Quirks and Such
So I've been working my way through some Linux distros over the last year. Mandrake, Suse, Umbuntu, and KUmbuntu. Gentoo is next on my list I think. I've noticed across the board a few problems that are minor in a sense but are big deals to me.
Wireless G networking. Such a pain to get this up and running, any distro come with out of the box wireless-g enabled? I've searched (but not for about 3 months now) and haven't been able to find one. Same with VPN. When I have to work away from the office those two elements are mission critical to me.
Websites that don't display properly. I've tried just about every browser out there and have a hell of a time finding a solution that just makes the pages show up like they were intended. I'm sure some of this is based on poor coding/MS geared coding, but I subscribe to things like live sports feeds and when I have to go to the computer in the office and sit in front of that computer to watch a game, that just doesn't cut it. I have crazy problems with pages that are flash driven, java based, or anything having to do with Windows Media (yes, I get it - *Windows* media - but it's taking over the streaming world and I'd like to be able to watch .wmv files)
Exchange - I've got to be able to connect to an exchange server and pull email. I have to rely on OWA and I really hate that. I'm not sure if there is any *nix software that can interface with an exchange server though.
The biggest stonewall I've run into would be on forums - I've posted a similar thread on a *nix board and the first 5 things I get all equate to "RTFM, n00b". Yeah, thanks - I can do that - but the post is made to find out what manual to read and what exactly to look for, or perhaps, an answer with a little detail as to why I can/can't/should/shouldn't do what I want to do. I find it a little easier to learn with some direction. I don't mean to complain about other forums here - but I've talked to a few people that run into these elitests and it just left a bad taste overall. Officemate said if he wanted to be talked down to and made to feel stupid, he'd pay the $40 an hour to call and talk to a MS rep. =)
I work with Unix/MySQL all day so I'm all for the stability and I'm no stranger to the command line issues, but I'm not so well versed in the Linux world. I've got an idea of the 'big' distros - but I'm not overly thrilled with Gnome or KDE running on top of any of them. I'm looking for something sleek and not quite such a system hog. I've just got new Dell laptop and I'm looking for a distro that will let me do these things I need with relative ease. So - is there a miracle distro out there that's been hiding from me for a year? I'd love to hear about it so I can get my house converted.
-K
Wireless G networking. Such a pain to get this up and running, any distro come with out of the box wireless-g enabled? I've searched (but not for about 3 months now) and haven't been able to find one. Same with VPN. When I have to work away from the office those two elements are mission critical to me.
Websites that don't display properly. I've tried just about every browser out there and have a hell of a time finding a solution that just makes the pages show up like they were intended. I'm sure some of this is based on poor coding/MS geared coding, but I subscribe to things like live sports feeds and when I have to go to the computer in the office and sit in front of that computer to watch a game, that just doesn't cut it. I have crazy problems with pages that are flash driven, java based, or anything having to do with Windows Media (yes, I get it - *Windows* media - but it's taking over the streaming world and I'd like to be able to watch .wmv files)
Exchange - I've got to be able to connect to an exchange server and pull email. I have to rely on OWA and I really hate that. I'm not sure if there is any *nix software that can interface with an exchange server though.
The biggest stonewall I've run into would be on forums - I've posted a similar thread on a *nix board and the first 5 things I get all equate to "RTFM, n00b". Yeah, thanks - I can do that - but the post is made to find out what manual to read and what exactly to look for, or perhaps, an answer with a little detail as to why I can/can't/should/shouldn't do what I want to do. I find it a little easier to learn with some direction. I don't mean to complain about other forums here - but I've talked to a few people that run into these elitests and it just left a bad taste overall. Officemate said if he wanted to be talked down to and made to feel stupid, he'd pay the $40 an hour to call and talk to a MS rep. =)
I work with Unix/MySQL all day so I'm all for the stability and I'm no stranger to the command line issues, but I'm not so well versed in the Linux world. I've got an idea of the 'big' distros - but I'm not overly thrilled with Gnome or KDE running on top of any of them. I'm looking for something sleek and not quite such a system hog. I've just got new Dell laptop and I'm looking for a distro that will let me do these things I need with relative ease. So - is there a miracle distro out there that's been hiding from me for a year? I'd love to hear about it so I can get my house converted.
-K
