> washingtonpost.com > When Linux Met Laptop: Irreconcilable Differences > > > By Rob Pegoraro > > Sunday, May 19, 2002; Page H07 > > > As operating-system installs go, this one went by pretty quickly. About 36 > minutes after I threw the CD-ROM in the laptop, I had rebooted and was > gazing at its new interface, with just a few simple desktop icons and a > background picture of a sky full of puffy clouds floating above a lush green > hill. > > It could have been a Windows XP install, except XP would have taken a lot > longer to load -- if it had even consented to run on this antique IBM. > > On the other hand, a Microsoft operating system probably would have left me > with a working modem and sound card. > > That pretty much encapsulates the last three weeks of experimenting with > Linux. If you have compliant hardware, patience and a willingness to learn, > this open-source operating system can be a delight to tinker with and a > powerful, reliable tool to put to work. But if you'd just like to use your > computer, Linux can have you pounding your head into the wall in > frustration. > > I tried three versions, or "distributions," of Linux: Desktop/LX, from > Redmond, Wash.-based Lycoris; Mandrake 8.2, from Paris-based MandrakeSoft > S.A.; and SuSE 8.0, from Nuremberg, Germany, developers SuSE Linux AG > (that's pronounced "soo-suh"). > > All three contained similar underlying code, customized with each company's > choice of installer, desktop interface and add-on productivity, Internet, > multimedia, game and server software. These distributions sell for $30 to > $90 in most computer stores but can also be downloaded free from their > publishers and burned to a CD. Either way, the source code of Linux is open > for you (or, more realistically, your programmer friends) to view and > improve. > > The process of installing these distributions varied between simple and > excruciating, depending mostly on whether I wanted to keep Windows on any of > the three test computers. The worst-case scenario was a PC running Windows > XP and its "NTFS" disk format. Linux installers can't divide an NTFS disk > into Windows and Linux segments (they support only the older formats > standard in Win 95, 98 or Millennium Edition), which left me with the choice > of buying a disk-partitioning utility or erasing the whole drive. > > Otherwise, the installers generally did a good job of walking me through the > tricky steps of disk partitioning, choosing additional software to load, > setting up user accounts and configuring Internet settings. > > The Desktop/LX installer took the least time and included one pleasant > extra: As it whirred away copying files, it invited me to pass the time with > an on-screen game of solitaire. SuSE's looked the most professional of the > bunch, with a crisply designed interface and clearly labeled options. > Mandrake lacked that polish and came with obsolete instructions. > > Unfortunately for my sanity, two of the test computers were laptops -- a > Sony Vaio 505FX and an IBM ThinkPad 600. That meant video systems that > briefly perplexed SuSE and Mandrake, proprietary sound circuitry and > processor-dependent "Winmodems" that required special Windows-only drivers > to operate. > > Predictably, neither modem worked. This Winmodem situation has long vexed > Linux users, many of whom wind up buying conventional, external modems. > > But I had no idea how much trouble these laptops' sound cards would cause > when none of the distributions recognized them. > > The Web abounds with how-to help from other Linux users (for instance, > www.linux-on-laptops.com), but the advice I followed to switch parameters in > control panels, tinker at the command line and edit configuration files > didn't work. I also tried SuSE's tech support, but the rep who answered my > request wrote that sound-card assistance would go "beyond the scope of our > Installation Support." > > I hate conceding defeat, but after a week of futile effort I was weary in a > way I had not been since I last implored a DOS game to accept a graphics > card. > > The most galling part of this saga was realizing that Lycoris sells > refurbished, Linux-equipped ThinkPad 600Es, which use almost the same audio > hardware as the test ThinkPad. But the company's Web site offers no clues on > how it got sound working. (Since I downloaded my copy instead of buying it, > I wasn't eligible for tech support.) > > Meanwhile, SuSE had zero problems recognizing the hardware on a generic IBM > PC desktop. > > At no time during any of this testing did I ever need to reboot Linux. It's > built to keep working, no matter what -- one reason you'll see it on > numerous file and Internet servers. > > When it came time to log in to each Linux installation, Desktop/LX did the > most to make a newcomer feel at home, with that XP-look-alike (albeit > sluggish) desktop. Lycoris also wisely simplified the program listings in > its Application Starter menu, the equivalent of Windows' Start menu. > > Mandrake and SuSE, by contrast, seem designed for people who already know > Linux, which is to say they are bewilderingly complex for anybody used to > Windows or the Mac. Each offers a profusion of mostly redundant control > panels, taskbar items and applications; including one text editor or music > player will never do when a distributor can throw in five or six. Underneath > this mess of a desktop is an array of such cryptically named directories as > "opt," "etc," "bin" and "lib." > > Wrestling with this cantankerous software brought one thing to mind: Good > interface design is hard. > > For most of its existence, Linux has been written by and for programmers who > haven't needed to worry about making their software approachable to new > users. That approach is fine on servers. In environments where the support > staff can set up the computer and configure it with a bundle of > applications -- say, government offices or schools -- it can also make > sense. But for use at home by everyday users, Linux still has miles to go. > > Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at rob@twp.com. > © 2002 The Washington Post Company