Choosing a Distribution, Part VI - Lindows

Choosing a Distribution, Part VI - Lindows

Lindows is another distribution with a dedicated following, though
it’s easy to not be aware of this if you hang in the mainstream
Linux community. Billed as “a new operating system that delivers
the power, stability and cost-savings of Linux® with the ease
of windows,” Lindows has been reviewed through the use of
journalists’ mothers, siblings, and friends more than any other
distribution I’ve seen.

Unfortunately, I have no such convenient flunkies lying about, so
I’ll do this review all by my lonesome. First, however, as an
experienced Linux user, I must begin my mantra so that I will not
forget that this distribution is mostly for people who have never
used Linux before. “Be the newbie. Beee the newbie. Pretend
this is an OS you’ve never seen in your life.” Okay, with that
said, I will now open the box from the Lindows folks - a task easier
said than done!

Okay, after struggling the box open, I’ve got two CD cases and a
little manual. Do new computer users read manuals? In my
experience, many don’t, but one CD is labeled “LindowsOS 4.0
Insert CD to install” and the other is labeled “LindowsCD Insert
CD to run LindowsOS directly from this CD. This will not install
anything on your hard drive.” Pretty cool, huh?

I guess I’ll try the non-installing one first. Still not sure I
trust this OS I’ve never used before. Think I’ll use my laptop for
that. (Disclosure: Neither of my test machines is 800MHz as
the packaging says is required, so I won’t complain too much about
speed.) When I pull the CD out of the case, I see within the case:
“Where can I get help with LindowsOS? A good starting point is the
embedded help in LindowsOS.”

Well, okay, I guess that means I have to get LindowsOS running
first to get help? Hope it runs without a problem. Time to reboot
the laptop with the CD in the drive. The boot screen comes up with
two phrases on it that look like menu options. I press the Tab
key, and wah! Black and white screen with those two choices again:

Demo_from_CD	Diagnostics
boot:

I think I just broke LindowsOS. Wonder what the manual says. Ah,
there’s the “Run demo from CD” section. It tells me that if I
started my computer with the LindowsCD CD-ROM in the drive, I’ll
see these two menu options. Then it moves onto the section for how
to register and activate the product. Huh?

Okay, no help there. And no help from the embedded help, because I
can’t get in. Get a grip, Dee. Restart the computer and maybe
it’ll go better this time. Okay, there’s the screen again, DON’T
TOUCH ANYTHING. Ah, now it says it’s starting the demo from the
CD. “Please wait.” I can do that. At least there’s a progress bar
so I can see it’s not frozen.

Fade to black. Okay, it’s doing something new now. Oh, funky mouse
pointer, then normal mouse pointer. Screen’s still black, but the
CD-ROM drive is churning away. Oh, there it is, LindowsOS, some
kind of start screen. Loading this, installing that, that looks
promising. Oooh, a desktop. There we go!

Line of icons on the desktop, stuff on the task bar, all familiar
stuff so far. There’s that lifejacket symbol that’s everywhere…
I think I’ll click that. Oh, tutorials and quickstart guides. How
to connect to the Internet. Good stuff. I’ll follow that, since I
want to surf the web. Okay, that opens up a window with a bunch of
icons. Tutorial, special icons for Earthlink, AOL, Juno, NetHere,
NetZero, and SpeakEasy, and some more generic stuff.

I double-click “Using Other ISPs” and it takes forever to come up.
I’ve got an old laptop, so it’s slow - but not that slow! Maybe I
should install to the hard drive. That way, I’ll only have to set
this up once. Think I’ll do that.

The main CD has the same kind of install screen. I don’t touch
anything and it starts the installation by itself. Aside from a
few words here and there, so far it’s exactly the same as the run
from the CD version. There’s a few screen changes, and then I get
the installation method screen. Ah, I can let it take over an
entire hard drive or I can go the advanced mode and put it on a
particular partition. I had already decided to let LindowsOS have
this old laptop, so I choose the easy way out.

Hmm, now I have to name my computer, and I can give it a security
password. I don’t want to fuss with a password. I name the
computer “egg” and move on. Then I have to confirm my choices not
once, but twice! Oh well, at least they’re making sure I can’t
mess up. Now it starts the installation with lots of reading
material popping up from time to time.

… some time and a few comic strips later…

That’s it? Okay, click to reboot; I’m used to that. I have to pull
the CD out. Done. And where’s the Any key? (Heh heh, little newbie
humour there.) There we are, the same boot screen as usual, not
touching anything. So far I recognize the boot process from the
run from the CD version. There’s a “First Time Setup” dialog now,
though. Let’s see. Yeah, I want to set the time. Click that, then
select Canada, Pacific, OK, yeah, yeah, I agree to the License,
and then Finished. Don’t want the Advanced stuff.

Now there’s a Tutorial. I guess that’s better than reading a
manual. I’m not hearing any descriptions like I’m supposed to, but
there are pop-up descriptions. That’s good. Hope my laptop’s sound
card works with this system. Okay, bored now, clicking “Exit
Desktop Tutorial.” I get this whole “Thank you for using this
audio tutorial” bit but I never heard anything. Anyway, clicking
“Go to the real Desktop.”

I want to try the Click-N-Run thing. Double-clicking the icon
brings up the Click-N-Run program. There’s a big “Configure”
button in the top middle that isn’t grayed out, so I click that
and check over the settings. They look fine to me. Now what? Most
options aren’t available so I try Help | Click-N-Run Handbook,
which brings up… the KDE Help Center?

Ah, there’s a LindowsOS QuickStart Guide button in here. I click
that and think maybe I have to register and activate? I look at
that option and get an amusing “You must think you’re using
another OS” message. Okay. So I don’t need to do that. Too bad the
Home and Up links don’t actually take me anywhere. Guess I’ll just
click Next. The Next on the bottom doesn’t work, but the one on
the top does.

I know I’m on some kind of network, and here’s the network help.
Apparently I should already be connected to the Internet. Let’s
see. Nope. Lindows.com can’t be found; I try another URL and it
can’t find that either. The guide doesn’t say anything about
fixing this. I guess I’ll look in the manual, but no, it says
exactly the same thing as in the guide. Crud. I guess I’ll wait
for my (mythical) 10-year-old to fix that.

Okay, let’s be content with what’s on the machine right at this
moment. How about… games? Yeah, where are those? Why won’t my
Click-N-Run window go away?

Time to take my newbie hat off. I’m starting to worry that some of
the problem is my old laptop. Since I’m in the process of setting
up some boxes we’re trying to fix (that are much more “up-to-date,” spec-wise - for another project, I’ll try installing
LindowsOS on one of those. Unfortunately, this just reinforces the
suspicion that part of this machine’s problem is the hard drive.
Okay, I load LindowsCD and it’s blazing fast, but the boot routine
doesn’t find the serial mouse - all of my PS/2 and USB mice are in
use - so I have no mouse. This is odd, since LindowsOS found my
mouse just fine.

This isn’t going well. I invite folks who use LindowsOS to submit
their own experiences, but color me disappointed.