDT |
Quoting:Hardware support under Linux is continuously improving, _despite_ the hardware manufacturers. Meanwhile I can't even hook up an old D-Link DSB-650TX USB Ethernet adapter to an XP box without having to go find the drivers for it... But it works great in linux! |
| azerthoth Oct 20, 2007 11:06 AM EDT |
Thats one of the things I take comfort in. ~99% of the time plug in a peripheral and it just works in Linux. With Windows, well they have the other 1% but have managed to miss the first 99. |
| bigg Oct 20, 2007 11:39 AM EDT |
At first glance, it seems that the "Windows is easier" argument is true. However, there is no way a non-technical user can set up wireless in Windows, either. Security on Windows is still a mystery to me. That's not so easy. DVD playing in Vista is not easy for the non-technical user. Installing new hardware tends to be more difficult on Windows, due to the need to install drivers. There are problems with Linux, to be sure, but it is at least as tough to use Windows. The difference is the distribution model. You buy Windows installed on your computer, with everything working. Ignore security issues and hire someone to fix your problems and Windows "just works". I would be curious to see his experiences with a computer that has Linspire installed on it, and for which you can get tech support. That would be a far more informative comparison for the "average Windows user". |
| herzeleid Oct 20, 2007 1:17 PM EDT |
Quoting: dino: All it took was ditching my old realtek rtl8187B-based USB dongle and replacing it with a ralink 2561 based pci card. Oh -- that and the new mad80211 stuff.Say, do you have a URL for the pci wireless card you're using? I've been looking for something like that. |
| herzeleid Oct 20, 2007 1:21 PM EDT |
Quoting: He pointed out some legitimate issues. Ubuntu/Fedora/OpenSuse users can't play mp3s or DVDs out of the boxThat's news to me. I'm running opensuse and it mp3s play out of the box. Sorry for those poor sods running ubuntu and fedora though, if that is the case. Of course, It takes a few clicks to get support for dvd playing and all the other multimedia goodies, but all that's IMHO much easier than the average windoze service pack. BTW the Novell guys tell me they know the multimedia stuff is important, it's a legal problem, they are talking to vendors and they are working on it. |
| dinotrac Oct 20, 2007 1:38 PM EDT |
herzeleid - http://www.airlink101.com/products/awlh3026t.htm That's the one I've got, and it's supported by the rt61 (legacy) and the rt61pci (mad80211) drivers. You might also notice: http://www.airlink101.com/products/awlh4130.html, Which is an atheros chipset said to be fully supported by the madwifi drivers. I do not wish to recommend/bash airlink cards. We've gotten several of them because Fry's tends to sell them **cheap**. So far as I can tell, they work fine. |
| Steven_Rosenber Oct 24, 2007 10:27 AM EDT |
I've had so much trouble with USB and wireless in Windows, it's not even funny. You've gotta love the hunt for drivers ... and then not having the hardware recognized in spite of finding what may be the right driver for your version of Windows. |
| softwarejanitor Oct 24, 2007 2:21 PM EDT |
I've got one of the Atheros based Airlink cards that dino mentions and it does indeed work great with the madwifi drivers. I bought it for the same reason he bought his -- Fry's sells them dirt cheap. I'm not using it anymore though because I bought an internal mini-PCI Ralink based card so I don't have the card sticking out the side and taking up my only PCMCIA/CardBus slot. The Ralink card, FWIW works fine as well. |
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