Why I Would Love to Switch to Linux But Can't

Why I Would Love to Switch to Linux But Can't - Intro

If you have an old PC or laptop and are looking for a light weight OS to extend its service life then there are many offerings from Linux based around xcfe desktop. These distros such as mint linux or lubuntu, run beautifully on 15 year old PCs and laptops, and come with a whole host of easily installable free software for fun and or productivity (office type software).

Brocken Ubuntu

Unfortunately there are various obstacles that make a permanent migration from windows rather tricky, and in my case unsuccessful. I have high-lighted some problems I encountered below:

Why I Would Love to Switch to Linux But Can't - Network Connectivity

This was the single insurmountable obstacle for me. If Linux (lubuntu) in this case will not automatically connect to the internet upon start up then its is a non starter. I experience connectivity problems with Puppy Linux also.

Setting a gateway IP address in windows, is typically done automatically. If it can't be done automatically, it can be easily set by typing a default gateway IP address (you router's address) in to a box, and it will stay there until you change it to something else.

With the two Linux distros I tried prior to writing this (puppy and lubuntu) I could not establish a automated connection to the internet, this was after around 4 hours of googling the $h1t out of the subject and trying all sorts of  command line (console in linux) options.

The default gateway would not stay where I put it. I found the correct value to change but it would change back to the default every time I rebooted.

It is very rare that I find myself beaten, but I just couldn't fix this very basic problem, despite trying a dozen or so methods listed on linux forums.

Why I Would Love to Switch to Linux But Can't - Console

Use of the command line in windows is saved for special occasions. This is not the case with linux. Some of the most basic and certainly all of the moderately details OS edits take place using text instructions.

For example, setting up multiple monitors in linux, involves the use of xserver, this is not so challenging to do, but it is difficult compared to installing ultramon on windows. And will involve some work through the console.

Why I Would Love to Switch to Linux But Can't - Printers

I have documented by experience with getting printers to print. (Setting Up a Canon Network Printer on Linux) and it is a depressing and fruitless experience.

Why I Would Love to Switch to Linux But Can't - Forums

Much of the advice you will search for come from forums. This is fine in principal and reflects the open source / community effort that is linux. However. forums are often packed with opinion, and very often multiple opinions (solutions perhaps) for the same problem.

So this results in one (me) making numerous command line code edits with no clue as to whether they will work or not, and 90% of the time they do not work.

 

Why I Would Love to Switch to Linux But Can't - Conclusion

In order to use a computer I need 2 things:

1. Connection to Internet
2. Ability to Print

Any thing else I can learn to provide at my leisure, but the with the several linux distros I have tried, including linspire, lubuntu, ubuntu, xubuntu and puppy I have not been able to reliably to provide these very basic of necessities on a small group of PC over a simple home network. 

Context

I run 5 PCs over a mixed wired and wireless network. Some are windows PCs some are linux. I have a typically router that handles DHCP requests, and a networked (IP) canon printer. Two of the PCs run multiple monitors. 

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