Why must Linux be so frustrating?!?!?

[bolerodan]

precisely

linux is mainly good for businesses that have special needs, and home users who have nothing better to do than sit there troubleshooting

ive never seen anyone go home nad just USE their pc, its always Oh man i gotta enter 10 commands to start doing this, etc etc

hmmm I dont ever recall my Brother who installed Ubuntu needing to enter 10 commands to start doing this or that. He installed it, it required almost no input from him, and he started using it right away. Everything was detected and configured as is. All he needed to do was install the Nvidia Drivers to get video acceleration, which the package manager allowed him to easily do it.

Doing daily tasks requires him to not even touch anything remotely to a command on the terminal. If hardware is supported off the bat, this isnt an issue.

Im not trying to be one who defensively protects Linux, I agree on a lot of points people bring up about it for the desktop, but then there are some things that just are not true as well.

[Growled Member]

it's true that i'm basing my opinion primarily on arch linux, but i did try ubuntu, kubuntu, xubuntu, mint, debian, fedora, puppy, dsl, and a few others. i settled on arch linux because it was minimal and allowed me to install only what i wanted, kind of like an nlited xp.

Debian and Ubuntu offers minimal install options. With a Debian net install you start from nothing and add only what you want. Ubuntu offers alternative CDs that do the same thing.

[Ji@nBing]

Maybe Linux just isn't for me then. I don't expect it to work like Windows, but I do expect it to work. The thought of spending hours just to get my video drivers working properly just doesn't appeal to me. It's a shame, because I REALLY love the look and feel of Kubuntu. I think it's the nicest looking OS bar none.

I'll leave it installed and fool around with it from time to time, just because I like the look so much :p. I never meant it to replace my Win7 install anyway. I just wanted to try it.

To the guy that says my card is no longer supported, when I downloaded the driver manually from the ATI site, my card was on the list of supported cards. It's just a matter of getting the driver to actually install; something I couldn't figure out.

[Shadrack]

Why must Linux be so frustrating?!?!?

Because it is trying to compete with Windows!

lol.. j/k

[bjoswald]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope you don't abandon Linux completely. FWIW, I have heard that ATI cards are notoriously evil and never have "played nice" in Linux. I, too, love Kubuntu, but since I have an Nvidia card, I can't help. I did find a how-to article for SUSE, but nothing for Kubuntu.

[redvamp128]

Maybe Linux just isn't for me then. I don't expect it to work like Windows, but I do expect it to work. The thought of spending hours just to get my video drivers working properly just doesn't appeal to me. It's a shame, because I REALLY love the look and feel of Kubuntu. I think it's the nicest looking OS bar none.

I'll leave it installed and fool around with it from time to time, just because I like the look so much :p . I never meant it to replace my Win7 install anyway. I just wanted to try it.

To the guy that says my card is no longer supported, when I downloaded the driver manually from the ATI site, my card was on the list of supported cards. It's just a matter of getting the driver to actually install; something I couldn't figure out.

Which one did you try-- 8.04 / 9.04 /or 9.10? (I have on a separate partition 9.04 and it runs ok though I have an nvidia card) it could be if you ran 9.10 that the driver was not quite there for it... you may consider going with the tested 8.04 or the 9.04.

[Darksoft]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope you don't abandon Linux completely. FWIW, I have heard that ATI cards are notoriously evil and never have "played nice" in Linux. I, too, love Kubuntu, but since I have an Nvidia card, I can't help. I did find a how-to article for SUSE, but nothing for Kubuntu.

I hope that one day things are more unified in Linux. That's something that confuses a lot of people. There are many distros and things vary between them, that's not good imho. I hope that one day, Linux finds a better balance between choices and standards.

[Leo Natan]

For me, the most annoying thing is the silly reliance on CLI (command-line interface) for anything more advanced than surfing the net and playing music. The most user-friendly in that regard was OpenSUSE in my tests, mostly due to the lard user base, but still required going to the command line for more advanced stuff. No idea why Linux is still developed that way, perhaps people like to fantasize they are still in the 70s :rolleyes:, but until the CLI reaches a level of not being needed at all, or at least providing ways around it, Linux will never have the widespread userbase.

[Ji@nBing]

Which one did you try-- 8.04 / 9.04 /or 9.10? (I have on a separate partition 9.04 and it runs ok though I have an nvidia card) it could be if you ran 9.10 that the driver was not quite there for it... you may consider going with the tested 8.04 or the 9.04.

9.04. I used 8.04 a while back, and I actually did get it working for that, after a few hours :p. I was just expecting that things had progressed since then, but nope, still the same frustration.

Linux is actually pretty cool once you get everything up and running. The problem is that it's a total bitch to accomplish that.

Oh, and I agree with the CLI thing. I mean, they can leave that capability in there for those diehards that still want to use it, but just make things more user friendly and less difficult FFS. The OS is there to help you accomplish tasks. You shouldn't have to fight with it all the time to get it to run properly, typing crap into a command line.

[Subject Delta]

That's my experience too. Next to that I don't find the quality of the user interface of the OS and its applications very appealing either.

I actually think the UI in KDE 4.3 is really nice, not that far behind Windows 7 in visual terms, but I don't think the font rendering in Linux is particularly nice

:rolleyes:

You "might" have to enter some commands to set something up at first if you have hardware issues, not for daily usage.

If what you are saying was true I certainly wouldn't be using it.

My console usage in this whole week, so far:

-Laptop at work: ssh to a couple of remote machines.

-Laptop at home: none.

-AspireOne: none.

-Box attached to the tv: just launched "update-manager -d" to give 9.10 beta a try. Had I waited to the final release I could have used the option in the normal update manager GUI, without the console.

Maybe to call Linux completely CLI centric is less accurate than it used to be, but I believe it is fair to say that in any given scenario you will find yourself delving into the command line far more often in Linux than you would in Windows

[redvamp128]

Well for all those that say CLI- I know 2 people that have not had to use the CLI at all- (I use it because it makes life a bit simple to install programs I already know are there tab complete)

In the normal Gnome install-- it detects you have an NVIDIA and or Ati card -- then you have to enable the Restricted drivers- (which is in the menu btw under system) -- then under the Synaptic package manger you can select though going through the list the restricted extras.

I know on my Kubuntu install - I installed Ubuntu first then added the Kubuntu desktop (so my Nvidia driver was installed under Gnome without having to use CLI)

[Ji@nBing]

See?!?! I found this guide for getting my card working, but when I put in the "sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list" command, it says "sudo: gedit: command not found" :angry:

[Subject Delta]

Being with ATI is also to my disadvantage, the ATI Linux drivers are truly terrible

[Ji@nBing]

Serenity NOW!!!

[redvamp128]

See?!?! I found this guide for getting my card working, but when I put in the "sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list" command, it says "sudo: gedit: command not found" :angry:

Gedit is part of GNOME The G means Gnome edit -- KDE it would be

sudo kate /etc/apt

kate is the default editor for KDE-

though you could just do this to get gedit

sudo apt-get install gedit

[Ji@nBing]

Gedit is part of GNOME The G means Gnome edit -- KDE it would be

sudo kate /etc/apt

kate is the default editor for KDE-

though you could just do this to get gedit

sudo apt-get install gedit

:) Thanks!! Those commands worked. However, after following the guide, it didn't work. So I give up. I'll try again in a few months.

[redvamp128]

Why not just install -- ubuntu-desktop -- then switch to that Window manager-- do your edit/install the drivers and then switch back over to KDE-

Then it should work. Just remember when asked keep KDM- and Don't make Gnome the default- (just for session is useful for that.)

[Ji@nBing]

Why not just install -- ubuntu-desktop -- then switch to that Window manager-- do your edit/install the drivers and then switch back over to KDE-

Then it should work. Just remember when asked keep KDM- and Don't make Gnome the default- (just for session is useful for that.)

Meh. The guide had alternate steps for Kubuntu as well (other than saying to use gedit), so it's supposed to work for Kubuntu as well. At this point I've just had enough. I've put too much time into it already. Thanks for trying to help though. I appreciate it :)

[Growled Member]

See?!?! I found this guide for getting my card working, but when I put in the "sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list" command, it says "sudo: gedit: command not found" :angry:

You are asking for trouble downgrading your xserver. Any time you do something like this you have to be careful because the next update could bonk your entire system. From the page...

This tutorial is not guaranteed to work on every system.

However, the best way to learn is to tear something up. :D

Also, this next quote proves your have a legacy card.

With the newest realease of Ubuntu (9.04 Jaunty Jackalope) came a major problem with support for older ATI graphics cards. Though these cards work with generic drivers, the ability to use dual heads and more advanced configurations has been lost. You may think that you can simply head over to AMD?s ATI driver page and get a driver, but the latest version of Catalyst does not support the older cards.

If you had a newer card then you could download the driver from within Ubuntu and off you would go.

[javagreen]

Man, after reading this thread it seems i've been lucky I choose the Ubuntu x64 desktop, I've had ZERO issues with it so far, and i'm not even an oldtime Linux user, I switched barely 2 weeks ago -- everything's installed and working dandy, including the gfx drivers (nVidia) and vdpau acceleration.

I agree with redvamp, you should've gone the Ubuntu route probably, and then installed KDE4.2 on it.

[Miuku.]

In short; Dump ATI, get nVidia. It'll work.

[Ji@nBing]

In short; Dump ATI, get nVidia. It'll work.

:p I'm not about to get a whole new video card just so I can use Linux. I'm perfectly happy with it for my Windows install.

[Barney T. Administrators]

:p I'm not about to get a whole new video card just so I can use Linux. I'm perfectly happy with it for my Windows install.

I suggest that you use Windows then. Linux isn't for everybody. Maybe, some day in the future, you'll want to try it again. Until then, just use Windows and enjoy....

[brentaal]

but I don't think the font rendering in Linux is particularly nice

Could you elaborate? Are you referring to the fonts available by default in distributions or the actual font rendering?

If it's the latter, what about it is "not particularly nice"?

[Kreuger]

Linux is actually pretty cool once you get everything up and running. The problem is that it's a total bitch to accomplish that.

Oh, and I agree with the CLI thing. I mean, they can leave that capability in there for those diehards that still want to use it, but just make things more user friendly and less difficult FFS. The OS is there to help you accomplish tasks. You shouldn't have to fight with it all the time to get it to run properly, typing crap into a command line.

In your experience. Ive rarely ever had to do anything after an initial install only when I was trying out Arch. Almost every other time I've installed a *nix distro, it worked out of the box. Everyone else's mileage will vary. Everything else I've ever done was my own mistake that I ended up fixing on my own. I guess I was just too determined to give up. And if you did a search of the forums, you could see my frustrations when I was first starting out. It's a little embarrassing for me to have posted the way I did but hey, I was young and upset. Ive grown and matured since then so I let it go. After switching away from Fedora, I never had trouble again or at least that I didnt create myself.