Mainstream . . . (LONG)

[Bradley Miller]

The real reason Linux will never be mainstream . . . 

BECAUSE NOBODY CAN AFFORD TO SUPPORT IT!

Harsh you say?   Well, let me share with you some recent experiences.   I
decided to update my antiquated Linux server and put the latest
MySQL/PHP/Apache on it.   I've been meaning to put a bigger drive in it and
actually did install the drive.  I tested (I thought I did at least) and
everything seemed ok.   Little did I know that even though I thought I
followed the directions very closely, I had instead made just a /dev/drive2
on my local drive and it wasn't mounted to the proper harddrive physically
in my PC.   One thing let to another and I eventually got my harddrive in
and moved some files around to make space.   Just as the last of the PHP4
files was installing (or "making") the thing blew up and needed more room.
I was about at wits end and decided I'd go for broke and repartion my
meager drive and give myself some more room on /usr.  I had moved /home to
my 2nd drive - a 2 gig that was sitting around gathering dust.   This left
me with a whopping 3 gig system . . . but since it's a test box it serves
my purposes.

I found a partitioning program that would do what I think I wanted it to
do.   There were some nasty things to get around, but I had confidence in
what I was reading.  Surely this would be a piece of cake.   Well, the
first ominous sign was the partitioning program needed another program to
run.  Off I went scurrying around on the web to find what software I needed
to install that portion of the system.  Then once I had that piece I
started running into the full harddrive causing problems again.   After
some more thrashing I had moved enough files and followed all the
instructions to where I might be able to actually finish my PHP4 install.
Then disaster struck, because my drive that I partitioned started throwing
errors right off the bat for files that were missing.   I was able to get
to a prompt and login in, but the system was completely and utterly
pooched.  (That's got to be a technical term . . . .)   I couldn't even run
the partition program because of its dependencies.

Ok - I have nothing better to do . . . I'll just grab a CD and reinstall
the OS.   After about 30 minutes I had a nice fresh system.   I downloaded
all the latest and greatest files again and started to work.    Well, now
I've got a real mess . . . I've got the Apache install that the CD (Redhat
6.2) installed . . . and then my new latest and greatest version.   I've
also got hooks for PHP3 in there, but it's still not running PHP of any
flavor . . . and MySQL isn't exactly running correctly either.   It seems
that since it's on my 2nd drive, that it's not happy for some reason or
another.

At this point I'm about frazzed on working on Linux systems, but I decide,
maybe I'll start off with something simpler.  I grab and old box that I've
been playing with on and off for a wihle.   I rip out the 3Com 3c509 card
that I've been battling for ever.   I've put those cheap $5 bargain
basement cards in other systems and never had a problem, but now I'm
looking for any battle to conquer.    I stop by Best Buy and grab a new $20
Netgear 10/100 PCI Ethernet Network card . . . a FA-311.   I go to install
it and there are no instructions on how to install the card in a Linux box.
  I had bought it because the box said it was Linux compatible.   (Just
look for that feature on other cards . . . . jeez!)    Ok - if all else
fails . . . go to the web site.   Well the web site explains how the
Help.exe file on the diskette is wrong . . .
(http://www.netgear-support.com/ts/pwtkbgetsolution.cfm?&id=N01254&kbase=Sup
port&incident=) and that there are different files to use.   Ok, I'll bite
. . . at least I didn't try to use the instructions on the diskette . . .
like I was going to put it in my NT box just to poke around on the diskette
that I theoretically wouldn't need.   I download the files and after
rifling through diskettes, I manage to get the files over to my Linux box.
(This will hopefully play MP3's in the future . . . if it doesn't end up
being a huge doorstop.)    I glance over the files . . . a fa311.h,
fa311.c, fa311.o, and MAKEFILE.  The web site says the make file does
something, so I copy the files over to my kernel modules directory (logical
since that's where it's going to be running from) and file off the
makefile.    Well, that didn't get me far . . . the file just said
something about missing files and never did compile squat.  Oh yea - this
machine has even less harddrive than the other, so it doesn't have a C
compiler on it.   As I browse the disk again, I notice all my module files
are now missing . . . . . what the ????    Let's look here in the makefile:
 
all: fa311.o

fa311.o: fa311.c fa311.h
	gcc -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O -c fa311.c

clean: 
	rm -f core *.o

My, isn't that convenient . . . . it wiped all the *.o files off wherever
it was sitting.    Oh well . . . I didn't have anything better to do I
suppose.

So, I go over to another Linux box . . . one that runs and I don't f***
with . . . and I decide to compile the program.    I compile it and then
copy the fa311.o file over to the Linux box and run netconf to see if I
can't get my network card to light off.    Well, after all the effort and
thrashing, I'm still back at square one.   I have a box that can't talk to
anything . . . other than sneakernet (aka floppies).

What have we learned so far?    Nobody hardly supports Linux and the ones
who do have tripped over themselves so badly that it's really fouling
things up.    How was I supposed to get on the net and get this corrected
info if I didn't have another functioning computer nearby?   The files that
Netgear had on their site were in zip format . . . if I did have another
Linux box I only hope that I would have been able to get them down and
going.   Is there anyway that someone could be totally self sufficient and
not need a 10 week course in Linux ins and outs to get a PC running from
scratch?   I would venture to say that if I tossed a Windows CD in this PC
that I could probably have it up and running in less time that it took to
gyrate around getting a network card to run in Linux.

Does this totally put me off of Linux?  No - I've got a perfectly good
router that runs those 3c509 cards and handles all my network traffic.
Likewise I run other Linux servers and workstations and have no problems .
. . but if you think I'm going to give up any of my non-Linux based PC's
anytime soon, your nuts.   I don't think anyone can quit cold turkey and
switch over - certainly not now nor anytime soon.   I'll point out this
thing to those wanting to rant and rave over the wonderful things a Linux
system does; Mac owners have the same feelings.   There is a good reason
people have Mac's - they're relatively worry free.  Yea, you can't
configure this or do that . . . but you don't have to download updates,
drivers, or stand on your head to get one to work right out of the box.   A
big part of that is because they are completely proprietary . . . it's easy
for an OS to cope with something when you know exactly all the known
quanities on hardware and such.   The real issue that Mac people face, (and
likewise Linux people) is that they think they can be and island and never
need a PC/Windows solutionfor anything.   It's not going to happen any time
soon . . . and with experiences like I've had . . . your going to have a
hard sell to those people who are used to the MS ways.

-- Bradley Miller