Is it me, or....

[Panserbjorne]

Hey! I'm back, thanks to Aragorn's little mailing list post. Anyway, my little point is...is it me, or does using Linux as your desktop pretty much require high speed access? This seems to be quite a deterrent, and it's why I'm holding off on getting another distro 'till then. I know a few other Linux users who switched back to Windows, because they couldn't access the internet through their dial up modems, and they didn't want to pay for DSL/cable.

About the dial up modems...some of you are saying, "You CAN access the internet with dial-up." All the ISPs I've used are very Linux non-friendly (I'm sure you can guess why). When you can't access the internet, nobody cares about how well your OS works and stuff. Probably not a documented phenomenon, this is - I've never heard of people talking about it, and dial-up WAY outnumbers high speed access.

Don't worry, I haven't given up on Linux. It's time to continue attempting to convince my parents to get DSL/Cable. Any suggestions on good, cheap service?

Signing off,

Panserbjorne

PS. Hey, Aragorn, haven't talked to you in a while, eh?

[JimH]

Anyway, my little point is...is it me, or does using Linux as your desktop pretty much require high speed access? This seems to be quite a deterrent, and it's why I'm holding off on getting another distro 'till then.

I disagree. It has always been my opinion that if you want to use Linux buy a boxed set from the maker of your favorite Linux distribution. It costs a lot of money to produce a quality Linux distribution. A lot of people seem to forget about the contribution that the employees of these companies make towards the continuing development of most of the core software that is included in a distribution. i.e. XFree86, kernel, gcc, KDE, Gnome, etc... If these companies did not exist, the continuing development of Linux would slow to a crawl. Why? Because these same employees would have to find jobs that would probably not allow them to work on Linux development regularly.

I could never understand the "I will use Linux, but I'm not going to pay for it" attitude. This is after the same people go out and spend thousands of dollars buying windoze and software for it.

"Linux is free", but not free as in price. I quote from the Free Software Foundation: "think free speech not free beer." Linux is free as in freedom of choice.

We need to support the Linux and Open Source communities that provides us with the opportunity to use the best operating system on the planet. ;D

<rant mode off>

I know a few other Linux users who switched back to Windows, because they couldn't access the internet through their dial up modems. About the dial up modems...some of you are saying, "You CAN access the internet with dial-up." All the ISPs I've used are very Linux non-friendly

Before I moved to high speed access I used a considerable number of "linux unfriendly" ISP's and I never had a problem connecting. The majority of the problem connecting to the internet under Linux is not an issue with ISP's. They probably could not access the internet, because their computers were "infected" with software modems. Software modems are junk, period. They exist for one reason, hardware manufacturors looking for a way to cut their costs and make more money. The consumer does not benefit from the use of software modems. What happens when you come to the point that you need a new driver, only to find out that the manufacturor has discontinued all support for the chipset on your modem. Did you save money? NO! You have to go buy another modem.

<rant mode off again>

Jim H

[Aaron_Adams]

I could never understand the "I will use Linux, but I'm not going to pay for it" attitude. This is after the same people go out and spend thousands of dollars buying windoze and software for it.

"Linux is free", but not free as in price. I quote from the Free Software Foundation: "think free speech not free beer." Linux is free as in freedom of choice.

We need to support the Linux and Open Source communities that provides us with the opportunity to use the best operating system on the planet.

I agree with this 100%.

Buying your favorite linux distribution for < $50 ( CDN ) is more then a fair deal, especially when you aren't just buying a license like with Microsoft products. Not only will contributing $50 ( or however much ) make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside for doing something admirable, you will be helping Linux as a whole become better. On the other hand, you could buy windows and for every $1 you dish out to MS, you get an extra 1meg in the next windows default install.

Also, the broadband access required argument is lame. I've never gotten my windows install cds (of the past) from the net, I always get them burned from other people., and I"m sure you haven't downloaded all of yours either. I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to get a friend with broadband to download a Linux ISO for you.

[Spot]

Also, the broadband access required argument is lame.

It is indeed...especially when there are dozens of sites out there similar to cheapbytes where you can pick up a set of CD for around $5USD - cheeper than a decent 6 pack.

[Cooter]

Better dialup performance was one of Linux's pleasant surprises. I have 2 dialup ISP's and they both run better on Linux than Windows and those annoying timer messages are history.
Box distros also come with books. That alone is worth buying a distro.

[Panserbjorne]

Whoa, whoa, whoa! ??? When i talked about high speed internet, I didn't mean DOWNLOADING distributions. I support Linux distribution companies 100%, and realize that it takes money and time to make good products (ie RedHat 7.3, ooh, nice). It just seems hard to connect to the internet...it's true I have a software modem [damn thing], but i've found linux drivers for it that worked.

Just that in my experience it's easier to hookup to high speed connections than dialup.....maybe it's just MY provider, PeoplePC, that can't...it seems to have a special program for dialing up. But that's what I get for using a free ISP :'(

And yes, I have bought distros, it's probably cheaper than spending the time downloading an ISO at 28.8k...