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We have updated the Docs for Mandrake 8.2.

    Xsox is now available in RPM format. See the Downloads page



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This is one person's effort to attempt to help Windows users try Linux or switch to Linux.  I am a former Windows user, I have been playing with Linux for about four years, and have been using Linux full time for about two years.  I will do as much as I can, but hopefully others will join in this effort, and if enough people join in, as Arlo Guthrie said, pretty soon we'll have a movement. 

As a former Windows user, the first thing I noticed about much of the help provided for Linux was that the help itself seemed foreign.  Everybody talked about reading things and typing things on a command line.  Windows users don't do that.  On top of that, people would casually answer a question about getting the sound card working by saying "just build a new kernel".  Kinda sounded to me like "to drive the car, first build a motor".  Really folks, none of that is necessary, you can set up the sound card by running a utility.  Same for network cards and just about every other thing you will ever need to do.  Most things have user friendly graphical system utilities, and installing, configuring and running Linux is a lot easier than the old Linux aficionados like to make it sound.

On the other hand, there are a couple of caveats to the above remarks.  Linux has dozens of distributions and dozens of window managers, and some are a lot more user friendly than others.  Coming from Windows you will probably find Mandrake and its default KDE window manager much more familiar and comfortable to deal with than some of the others.  KDE is the most integrated and most advanced of the windows managers as well as being the most Windows like.  Mandrake seems to have the best handle on what Windows users want and need, and since it is based on Red Hat Linux, it is very easy to get help for as Red Hat and derivatives have the most users.  Some distributions like SuSe are easy to install, but when you have a problem a week or a month from now, it is harder to find people who use it, are knowledgeable about it, and can help you. 

The other caveat is that there are reasons the old timers say the things they do. The command line in Linux is powerful, flexible, and a world apart from the Dos command line you think of when you think of command lines. For example the command df tells the usage on every drive on your machine. This is easier than any GUI method for doing the very same thing.   Building a kernel is also not as big a task as it sounds, Linux is set up to do this easily, and once you get aquatinted, you should try it, I do it just for a kick sometimes, but never just to get my sound card working.

So, sample our docs, try the apps, add to either of them if you are that far along and want to help, send me comments or suggestions on them if you see fit.  I hope we helped you a little.

Ken Schrock [email protected]


FTX reviewed