Last night, I tried to install CentOS 5 on my laptop. I wasted most of a day worth of work on this project.
It didn't work.
The base install was pretty quick and took maybe 40 minutes.
First of all, the wireless card didn't work. I followed the directions on the CentOS wiki and it still didn't work. I was able to see wireless networks, but was unable to connect to my home network. I wasted about an hour of my life trying to get this to work.
This morning, I tried getting the touchpad driver working so the touchpad doesn't click the mouse button every time I tap the touchpad. After installing the synaptics driver, I had to figure out how to configure xorg.conf to use the driver. Well over an hour of my life wasted doing that.
Once I did all that, it still didn't work. It would seem my touchpad isn't supported with the touchpad driver in CentOS 5. I tried newer drivers; either the newer driver wouldn't compile or the driver wouldn't work.
So far, I had wasted four hours of my life. In Windows, the same amount of work would have given me a working computer at this point. Actually, in Windows, it would have taken about an hour to install the base system, under an hour to get all the drivers up and going, and I could have played video games or spent time with my girlfriend the other two hours.
I did buy Linux hardware. I specifically got a Linux-compatible Dell. And, yes, the hardware does work in Ubuntu, but, unfortunately, the system is too unstable for me to use.
I pointed out the issue here:
Linux's problem is this: Drivers for CentOS 3 do NOT work in CentOS 5. Why is that? Why do the Linux developers need to constantly change the driver model while Microsoft is able to keep the driver model stable? Constantly changing driver models is fine in the server back room, but is not OK for an OS that wants to be on the desktop.Here is how one freetard replied to me:
This is why Windows XP, not Linux, is on my desktop right now; Ubuntu is far too unstable for me and I shouldn't be forced to use an unstable OS just to have drivers. I mean, there are drivers for all my hardware in Windows XP. And there are drivers for all of my hardware in Ubuntu 7. So why aren't there drivers for all of my hardware in CentOS 3?
(I may move back to Linux on the desktop if all my hardware works with CentOS 5.3; we'll see)
your [sic] being technically handicapped and/or grossly uninformed about Linux kernel development. However, if you keep sticking your foot into your mouth, you will at least add some mild entertainment to the thread while we wait.I replied to this idiot:
YoureAnIdiotForNotLikingLinux(TM)He never replied to me.
A lot of people here have been using Linux for a long time, or used to be freetards (I myself am a recovering freetard). We probably know Linux a good deal better than you do. Note also that Ken Thompson doesn't like Linux, and Dennis Ritchie uses Microsoft Outlook to read email these days.
Anyway, could you care to explain where I am wrong and how I'm wrong. Please back up your assertions with facts.
Linux sucks on the desktop. I'm back to using Windows XP. Even at $5 an hour, the $100 that Windows XP home edition costs [1] is 20 hours of labor; it would take me about that long to get everything working in CentOS 5.3.
OK, since I wasted my time with Linux (again), I didn't get a chance to work on Deadwood. I will continue working on it tomorrow.
- Sam
[1] As an aside, cdsfu.com sells pirated software and Google needs to stop letting them advertise.
