Software: Where Is Linux Going Today?

I just got back from Mike Magee's leaving do and I was quite surprised how few Inquirer readers turned up, considering it was an open invitation. Perhaps they would have felt out of place, but as an ex columnist knowing most of the guests, I had a good time.

I had an interesting conversation there with someone I will refer to as Jeff. I cover his identity purely because I imagine his opinions are personal rather than that of the company he represents, and I'm not using this as oppurtunity to say his opinion is wrong, but rather to show a differing opinion and provoke some thought.

I was telling Jeff about my opinions that Linux will gain a lot of popularity in the consumer desktop sector over the coming years as people look for stable, minimal function PCs, for checking e-mail and browsing the web. I guess this view is quite similar to how Alan Sugar saw things with the Amstrad Emailer, but I'm thinking a little more advanced. Jeff felt quite adamant that Linux is still a developers OS and that consumers will always use Windows, because they know Windows.

This reminded me of the reason we still use QWERTY keyboards instead of DVORAK, which boils down to the fact that there is more hassle in changing than the benefits to be gained. But for the consumer that clicks only a few icons, is it really that difficult to move to an open source alternative? Certainly unlike the keyboard example, there are a lot of speed and security implications that outweigh this minor shift in work patterns.

Windows Vista is such a change from Windows XP, certainly in terms of layout, and a number of people are moving to Apple – so people can't be that resistent to change and I feel Jeff is underestimating the human ability to adapt.

There are a hell of a lot of people saying “we don't need Vista”. They aren't crying for Linux, but certainly crying for a longer support period on XP. But XP will eventually run out, and moving to a stripped down Linux distribution that will cost nothing and run fast, even on their outdated hardware, will be a tough argument to ignore.

Jeff certainly wasn't against Linux, but I do feel using the latest version of Ubuntu might change his opinions slightly on where it is heading. He did feel that Linux had its place, and part of this was as a platform for designing a truly unique operating system and interface, rather than merely mimicking Windows XP. But in many respects, a free XP Clone for the many happy XP users might be exactly what the industry needs.

I have mentioned a couple of times the 22MB Slitaz Linux distribution. I have been helping out a little with this distribution and it's looking better and better each day. Version 1.0 is to be released soon, but is still lacking complete English documentation, wireless support, and it could do with a few more network drivers compiled.

Out of the box, it's setup as a developers environment (PHP/Apache), and I'm not all that keen on the name Slitaz. My plan is to remove the development tools and instead install tools targetted at the consumer – Thunderbird/Pidgin/Abiword/Gimp. Slitaz isn't debian based but rather LFS, and uses its own packaging system.

I will then rebrand it (slightly) under the name Toaster Linux. I intend on keeping the image under 50MB and will be optimised for running on USB flash drives. I won't fork any code off, so any development I do will improve both Slitaz and Toaster Linux. It is essentially a repackaging and a rebranding.

The name Toaster Linux is of course influenced by my opinion that desktop PCs are getting closer and closer to becoming Toasters. MicroSpode Linux was another option but I felt it sounded too much like Microsoft, and I wouldn't want my name on it considering the nature of open source and the proportion of code I have submitted. Still, I had a giggle thinking of that one As Slitaz uses the theme of “cooking”, using “woks” and “recipes”, the toaster seemed an appropriate kitchen appliance. More news on this as and when it develops.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh, it's eaten my very long post again! I will try once more with a abbreviated version.

My fairly quick foray in to Ubuntu. OK, I was impressed, but I couldn't understand what nVidia drivers to use, had no control over screen res or brightness, ended up with a severe headache and then the bootloader it installed cause this rig to stop booting in to windows. For some reason I also found it very slow?

Fortunately, it all uninstalled as it said it would. Back to normal.
I will try this again when I have a clean machine to use i.e. no O/S installed. I hope someone can tell me what nVidia drivers to use and some way of controlling the brightness via some form of software like nVidia supply with their windows drivers. I never had a chance to try out anything else but the ethernet connection, which worked perfectly.

Well at lest I've got a distro to work fairly well, I determined to get one working properly ASAP. I did like it and it gave me a sense of freedom. That was great

I'm not sure what's happening with the post's disappearing? It could be something I'm doing? It's not a big problem as only the two of the last thee attempts were lost and one other a while ago.

The restricted driver manager never seemed to appear, all I had was an update thing, unless that was a part of it? I had to search for the restricted bit after the helpful prompts from you I found it and then that made the number pad work, but what else was in it, being a noob that has real problems trying to read loads of fairly small text and what seemed to me loads of stuff that meant "Jack" I assumed the Linux drivers on the nVidia website were the ones to use, but which ones?

I assume you mean by proprietary driver to be to Windows ones? Perhaps not. You see the problem here, I don't really have a clue yet, it takes time to understand what goes where and what. You have a great amount of experience with distro's and it would now seem obvious to you, but not me. (By the way, where IS the any key)

As I said Spode, when I get a clean machine I will put a distro directly on to a drive. When the time comes, may I ask you for what you think is the best one at the time? I must admit, I am starting to find Linux quite exiting. A dedicated machine should be useful as I hopefully can put more than one on to compare.

Thanks for your patience Spode, I do appreciate it.

Thanks Spode, I'm sure I will get a hold of this after a while, I have a lot on my mind at the moment and that distracts me from concentrating. I am waiting for a phone call from the hospital to have this damn gall bladder removed, then I should feel a lot better and be able to get on with things. You do know you are always welcome here for any reason, not just to hold my hand with Linux.

The Linux user group sound like a good idea, even gleaning a little of what's on there would certainly help. I'm guessing it's a website as well. I will Google it now and see what I can find.

LOL, I would do it my self if I could. I won't try the brain surgery again, I think I messed up the last time!

Old Farnsworth could be right. LMAO.