giving up

[bridfi]

After much frustration, i dont see how anyone could deal with the so many problems SuSE has. im sure there are ways to fix them, but with no knowledge about the OS, i realize now why MS Windows is the standard. Ease to use. Drivers all come with executables that ask questions and do the hard stuff while Linux distros make you guess and work at it. You have to be very determined to get some drivers working. In the middle of downloading from repository hosts, errors come up, with no explanation on how I can fix them. Too bad. Visually and for the purpose of OpenSource OS, Linux has its pros. But with limited support for hardware makes me want to format my hard drives and go with Windows. I hope one day the community of Linux will overpower MS. Til then, MS Win will be the standard.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

[bentaylor]

seriously, don't give up. There must have been a reason (or many) why you decided to try to switch in the first place.
As regards mp3, try a fresh installation of SuSE 10.1, and add these installation sources in yast, software management:
http://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/d...s-inst-source/
http://packman.iu-bremen.de/suse/10.1
http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/linux/suse.com/suse/update/10.1
http://packman.unixheads.com/suse/10.1
http://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/d....1/inst-source
http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/suse/update/10.1
and then search for *anything* with "xine" in its title (mainly xine, xine-extra and libxine) and mp3s should work.

Remember, with linux, when you want to do something, it probably can be done, it's just there's certain things you have to 'just know' or look up, or there's a certain 'knack' to doing it, or something you've got to figure out, but once you do you'll know a lot more about how it's done it.
With windows, when you want to do something, it probably can be done, it's just there's a certain piece of crap, proprietary shareware that you need to sift through loads of grasping websites for, but then it'll do it perfectly, instantly. But it'll probably only do it for 30 days before pestering you about buying a license key, it'll put icons all over your desktop and on your system tray, it'll change your settings to buggery, need rebooting countless times, and you won't have learnt anything about how it does it.

[oldcpu]

After much frustration, i dont see how anyone could deal with the so many problems SuSE has. im sure there are ways to fix them, but with no knowledge about the OS, i realize now why MS Windows is the standard.

If its any consolation, that is how I feel every time my wife calls me over to help her to do something new on MS-Windows. I haven't used (at home) MS-Windows since 1998, and at work our MS-Windows PCs are tightly controlled, and users have minimal permissions to do anything. Everytime I try something new in Windows I get an incredible headache, and I am very upset that Windows does not do things the way Linux does. .... Sound familiar? [but from a different perspective ... ]

Ease to use. Drivers all come with executables that ask questions and do the hard stuff while Linux distros make you guess and work at it.

Thats not my experience with MS-Windows. My wife is a die hard Windows fan, and typically I can install new Linux apps quicker than she can install new Windows apps.

My experience it is Windows is only easy to use if you, or a friend, have done the function (or something similar to it) before. And if one gets stumped on Windows, then one asks a simple question over coffee, and one quickly gets the solution.

Where I work, the engineers who share an office, and work across the hall, all know more about Linux than I. Their job security depends on their Linux knowledge, and they use Linux extensively during the day at the office. If I have a question, the solution comes very quickly, by a quick question over coffee. Its the same thing as Windows in this respect.

IMHO its the ease to get a quick answer than can make or break the difference in useability for a newbie.

You have to be very determined to get some drivers working. In the middle of downloading from repository hosts, errors come up, with no explanation on how I can fix them. Too bad. Visually and for the purpose of OpenSource OS, Linux has its pros. But with limited support for hardware makes me want to format my hard drives and go with Windows.

This is very valid as an observation. Card hardware suppliers are not financially motivated to provide Linux drivers. PC hardware suppliers get special deals from microsoft if they include Windows as an OEM package (and do not include another OS). The simple reason is that Microsoft has a monopoly on Operating Systems, and to date Governments are not passing laws that are strong enough to loosen that monopolistic stranglehold. This will continue ad infinitum, unless users push for a change.

I, for one, refuse to purchase hardware from hardware suppliers who do not support Linux. I recommend other Linux users do the same.

Til then, MS Win will be the standard.

My view would be to rephrase this to state: "Til then, MS Win will maintain the monopoly".

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Hey, we all need to blow off steam every now and then.

[Cabhan]

I have to echo some of the other sentiments here: Windows is only easier because you are already accustomed to Windows. I had very similar experiences when I started with Linux (I didn't even have a graphical environment until I installed the nVidia drivers), but nowadays I am far more comfortable with Linux. It's just a matter of being used to one over the other.

In regards to hardware support, this is the sad truth. Hardware manufacturers generally do not supply Linux drivers (nVidia and ATI being notable exceptions), but this does not mean that hardware is unusable. You may have just had difficulty with the installations or may not have found the correct drivers. This is frustrating, but again, you eventually learn where to look.

Before you give up: have you tried other distros? While I rather like SuSE, Ubuntu is also very popular for new users (for good reasons). I would recommend giving it a try: you may have better hardware detection (and thus, driver installation), and you may like Apt over YaST.

Indeed, it may just be that Linux isn't for you. That's certainly a possibility. But before giving it up forever, I would try out a few other distros and have some fun.

The only part of your post I object to is the "Windows being a standard" part. Windows is currently so popular because it is prepackaged on most PCs. Microsoft made good marketing decisions originally, making it very popular, but it is certainly not a standard.

[burntfuse]

Right, just because SuSE isn't good for you doesn't mean that Linux isn't good for you. Maybe you are better off with Windows (nothing wrong with that), but you might want to try a couple other distros first, which might have better compatibility (like with Windows file formats), better utilties (which won't give you random error messages) and better hardware support. If you've got supported hardware, though, it usually works better than Windows IMO - you don't have to run setup wizards and stuff - it just works as soon as you boot.

[bridfi]

well... i'll try ubuntu 6.06, since i have it laying around. hopefully it'll be easier to install and find drivers for. linux still amazes me. now if i can just get it working...

[josolanes]

well... i'll try ubuntu 6.06, since i have it laying around. hopefully it'll be easier to install and find drivers for. linux still amazes me. now if i can just get it working...

one thing, about linux, that still amazes me (2 years into using it) is how easy it is to see a program's code. i love it...it gives me a fairly comfortable feeling knowing that nothing is hidden from me. this opensource mentality is what seems to make linux so secure and safe. anyone can look at code and tell the programmer of a security flaw or anything else

in windows, it's not possible and a lot of security holes are missed

[minthaka]

Yes, you shouldn't go away. I saw Ubuntu too, it's even worse than Suse. I can help you with installing, and finding packages. I use Suse recently, and have collected a huge amount of RPM's sorted into dependency-oriented folders. What are you looking for?
minthaka

[Redman]

I can understand that frustration can lead to giving up on Linux.
But if you are new to it, you might be looking at the wrong bits or pieces.

Please, don't hesitate to give a list of the hardware/software which isn't working and I'm sure we can help you move along this sticky point

[fingal]

Hi - I love to see new users on here, but my heart always sinks when they say they're giving up. I think we've all had problems which appear to defeat us ... I used to really struggle with my package manager, but it turned out to be working just fine. The problem was something I hadn't considered.

Have a go with Ubuntu and let us know how you get on. Take things nice and steady, and try to get some repositories set up. Sometimes the problems are quite simple, but appear to be impossible.

It takes a long time to adjust to using Linux from Windows. I don't mean to say that Linux is hugely difficult, just that the 'point and click to do everything' habit is hard to break.