Mandrake Update Problem

[Tyler Regas]

> A short while back there was a lot of traffic on the mandrake lists
> about people hosing their systems trying to update a kernel using
> mandrake update. They have to be installed, not upgraded. Mandrake
> update is supposed to install it rather than upgrade it, but usually it
> screws up. It might be fixed in 8.2, but I don't know, and I'm not brave
> enough to find out.

Sounds like a bug in the updater. If I can ever get Mandrake to call me
back, I'll tell them :)

> What's so hard about downloading a kernel and 'rpm -ivh' anyway? You
> can't use linux and never expect to use the cli. If you do, you'll no
> doubt eventually run into a problem that you can't fix with a gui. And
> what happens if you lose your gui? And don't say it can't happen. It
> happened to me just recently. I upgraded to mdk 8.2 and found out that
> XFree 4.2 doesn't like my video card. You have to be able to overcome
> that stuff.

There's nothing hard about downloading and updating the kernel from a
console. In fact, there's nothing hard about Linux at all... if you're
us. The only reason I tried it was because a) I needed to know if it
worked yet, and b) the installation was on a test machine. If it was my
production machine, I'd rather re-install Linux from scratch then update
the kernel in that manner.

Now for the rant. Linux is at a crossroads and it is time for all of the
people that have stood behind it to make a decision. That decision is
whether to keep Linux as a tool for nerds and IT admins or to allow it
to grow and become the mainstream, versatile, all-around OS for anyone
that is can be. 

I honestly think that most Linux advocates believe that if it becomes
easy to use it will fall into the maw of M$ and be swallowed up whole.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Linux has proven its
marketability with distributions like Mandrake that favor the desktop
user and distros like RH that favor the admin. Why can't Linux be for
everyone? Let M$ keep building OS clones and calling one a server while
the other is a desktop. They're not fooling anyone.

Bill, how many savvy desktop users do you know? Does anyone know of a
majority of users in an enterprise environment that can delete and
re-install a driver in Windows? How many calls a week has anyone on a
helpdesk gotten for help on adjusting contrast and brightness following
a department-wide monitor upgrade? How many a day?

Believe it or not, there are millions of people out there that just want
to browse the web, write a letter, and keep track of their checkbooks.
For one's employed by any one of our countries (US) mega-corporations,
there are scores of users that don't even get their own desk, much less
the chance to fiddle around when a problem occurs.

I'd hate to even try to estimate the number of secretaries and executive
assistants there are in this world. How many of them do you think would
even spend 20 seconds trying to tweak their USB mouse driver to make it
use all four buttons and the wheel? Zero! They call someone. A person
like the members of this list. Then they pay us.

This likely sounds cheesy, but don't fear the advent of the user
friendly Linux distro. Welcome it a make a few more bucks off of it :)

Tyler

PS: I use Linux day in and day out and I never use the CLI. I do use
MiniCommander in GNOME, but that's a GUI, too :)

-- 
Tyler Regas
PHM Editor-in-Chief
tyler at pdahandyman.com