Subj : Re: Is (Redhat) Linux just a cheap version of Windows?
To   : comp.os.linux
From : RoyalHeart
Date : Thu Sep 02 2004 10:27 pm

Patrick McDonnell wrote:
> Hey genius,
> 
> Did you try searching google?  Or do you feels its below you because it
> wasn't around during Version 7?
> 


I've been lurking in the shadows quietly monitoring this news group. 
I've tried RH 5.2 on a Zenith Z-NoteFlex laptop (486DX2-50, 24MB RAM, 
200MB HD -- yes, 200MB hard drive), and actually got it to work, though 
with such little space on the HD, there were very few apps I could install.

Then I tried MDK 6.something (or was it 7.something?) on a P2 machine I 
built (256MB RAM, 30GB HD), and like it very much. However, after 
spending a day or two getting the modem working, and several more days 
trying to get the MIDI synth on my sound card (SB PCI512, which has been 
moved into a new home, my current system, an AMD XP2200+, 256MB RAM, 
120GB HD), I gave up, and went back to Win95 (I now use Win98 Lite).

It's now a few years later, and I'm willing to give Linux another try. 
I'm looking at either Redhat or Mandrake because I've tried both, as 
mentioned above. RH I can buy locally; MDK I'll have to mail-order. I'm 
leaning a bit towards Mandrake, but shipping charges make Redhat look a 
bit more appealing. Hmmm... Which to buy... (drums fingers on desk)

Then I read Patrick McDonnell's post above, for a second, I thought, 
"with an attitude like that, why in heck do I want to try Linux again? 
Just because he knows a lot about Linux doesn't mean others do."

This was followed by a second thought: "Google doesn't answer every 
question I wanted an answer to, nor provide a useful result within a few 
minutes of perusing the search results. I've spent HOURS going through 
close to a THOUSAND search results and didn't find anything close to 
giving me the information I was looking for."

Google is a useful tool, nevertheless. Some people just don't think to 
use it, and would prefer a quick, simple answer, without being 
condescended to or treated as "not-one-of-the-elite-Linux-geeks" class 
just because I'd rather use a GUI than the command line (myself 
included; give me answer now and let me get on with what I'm doing, and 
later on I'll learn the details). (BTW, when I was exploring Linux those 
years ago, I DID use the command line, bash in particular, and thought I 
did quite well after using it for only a few weeks. I preferred MC for 
browsing around my hard drive, though.)

So, here I am, having read the above post, and wondering how many people 
decided NOT to try Linux because of the attitude of SOME of the Linux 
geeks on this NG. I, however, overlook the rudeness of these particular 
folk and will continue toward a decision of which distribution to get. 
Until then, I shall continue to gather information, not only on which to 
choose, but Linux in general, and shall file it away in /usr/local/info 
(or is than /home/linux/info????? Give me time, I'll remember).

Oh, and I am NOT a troll, just an amused lurker.

Hmmm... In the Author's Note to the Novel I am writing, I state that the 
novel "was written using Star Office 5.2 running under Windows 98." If I 
can find the Linux version of SO 5.2, I shall move the novel over to the 
Linux platform and thence change that line to "was written using Star 
Office 5.2 running under [Redhat|Mandrake] Linux (version number here)." 
'Twould be a boost, 'twould it not, to the Linux movement? (When it's 
published, that is.)

Cheers, and LLL (Long Live Linux).

-- 

RoyalHeart

A thoughtful pause, then resumes the prince, "Thou hast to learn from 
Yesterday, live for Today, and look forward to Tomorrow, for The Past is 
The Present, and no less The Future."

.