Well, what was a relatively normal, ordinary, nay boring day, has become one of stress, stress, stress.
It just happens, that I've been a linux user for what ? nearly 10 years or so, possibly longer. It appeals to me as it does give a lot of freedoms that you just don't get with windows or Mac etc, yet so far, it's not been so much of a problem.
Now over the past couple of years, there've been a few changes. Not big changes, but enough to make a few things a bit of a challenge.
Oh and I should point out, that I'm not technically proficient with Linux, but I've learned enough to get by, without too many issues, until, seemingly, today.
All I did the other day, was to update the system, which on the face of things, went fine...... but obviously not.
The issue was to do with how the system was rendering fonts on screen. The update couldn't seem to manage how I normally arrange things i.e. install/update/whatever, then pick the apps/progs/facilities I want to use and off I go. I also usually manage to copy the windows fonts (yes I do have a license....), as I prefer the look and "readability" of them. Yet this time, something that seems to be font related confused the fuck out of the system. It left me with a desktop screen that had little boxes where the text should be, as if I'd chosen a font that wasn't installed or something like that. I did ask at the local LUG mailing list and tried the suggestions, without any luck.
So I just said bollocks to it, and downloaded a different distro that I tried and had previously worked OK. That installed, set up, etc etc it was fine.
I did my usual sunday messenger voice clip session with a friend in the US, who only has a windows based PDA/phone device (which is why I have to keep a windows install, as I haven't managed to work out how to use any of the IM clients/Messenger clones from the Linux world to chat with him using voice clips), which all went fine.
When I rebooted the system back into the Linux install (Mint 11), I ended up back at square one with the damn font rendering up shit street.
With no other avenue available to me (only because I don't know enough of how to solve such problems), I downloaded Mandriva (2011), a distro (earlier versions) that I'd used successfully before, in the vain hope that it will work again.
Wrong! I installed it and when I try to log in, I just get a different warning message about a missing config file of some sort.
You can read any amount of articles about whether Linux is ready for the mainstream or not, but stuff like this is just a classic example as to why, whether some of the Linux Guru's would disagree with, that it's not ready and never will be. All the time the average "user" of a pc or other computer type system, encounters problems like this.
It matters not, what they think or say (I have no criticism of their abilities - some of the stuff they, the developers, have produced, is really remarkable, given the tiny amount of money that's involved compared to the big boys of MS and Mac), that until the average user can install it without a plethora of technical questions and use it without something small causing a seemingly big problem, then it's pretty much restricted to the technically proficient "geek" types. I don't mean that in a disrespectful, rude manner, but I have a brother who falls into that category i.e. with his IT degree and damn near 20 years experience in the IT world, he's next to fucking useless. Ask him anything vaguely technical and in less that a sentence he will have reverted to type and start gabbling on in techno-speak that's way over the head of mere mortals. Yes, sit him in front of a computer that's got problems of some sort and he can figure it out and cure any issues (as far as I'm concerned anyway - I'm sure there's a shitload of stuff he doesn't know). What he can't do, is explain, in plain, ordinary english, what it is that he's just done or is currently doing.
The whole of the linux world seems to be like this. There seem to be no clear and concise text books, irresptective of which distro they might be trying to explain, that are accessible or useable by the "man in the street". They just blather on in technoblurb, expecting a huge amount of additional knowledge that the mere mortal doesn't have - and invariably can't find. It doesn't matter how much info fucking google might be able to find, they just don't seem to be able to talk and explain stuff in "plain english"!
That's why linux won't ever be ready for the main stream. Because they just don't have anyone who knows it to an indepth technical level, yet can explain it to a "normal" person. Hell, it seems that even the great and good of the linux world have yet to grasp this. Hence it will continue to be, that Linux get pissed all over by the likes of MS and Mac (even Mac, who use a slightly different version of a "unix like" OS, have tied it down to make it easy for the ordinary user to fuck up).
Right, end of rant (for the moment). I'm gonna have another go at installing it too see if I can get it right.......
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