[GTALUG] Raspberry PI wifi problem

[Steve Petrie, P.Eng.]

Warm greetings to GTALUG,

Comments below.

(apologies for the messy format -- due to ancient Microsoft Outlook 
Express...)

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CLIFFORD ILKAY via talk" <talk at gtalug.org>
To: <talk at gtalug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2017 7:04 PM
Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Raspberry PI wifi problem


> On 2017-08-23 06:11 PM, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
>> Hi all.
>>
>> Making networking run on Linux desktops has always been IMO one of
>> the
>> reasons why it's not caught on. Stuff just shouldn't be this hard.
>
> This is a red herring. The reason why Linux desktops have not caught
> on
> has nothing to do with the technical merits, or lack thereof. It's
> entirely a business decision. Microsoft and various hardware
> manufacturers, like Dell, have developed a vast ecosystem of VARs and
> other support resources. There are great financial incentives for I.T.
> support firms to promote the Windows ecosystem. There is no
> counterpart
> to Microsoft in the Linux world so there are no financial incentives
> for
> anyone to push Linux on the desktop. Microsoft and Dell cultivate
> relationships with VARs and funnel business their way. Who does that
> in
> the Linux world? No one. Which large and influential organization
> promotes Linux on desktops? No one.
>
> If ease of installation has something to do with desktop adoption,
> Windows would have been displaced long ago. Microsoft has a tremendous
> advantage in the market because of the OEM relationships it has with
> hardware vendors. Most people have no idea how difficult or easy
> Windows
> is to install because they never have to do it. It comes pre-loaded on
> their computer. In corporate environments, there are many tools
> designed
> to make the mass deployment and management of Windows desktops
> relatively pain-free so the complexity of Windows installation and
> configuration is, again, hidden from people.
>

+1.

I am a Windows XP "orphan" on a Dell 3000 PC bought in 2004. Working
(slowly) to move to a new desktop PC running debian Linux as primary OS
with Windows 7 (likely under QEMU) if needed for a Windows-specific app.

My motivation in declining to take the easy route (moving to MS
Windows 7 / 10) is a combination of bloody-mindedness and love of all 
things
open source.

In addition to the powerful arguments provided by Clifford I., 
explaining Microsoft dominaiton, here are
three:

1. Another "iron grip" enjoyed by Microsoft is the MS Office product
suite (and related web-centric stuff) that keeps much of the world
shackled to the MS monolith. There really ISN'T any way to obtain MS
Office functionality elsewere. For a business that does business with
other businesses, lack of MS Office compatibility can be a big problem.
I have had to ask more than one sender to provide a PDF, after they had
blithely sent some MS-Office attachment or other to me. Scheduling
meetings with other organizations that use MS Outlook, can be another
pain for the Outlook-deprived  Thank goodness for the PDF standard !! My
plan in moving to debian Linux is to look for a good document editor
that uses the PDF format as its native representation. And of course
there is Open Office that (on Win XP at least) is ok, but hardly as
slick as equivalent MS product.

2. Another stumbling block for a Windows user looking to "divorce" MS,
is the need to choose a desktop GUI. Way too much ink has been spilt and
far too many pixels lit, in unproductive linux desktop flame wars.
Windows does away with all this productivity-killing confusion over
choice of desktop. Here, in helping me clarify my choice of desktop
software, is where GTALUG (again) provided enormous value. Some recent
discussion around desktops "Re: [GTALUG] Desktop swap" has led me to add
Fvwm (that uses X) as a first trial "minimalist" desktop, but still to
order the debian Linux DVDs with LXDE.

3. If someone isn't using a cloud-based email IMAP hosting service, but
instead using a POP3 / SMTP hosting service and keeping emails on local
disk (as I am), dropping Microsoft Windows means converting the local
MS-based email database to a new email client. Yes, Mozilla Thunderbird
can import emails from MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express (but only when
Thunderbird runs under Windows). But frankly, I have too much invested
in my precious 1.5 GB of email history to trust the standard Thunderbird
import function. So I have written my own C++ program to generate solid
conversion integrity checking for the email database conversion. Call me
paranoid. And this C++ program isn;t fiished yet.

* * *
* * *

The existence of the GTALUG has become a great comfort to me, on this
long road from Win XP to debian Linux. For example, because of GTALUG
advice, I'm going to use bash instead of MKSH, I doubled the RAM on the
new PC, and made other tweaks to the HW configuration, based on advice
from GTALUG members.

Presently I'm working with a distributor to get a quote on the parts for
a do-it-your-self ATX mid-tower build. I hope to be soon booting up
debian Linux on that new box.

I'm sooooo looking forward to escaping from the MS stranglehold ...


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