A new year, and a new attempt to switch over to FreeBSD. And another fail... Again I have to realize, FreeBSD is still beta-stage when it comes to desktop usage.
Here are some "advantages" of Linux / FreeBSD I have read about, and what I think...
Linux/FreeBSD is open-source, full access to the source code of the system
Oh lovely! Well, since the days I started with my first redhat-linux almost 15 years ago, my first FreeBSD 3 and so on, I have never ever touched or viewed a single line of code. What the hell do I care about the OS-code?
Linux / FreeBSD is secure
True. It's more secure than some old man's Windows-box, he uses to browse porn, pirated games clicky-orgies over all his spam-emails. But it's also true, I have run Windows systems over years, without one single virus, worm or whatever. Why? Because I try to keep away from sites that try to install funny addons or toolbars, immediately delete emails from some guys in africa trying to transfer 20 million bucks to my bank account if I open the exe-file attached AND my dear friends, I keep my hands off any "funny new gadget" everyone else uses.
Linux / FreeBSD is flexible, it even runs on a Playstation!
I don't have a playstation. Neither do I have a wii, an xbox or a cellphone which could be smart enough for an OS like this. But what I have is a printer/fax/scanner-machine, a bike-computer with a usb-connector, a car-navigation system which updates via USB and a cell-phone which needs special software to download photos to my hard disk. Does any of them come with linux / freebsd-software? No. Is there any free software available for those OSes? No.
One day, when I buy me a playstation, I'll be happy to use Linux! But for now, as long as a playstation is too heavy for my race-bike and does not have GPS to guide my way, I think this is not a real advantage for me.
Linux / FreeBSD has a lot of FREE software
Oh is that so? Frankly, I don't know about any free software for Linux / FreeBSD without a free Windows-Version as well. And if there really is no, there will be a great equivalent.
But what I do indeed miss is a whole bunch of software which is simply not available for any unix or linux. What about multimedia? DVDShrink? No (easy and GOOD) alternative. DVDFab? No. AnyDVD? No. And that's just the ones I missed the last 12 hours!
Linux / FReeBSD is rockstable
rocksolid my a...! All of a sudden, KDE locks up letting me switch between existing applications, but not use the desktop anymore. Great. Sometimes the system locks up completely because of a kde process going berserk. I cannot switch to a console or whatever and need to reboot.
Linux / FreeBSD is good to configure
Uhm, yes there are no hidden registry-entries or whatever. True. But sometimes things go wrong. Well, not sometimes, let's say often. Most of the time would be more precise.
And then there are two alternatives:
Alternative 1 (lucky son of a gun): It is a common problem. Enter as much info as you can find in google and see what google can do for you. If you're lucky, after three pages you'll find some poor wretch like you has found a solution. Or you post your error out to the community and wait for either valuable input (unlikely) or some geek with +4000 posts who gives you a link to some troubleshooting page.
Alternative 2 (poor guy): It is not a common problem. This is the case if you some not so common hardware with not so common software and a not so common OS. If all three come together, you're f... If one or two of them, you have slight chances of receiving at least some basic info, or a dozen of answers "Hey, works fine for me" Now you can either spend one or two nights bugfixing the problem, or just go for some other software. What you will probably do is spend three nights bugfixing, one night cursing your computer and then go for some other software
Soooo, that's it for now. But tell me any other reason pro Linux/BSD and I'll be happy to answer
At the moment, I face the following:
Flash doesn't work. Flash was maybe something you don't really need back in the 90s. Nowadays every moron around uses flash to bring his restaurant's menu online. One guy here in the forum has in his footer "Ask not what FreeBSD can do for you, ask what you can do for FreeBSD" Face it, it's a computer! I don't want to starve for some Berkeley students!
Printing still sucks (actually no driver for my printer) Havent bothered scanning and faxing. Oh well...
Wifi usb-interface keeps going on- and offline
DVD access from virtualbox is not 100% ok, most DVDs can't be read.
Can't use german and cyrillic at the same time.
flv films can't be played, most avi etc. only with totem, other players fail.
Can someone say something about those issues, which does not contain "works fine for me", "go for some other hardware. Vendor is evil", spend three more nights reading the handbook" or "do you really need to do ...?"
Here are some "advantages" of Linux / FreeBSD I have read about, and what I think...
Linux/FreeBSD is open-source, full access to the source code of the system
Oh lovely! Well, since the days I started with my first redhat-linux almost 15 years ago, my first FreeBSD 3 and so on, I have never ever touched or viewed a single line of code. What the hell do I care about the OS-code?
Linux / FreeBSD is secure
True. It's more secure than some old man's Windows-box, he uses to browse porn, pirated games clicky-orgies over all his spam-emails. But it's also true, I have run Windows systems over years, without one single virus, worm or whatever. Why? Because I try to keep away from sites that try to install funny addons or toolbars, immediately delete emails from some guys in africa trying to transfer 20 million bucks to my bank account if I open the exe-file attached AND my dear friends, I keep my hands off any "funny new gadget" everyone else uses.
Linux / FreeBSD is flexible, it even runs on a Playstation!
I don't have a playstation. Neither do I have a wii, an xbox or a cellphone which could be smart enough for an OS like this. But what I have is a printer/fax/scanner-machine, a bike-computer with a usb-connector, a car-navigation system which updates via USB and a cell-phone which needs special software to download photos to my hard disk. Does any of them come with linux / freebsd-software? No. Is there any free software available for those OSes? No.
One day, when I buy me a playstation, I'll be happy to use Linux! But for now, as long as a playstation is too heavy for my race-bike and does not have GPS to guide my way, I think this is not a real advantage for me.
Linux / FreeBSD has a lot of FREE software
Oh is that so? Frankly, I don't know about any free software for Linux / FreeBSD without a free Windows-Version as well. And if there really is no, there will be a great equivalent.
But what I do indeed miss is a whole bunch of software which is simply not available for any unix or linux. What about multimedia? DVDShrink? No (easy and GOOD) alternative. DVDFab? No. AnyDVD? No. And that's just the ones I missed the last 12 hours!
Linux / FReeBSD is rockstable
rocksolid my a...! All of a sudden, KDE locks up letting me switch between existing applications, but not use the desktop anymore. Great. Sometimes the system locks up completely because of a kde process going berserk. I cannot switch to a console or whatever and need to reboot.
Linux / FreeBSD is good to configure
Uhm, yes there are no hidden registry-entries or whatever. True. But sometimes things go wrong. Well, not sometimes, let's say often. Most of the time would be more precise.
And then there are two alternatives:
Alternative 1 (lucky son of a gun): It is a common problem. Enter as much info as you can find in google and see what google can do for you. If you're lucky, after three pages you'll find some poor wretch like you has found a solution. Or you post your error out to the community and wait for either valuable input (unlikely) or some geek with +4000 posts who gives you a link to some troubleshooting page.
Alternative 2 (poor guy): It is not a common problem. This is the case if you some not so common hardware with not so common software and a not so common OS. If all three come together, you're f... If one or two of them, you have slight chances of receiving at least some basic info, or a dozen of answers "Hey, works fine for me" Now you can either spend one or two nights bugfixing the problem, or just go for some other software. What you will probably do is spend three nights bugfixing, one night cursing your computer and then go for some other software
Soooo, that's it for now. But tell me any other reason pro Linux/BSD and I'll be happy to answer
At the moment, I face the following:
Flash doesn't work. Flash was maybe something you don't really need back in the 90s. Nowadays every moron around uses flash to bring his restaurant's menu online. One guy here in the forum has in his footer "Ask not what FreeBSD can do for you, ask what you can do for FreeBSD" Face it, it's a computer! I don't want to starve for some Berkeley students!
Printing still sucks (actually no driver for my printer) Havent bothered scanning and faxing. Oh well...
Wifi usb-interface keeps going on- and offline
DVD access from virtualbox is not 100% ok, most DVDs can't be read.
Can't use german and cyrillic at the same time.
flv films can't be played, most avi etc. only with totem, other players fail.
Can someone say something about those issues, which does not contain "works fine for me", "go for some other hardware. Vendor is evil", spend three more nights reading the handbook" or "do you really need to do ...?"
