Very Computer

Let's say, hypothetically, someone had an opportunity to write an
article that was pro Linux in a reputable personal computer magazine.
This magazine, as are most personal computer magazines, is mainly
geared to the Windows '95 user.  The purpose of the article would, in
the most part, be to introduce Linux to the '95 / Mac / OS/2 users
that read the magazine.

- What features of Linux would you consider highlighting?
- How would you go about showing the public, that doesn't know about
  Linux at all, that it is a great operating system and can cater for
  many needs?
- Does Linux run the sort of hardware and software that everyone wants
  to use?
- We know that Linux is turning into the ISP's workhorse, but who else
  uses Linux and for purposes?

- Robi

--
Robi Karp                              Fluffy Spider Technologies
                                       Software, Internet, Architectures

To send me email, remove ".delete.this.to.email.me" from my address above.

Quote:> Let's say, hypothetically, someone had an opportunity to write an
> article that was pro Linux in a reputable personal computer magazine.
> This magazine, as are most personal computer magazines, is mainly
> geared to the Windows '95 user.  The purpose of the article would, in
> the most part, be to introduce Linux to the '95 / Mac / OS/2 users
> that read the magazine.
> - What features of Linux would you consider highlighting?

Quote:> - How would you go about showing the public, that doesn't know about
>   Linux at all, that it is a great operating system and can cater for
>   many needs?

Quote:> - Does Linux run the sort of hardware and software that everyone wants
>   to use?

Quote:> - We know that Linux is turning into the ISP's workhorse, but who else
>   uses Linux and for purposes?

Quote:> - Robi
> --
> Robi Karp                              Fluffy Spider Technologies
>                                        Software, Internet, Architectures
> To send me email, remove ".delete.this.to.email.me" from my address above.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that OS decay on systems that have
"stable" plastered on the box has become so common place that people
not only expect it, but sort of rely on it for some illusion that they
know what's happening on their $2500 word processor/calculator/quake
machine.  Because they know how to solve the problem, they are computer
gurus.

Mind you, this phenomenon is mostly restricted to home users.  The corp
people would probably latch onto the stability issue if it was accompanied
by another feature.....say, low cost of maintenance or something. :-)

It all depends on who your intended audience is.

Quote:>2) fast free upgrades.  you find a bug and it is usually fixed by
>   someone extremely quickly.

If the audience is most likely to be people in the IS field, then
focusing on the commercial stuff wouldn't be a bad way to get around
this problem...but you lose the "fast, free upgrades."  If the audience
is going to be home users, then you just have to figure out a way to
get around the "commercial == good" bias thing.

Quote:>3) real multitasking and multiuser.  many people can share one
>   machine, each with their own custom setup and need not fear others
>   messing things up for them.  remote users are just as good as
>   local ones.

The problem here is that most people don't exactly understand what
multi* means.  :-)  And they're not likely to be impressed unless
they're in IS and are looking for a server.

Quote:>4) some modicum of security.  you need to be root to really mess
>   things up.

I would say touching more on the "don't log in as root, and you won't
shoot your foot" (which is what I think you were going for :-) would
be the best thing to show-off, while trying to avoid the "it's hard
for someone else to gain root access" subject.

It, once again depends on the:           (10 pts)

        a) audience
        b) type of people who are reading the article
        c) color of the aardvark holding the pencil

Quote:>> - How would you go about showing the public, that doesn't know about
>>   Linux at all, that it is a great operating system and can cater for
>>   many needs?
>show it to your friends/coworkers/boss.

Quote:>> - Does Linux run the sort of hardware and software that everyone wants
>>   to use?
>somewhat.

On the plus side, the corp people will probably be very attracted to the
fact that Linux can ressurect that "old" 486 machine sitting on the
shelf....as well as provide a lot of the same functionality as an NT server.

Quote:>> - We know that Linux is turning into the ISP's workhorse, but who else
>>   uses Linux and for purposes?
>i do engineering reports and memos in TeX.
>i run long C simulations.

I point out to my graphics acquaintances that Linux has a fair number
of programs they might be interested in...some that are only available
for Linux and a couple of expensive commercial Unices.

And lest I mention the Linux box at home that's running IP-masq with diald,
a web server, Samba, and a dedicated Quake server for the LAN.  It probably
wouldn't hurt to let people know Linux works and plays well with OS's on
heterogenous network...

All in all, I'd say if you're going to write an article about Linux for
a published medium, know who usually reads and what the look for in an
OS.  Then focus on Linux's strength in that area (shouldn't be too hard
to find one ;-).  And be truthful about it.[2]

[1] I ran into a guy tonight who didn't want to run Debian because it
    was "made by a bunch of volunteers"[3]....
[2] Remember, you can't spell "MISLEAD" without "MS".
[3] As if Linux itself wasn't.

-K. Spoon
--
"I think not thinking's better about it, when you stop to think."

|>2) fast free upgrades.  you find a bug and it is usually fixed by
|>   someone extremely quickly.
|
|Yeah, but the counter-argument you're going to run into there is that
|"It's all free software *snort*."  For some reason, people think you
|have to have a centralized commercial goal in order to ensure quality
|of the product. [1]
|[1] I ran into a guy tonight who didn't want to run Debian because it
|    was "made by a bunch of volunteers"[3]....

"Free" software on MS-DOS and MS-Windows tends to be more hazardous and
lower quality than free software on Unix, Linux, and BSD.  On MS OSes,
it tends to come in binary only distributions, which increases the risk
of getting viruses or trojan horses, and prevents skilled users from fixing
bugs and improving the quality of the software.  Also, some of the "free"
software being passed around for MS OSes may really be pirated software.

So users of MS OSes may be quite suspicious of free software simply based
on their experience with it on the MS OSes.

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Quote:

>I'm currently trying to push for a "Linux lab" on my campus in the hopes
>that I can expose some of my peers to a most excellent development
>platform with a wide variety of libs and languages to choose from.

As for the lab, we're in the process of setting up such a lab on my
campus (UNC-C*te).  The rest of the machines used by students in
the Engineering and CS depts. are almost all Suns: a ton of Sparc IPC's,
a bunch of SS20's, and a handful of Ultras.  Suffice it to say, the Linux
machines (and the NetBSD boxes that came before them) run circles around
the IPC's and SS20's, and can certainly give the Ultras a run for their
money.  And due to the wonders of remote execution, the few commercial
apps that we really need (and aren't available for Linux) (mainly
FrameMaker) can be run off of a server; this is completely transparent
to the students and other users.  They provide a lot more bang for the
buck, and having the sources for everything's nice too.  The hackability
also allows for some rather novel installation/configuration/administration
schemes.

Of course, this is the ideal environment for Linux.  Convincing someone
in a corporate environment would be a much harder sell.  Especially if
it's being pushed as an alternative to NT...then you find yourself in
the position of having to "sell" Unix as well as Linux.  Hats off, and
a keg of virtual beer, to anyone who has accomplished this.

  Regards,
    Mike

[...]

Quote:> On the plus side, the corp people will probably be very attracted to the
> fact that Linux can ressurect that "old" 486 machine sitting on the
> shelf....as well as provide a lot of the same functionality as an NT server.

Why, you can still use that 486/33 with 16M of memory for getting
on the internet easily and for other stuff, and you don't
have to buy a new computer just to print some letters.

...richie

--


*          Home page:   http://www.netlabs.net/hp/richieb          *
*        "Fight software piracy, use free software!" (me)          *
*        (Remove XYZZY  from my address before replying)           *

--
Darin Johnson

Quote:>What would you *like* to see in a pro-Linux article?

Robi,

I'd most like to see a balanced article that addresses both the
advantages and disadvantages of Linux.  Writing an inaccurate,
overly-pro Linux article would hurt everyone involved: you, the
magazine, any newbies that get burnt, and of course Linux itself.

From a home user's perspective, Linux comes with a much greater
range of usable software, so you that when you've finally bought
your new computer, it can do something - you don't need to rush
out and  buy another $1000 worth of software.  If you're on a
budget (and who isn't), it might be enough.  If you're not, some
commercial packages are starting to become available, although
they are still fairly rare at the moment.

The major problem with Linux at home is getting it installed, and
having someone to talk to regarding the inevitable problems that
will occur.  With Windows, the computer supplier will perform these
roles for you.  However, few suppliers can/will do that for Linux yet.
The alternative is the various user groups.  However, you would still
want to be fairly confident technically.  (Not that it's hard - I
just upgraded my system by installing Redhat 4.1 from scratch.  Except
for a small hiccup due to my dated hardware, it was a breeze.)

If you haven't got used to the DOS / Microsoft Windows, then *using*
Linux + X Windows isn't technically hard, despite all claims otherwise.
My 5.7 year old can login, start X manually, and start and use a few
simple applications (Xpaint, The Gimp, Lyx, a number of simple X games),
and logout.

Performing system administration and command line work is naturally
much more difficult, but this is a matter of gradually learning and
becoming more confident.  The DOS / Microsoft Windows world is just
as hard.  A popular Australian personal computer magazine, similar to
the one you described, recently ran some "Workshop" articles on
installing Win95 OSR2, and that certainly looked pretty daunting.
Anyone capable of doing that would also be able to learn to administer
Linux.

My wife and I both use Linux at home extensively: for browsing the net,
for writing technical documents (in Latex), for programming (mostly in
C), and for running extensive numerical computations.  All the software
above is free.  We still have Window 3.1 installed because we need to
use a major statistical package, and to my knowledge none of these have
been released for Linux yet.  We will switch to the first of these
released for Linux.  Then we will have no further need for Windows 3.1.

If the magazine you're writing the article for has a free cover CD, I'd
like to see some space devoted to recent releases/upgrades to the Linux
software.  For example, at the time of writing a new version of XFree86
has just been released.

Best wishes,

Bradley Broom,                           http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/~broom/

Queensland University of Technology,     Bus. : +61 7 3864 2769
GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, 4001, Australia. Fax  : +61 7 3221 2384

2. Full-featured networking that actually works and doesn't crash all
   the time.

3. Coexists with MS Windows 3.1 and MS Windows95, so you can still run
   you favourite wordprocessor etc when you need to.

4. Can actually print stuff to a low-memory printer in the background
   without the machine grinding to a halt (kinda defeats 3 though).

5. Supports multiple users properly (Windows95 profiles are the biggest
   pain on earth).

6. Runs emacs,*and cvs properly :-)

7. Cheap.

Quote:> - We know that Linux is turning into the ISP's workhorse, but who else
>   uses Linux and for purposes?

Ciao,

--
AndyB   (Andrew Berry)
=======================================================================


fax:   +61 7 3365 1999          \/       Australia  4072
=========== http://www.veryComputer.com/

http://www.linux.victoria.bc.ca/linux.html

I also hereby give permission for you to reprint in whole or in part
the page so long as you don't rewrite (ie:put words in my mouth).

Later,
Scott Fraser

http://www.linux.victoria.bc.ca

]Why, you can still use that 486/33 with 16M of memory for getting
]on the internet easily and for other stuff, and you don't
]have to buy a new computer just to print some letters.

Watch it sonnie.

I'm running Linux on a 486DX33 w 16 Mb.

Cheers
John Summerfield
Perth, Western Australia
OS2 support, IBM ftp search, LAN configuration info

]Let's say, hypothetically, someone had an opportunity to write an
]article that was pro Linux in a reputable personal computer magazine.
]This magazine, as are most personal computer magazines, is mainly
]geared to the Windows '95 user.  The purpose of the article would, in
]the most part, be to introduce Linux to the '95 / Mac / OS/2 users
]that read the magazine.

]- What features of Linux would you consider highlighting?
]- How would you go about showing the public, that doesn't know about
]  Linux at all, that it is a great operating system and can cater for
]  many needs?

You could mention it reads HPFS and that OS/2, with the free EXT2 driver
    from hobbes.nmsu.edu, can read/write/boot from EXT2 filesystems.

Two-way file sharing has to be attractive to OS/2 users who want to
    explore the options.

]- Does Linux run the sort of hardware and software that everyone wants
]  to use?

As at RH 4.0 it's not caught up with my Trident TTVGA9680 wharereas the
    card cam with OS/2 and WIN* support.

No.

]- We know that Linux is turning into the ISP's workhorse, but who else
]  uses Linux and for purposes?

I use a 486DX33 w 16 Mb to run a web server and light software
    development (C/C++, perl). I'ts mostly driven by telnet and rsh from
    my OS/2 machines.

I use Samba for file sharing.

The fact that GCC is available for OS/2 and Linux seems good to me. I
    don't use Apache for OS/2, but it IS available for both (along with
    bind495, PINE, ELM, TIN, XFREE, MajorDomo, Perl and a heap of other
    stuff).

Cheers
John Summerfield
Perth, Western Australia
OS2 support, IBM ftp search, LAN configuration info

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