And they tell me to RTFM!!
Submitted by infojunkie on Sat, 2006-04-08 15:25.
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I don't think I have ever wasted my time more than trying to get Linux do what I want. Every computing task that the commercial computing world has come to take for granted: printing, CD burning, USB mounting, modem recognition, etc. on Linux turns into a vicious battle with the system, where the dead lay aplenty as witnessed on Web forums. And it's not that solving these problems will enrich my knowledge, unless I want to specialize in Linux troubleshooting. Which I don't, thanks.
My ongoing pain, at work and at home, has been printing. I connect a USB printer to my Ubuntu home server, and expose it on the network via Samba. My wife who uses Windows XP uses this method to print. Or rather, she prints on the network once in 10 trials, because the failures are so frequent that she just got used to plugging the printer right into her laptop - success rate is much higher. And the cherry on top is that my very Ubuntu machine produces blank pages on that same printer, every time! Maybe it's a plot from the ecologically-minded Linux community to stop the genocide of trees.
So to people who will gleefully tell me to RTFM, I respectfully reply that you're missing the whole point. Computing exists to help us achieve tasks faster and more simply, by hiding the complexity of low-level details, and letting us concentrate on conquering new levels of complexity. Linux is actively preventing me from doing that. But who am I to rant? Read Eric Raymond's opinion instead.
You can't realy complain
Although I agree with you Karim, but you seem to be taking for granted that most printer drivers the Linux community produces are written in complete darkness since most manufacturers won't give out the specs, so they are usually hack jobs. So its not the communities' fault, its the freagin manufacturers who won't release their "IP" !
Have you tried printing on Linux before CUPS? (insert very evil grin here)
Also about the iPod, same applies; all hacking. Mind you, the ipod is a lot simpler though; since its treated as a normal block device.
In all fairness, Linux has gone a looooong way since my first installation if Slackware :-D. Distros like ubunto, Suse, and to some extent Fedora have made life a lot easier and you can't complain since its FREE :-P
You want the best of both worlds, go OS X. Ask my powerbook, which my wife calls: "My third Son"! (i.e. I have a sick love relationship with a shiny silver laptop)
Hilarious
How about this?!. I would have thought that this is a hoax.
Good Post
I hear you. How about making XMMS play audio CDs? Or the unrecognizable USB flash memory? And more often than not the FM is a "work-in-progress" or a mutilated wiki. Oh well. The typical counter-argument for this rant would be: "Hey if you don't like, do something about it. Write your own FM and contribute it to the community" :).
--AK
What about your average Joe?
What kills me is the randomness of events. One day USB is happy with my iPod and they make beautiful music together, next day, you almost hear the iPod say "I am not talking to that SOB again" ...." Why... Why... you were friends, singing joyfully"
So, Linux community, come down from your high towers and solve *mundane* issues like printing made easy (w/o going to the Georgia Convention :-) ) and_____and______and____ (fill in the blanks)