Why Linux Will Always Be An "Also Ran"

Let me preface this by saying I have been messing with computers since the days of the Sinclair ZX81 when we stored and retrieved on cassettes. This was a time when we were thrilled to upgrade our ram to 16k!

I have ventured into the VIC 20/Commodore 64, Atari ST 1024 and finally into PC's skipping Apple and Texas Instruments along the way. I have had to program in basic, C and an obscure language called FORTH. I particularly enjoyed the GUI that the ATARI ST's employed. {I should also mention the ATARI ST served well for 10 years without an upgrade or a problem and with only one meg of memory! Only the advent of an icon driven internet forced us to jump ship.}

Then came Windows and Windows 3 & 3.1 and on and on. The frustration being that every new iteration had trouble with the software created for the prior version. Expense, expense, expense.

Long about 1995 I started looking for something else. I had high hopes for Linux, but was irritated with the command line operation. I admit I became spoiled by point and click rather than typing root/directory1/directory2/directory3/program name....oops typo start over. So I waited...

Finally, I discovered Knoppix which would run from a "live cd" without installing. It was supposedly quick & fun and it ran on legacy equipment i.e. limited memory, older cpu... WOW I can keep my old workhorses...except of course it didn't like my HP's, or my Averatec or my IBM laptop.

We tried and tried newer Knoppix discs, Mandrake, SUSE, Mepis, Lindows, Mandriva...
FAIL, FAIL, FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

Finally, I stumbled upon something called Ubuntu. By version 7, it was booting on my Averatec and my IBM, but still didn't like my HP. Very cool! Well almost. It wouldn't find printers. Sometimes it wouldn't locate my network shares and it NEVER would work with wireless.

Then I found PCLINUXOS. It worked on my network no problem (but not wirelessly) It found printers and drives and it worked on everything but my HP until 2009.

At which time Linux became Windows...

Remember the promise of using legacy systems? ...Dashed on the rocks of eye candy... Ubuntu, MINT, & PCLINUXOS have visually upgraded and suddenly require minimum 512 meg to launch (1 gig for real performance). So much for 128 & 256 meg systems. I realize this pales in comparison to the needs of VISTA and Windows 7, but the perfectly usable and tough laptops that max out at 512 meg must be now wasted.

Then a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel appeared. Something called Puppy Linux not only booted on every system, but worked beautifully with the much feared ndiswrapper for wireless. It worked on my wired net & my wireless net. Not only that, but it ran completely in ram allowing the cd to be removed and used as storage.

WOW! I was completely infatuated with the little puppy...until I tried to print. Then CUPS (the unix printer system) would refuse to talk with the wireless printer, so I searched and found the latest version of CUPS and then went on a hunt for the latest version of "gutenprint drivers". Yes sir that did it, I can now print and surf and file from linux!! But wait I have been using Word Perfect for 18 years. What do I do with all those files?

Yes, I know I should have converted to MS Office a long time ago, but I have always liked and always will like Word Perfect. What about my MS_Money? No I haven't converted to Quicken.

Hey, look at this! By golly, you can run many Windows programs via WINE ... MS_Money works! Word Perfect doesn't, but there is a linux version you can get if you track down Corel's out of print Word Perfect for Linux Bible. That's only $20 to $60....

Wait a minute, you mean I have to buy new versions of the software I already own and use on my existing systems...Hmmm. And the victory of getting MS_Money to run on Linux was short lived. It runs until you attempt to print a report. Then it crashes like no blue screen of death ever did. @!#@@ Deleted expletive...

My high hope of rescuing my IBM T21 from the depths of Windows 98 Hades flounders and drowns in the sea that is LINUX potential.

Have I mentioned that the attempts to make Linux run on any of my old machines have gone on now for nearly a decade? The actual "almost works" that have sent me scurrying across the net for drivers and updates have taken the better part of two months...

No matter how frustrating a Windows install has ever been, it has NEVER, NEVER taken more than 2 hours let alone months...So:

Wait! I still have an ancient, dusty copy of Windows 2000 Pro from dead desktop....What if, could it possibly be...

IT's ALIVE!!!

Yes Windows 2000 is also a dead OS, yes it resides in the pit that Microsoft reserves for its castoffs, but it possess all the drivers I need for wireless, for Word Perfect, for MS_Money for all the old programs that I thought I would have to toss. Not only that, but it found everything on my systems, drives, printers streaming hardware, and my old T21 runs faster than it ever did on Win98. NOT AS FAST as Puppy Linux I'll grant you, but it will print and it runs just fine.

I still keep a persistant version of Puppy Linux on the drive just for the occasional speed thrill, but so far, it cannot create a fully functioning system.

So I conclude my tale. I have felt trapped in the world that Windows made, I have sought the freedom of the "Linux that just works", only to find that it just doesn't. I have found instead, that there is comfort living in a box that actually connects when it supposed to and prints when you press print.

I have new respect for the much maligned creators of Windows. All because a machine that should not have been wasted will NOW NOT be wasted.