Linux For Everyone
By Rodney Sellers
Expert Author
Article Date: 2009-11-24
I know this has been said many times in the past, but I also thought it was premature until now. My reasoning is based on an experience I had two weeks ago.
My cousin bought 2 used laptops from ebay. They where identical except for the fact one had a broken screen, but still ran. Neither has an OS because the seller formatted the drives before sending them. Me being the family nerd was called to help with the installs. My cousin wanted to try Linux, so I brought an Ubuntu 9.10 install disk with me. He wanted to have Linux on the computer with the working screen so he could take the laptop to school, and in his own words "Look like a hacker". So I install Ubuntu 9.10 on the laptop. It takes about an hour and everything is up and running. He is on his wireless network and surfing the net. I show him how to customize Compiz so he can complete the "hacker look".
Onto the Windows install - the screen is broken, so I hook up an external monitor and try to change the display settings in the BIOS. It displays on the external monitor, but when the windows disk boots it switches back to the broken display. Since it is during the install process, no driers are installed so I can not change it to the external monitor. I tried numerous options with no success. After looking it up on some forums, I discover it is impossible to do.
Now my cousin has to lose his "hacker look" because he has to be able to play his games. So I install windows on the laptop with the working screen. It takes about 2 hours and I still couldn't get it connected to his wireless network. I finally get it connected and configured correctly - it only took 3 hours.
I then try to install Ubuntu on the laptop with the broken screen. I put the disk in and boot up the machine. BIOS on the external monitor, that is a good start. I was pleasantly surprised that Ubuntu kept displaying on the external monitor. It never once tried to change back to the broken display. The install went just as easily as it did on the first laptop and I has it configured and running in less than an hour this time.
The install process for Ubuntu is so much easier and less convoluted than the windows install. I am surprised Linux isn't taking off faster than it is. My cousin now uses his Linux box more than his windows computer. He discovered Wine and runs his Windows games in that. He said that he has to open the command line less in Linux than he did in windows. In Windows, he has to do a, ipconfig /release /renew every day, but on Linux, he never has to open the command line. His mom even likes it because she can go to any web page she wants, without fear of getting all types of spyware/adware on the computer. The only issue they had was with flash, but with Ubuntu 9.10, my cousin was able to install flash from the new Software Center with no problems. He even installed Ubuntu on the laptop with the working screen himself. He called me after he was finished to tell me. From this experience, I think Linux really has reached a level of ease for the average user, maybe even for beginners.
About the Author:
Rodney Is A Staff Writter for iEntry.
|
