[CS-FSLUG] Confirming Old Complaints

[Ed Hurst]

On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:25:54 -0500, l4c <l4c at thelinuxlink.net> wrote:

> Sounds a lot to me like SUSE has soured you on Linux altogether.

Then you missed my point, and I'll take the blame for that. Were it not  
for SuSE 6.1, I would have never gotten past the introductory experience  
of Linux.  RedHat clones come second in terms of my work habits -- some of  
which habits are simply non-negotiable, based on a learning disability.  
That was my point, in part: Linux is all good, but I doubt I'm the only  
one with peculiar needs. In my long experience with Linux and BSD (10+  
years), SUSE came closest on the long string of used and salvage hardware  
which was my lot in life until yesterday. That's the other peculiar need  
issue; I'm called by God to live in such a way my income keeps me below  
the official poverty line. So folks with LDs and poverty are naturally my  
special interests in life, the folks to whom I cater in all things.

I should have mentioned all that, but it's what's behind my evaluation.  
The slice of society to which God called me means almost everyone will be  
dealing with older hardware, and won't carry a typical user profile. SUSE  
is the best first choice for the simple reason it covers the broadest  
selection of that hardware, and is usually by far the easiest for newbies  
to install, so that's the good part. The bad part is Novell/SUSE has  
rejected the notion of supporting older hardware by not supporting older  
versions of their distro. That's where RedHat and friends come in, but  
that requires a lot more work and hand-holding to install. This is my  
experience helping the folks to whom I'm called.

Yes, I loved Debian and friends, but I'm not the only one who noticed  
peculiar problems. While Etch was, by far, vastly superior to every other  
release of Debian in my experience, it's pretty much dead now. The Ubuntu  
stuff has never worked for me, mostly because of hardware issues and what  
I consider a totally different subculture of expectations, a different  
mindset and approach to things. I can't recommend what I don't really  
like, but I have given away plenty of their CDs. What I dislike about SUSE  
is what disappoints me for Linux in general, but if I have to put with  
those things, it might as well be SUSE. Please, don't make the mistake of  
thinking I haven't sampled broadly enough to know at least a little bit  
about that, to include Knoppix, Kanotix, Mepis, Corel, Mandrake, Fedora,  
branches of Slackware, and some other, really obscure stuff. By no means  
an expert, as you surely know, I never intended to be a guru, but to make  
sure I left no stone unturned in helping my ministry audience.

My old complaint remains: While Linux so far comes closest to what I find  
ideal in a computer OS, it's unlikely to ever get any closer. Most of the  
folks involved, for good or ill, are hobbyists, and it's reflected in what  
Linux development emphasizes. It's a compromise, I know and accept. That  
does not keep me from wishing for something better.

-- 
Ed Hurst
------------
Associate Editor, Open for Business: http://ofb.biz/
Applied Bible - http://soulkiln.org/
Kiln of the Soul - http://soulkiln.blogspot.com/