Re: [ossig] What do users really want?

["Charles F. Moreira" <cfm@pc.jaring.my>]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the tips


Quoting Colin Charles <byte@aeon.com.my>:

> On Mon, 2003-11-17 at 09:42, Charles wrote:
> 
> > 1.    Version 9 does not recognise my Sound Blaster Vibra 16
> > integrated sound card when version 7.2 does
> 
> The installer might have been "buggy" in the sense that the Vibra 16
> didn't get detected. Running "sndconfig" or redhat-config-sound (? its
> something similar) will solve the problem I think. 

At one point the detection indicated Vibra 16 but when it rebooted, I
couldn't detect it and I tried running the sound configurator through
Gnome or KDE and neither could detect the sound.

> Please give Fedora Core 1 a try.

Where can I get a reliable copy on CD. I don't have Streamyx.

> Your sound issues are because of the problems with OSS and ALSA
> drivers...

>  
> > 2.    I can set up the printer drive for my Panasonic KX-P1121 dot
> > matrix printer which is in Epson emulation mode and during the test
> > print it started throwing paper and any other software like Open
> > Office can't print and just feeds paper.
> 
> Hmm. I've not had experience with a dot matrix printer in a long time
> (I
> remember using one on my 386 box, but that was ages ago...).
> 
> The test print "started throwing paper"? Was there anything printed
> out?
> 
> OpenOffice.org uses the "Generic Printer" option, so whatever is
> default
> via lpd/cups, is what OpenOffice.org will print with. So if the
> printer
> isn't configured properly, there is no way OOo will print it - this is
> similar to what happens on Windows.

The Panasonic KX-P1121 can be set for Epson or IBM Graphic printer
emulation and when I had the problems the printer was set for Epson
emulation and I set up the default printer for Epson LQ850.

OK! Maybe I should reconfigure the default prt for "Generic" and try again
and hope OpenOffice prints properly, since "Generic" should mean that it
prints as an ASCII printer.

> > 3.    It does not recognise my ArtNet USB modem.
> 
> USB modems are interesting in the sense that they're *not* usually
> hardware modems - they're soft modems. Soft modems make use of CPU
> cyles, and generally rely on Windows system calls. However, there have
> been plenty of attempts at LinModems (www.linmodems.org iirc) to get
> USB-styled modems working.

I can hook it up to an ArtNet external modem via RS-232 and hopefully I'll
get on the net and do all the below.


> I'm sure you'd be able to do a search and hopefully get on the Net. Of
> course you're now asking that you can't get on the Net, and this is
> something that has to be worked out, but at the moment, if you buy
> crappy hardware (run-off-the-mill cheap stuff), expect to get crappy
> support.
> 
> > So in as much as I'd love to use my Linux machine to go on the
> > Internet I however can't, so it's like a car without wheels.
> 
> You need to get the mechanic to use a tow truck, bring it into the
> workshop, and add the wheels.
> 
> That is, get on the Net, find the driver(s), use Google a bit, and
> bring
> it over to your Linux box.
> 
> > As an end-user, what I want is an operating system which works with
> my
> > PC and equipment and Red Hat 9 does not satisfy that need.
> 
> >From this, it seems you are unwilling to do any work.

It's a matter of having the time and patience but if it's in the spirit of
tinkering, I can try bit by bit till it works right.

Give Mandrake
> 9.2
> a try - though the hardware requirements may be higher, it is
> generally
> easier to use.

I understand that too. I'll look around for a good copy.

> > However, Windows 95, 98 and XP work fine with all the above
> > peripherals, letting me get down to work, rather than crack my head
> > for hours trying to solving the problem.
> 
> That's because your sound card came with a driver CD from creative,
> the
> printer probably driver disks, and the USB modem, a driver CD (or
> disk).
> Not many hardware manufacturers include Linux drivers on their media,
> do
> they?

Windows XP has the drivers for this card and I don't have to configure
it.
Red Hat 7.2 also has the drivers and it works with 7.2 so why not 9.0
which I supposed to be better and more advanced? That's the anoying
thing.



> 
> (unrelated, but I noticed that D-Link had Linux drivers for their NIC,
> that they released about 3 years ago, on the floppy disk they gave to
> consumers! Impressive stuff, though Linux's kernel 2.4.x detected it
> fine)
> 
> > Now if my bank or mobile telephone company gave me so much trouble,
> > I'd switch to one which served me well so can anyone expect end
> users
> > to tolerate the deficiencies of Linux when there are functionally
> > better alternatives.
> 
> Not to add fuel to the fire, but many banks give us great hassles
> (think
> two hour queues, just to get to the counter) and we still stick with
> them.

I haven't experienced that lately but I rarely step into a bank these days
-- everything is done through machine from drawing money, depositing
cheques, paying off credit card bills, paying in money.

Perhaps you are talking about primitive Australian banks.

> Linux doesn't claim ease-of-use at the moment. We're working on
> improving that. But it does claim to be free. Windows costs a lot of
> moolah, unless you count the RM15 versions that most people end up
> using...

The article I criticised was correct in saying that Apache is designed by
server professionals for server professionals and good for them.

However, if there's any hope that Linux and open source software is to be
acepted by the mass of consumers and an alternative to Windows, then it
must be made easier to use but I don't see much priority being given to
this aspect besides Mandrake, Red Hat (before the spin off), Lindows and
so others.

The "realpolitik" is that the RM15 editions of Windows are widely
available, albeit on shitty quality CDs and consumers are not go for a
free alternative which they can't install and run with one eye closed and
a hand tied behind their back.

At the end of the day, the word "free" means different things to different
people.

To a Mac user, "free" might mean freedom to express themselves and their
ideas on a very proprietary machine running a very much unfree and
proprietary software apart from its Darwin core.

To me "free" means freedom from too much hassle and unpredictability.

To someone else, "free" might mean freeware which is free as in beer but
not as in free speech.

So what is "free."

So what's "free"

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to get another external RS-232 modem
first. Anyway, the USB modem isn't too reliable and drops lines too often
under Windows.

Charles
 

> 
> -- 
> Colin Charles, byte@aeon.com.my
> http://www.bytebot.net/
> 
> 
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