Linux Desktop 2006: better than ever
I recently read a story that asked, "Has the Desktop Linux Bubble Burst?" Burst!? No, I don't think so. Actually, it still isn't even half as big as it will be when it's full.
The author goes on to explain that he feels this way because GNOME "lacks any form of a vision," while KDE4 is full of wonderful ideas, but not enough money and effort behind turning concepts into code.
I don't see that at all. I think both popular Linux desktop environments are making good progress.
But, you know what? I think focusing on KDE or GNOME is like looking at the trees and missing the forest. The last 12 months have seen extraordinary progress in the Linux desktop. I'd say 2006 has been the best year ever for the Linux desktop.
Let's start by looking at some of the latest desktop distributions.
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today's howtos
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Linux is great, but much work is still needed.
First, let me state where I stand when it comes to Linux. I think that Linux is a great OS. In addition, I love the philosophy and community behind Linux. However, I think that Linux still has some hurdles to overcome. For instance, many of my friends and I are still having problems with Linux distros (suse, ubuntu, freespire, xandros, pclinuxos, ect.)recognizing our hardware. Personally, I cannot get most distros to recognize my usb soundcard, mobilepre from m-audio. Kubuntu and Opensuse 10.1 were able to recognize the usb soundcard after I installed a firmware loader, namely madfu firmware loader. However, these distros were unable to play the sound from flash videos that are commonly found on youtube and the like; this continued even after I installed the flash plugin manually. I tried different version of flash and still no luck.
The previous made me try out opensuse 10.2. Finally, everything worked, I even had sound on flash videos. After the first reboot I get an error message telling me that Opensuse 10.2 is unable to load the sound drivers. I installed the firmware loader that I had used for 10.1 and still nothing. The only way for me to get the sound driver to load is to boot to windows and then reboot on to Opensuse 10.2
I know that these problems are due to manufacturers not providing drivers for Linux. Nevertheless, this still negatively impacts the Linux experience that newcomers like I have. For this reason, Linux developers need to work even harder to fix such problems. Resolving such hardware support issues will prevent new Linux users like my self to shy away from using a Linux distro. In addition, it will promote the wide use of Linux across home pcs.
Once again, Linux is a great OS, and even a better OS in comparison to windows XP. However, much of the hardware support needs to be resolved for windows users to migrate completely to Linux. Personally, I await eagerly for the day that I will not have to boot windows. I await for the day that Linux offers me full hardware support and software like Onenote.