Dave Phillips wrote: > tim hall wrote: > >> PS: Watching my nine-year old and various friends use my system, I'd >> say the Linux Desktop for casual users is here, given the availability >> of technical support. IMX it's the configuration that is difficult, >> not the installation & usage. >> >> > Hi Tim: > > A few days ago I wrote to the list and recounted a story about setting > up a Windows 2000 system for some > very non-computer-savvy friends of mine. Well, that saga knows no end: I > had to go to their house yesterday > and get it going for them again. It's true that they are *really* in the > dark about their machine, but it's got so > ridiculous that I've decided on a new plan. I'm going to set up a Linux > box for them and see how they do with it. > These people do very little else but use a Web browser (what they call > "the computer") so I want to see just how > hard or easy it would be for them to use a modern Linux system. It'll be > an interesting experiment, and if I have to deal > with the system at least it will be a real OS with real tools and the > real possibility of actually fixing it if it breaks. > Win2K is nice, but what a vacant system ! I can't believe people have > paid so much and received so little in return > for their money. > > Anyway, if this experiment works I'll report back to this group. The > folks using this box aren't music/sound people, > but I do plan on setting up XMMS, RealPlayer, and possibly xine or > Mplayer for on-line video feeds. Let me know if > you have any suggestions for making it as easy as possible for them to use. Also, the Helix player is a browser plugin that I use; from what I can tell, it looks like it's set to be the next version of RealPlayer (made by the same people, plays the same formats). Except instead of the linux-functionality being an afterthought, as with the original RealPlayer, this time it's designed for linux. Anyway it's at: http://player.helixcommunity.org/ I'm using the Dec 5th nightly build and it works fine. I just had to make one change to the hxplay script (hard-code the path to hxplay.bin at the top of it); other than that, it installed and works without a hitch. -Anthony http://nodivisions.com/
