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

[David A. Cafaro]

Sorry to hear your troubles with Linux, it can be a bear, and it has a ways 
to go before the common user will find it as easy at M$ stuff (unless you 
factor in the security scares...).  Any ways, I'm not sure if you checked 
the linux on laptops page yet, but here are a couple of links that talk 
about your specific laptop and where to get drivers and such:

http://www.math.uakron.edu/~chad/linux_t23.html (Redhat, but info on X)

http://www.rithvik.com/linux/tp23.html (another redhat)

http://www.patoche.org/alone/info/t23.html (debian, but no sound info)

http://www.linux-laptop.net/ (the main site)

Good luck,

David


At 11:54 AM 12/21/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>...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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