[sdiy] OT: Screw Linux.

[Metrophage]

--- Jeff Farr <moogah at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, it has nothing to do with sdiy, but I've gotta vent this. I've
> spent the whole weekend trying to install linux on my laptop to 
> work with some packages from CCRMA (Ok, so it has a little to 
> do with SDIY). Long story short my laptop is now *physically* 
> broken. No BIOS. Windows was never this bad, not even close. 

Is it a flashable BIOS? I have had a few very flaky experiences with
flash BIOS automatically erasing itself, especially on Dells which are
a couple of years old. Had it happen on an Alpha also. This was never
when installing Linux either. If this is the case, it's fixable with a
copy of the BIOS and some terminal skills.

One thing to keep in mind when installing *any* OS, even Windoze, is to
make sure that it includes drivers for all of the components of your
system. This is especially crucial for laptops where you can't see what
chipsets you are using for LCD, ethernet, etc. But I have played with
RedHat as well as "Planet CCRMA at home" and there is not anything there
which diddles with the BIOS

> Makes me wonder if it's all just hype..

The hype is that computers just configure themselves. In the long run
one needs to know how to administrate their own machine, because
automatic stuff is dangerous crap. If your install or daily OS use of
transparent GUIs of Windoze, MacOS, Linux, etc bombs - then one needs
to know how to set it up. There is no universal answer, because we all
have different machines, and are doing different things with them. FWIW
my opinion is that POSIX systems like UNIX, Linux, and BSD are the
closest thing ever to a universal, compatable way of doing things. BUT
there is a learning curve. 

I do empathize, BIOS erasure really bites!
CJ



		
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