PCLinuxOS to OpenSuse 11.0

I recently decided to give OpenSuse 11.0 a spin on some of the computer terminals at work, replacing PCLinuxOS. It is not that I have any hard feelings towards PCLinuxOS, it is just that I prefer to stay up on the different distros available to make sure I'm not missing out on something. And, honestly, PCLinuxOS has been dragging behind the 'latest/greatest' software curve for a while now, so I wanted to get something that was very up-to-date. OpenSuse 11.0 is definately an 'up-to-date' system. Also, I do prefer the more polished appearance I've found in OpenSuse 11.0. It definately has a sense of high-end professionalism that is needed in a desktop OS. KDE 4.1, found in OpenSuse, is maturing rapidly into a stable and, I must say, exciting desktop environment. Overall, I'd say that I've been very impressed by OpenSuse and will continue to use it on my new pc setups. The only knocks against it is the package manager. The beauty of pclinuxos is that all of the software is found in a single, cohesive repository of software that is 'sure to work' when you want to install it. OpenSuse has so many repositories to add into its package manager, that it can get confusing as to which ones you need to enable, where to find new repositories, where that software is actually coming from and I've hit the annoying dependency issues several times when trying to install or update via the opensuse manager. Plus, I have not found a way to show 'newly added software' in the opensuse manager, nor have I found a way to enable it to build a local repository of updates/packages to use across multiple systems in a small network. Perhaps the package manager for PClinuxOS is the best feature of that distro, because it is easy to use and finding newly added software is a breeze. And being able to search newly added software helps keep you up to date as to what new/exciting packages are available for your linux desktop.
Overall, I'd say that OpenSuse 11.0 edges out PCLinuxOS in terms of being more up-to-date and sheer beauty. But, its package management is a far cry away from PCLinuxOS.

Oh, and one more thing. The biggest reason I tried switching distros was because, regardless of how many times I asked about this particular bug in the pclinuxos forums or in their IRC support channel, vncserver is BROKEN in pclinuxos and there is no way to enable the html interface for vnc under pclinuxos. This was not the case in versions previous to PclinuxOS 2007. The only response I receive from their support people is that the html interface "isn't commonly used and isn't important". However, from a business standpoint, it IS important when our employees need to access their desktops remotely via their webbrowsers but cannot.... yet, OpenSuse can.

 

Okay. That's nice.

This is getting old....

I am getting so tired of reading "Is Linux ready for the desktop yet?" or "Why Linux isn't ready for the desktop", etc. It seems to be the number one topic on all of the technology based websites I visit and it has gotten to the point to where people just ask that question because they see everyone else asking that question. It is ridiculous. Let me put all of that to rest by saying.. YES.... PEOPLE.. Linux is MORE than ready for the desktop. In fact, I will say with a HIGH degree of certainty that Linux is MORE ready than say... that legacy OS called Windows. The Linux desktop (especially KDE) is so much more user friendly and more option/feature laden than Windows that one has to wonder why anyone would ever imagine windows was ready for the desktop. Windows is a pop-up happy, spy-ware infested, moments-away from a virus attack, flaky OS with a stupid design based on an all-mighty non-human-readable, forever expanding and corrupting registry file. When you install a distro from a LIVECD (mind you..a fully functional OS from a CDROM!) onto your computer you get a LOT of stuff for this "desktop". I'm referring to PCLinuxOS right now, but most others are very similiar. You get office suites, great web browsers, great net apps, games a plenty, graphics programs (near the level of Photoshop... not bad considering the low-end graphics apps you get with a windows install.. ack). You get immediately access to thousands of other apps, easily installed with a point and click from linux package managers like Synaptic or Adept, etc. When you install windows you don't even get a multimedia machine. No flash support, no java support, no office suite, no huge library of immediately available apps for FREE. You get a highly unstable, single-user, low-technology OS that is barely capable of running itself, much less being some great desktop OS like Linux.

So... give it a rest people. Linux *IS* the desktop standard that other OS's should strive to be more like. Period.

Time to embrace the new reality

The new reality is... the world is moving away from Windows-only (Mac has never really been a contender) to something more free and open. The world is becoming more Linux based, thankfully. Our work/studio is based MOSTLY on Linux workstations, which has taken our abilities and stability to new levels. And the few legacy OS systems we have (Windows) are nothing but problematic, as always. Also, all of my co-workers (except one) and family members run Linux as their primary OS now as well (PCLinuxOS mostly). Even our church is gaining a Linux presence in their computer labs and office. So, now, when it comes time for purchase anything for our company, our church, friends and family, linux compatibility plays a major part in purchasing decisions. We've found that MOST systems and devices run on linux "out of the box" but there are some devices that require drivers to be installed to function properly. And I'll use printers as an example. HP fully supports linux development/drivers and we can purchase HP equipment with confidence. But, companies like Canon flat out refuse to support Linux with drivers for their hardware. So, due to their lack of programming motivation, we will not and cannot purchase their products. Such an attitude for a company is shocking. They act almost as though they have no programmers available to make a piece of software for any other OS other than Windows (or MAYBE Mac). These large companies seem to have little or no resources to call on and they loose money because they have not seen fit to add a few programs to the task of doing what other groups/companies have already been doing for years. Somehow I doubt it is really a case of being strapped for programmers and has more to do with some OS "elitist" mentality for Windows. Or, perhaps they are just too set in their ways, or are too afraid to risk angering the once all-powerful Micro$oft entity. Regardless, their attitudes will change in time. With more and more forward thinking companies like HP, IBM, Dell, Epson, Novell all supporting linux and the adoption of the operating system spreading like wild-fire, the company that wear blinders only for Windows will have to adapt, or they will miss out (or even, fail).

A wii bit of history.

This blog will be dedicated to my linux endeavours. And I think I should start off by giving a little background to my computer life up to this point. My first computer system was a Commodore 64 in 1979 and I wrote my first program (in basic) for it within hours of unpacking the machine. I fell in love the computer technology at that point and continued to program constantly. I moved into bleeding edge multimedia (before it was called multimedia) with the Amiga line of computers and really picked up speed in the computing world. The Amiga allowed me to sharpen my operating system skills, advanced scripting, programming, graphic/audio multimedia production, and so much more. I even setup one of the largest multiline BBS systems in the Houston area in the late 80's, early 90's, called ACME. ACME was run from an Amiga 3000 and had 10 seperate modem/phone lines for multiuser chat, postings and files. Think of it as miniture internet for the time. Unfortunately the Amiga/Commodore died off (well, pretty much) and I had to move to Windows computer usage and hated every minute of it. Luckily I've found Linux now and have been using it for the past few years. I now work in a media production studio (one of the largest in the Houston area) thanks to my years of computer media work. And we have switched most of our machines here at our studio to Linux. Thus bringing you up-to-date, in a VERY terse way, to my present day computer experience.

Systems I've owned/mastered summary: Commodore 64, Atari ST series, Amiga series, Macintosh, Winblows (all versions), and now Linux (tried MANY distros).