Is Linux always so frustating^

[Andre Costa]

Hi Nino,

On Wed, 07 Apr 2004 18:16:11 +0200
pinco <pinco at kiesperanto.org> wrote:

> Hi,
> perhaps this message will irritate all of you, that's not my
> intention, so I beg your pardon if it does.
> 
> I don't think I lack of experience in computer matters, even if I'm
> not an expert (see my homepage), but I'm really frustrated with Linux
> (Fedora).

Well, even though you're not providing us enough data to help you
effectively right away, it's a legitimate call for help, and I am sure
you will find some answers here.

> Since I'm not happy with MS policy I'm trying to switch to Linux, but 
> until now very few programs I succeeded to install without wasting a
> lot of time and even so I didn't succeed.
> 
> I'm happy with OpenOffice, very happy with Audacity (which I discoverd
> thanks to this list), but what else?
> 
> In these days I tried a substitue to FrontPage, but I failed to
> install Quanta! (I'm a newbie, but I don't have any problems with
> installing and even coding on Windows. Besides I've read in a mailing
> list that it crashes with Fedora Core 1). NVU is more o less a HTML
> editor. So I didn't succeed to find a substiture!

I use Quanta, but only for basic HTML editing. Installed it with no
problems at all using apt-get, and it hasn't crashed on me not even
once. Maybe for more sophisticated tasks it might still have some bugs
to be squashed...

BTW, as someone else already pointed out, you don't seem to be using
neither apt-get, yum nor up2date. These are package management utils
that fetch new versions directly from the internet (from repositories
you will be able to configure yourself). You should definitely give any
of them a try, read the archives here for some guidance. Specially, I
would recommend you either use apt-get with synaptic (graphical
frontend) or up2date with additional repositories configured, these
should make it easier for you since they have fancy GUIs.

> For some application, as I understood, I should have different
> programs because they depend on others: OpenOffice use Mozilla, so
> even if I don't like this browser I must have its libraries, if I
> decide to use Gnome I must have even the KDE libraries, because some
> programs require them, and so on.

That's right -- and I don't see why this should be a pain (aside from
harddisk space, of course). In fact IMO it's a positive fact that you're
not forced to use either one or the other and can mix them anyway you
wish. This is one of the beauties of Linux (open source in general):
feel free to combine solutions to get the best combination that suits
you.

And, once you start using any of the package management tools above, all
dependencies will be automatically handled, so you won't have to bother
about going after them.

On my box, for example, my window manager isn't either KDE or GNOME, but
I have both libraries installed so that I can use apps from both.

> Hardware should be compatible, so I have to buy new ones. (Yes, I
> wrote to the firms asking for drivers, but in the meanwhile...)

Sometimes this can be a real pain, but, aside from bleeding edge
hardware/technology, things usually work out quite well on Linux.

> So I ask you what wrong?
> Why am I failing to switch to Linux?

Don't get me wrong, but I would say that if you change your approach
slightly you will find yourself increasingly more comfortable with
Linux. And, yes, Linux indeed has some usability issues  (read the
recent article from Eric Raymond about his painful experiences with CUPS
configuration), and feedback is always welcome, this is the way we move
forward.

> Please, pay attention to the fact that I'm asking help,  don't insult 
> me... if you can :)

Well, I hope I've been kind enough not to scare you away ;)

Best,

Andre

-- 
Andre Oliveira da Costa