A linux success story (so far)

[bob franklin]

Several years after giving up in disgust on linux, due to *extreme* difficulty with printers of any make or model, as well as a complete inability to create a dvd that'd play on my dvd player without me attaining a PHD in bashology, I found a discarded Dell 270 Optiplex tower sitting next to a dumpster in an apart complex. Intrigued, I decided to take it home & see what system was on it. I'm a pizza delivery guy by trade, & thrown out computers & small appliances give me a surprisingly good 2nd income. Imagine my disappointment to discover Mint installed, & me without the username or password! Not to be detoured, I downloaded & burned Nadia on my main box &then installed it on the Dell. It just buttered right onto the drive, smooth as you like. I was impressed by the overall layout & ease of getting online (my last distro was Xandros), but wasn't expecting much in the multimedia department. Figured I'd give it a go anyway. I installed brasero, tried & failed. But then I decided try Dvd styler, not knowing I'd need to save my project as an ISO & burn it with another program. 1st attempt with Styler failed. So Itried saving as an ISO for my 2nd try. Okay, now I have an ISO, ostensibly of a dvd! Halfway there! I figured out that I could burn it in Brasero. Burn went okay, but will it play in my dvd player? Holding my breath, I popped the the dvd out of the drive & walked the green mile over to my entertainment system. I ejected the tray on the player, placed the diisc on & closed it up. Next thing I see on my tv is the menu for my dvd. I hit play & that's just what it did - flawlessly. The method for creating it was certainly a bit clumsy when compared to the way it's done in windows by mainstream software, but it was still fairly easy & netted an acceptable result. What a huge leap forward for linux! This is easily half of the stranglehold Micro$oft has over linux. If the printer issues have progressed equally far we might just be witnessing the final chapter being written for an abusive monopoly. This has been a momentous day indeed. Next, I'll hook up my printer & see what happens...

[sofasufi]

Hi Bob.

You're right, it's amazing how far Linux has come. Keep working with Mint for the next few months & see how you go. In the meantime, I'm sure you'll find all the help you need, between the Mint forum & googling questions. I moved from XP to Linux 2 months ago and cannot see myself every going back to Windows or Mac.

Go well meantime.

SofaSufi