[TriLUG] without better support from the vendors...

Chris Merrill cmerrill at nc.rr.com
Fri Dec 21 11:54:45 EST 2001


...linux will not be successful on the desktop.

<PREAMBLE>
I had a rough day yesterday...my /home partition became corrupted
and I had to recover from a (old) backup.  Fortunately my recent
work is in CVS, but I still lost some data, emails, settings, etc.
Yes I know I should be doing more frequent backups...but in all my 
years of using Windows (almost never doing backups) I never lost 
this much data.  As a result, my outlook is rather bleak, this morning.
</PREAMBLE>

One year ago, I decided to give Linux a serious try as my primary
desktop OS.  I had used RedHat on my server/firewall, with some
success.  I had reasonable success after trying both RH and Mandrake
on my Compaq Presario notebook...I chose Mandrake (7.2) because it 
recognized more of the hardware than RH.  I was never able to get
the audio working properly.  It took me 3 hours to get the serial port
configured (which should have been done by the installer).  I never
did get the hot-dock with the CD/floppy dock working.  I assumed that
since it was a 'home' model notebook (and not a very popular one)
that the poor hardware support was due to a lack of interest in the
platform.

When it was time to upgrade in September, I chose a Thinkpad T23.
I thought that since Thinkpads were much more popular, I would
have better luck with hardware support.  Also, at the time, IBM was 
selling this notebook with Linux pre-installed.  I did not go this
route, because I needed an Windows license anyway (for running
under VMWare) and the price was no different.  After installing the
lastest Mandrake (8.1) on it, I find I am still stuck with an OS with
poor support for my hardware.  After many days of tinkering 
(since September), I still have a large sist of things that don't work:
- serial port not recognized
- no video driver - uses generic LCD driver that restricts
  me to XFree86 3.x
- no audio driver
- suspend-to-disk non-functional (which means I cannot remove
  it from the dock without shutting down...which means I must reboot
  twice/day)
- sleep works, but frequenlty looses mouse or keyboard when awakened
- no hot-swapping of drive-bay devices

Note that ALL of these things worked properly with the pre-installed
Windows 2000.

After my year of living with Linux...I love it.  There are many things
that I would miss...but I am seriously considering switching back
to Windows.

I do not blame Linux for these shortcomings...it is the lack of vendor
support that has caused these problems.  IBM claims to be a Linux
supporter...but they have since stopped shipping Linux on this model
and I can find absolutely NO support for this model on their website
with reference to Linux.  AFAIK, I cannot even download a copy
of their Linux installation for this model.  If I had purchased an older 
model, I might have better luck...but why would I want to buy an 
older, less powerful model?

Before you all tell me how I can get X driver here or get the source
for Y driver and get it to work....let me say:  I'm sure you're right.
I'm sure I could get it working if I invested enough of my time (and
yours).  But what is that time worth?  Given my newbie status, I'm
guessing it would take me a minimum of 40 hours of work to resolve
these issues (probably more)...at $5/hr, that pays for the copy of 
Windows. I like Linux, but (like many developers), I do not want to
be a Linux expert.  I have work to do...and Linux is not helping my
effeciency. 

So when you read reports about people having difficulties with Linux,
and dissmiss them as being ignorant or unwilling to put any effort
into it, please keep me in mind, unless you also think I'm an idiot ;)
I think I have put a pretty good effort into it.

To summarize, without vendors providing proper support for new
hardware, I believe Linux will continue to be a non-factor on the 
desktop - especially the laptop - great for people who like to tinker 
with computers, but not for people who just like to get work done.
 
If anyone knows of any way to get the the distribution of Linux
that IBM pre-installed on the Thinkpads, please let me know...
I would be willing to give it one last try.

Chris

*********************************
Chris Merrill
cmerrill at nc.rr.com
*********************************



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