'if you're stuck using proprietary drivers'
You mean 'if you use drivers that actually work properly and outperform the open source drivers'.
105 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Feb 2013
Since when is the GPL the yardstick by which free or open source software is measured?
I wonder if you do really 'stick to GPL', or just think you do. Do you use X11? That's an MIT licence. Do you use Apache? Apache licence. Firefox? MPL. And so on.
If you don't agree with non-GPL code, don't use any of the above.
Therein lies the problem - the eight hundred thousand slightly different distributions. Most people don't want to try them. They just want their computer to work, which is why XP has had such a long life.
The idea that rpm and dpkg are anything like as user-friendly as setup.exe is a joke. Truly, this year and the next hundred years will not be the year of the Linux desktop.
And the US Constitution is not worth a bean and never has.
Did the US Constitution stop slavery? No.
Did it stop mass internment in WW2? No.
Americans who ramble on about the Constitution are living with their heads in the sand.
Still, 10/10 for Lava for having some integrity.
"the Association of Chief Police Officers Criminal Records Office (ACRO), which charges the charity for the information".
Surely the MPs should be demanding an investigation into ACRO? The terms of reference should be clear: if ACRO does not have legal authority to sell this information, the sellers should be charged with corruption.
Somebody in the Civil Service gave Huawei the job of auditing Huawei in the first place. Will heads roll? The Whitehall mandarin should be investigating his colleagues for stupidity.
Anyway, it's a question of do we want to be spied on by the Americans or the Chinese? American kit is not more secure, it is more snoopable by the Americans.
I wonder how many SSL Certificate Authorities have provided their private keys to Uncle Sam.
Error Line 481, Column 4: document type does not allow element "ul" here; missing one of "object", "applet", "map", "iframe", "button", "ins", "del" start-tag
Fix it now you stupid cocksucking noobs. Why should anyone read your stupid noob website if it has a known bug?
"Except Torvalds is obviously not an idiot."
Well I don't know. He commits code that he assumes (i.e. doesn't check) to be bug free. Then blames someody else for introducing the bug into the kernel. Hmmm. Who committed the code?
Let's face it, if Linus was so great as the Linux fanbois like to pretend he is, there would never have been a single bug in the whole history of the Linux kernel.
I am serious.
We can restore the backup - I test this from time to time in VirtualBox. If the worst came to the worst that is exactlty what I would do as an interim measure.
As and when it fails, the powers that be will understand its importance and maybe then provide the time and money to update it.
Except for this:
" If you feel the need to back up an operating system several thousand times… feel free, I guess, but you’ll never use it to restore a system."
Well that depends. I have an old OS on a machine, which won't be upgraded because that will be a lot of work for somebody - likely none of the apps that are on it will work. So in addition to backing this machine up using *some piece of backup software*, I also back it up using ufsdump. If I ever want to restore this machine on bare metal, I will use that dump to install the OS. I know it will restore exactly as the box is now. I know this because I have tested the restores in VirtualBox.
There is practically no chance of finding the original OS install disks, and the long-forgotten patches and tweaks, that have been applied to this box. So dumping and restoring the whole thing is the best way.
Of course the box should be upgraded/updated. But it won't be, unless it breaks.
Original bug report:
"Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace."
Comment:
"Personal computing today is a broader proposition than it was in 2004: phones, tablets, wearables and other devices"
Refer back to original bug. Microsoft still dominates the desktop PC marketplace. Linux < 1%. Maybe next year will be the year of the Linux desktop. Though I doubt it will.
"Now is the time to see if Linux really is ready for the desktop and ready to replace Windows as the preloaded OS of choice for consumers."
Did you not read the list of normal things that just do not work on this Linux box? That is why people don't buy Linux. Instead they buy Windows because it works better.
And before Linux, it was standard on other Unices. Linux has not invented anything except a gaggle of losers who cry that mainstream manufacturers do supply fully supported systems with their distro of choice pre-installed. For less than the same price as a Windows pre-installation. Even though it costs considerably more to support. Boo hoo.
"The machine comes with two bits of open-source software:"
Ignoring all the open-source GNU/Linux software that is otherwise installed.
"Sputnik is a cool project, but remains in an early stage of development "
It doesn't work.
"Dell directed me to the people who know about Sputnik"
It's too hard for any usual form of technical support.
"We got the touchpad to be full multi-touch"
Something Windows/Mac did years ago.
"there is still a Windows key"
Maybe some people will install Windows. Just think: there should be a Linux key. For the <1% of people who might install Linux.
"the only documentation in my review sample"
RTFM. man man. You have the source code, you don't need documentation.
"I also notice that although the GNU GCC compiler is installed"
But I only develop in Perl/PHP/Python/Lua/Erlang/Tcl. Am I covered? Else I won't buy it.
"I have yet to see this list, but neither LXC nor Juju was installed on the review sample."
I'm definitely not buying it then.
"Developers are unlikely to care much about what is installed, since it is easy to add and remove packages "
So why complain about LXS or Juju?
"Still, the lack of documentation is an annoyance"
RTFM. man man...
"getting devices to work under Linux is often a challenge."
It has often been a challenge. If you don't want a challenge, install Windows.
"the audio works"
So did audio on OS/2. So what?
"after a bit of fiddling with dependencies."
Usual problem with Linux. It does simply not work properly for average Joe User.
"the absence of any and all OEM crapware"
That's cos there ain't any for Linux. Apart from things like "ls", "ps", and "less". And "more" too, as none of those tools are Linux-specific.
"I had my share of things that do not quite work"
Work/not work is a binary thing. If it does not work, it does not work. It does not "not quite work".
"first thing I did was to install all available updates"
Cos Linux packages get updated almost every day, you are now on a conveyor belt of updates.
"Shutdown can be problematic; sometimes it shuts down"
Linux can't even shut down properly?!
"Hibernation fails with a "device failed to thaw" error message"
Hibernation does not work.
"I had no success with Bluetooth"
Bluetooth does not work.
"no access to my pictures."
But this is a developers, developers, developers machine. Why do you need pictures?
"But such is Linux"
Yes. It does not work properly. In just about every field of desktop usage, Linux sucks donkey balls.
"most problems of this kind can be solved with sufficient effort "
Or by using Windows instead.
"patience in trawling through forums"
Full of "me too" messages, where 1% of posters have a clue and the rest don't know jack.
"Still, it is not quite the first-class experience I was hoping for."
Dream on.
"It is a shame Dell offers no customisation options"
That's cos they don't want Linux losers asking for Debian/Centos/Mandriva/Slackware/Ubuntu/Edubuntu/Yellow Dog/Red Flag/ etc.
"You would think that using free software would mean a lower price."
Quite the opposite if you count your time into getting it working.
"the Developer Edition comes with Pro support"
That's because, as mentioned, Linux is too difficult for usual tech support teams.
"if you buy a Windows laptop and use with Linux, you will not get any joy from the supplier when trying to get Bluetooth working."
If you use Windows, you won't need any help getting Bluetooth working.
"a worthwhile effort but one that is currently half-baked"
It doesn't work. Like Linux on the desktop generally.
"given its slow progress"
Linux is a moving target. No sooner does somebody write something for version x.y.z of a package, it changes to x.yz.1 and then suddenly no longer works.
Linux is not fit for the desktop. It never has been, and is unlikely ever to be. Dell should not waste their time for the developer proportion of the <1% of Linux desktop users. If losers want to buy Dell hardware and install their own Prancing Penguin Linux that is their pleasure. And waste of time.
I've used Linux for about 15 years. I am used to a simple desktop. Long ago I had to recompile the kernel to get the sound card working. I have seen 1FPS refresh rates.
GNOME and KDE are bloated, but that does not make them good. I know about dozens of other windows managers that "I can try", and have tried. None of them make Linux a pleasure to use on the desktop.
apt is a pile of junk for a new user. apt-cache is a joke. Let's say I am a newLinux user and I want to install Firefox, if it is not already installed. I find out about apt-cache (no easy thing in the first place) and do a search for firefox. This is the crap I get:
herewegoagain@craplinuxbox1:~$ apt-cache search firefox
aptlinex - Web browser addon to install Debian packages with a click
bookmarkbridge - tool to synchronize bookmarks between browsers
firefox-sage - lightweight RSS and Atom feed reader for Firefox
gnash-common-opengl - free SWF movie player - common files/libraries
gnash-common - free SWF movie player - common files/libraries
gnash-cygnal - free SWF movie player - Media server
gnash-opengl - free SWF movie player
gnash-tools - free SWF movie player - Command-line Tools
gnash - free SWF movie player
klash-opengl - free SWF movie player - standalone player for KDE
klash - free SWF movie player - standalone player for KDE
konqueror-plugin-gnash - free SWF movie player - Plugin for Konqueror
mozilla-plugin-gnash - free SWF movie player - Plugin for Mozilla and derivatives
gnome-do-plugins - Extra functionality for GNOME-Do launcher
gnome-do - Quickly perform actions on your desktop
gnome-launch-box - An application launcher for GNOME
gplanarity - simple puzzle game involving untangling planar graphs
gtkcookie - Editor for cookie files
iceweasel-linky - iceweasel extension to handle web and image links
iceweasel - lightweight web browser based on Mozilla
mozilla-imagezoom - Mozilla context menu option to zoom current image
iceweasel-itsalltext - Iceweasel extension to edit textareas using an external editor
kerry - Beagle desktop search daemon frontend for KDE
latex-xft-fonts - Xft-compatible versions of some LaTeX fonts
libhtml-widgets-selectlayers-perl - Perl extension for selectable HTML layers
mozilla-firefox-adblock - AdBlock extension for the Iceweasel and Iceape web browsers
openoffice.org - OpenOffice.org Office suite
pcmanfm-nohal - an extremely fast and lightweight file manager for X
pcmanfm - an extremely fast and lightweight file manager for X
peercast-handlers - P2P audio and video streaming handlers
iceweasel-scrapbook - Iceweasel extension to save and manage Web pages
squareness - suite of skins for different applications
tinymce - platform independent web based Javascript/HTML WYSIWYG editor
tinymce2 - platform independent web based Javascript/HTML WYSIWYG editor
mozilla-plugin-vlc - multimedia plugin for web browsers based on VLC
libmozjs-dev - Development files for the Mozilla SpiderMonkey JavaScript library
libmozjs1d-dbg - Development files for the Mozilla SpiderMonkey JavaScript library
libmozjs1d - The Mozilla SpiderMonkey JavaScript library
xulrunner-1.9-dbg - Development files for the Gecko engine library
xulrunner-1.9 - XUL + XPCOM application runner
xulrunner-dev - Development files for the Gecko engine library
Do I need all this crap? There's not even an application called firefox! Is it p
art of Openoffice? You tell me.
I use Linux and UNIX at work because that is what I do. I use a Mac for personal
reasons, because that is my choice.
Not really. The end result is the same.
But, also, the reasons why Iranian TV channels have been blocked has not been announced. There is no comment from the satellite owners/managers. There is no word from any Western government on this.
" I like the Ubuntu feature where you can plug in a big screen and have an instant PC. "
Me too. So it would be good to get that working, together with all the usual features of modern mobiles, on one phone first. Rather than wasting time porting a load of spaghetti to every phone possible.