Re: free vs commercial
On Wed, 2005-01-05 at 13:44 +0000, Jerome BENOIT wrote:
> Hello,
>
> ken keanon wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > Since my discourse about free software last month, I
> > had installed Debian GNU/Linux Sarge on one partition
> > of my harddisk while retaining WinXP in another.
> >
> > Starting with the maxim "To beat MS you have to be as
> > good as, if not better than, MS", I am constantly
> > comparing the Linux I had installed with WinXP.
> >
> > With Konqueror, the Window Management, File
> > Management, Web Browsing is on par with WinXP.
> >
> > What I find wanting in Linux is Device Management.
> >
>
> A very good idea is to get a computer box totally supported
> by the Linux community.
> And do not forget that Debian does not run only on PC
> (as WinXP).
Right! On my ASUS L5C laptop, Sarge (with 2.6.9 from Sid) supports acpi,
dri, udev and hal out of the box. IOW: I have 3D acceleration and when I
plug in my usb stick it is automagically mounted on my gnome desktop.
Furthermore, I bought a ADSL router which has a ethernet connection and
a web interface. IOW: no drivers needed and the same graphical interface
as in windows.
HTH, David
>
>
> With plug-in, adding new devices to WinXP is a breeze
> > but not in Linux. I used a Prolink ADSL bridge/router
> > for my broadband service. Installing it was plain easy
> > and the gui to operate it is superb in WinXP. But in
> > the case of Linux, I managed to locate a driver, free
> > of course, called 'amedyn'. Installing it was a long
> > and arduous process. I had to get the right files with
> > all dependencies sorted out, re-config and recompile
> > the kernel, set up the communication config files,
> > etc. before I got it to work. It works alright but way
> > below its commercial counterpart, performance-wise. I
> > had to start-and-stop it in CLI and moreover, about 3
> > out of 10 tens, it failed to connect on the first
> > attempt. This doesn't look promising for a start. I
> > noticed there is a choice for 'plug-in' in the kernel
> > config menu but it does not have any means to select
> > or specify devices. Hopefully work is being done in
> > this area.
> >
> >
>
> Jerome
>
> >
> > Ken
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free!
> > http://my.yahoo.com
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Dr. Jerome BENOIT
> room A2-26
> Complexo Interdisciplinar da U. L.
> Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, 2
> P-1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
> email: jgmbenoit@wanadoo.fr or benoit@cii.fc.ul.pt
> --
> If you are convinced by the necessity of a European research
> initiative, please visit http://fer.apinc.org
>
>
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