I’ve been struggling for a long time to get an IT blog started. I think I finally found the correct voice. Let’s hope so. This is my first significant entry on the Mandriva Linux forums:
Hi Everyone,
Back a few months ago I got off to a rocky start with Mandriva (story not worth recounting), but last week I found myself back here purchasing the Power Pack and now I want to take a few minutes to introduce myself and tell you how much I have been enjoying this great distro.
I’ve been hoping to get away from the world of Microsoft for a while now; the main reasons being the limited options for configuring the desktop, the stiff expenses incurred in a largely proprietary software universe, the somewhat larger demands on hardware resources, the constant almost unavoidable exposure to the commercial world, an operating system which, at times, hijacks control from the user, and the relentless system warnings that create a climate best described as “computing in fear”.
On the other hand, the world of Vista interfaces is pretty slick; at least for me, installation has always been a painless breeze; and I can usually easily find clear documentation when I need to accomplish mildly complex tasks.
I’m not scared of command lines. I’m new to the world of IT, but I’ve mastered enough Cisco IOS commands to get a pretty good job doing basic troubleshooting on routers and switches and closing tickets. I see that the Konsole opens up a world of configuration and control possibilities that can never be accomplished through graphical interfaces and that excites me; but right now, my Linux learning takes a backseat to Cisco learning and I need a desktop Linux OS that will give me complete access to the world of the Internet and Web 2.0 without a lot of hassles and without a steep learning curve. If I can’t find that, I’m stuck in the world of Windows (or OSX) a bit longer.
I’ve been playing around with various Linux distros for a while now. I’ve had plenty fail during the installation process. I’ve had desktop boxes and laptops linger on in a state of half-working order for months while I’ve been singed and confused and flummoxed in the forums during my search for solutions. To me, it’s a real show-stopper when my laptop won’t easily achieve a wireless connection, or hold a wireless connection; or my sound card just won’t work (I love my music; I need my music 
), or an Nvidia driver won’t install and my monitor resolution is stuck at a pre-schooler level; or obtaining the right codecs to play my music and videos becomes a traumatic treasure hunt. I’m excited to know that learning more about Linux will open up new possibilities for me; but during moments when I don’t have time for tinkering I still need to avail myself to the same opportunities that the world of Windows offers.
This is why I’ve been so excited to discover Mandriva Linux. On my hardware, at least, the installation went flawlessly. The video driver installed correctly and automatically. My screen resolution was right from the get-go. I’m still astounded that my Turtle Beach sound card worked without my doing anything. I typed in the user-name and password, and low and behold, my notebook connected to the WAP, and it’s still connected. It was easy to figure out how to connect to my SAMBA server shares. Firefox actually navigates the 21st century web of flash and java and video right out of the box. And Amarok, one of the great media-player wonders of the open source world, snaps open promptly, and although I might have had to download the MP3 codec (I think I did, but it occurred so easily I don’t really remember), it is right now playing through my music collection and keeping me company as I type.
I have experienced the challenges and pleasures of both the gnome and KDE desktops. Before my stop at Mandriva world I had installed the openSUSE rendition of the KDE 4.xxx desktop and got a pretty good taste of what the future holds. It’s slick and very promising though not quite ready for duffers like me. There’s a certain elegant simplicity to gnome and it seems like the desktop environment better suited to installing the “best of” open source apps like Firefox, Thunderbird and Lightning, Xchat, Pidgin, Open Office, etc (though all these install fine on KDE as well). The one draw-back as far as all that goes is Amarok, which always seems to crash or give pernicious warnings in gnome, not to mention the usually slow loading times. And, again, with music being such an important part of my life, this is a real draw-back. One thing that has always made the most sense to me about gnome is the standard Applications-Places-Systems menu. This seems to me, the most sensible way to think about operations on one’s computer.
I’ve seen the KDE desktop referred to as the equivalent of an airplane cockpit console. It does seem more complex (I’m not sure that ultimately means more configurable) and I feel almost overwhelmed at times by all those KDE apps, half of which I’m not even sure what to do with them. Yet, KDE is the home environment for Amarok, and that means a lot to me (have I said this before? ).
I’ve read Bruce Byfield’s wonderful article (http://www.linux.com/feature/144853) on Nepomuk, KDE, and the semantic desktop and also a great piece in the North Davis Road blog (http://www.northdavisroad.net/2008/08/10-revision-7/) on “Re-imagining the Desktop”, and I am more and more convinced that KDE is at the cutting edge of the next desktop paradigm. I’m very excited about the developments I have seen in Koffice 2.0 and the type of work that can be done with this incredible suite of tools (though file formatting issues still seem to be a huge show-stopper). In fact, if it weren’t for the file formatting issues, the range of tightly integrated tools makes Microsoft Office seem second rate in comparison. And when you consider that one pays half-a-thousand dollars for a single copy of the latter, and the former is freely available, the mind boggles.
Working in a Windows XP corporate world I’ve come to really appreciate the need for a tightly integrated desktop environment, Internet suite, and office suite. KDE, by far, holds the most promise. What it lacks is the necessary level of development and testing. What it has, is a vision rooted in an open source philosophy that will ultimately out-distance and surpass the proprietary world in accomplishment.
Connected to and often supporting the open source world is the behemouth Google. Nobody has accomplished the level of sophisticated Web 2.0 integration that they have. But there is going to be a price to pay for throwing in one’s lot with this popular entity: the once again relentless exposure to the commercial world, the sometimes secretive tracking from Big Brother, and surrendering one’s sometimes cherished data to the magic “cloud”. Even in Cisco land we just refer to it as “the cloud” and assume that everything works the way it should in this vast terra incognito. Plus, I’m not really sure we will be able to obtain the level of sophisticated operations in “the cloud” that are possible on the desktop workstation. I’ll throw in my lot with the decidedly more open KDE.
In one of my former careers I worked in the world of public primary and secondary education. I’m a big believer in the pragmatic philosopher John Dewey. I would say he really defined the basis for schooling in the 20th century and perhaps beyond. Teachers around the world, knowingly or subconsciously pay lip-service to and often emulate the experimental ideals of his Laboratory School founded at the University of Chicago in the late nineteenth century. The experimental openness, the respect for merit, and the importance of democratic discussion are hallmarks of everything Dewey believed in and, in my opinion, are essential for effective education of the world’s children in the 21st century. I see powerful elements of this in the open source movement and even in the discussion that takes place in the forums like those here at Mandriva. I also greatly appreciated your warmth and friendliness during my first lay-over here. I hope this time to stick around and make some useful contributions to your fine on-going work. Becoming a Linux power user is a long-term goal to which I aspire. I’m hoping this is the beginning of an rewarding journey.
Posted by spacejunk2 
