[KLUG Members] Help - Not OS Discussion

[Adam Williams]

> I don't want to put the energy into figuring out everything.  If I
> buy Windows (ack!) I install it, and it generally works.  I found
> this to not be the case with Linux last time I tried it.

How recently did you try?  Under RedHat 8.0 most things just worked, 
under RedHat 9 there are very few remaining issues.  If you last tried
back in the 7.x days than I sympathize, things were not nearly so
automatic as they are now.

> I want to be able to see web sites the way they are "meant" to be
> seen.  A large number of websites use proprietary things like ActiveX
> and ASP.  I don't want that to be a hindrance.  

ASP isn't a problem that is a server side thing.  

Nothing ActiveX will ever work on any platform other than M$-Windows,
ever; isn't going to happen; can't be done.  Fortunately IE specific
sites do seem to be on a general decline, with a trend back toward some
semblence of sanity overall.

> What about Macromedia, etc.?

Flash works fine.  As does Java.  At least it does for me.

I *REALLY* recommend installing XD2 once RH9 is installed.

> I want to play my games... most of which are designed for windows.

Can't help you there; never play games.

> I want to make the most of my video card.  The software that came
> with it is Windows based.  (Radeon 8500DV)  Also, ATI does not
> support the card on Linux.

Don't own one.  I think several laptops around have Radeon chipsets and
they are working, although it may take a touch of fiddlin'.

> Currently I'm running Windows 98 and am experiencing a myriad of
> problems.  I'm considering upgrading to Win2K or WinXP.  But, before
> I fork out the cash, I thought I'd give Linux another chance.
> Can all this be handled without much thought yet?

I've got ordinary users who have installed and been productive.