Review of Consumer-Friendly Linux Distro 267
Posted
by
Zonk
from the easy-on-the-eyes dept.
from the easy-on-the-eyes dept.
miketronics writes "Linspire Five-O is a full-featured Linux operating system which is intended for desktop use, mainly as an alternative to Windows XP. XYZComputing has a review of the latest version. The company, which was formerly known as Lindows, has gotten a lot of press for including their OS with pre-bundled computers." From the article: "Once the installation is over with Five-O is ready to go. The first time the OS is used Linspire's tutorial program will activate. This is one of most accessible tutorials on any Linux distro and it should be a great help to new users. Though it does not go into extreme depth, it does give the user enough understanding of the OS to get started. Even if you are a Linux pro it will probably be helpful to check out the CNR section, as this system is unique to Linspire. The fact that the developers have the tutorial voice-narrated shows Linspire's commitment to user support -- this feature makes the otherwise boring tutorial watchable."
What I like about Linspire (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, if Linspire could adapt autopackage http://autopackage.org/ [autopackage.org], the better since Linspire packages would be able to install on any distro.
GCC? I think not. (Score:4, Interesting)
Awful review (Score:4, Interesting)
What's wrong with the review? I don't know. I couldn't bring myself to read through it. But from looking at the presentation and skimming the article, it sucks. Why?
Here, use this cheap Windows knockoff. (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:GCC? I think not. (Score:5, Interesting)
Philosophically, I agree with you, but I can see their point, too. Using GCC to compile and install non-Linspire sanctioned applications gives non-novice but non-advanced users the ability to majorly screw up their system. These users would then proceed to unduly tax the company's tech support people and, even worse, gripe about how unstable Linspire is to all of their friends and Internet forums.
If you don't want to pay for GPL software, you don't have to. But remember the beauty of GPL software—Linspire can sell it to people who will pay for it if they want to, and the promise of stability and ease-of-use makes me lean towards thinking that it's justified.
Performance? (Score:3, Interesting)
Lax requirements? Better than XP? Those requirements seem high to me, as someone who has Windows XP running just dandy on a Pentium II 350MHz PC. 800? Minimum? Why?
Re:Voice narration? (Score:5, Interesting)
I just installed Debian stable (sarge) last week on my Dell GX-270 at work (adding an XP partition and getting rid of FC2). In my past experience, all the dell optiplex hardware will work, but often times the proper config needs to be made, just like you mention.
Anyway, this particular install of Debian everything Just Worked. Sound, network, USB mouse, LCD monitor, Intel video, USB ports - everything, no extra config needed.
Tux tour (Score:4, Interesting)
Does anyone remember the disk you used to get when buying an Apple? Apple made a nice tutorial for all thier computers. I'm suprised the Gnome/KDE/whatever teams don't have something like this. It could be a flash animation or an interactive web site. Show them how to cut/paste, system configuration etc. Hell, do a interactive Tux demo.
People love to be shown how to do things rather than reading TFM.
Food for thought, enjoy.
Re:Voice narration? (Score:3, Interesting)
Admittedly, it's a chicken/egg problem, as vendors won't write Linux drivers themselves until more people have linux.
And then there are people like me who take an old computer, and put Linux on it to try out. You end up with too many problems, and turn the box into a Windows file server.
And when I install XP, pretty much all I have to do is put the CD in and set a few options. It took me about 3 hours to get FC3 on my old ass Optiplex.
Re:The killer: media players (Score:3, Interesting)
It doesn't even seem to (in my case) require much special setup if anything. It worked great in Gentoo, and just dandy under Ubuntu. No problems either way... though playing videos sure as hell was a problem not all that long ago. The last time I remember running into these problems was back when Mandrake 6.0 was cutting edge.
But hey, you're right that people run into problems. The fact that I haven't (in at least the last year) doesn't speak for everyone else's experience. So really, what I'd like to know is why people are having such a hard time when they don't have to.