On Sunday 16 February 2003 8:51 am, Michael Satterwhite wrote:
As a general desktop, that is.
I was thinking of the problem I had yesterday trying to restart printing services (which I still haven't found in the documentation).
For Linux to be a general desktop system, it needs to be usable by the general population at large. A middle age non-computer type would *NEVER* be able to use Linux. Until it reaches the point that it can recover gracefully from something as simple as a printer running out of paper, it really isn't going to make large inroads against Windows. If you told an average user "just restart the print service", he'd reply "Why do I have to do that? Windows kept going automatically."
There is no question that in many ways, Linux is superior to Windows. Until it grows a bit more in the area of being able to recover from simple problems, the average person isn't going to use it.
I'm a Linux newbie, so I really don't know what's happening in this area. Is there work being done on this type of recovery?
One of the problems you face is "ti's a windows world". What I mean is that everyone is, well - essentially brainwashed into thinking of things in terms of Windows way of doing everything. I came late to the computer tech game. It wasn't utill my early 30s that I started using anything on computers. I started with 3.1, just playing some dos games and doing word programs for school. Talk about a pain! The word processing programs were atrocious by todays standard, And trying to install programs was a nightmare in many cases. These were that days in the early 90s when the InstallShield was not around, and hence installing programs in a 3.1 and even W95 was a hit or miss proposition. It wasn't until the widespread use of the "InstallShield" that things got a little better. What makes you think that Windows and printers are easier? I have always found that printers in Windows are stupid. The easiest I have ever had with printers in Window as in W98SE. In W3.1 = Ouch!, in 95=well cross your fingers, and the same early on in 98. In 98SE things got about as good as they ever did (an lets not go into NT). Now XP home/pro comes out and what do you thing the #1 complaint is....? You guessed it - printers, some of which wouldn't work at all and when they did they are using the dumbest drivers one might imagine. The OEMs for the printers didn't get enough info from M$ and didn't develop drivers in most cases - mainly because of windows "we can do it better than you attitude". Well when a printer would actually work it had such horrible performance and the majority of the printer functions were null in the drivers. My current Epson Sylus Pro XL isn't even known properly by window. It often spools the jobs and then keeps sending them to the printer well after the first job is finish - nothing like 5 or 6 copies of the "one" print job you just did continually pumping out of your printer, and when it runs out of paper then the whole thing just goes into some sort of redundant spool loop that it never seems to come out of. And Documentation in Windows --- Be serious! Windows documentation is the worst, unless you want to spend $99 a pop for some inane Windows 3rd party publication. Linux has alot more info available than one might find in Window, at least on board the system itself. Most Ma and Pa users are just intimidated and have become accustomed to having Windows style automation doing things for them, when it doesn't work it doesn't matter what OS it is - they will be just as clueless regardless. What Linux really needs more than anything for the desktop is a Unified type of program installer. Micheal, the info you need to figure out how is right there, you just need to look for it. Between the cups (I recommend not using lprng) help files and the SuSE faq/support data base should get you through to a working setup if your having problems - along with this list. As a newbie you'll learn how to troubleshoot your system much more effectively then you would ever dream of in windows. And you'll learn how to post to the list in a manner that gives those on the list the ability to help you quickly in the majority of cases. Just tell us what happened and if someone says something like "what does the <name of log> log file say and you don't know where the log file is they will tell you. Believe me, Linux is much more accessible than Bill Beast by a long shot. The only thing lacking in Linux is certain commonalities, such as a unified installer as I have mentioned - and this is changing, believe me. Cheers, Curtis.