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Moving To Linux
from the kiss-it-goodbye dept.
Since the book comes with Knoppix and the author's purpose is to introduce the Linux desktop immediately, the first few chapters of this book only briefly describe what Linux versions are available, how to get a copy and how to install your chosen distro. Gagne gives some example installation choices with Mandrake, Redhat and SuSE. The next two chapters deal with using and customizing the author's desktop environment of choice (KDE) and exploring with Konquerer.
Chapter 7 provides a "release-agnostic" approach to package installation with examples and screen shots from Kpackage, RPM installs via shell and building from source. Most readers will become quite familiar with Chapter 8: Working with Devices, despite the author's exclamation that "Device support under Linux is excellent. No, really." Printing looms large in this chapter and there's some good advice to be had here for the newbie. The next several chapters tackle getting connected to the Internet, email and using Konquerer and Mozilla. In short, mainstream user necessities. Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, and Ximian are all represented in the chapter on system updates along with a pitch to get involved in the Linux community (this is a good thing).
The make-or-break chapters for those readers requiring office productivity solutions come near the half point of the book. Gagne gives an overview of OpenOffice.org's suite of MS Office counterparts. These are really meant as introductory lessons on migrating from the more familiar, more ubiquitous MS suite of applications and not intended as an in-depth look at OpenOffice.org. Here is where the user will judge whether Linux is a viable alternative to Windows. Productivity is essential. Can you create a document that can be shared in a Windows dominant world? Can you do it without struggling to learn new rules and exceptions to the rules? Gagne makes a strong pitch for ease of use in the Linux world.
The final chapters on multimedia and games round out the topics that every semi-literate computer user has on their "must know how to" list. Under multimedia, KsCD, XMMS and Noatun are covered, including visualization plugins and skins. K3b, Grip and MPlayer are also described. Favorite Linux games are represented: KSirtet, KAsteroids, Frozen-Bubble, KBattleship, KPatience, KPoker ... well, you get the idea!
Care has been taken in laying out the book; from the beautiful typography, the boxed asides with Quick Tips, Shell Outs and Notes to the Resources list at the end of each chapter. The book is easy to read and the author has a crisp conversational style of writing devoid of distracting anecdotes or sophomoric humor (chapter subheadings aside!). Gagne succeeds in providing a guidebook to Linux that should enable the average Windows users to make a smooth transition to a Linux distro of their choice. At the very least, Gagne gives the nervous Windows-to-Linux wannabe an excellent bootable Knoppix CD to test drive while following along in the book. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to someone who is looking to give Linux a spin but is afraid to commit their working PC to Linux entirely. This book and the accompanying CD will ease the way toward independence from Windows.
You can purchase Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye! from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews. To see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
For Those That Don't Know (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Tuesday September 11, @01:41PM)
Re:For Those That Don't Know (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday December 20 2006, @10:25AM)
Re:Where to buy it? (Score:5, Funny)
The "You can buy" link is the "official" Slashdot link. It is always to B&N for two reasons: Slashdot gets a percentage for the referral, and Amazon is punished for the one-click patent. This has never been a secret...
Huh (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday May 10 2005, @07:05AM)
Re:Huh (Score:4, Funny)
The wave of the (Linux) future... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm easing my family into it right now. The trick is to start by introducing the easiest open-source applications that are available on both platforms. Pull the old "Here, I'll 'upgrade' your browser for you, and you won't get pop-ups anymore" trick and get them used to Firefox. Follow it up with Thunderbird and OpenOffice, and they'll gradually start wondering why they put up with all the problems they used to have in the first place.
That's when you whip out the book and the Knoppix CD, and introduce them to the same applications they're used to on a different operating system. Get them curious, get them interested, and then they'll start doing the work for you.
Irony (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft's not better (Score:4, Insightful)
Will this get my karma raised?
Re:Irony (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Irony (Score:5, Insightful)
They are all difficult to use. Have you ever participated in any usability studies with people who have no computer experience? There is nothing intuititive about using a computer. There are things that seem intutitive after years of using a computer, but to someone with no background they're all overly difficult to use.
Re:Irony (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.usermode.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday April 17 2007, @09:13PM)
Unfortunately, the vast majority of tech reporters not only believe that it's possible, but that it actually exists in whatever OS they're a shill for. To them, Linux/BSD/Unix will NEVER be ready for the desktop, because they're measuring it against an impossible yardstick.
Re:Irony (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Wednesday November 21, @10:04AM)
Actually, if you go by "the fewer books, the easier the OS" logic, I'd say MacOS is the hands-down winner. With a larger desktop share than Linux, there are far more Linux books that Mac books in any general or technical bookstore that I've ever seen. Back in the days of Classic MacOS, you'd be hard pressed to find even a single Mac book in a lot of stores.
Re:Irony (Score:5, Funny)
(http://shortcircuit.us/ | Last Journal: Sunday October 14, @02:01AM)
Re:Irony (Score:5, Funny)
(http://austinfire.ca/)
Of course his idea of an "intuitive" interface is a bit more simple than mine.
His goes like this: "If you can't eat it or screw it, piss on it."
Hardware Issues (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Hardware Issues (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Hardware Issues (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Wednesday December 01 2004, @10:25AM)
Don't lead people on to think that they can just throw any old hardware at it and expect it to work.
MS and Apple have deals where HW makers get to put the logos on thier products if they can show compatibilty. It would be nice if some distro companies would step up and do something similar.(even better if they tested for general Linux compatibilty, not just thier distrubiton)
Windows user who is looking to migrate to Linux (Score:5, Funny)
/ Don't get me started on the flight speed of African swallows.
Confusing title... (Score:5, Funny)
Linux Moving to Linux
That definitely elicited a double-take.
Kiss the BSoD goodbye? (Score:2, Insightful)
Get off pre Windows 2000.
Update drivers.
Live CDs don't always make good impressions. (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday April 25 2007, @03:32PM)
Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://members.cox.net/bungi/)
Way to go, this is a fantastic argument to use to get people to switch. When was the last time I saw one of those... hmmm. Let's see. Since 1998 when I switched to NT4 and later through W2K, XP and 2003 (yes, as a desktop) on literally dozens of machines, I've seen four blue screens, and they were all on the same W2K box (the one I use for gaming and crap). Two were caused by stupid Creative drivers, and I forget what caused the other two.
Yeah, four blue screens in (I guess) hundreds of thousands of hours of operation on multiple machines is a definite reason to switch to Linux. I'm sold.
Not so... (Score:3, Informative)
I ran Knoppix 3.3 and the newest 3.4 on Dells cheapest laptop. Inspiron 1100, Everything detected perfectly and runs great. Even the Netgear wireless NIC. Knoppix is good at even the cheapest hardware. As long as its common, thats what they shoot for. Ease of use.
Heres a good site for Linux on the Inspiron 1100.
http://www.geocities.com/randomnumbergenerator2001 / [geocities.com]
Incorrect price on BN (Score:4, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/~GillBates0 | Last Journal: Tuesday July 10, @04:36PM)
List Price: $34.99
Our Price: $27.99 (Save 20%)
Barnes & Noble Member Price: $26.59
It should be $733.99 (Save -95.23%).
Please Help (Score:2, Funny)
Kiss the BSOD? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.robert.to/)
And replace it with a Kernel Panic!
Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
With that said - the big thing that puts me off from trying Linux (apart from switiching gears) is this "BSOD" reference from folks that are trying to tell me that their software is better.
Before you mod this "flamebait" just listen for a moment. I've been working as a programmer, and have used win 2k pro extensively over the past five years on at least 7 different machines. The only time I got a BSOD was on a Western Digital Hard Drive failure.
When I see someone tell me that their software will free me from the "BSOD" - I can't help thinking that they haven't seen or used win2k - or haven't configured their installations properly - and they are trying to tell me "Linux is Better" based off of 95/98/ME or poor computing practices.
And while that certainly is most likely the case that Linux is Better- I'd like an honest comparison on how it fares against 2kpro? Honestly - if you want to convert folks over to Linux - Do it positively - Tell me what's good about Linux - Don't tell me what's bad with windows - I know what's bad with windows and a Linux guy telling me what's bad with windows will get an eyeroll from me, and will outright be dismissed from conversation if they mistate or are erroneous on the latest platform.
Campaigns based on Negativity are self defeating. They won't sway the extremes, but they will force the fence sitters away from moving to the negative side. I want to know what I will gain. I want to know why it's right for me. Tell me the good parts and how and why they are so good.
But above all, Please - Drop the "BSOD" it left with Windows ME.
by the way - Microsoft does drop the ball - Windows CE
Win CE
WinCE - lol
Re:Linux (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.whitepost.org.uk/)
Speaking as a techie, the thing which is good about Linux is that if something goes wrong (and it will - those who tell you it won't are either lying or inexperienced) the error messages tend to be more useful, as do the error logs.
You can usually communicate directly with someone fairly closely involved in developing whatever software/driver is broken. You're not stuck with Microsoft's "support", and I find that the signal/noise ratio in mailing lists tends to be significantly higher. Basically, you don't generally have a bunch of MCSE monkeys telling you what the problem is and getting it spectacularly (and obviously) wrong.
Programs tend to be relatively small and self-contained - an obscure bug with a particular package in userland won't usually affect much else in the system (unlike Internet Explorer).
The developers are generally far more open & honest about bugs. You're more likely to hear "Oh, that's new. Looks like a bug..." from an open source developer than from a Microsoftie.
I can sleep at night knowing that not a single byte of software on my computer is pirated.
It may be that none of these are convincing reasons to switch. Fine, then don't. The best operating system is the one that does what you want it to. (Hear that sound? That's my karma evaporating)
It may be that you find these things sufficiently interesting to take another look. Great. If there's a Linux user group in your area, get to know them. They will be able to help if (when) you encounter trouble, and you can return the favour by helping the next new person to send an email saying "Hi..."
saw it (Score:2, Informative)
it seems like a good book, but for a non-geek, try linux for non-geeks
Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye! (Score:3, Funny)
Not Debian (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://br.geocities.com./lgcdutra/ | Last Journal: Thursday October 07 2004, @05:34AM)
Captive NTFS and Wireless (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.retarsia.com/)
One thing about all these articles is that they expect users to quit Windows cold-turkey and immediately jump head first into Linux. But from what I've seen personally, that's not necessarily the best approach. Those that I've seen try making the hard switch install their distribution of choice, then after a few hours of trying to regain the functionality of their last OS [figuring out what does what, where it is, etc] they get frustrated with Linux and wonder what made them give up their previous OS when it worked "just fine". I like the gradual approach that Knoppix and other live CD-based distros can afford. You can pop it in, screw with it for a while, learn some, then pop it out and go back to your old OS if you get frustrated or tired. I commend Gagne for using Knoppix as the teaching tool of his book.
Kiss the blue screen goodbye? (Score:2, Redundant)
(http://www.pavleck.com/ | Last Journal: Friday November 18 2005, @01:16PM)
Oh wait, I remember a second one - last year, when the hard drive died, I got the page fault blue screen.
Other then that, I haven't seen one in a looong time - and I use Windows a lot at home and work at a company with almost 1000 Windows servers. But hey, stereotypes are hard to lose I suppose.
AT LAST - A NON-UBERGEEK approach! (Score:5, Interesting)
I also think that the haughty attitude portrayed by some Linux users actually puts people off - and gives them reason to stick with Microsoft.
Lotus Notes client for Linux? (Score:2, Informative)
(http://www.manya.org/)
Using wine is so painfully slow that is not a solution.
Is good. But.... (Score:2, Interesting)
1. Modem driver didn't claim to work with Debian, and, although the install script was "Debian-aware", it didn't.
2. How do I get _user_ level icons for mounting and unmounting removable media that a computer newbie can understand? Seemed like "auto" was broken after a hard drive install?
Fedora Core. Simple process. She's happy.
My conclusion was that Knoppix isn't quite there for the clueless home user's desktop.
But Knoppix is a clever insert for a beginner's book and, looking through a book store thinking about what my new user might understand, I can see that such a book is very needed.
BSOD's? (Score:1)
Marcel Gagne has fun bashing the past of Microsoft. Now I'm not saying Windows is stable but 2K/XP rarely gives anything remotely close to a BSOD and knowing how many are using XP over 9X, can't see how that statement is relevant.
Kiss the BSOD goodbye... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.hyperlogos.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday July 18, @08:19PM)
And shake hands with your new friend, kernel panic.
Who is panic, and what is he doing in my computer?
User friendliness? (Score:1)
how tired is the blue screen of death?? (Score:1)
Linux moving to Linux?!?! (Score:2)
(http://thepreacher.cac2.net/)
Who reads anything? (Score:3, Insightful)
"What's a bios, is it dangerous?"
I do not mean illiterates, but people whose lives were formed around staring at a tube. To these people, a PC is just another tube with more variety.
No more Kernel Panic and Linux Thinking (Score:2)
BSOD, you are kidding right? If you see one of these with WinXP or Win2K you have serious hardware issues, PERIOD.
How about a book that get Linux users to open their eyes to the NT model and WinXp and get away from the world of hacker quality drivers and frequent Kernel Panic bringing the Linux system to halt.
Title should be:
"Kernel Panic No More - Move to WindowsXP!"
I truly don't even dislike Linux, I just wanted to throw a concept across the fence that people here seem to forget about.
Also, there are many people that use WindowsXP and 200x servers in production environments with consistent stability.
Windows may have had the BSOD back in the DOS days, or a infrequent one with the NT core when having a hardware or driver issue, but 99% of the users don't see WindowsXP as instable EVER.
If you keep harping on Windows as being instable you are never going to get anyone's attention. Mainstream users on XP just don't have the BSOD or other problems that you like to portray them as having.
So now lets talk about Kernel problems with Linux and the Kernel Panic of Death. (KPOD)
Which I have seen more often than the BSOD on Windows and we run 90% Windows/ 10% *nix systems. Ironic or just silly?
Moving to Linux is good for geeks and non-geeks (Score:3)
(http://coffeecode.net/ | Last Journal: Friday September 10 2004, @12:04AM)
I've been using Linux as my primary desktop at home since 1998, but I picked up the book primarily for my wife (who made the leap to Linux somewhere around 2001 due to a magical combination of getting tired of having to constantly reboot and the availability of StarOffice). My hope was that she would find Marcel's style approachable enough to dig into the things she was interested in on her own. That didn't pan out, though; she's happier just asking me a quick question when she runs into a dead end.
However, I found myself learning a few things about KDE from the book that I wasn't aware of due to my WindowMaker / Gnome past:
So I went from being a primarily command-line oriented guy to trusting a little more in the nice GUI apps that KDE supplies... and it has been good. I'm happy that I picked up Marcel's book.
By the way, he didn't write this book using the French chef schtick that he uses for his Linux Journal "Cooking with Linux" columns, for which I'm quite thankful. I enjoy the columns, but a full book of that would be too much. Instead, he adopts a personal tone that is straightforward and pleasant to read.
Utterly crippled by bad advice (Score:2)
(http://ursine.ca/~baloo/ | Last Journal: Saturday August 12 2006, @01:47AM)
Blue screen in windows (Score:1)
(http://www.chrisranjana.com/)
Re:Off-topic but... (Score:2)
Stores are ripping us all of over this... don't pirate it but don't buy it either unless you can find a lower price that reflects the likely sales of it.
Perhaps John Carmack would like to comment on that...
Re:Switch to OS X (Score:2)
Look, I don't use MACs but I respect that people like them. So can't all us smelly Linux geeks have a big group hug with all the MAC people in their Nautica gear, united in the knowledge that neither of our groups finance the great demon in Redmond.
Re:Must know? (Score:3, Informative)
1) You are not the intended audience of this book.
2) You are right, multimedia is of no interest whatsoever to the average user. I mean, who ever heard of playing music on their computer? Next you'll be trying to convince me that there is a compressed audio standard that is listened to by millions of users everyday...... For the average user, multimedia is one of the most important issues.
Re:Switch to OS X (Score:2)
Hardware Investments (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/~nurb432/ | Last Journal: Friday August 27 2004, @03:24PM)
At least suggesting ( or assisting ) they migrate to Linux or a BSD variant will let them keep most, if not all, of their invested hardware...
Also, to be a bit more accurate, it would be communistic style, not socialistic.. ( at least by traditional definitions, not the convenient, but incorrect, ones that were dreamed up in the 50's to support the 'red scare' )
Re:too little too late (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Tuesday May 10 2005, @07:05AM)
Re:Moving to Linux?? (Score:2)
Re:too little too late (Score:2)
Re:Doom 3 pirated--news that Slashdot won't report (Score:1, Offtopic)
(Last Journal: Wednesday November 21, @11:15AM)
Carmack, if the situation is so goddamned untenable, take your baseball and go the fuck home .
Re:Why switching to Linux is not so easy... (Score:1)
(http://zenith.homelinux.net/)