kd7ota wrote:
Wolfe wrote:
Winbloze? :destroy:
Only OS that works. I did go with Linux for a moment, but it messes up as soon as I install a different video card. I used the Mandrake Distro.
Well, you have to understand what you're up against when using *NIX. The display system (normally XFree86) is an entirely optional component, and indeed, probably could be better no matter which side of the fence (love the X design methodology or hate it) you're on. Now, there *is* no reason the system shouldn't be able to detect your card, and load the appropriate driver or server - or just try to fall back to standard VESA options - but that's work, some things are moving targets, and quite frankly, the major distros didn't even *try* for a long time... Which makes some sense; how often does the average desk jockey or home user change video cards, vs. needing to read their e-mail or work with their (on-screen) desktop? "Linux usability" has until recently been focused on making it look pretty and feature-competetive with MS and Apple.
But there's hope; Knoppix has made some advancements in automatic hardware detection (and having the *rest* of your average Linux distribution do the right thing once that hardware's detected), while increasing standards support in hardware (like those VESA modes, cruddy as they may be) mean things are becoming a lot nicer today (and on today's hardware) than they were 5 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if the latest Mandrake (or Lindows, Lycoris, etc) have started to bum the work from Knoppix, though I haven't looked closely enough to see if they have.
*Yes, Mandrake does require the 'optional' XFree86; Linux distributions involve tradeoffs, and like nearly every distro outside of the embedded space, they've decided it's better to stick with the 'standard' software is readily available for than to try something different with, say, Qt and KDE directly on the Linux Framebuffer or whatever the new accellerated? interface is called. It doesn't hurt that Mandrake has also had some of its bigger wins taking advantage of X11 features in thin client environments... So they're trading fiddliness in one direction for capabilities in another.
