SUSE 9.1

Since I got my first SUSE Linux demo CD in a Tech Show a lot of years ago I have downloaded and installed most of the popular Linux distributions available ( Red Hat, Debian, Lycoris, Mandrake, etc). Most of them are quite difficult to install and configure because of the lot of tech questions they ask and the akward intefrace and options they have. Red Hat and Lycoris are a lot more friendly than Debian and Mandrake and at least you don't have the feeling that your Windows partition will be lost forever after the Linux installation. Knoppix is great since it doesn't install anything and it works great, but after I install them usually I get excited for a couple of hours while I test it and play with the included applications or utilities. Then the problems begin. I suddenly I discover that my modem was not detected and the video card is working in compatibility mode (not accelerated). I start to serch for the solution only to find out that the Linux driver of the manufacturer has to be heavily manually modified to make it compatible with my Linux distribution. Then I discover that to install the accelerated video driver I have to do some sort of obscure and scarry procedure that usually doesn't work as the instructions say. Then I start to read tons of forums and reviews just to realize that I have to be almost a magician to perform such simple tasks as standard hardware configuration and driver installation. At this point I start to get frustrated.

Generally I enjoy a lot playing with Linux but at the end of the day I always erase it because the huge frustration I always have when some hardware or software doesn't work as I'd like and I find out that to configure it properly I have to read dozens of help files, howtos and download a lot of tricky stuff to make it work. I'm still waiting for a friendly enough linux installation that will behave well enough to make me fell that I can use it instead of Windows and do everything I want without getting frustrated. While that happens I will use Linux to troubleshoot buggy machines and have fun playing with each new version. I will be patient and hope that someone will hear my pledges. I'm sure that many people have had similar experience like I had and they are also waiting for the perfect Linux distro.

Josef Marton

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