Friday, March 07, 2008

Need Help - Linux Desktop Likes and Gripes

I am very excited! I was invited by the Linux Foundation to their Collaboration Summit in April. The SUSE Linux Desktop Team asked me to bring my joys and complaints to the conference. I will serve on a panel explaining to the bright people who make Linux work how well Linux Desktop OS works with consumers and enterprise technology people.

I need your help. If you are a user of Linux Desktop, please let me know what distribution you use and post what you like and don't like. What do you think it does well and what would you like changed? I need this feedback by April 7th but it would be great if I could get some feedback before March 15th, as I will be seeing some of the SUSE Linux development team at Novell's Brainshare at that time.

I will start:
I've used SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop for 3 years (the first year it was called Novell Linux Desktop). I have it deployed on about 20 desktops and 640 laptops that are used at school and at home.

My Likes:
Beautiful interface (compiz)
Love the cost
Love the security and lack of viruses and spyware
I love that most programs are configurable with either the GUI or easy to manage configuration files
Love the documentation both on the box and in the community (I'd like better writing but this is the case with all technical manuals)
I love Firefox
I love that the Linux platform puts me in the epicenter of open source development allowing me to afford applications that I can't afford on the commercial side allowing for greater creative outlet and innovation

My Gripes:
I want web cams to work right away
I want every piece of built in hardware to work without fussing around:
*Function keys
*ThinkVantage Button
*Finger Reader
*DVD player
*wireless
*Audio Headsets
*External VGA port to work with projector
I want rpm's or an msi equivalent for every software package I want to install on my computer
I want Linux versions of the software I want to buy
I want WINE to run Windows versions of software I want to buy if a Linux Version does not exist


I will add more later. However, I wanted to get the ball rolling. When I started using Linux, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I'm kind of a "Ready - Fire - Aim" guy. However, I am extremely pleased with the decision. That being said, I'm never one to shy away from expecting the stars and moon. Even if you think it's not feasible, if you want it, put it on the list.
Comments et to be reviewed on this blog because too many people post commercials otherwise. However, please add your comments and I will readily post them.

9 comments:

Dan Kegel said...

Hi Alex! So, about your Wine gripe.
Which apps in particular do you need
Wine to support? Which apps have you
tested with recent Wine?

Alex Inman said...

Hi Dan,
Actually, I recently installed our SIS client, RenWeb and it works great! That is a Like! I haven't spent time with the latest wine client other than with RenWeb but I'd like to install Adobe Design Studio CS. Should that work?

Dan Kegel said...

Shmaybe. What product, exactly?
I can't find that exact product
listed at Adobe's site.

See http://wiki.winehq.org/AdobeApps
for an app-by-app picture of current
status and links to bug reports, app db
entries, etc.

Alex Inman said...

Hi Dan,
The product suite I am referring to is Adobe CS3 Design. https://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/index.cfm?store=OLS-US&view=ols_prod&category=/Applications/DesignPremium&distributionMethod=FULL&nr=0&promoid=BUIGS
It is the CS3 version of most of the print oriented apps.
Like I said, I haven't tested but will do so soon. I am really impressed with the latest version of wine.

Dan Kegel said...

Aha, it contains

InDesign® CS3, Photoshop® CS3 Extended, Illustrator® CS3, Flash® CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver® CS3, Acrobat® 8 Professional, Bridge CS3, Version Cue® CS3, and Device Central CS3.

None of which work in Wine yet.

Which of those apps in particular do you need?

Alex Inman said...

Well, in keeping with the call to dream about what I want Linux Desktop to be able to do, I want it all as well as new versions. What I would like the Linux community to pickup is WINE as a standard and commit to testing major Windows apps in WINE so that as an application hits its first patch level, WINE interoperability was assumed and it becomes functional.

However, to give you a more specific response, the more critical would be Photoshop CS3, InDesign CS3, and Permiere CS3. Also, in the education market, getting the suite of Elements software working would go a LONG way.

Dan Kegel said...

You wrote:
> "I want it all"

Don't we all :-)

Thanks for the specific info.

peter lyons said...

Dear Alex - First thanks a lot for your very detailed description fo how to get Moodle to work on Open SUSE, however I hit a problem. When I got to the bit where FileRoller is supposed to extract setup-moodle.sh all I got was an error message saying that this file type was not supported Maybe the choice of Moodle 1.8 was a mistake but as 1.7 is no longer supported it seemed better to go for the 1.8 version. Have I gone wrong somewhere?

Alex Inman said...

I need to update those directions. However, I have used the script with newer versions of Moodle with success. However I had to add a few more php packages. The Moodle install guided me through that. Regarding the file roller question, if you have the moodle seup script ok your deskto, you are good to go.