Another half-baked review by an unqualified writer
Posted by: Administrator
on June 15, 2004 08:19 PM
The constant barrage of distro reviews by people who don't have the requisite experience in Linux system administration (both desktop and server) is becoming really irksome. Let me refute some of the points above which should be obvious to just about any Linux admins who do work beyond the individual desktop programming level -- that is, those administering office-based systems in a mixed environment, supporting a variety of technical and administrative personnel.
1. Hardware
The reviewer tries to cover his inability to follow guidelines by suggesting that readers check an HCL to ensure their hardware is supported. He then goes on to install the OS on a hardware platform which he has obviously not done this for, ignoring his own advice! Red Hat Desktop is intended as a companion for RHEL served environments, not for standalone or home users that are looking for support for the latest and greatest hardware. Then the reviewer has the gall to suggest that somehow the installer is at fault for not detecting hardware that doesn't appear on the HCL.
2. Nvidia
I would hazard a guess that in a real office environment, there's really no one that interested in proprietary 3D drivers that are really only good for gaming. Yes, I understand that people who do 3D design or game programming don't fall into that rule. The majority of office environments aren't doing that kind of work, so the rule holds up. Nvidia drivers are interesting mainly if you're a home user or gamer, in which case you shouldn't be writing a review that's for a site that clals itself an "enterprise Linux resource." Save it for Slashdot.
3. Reassigning ownership
I nearly sprayed my screen with coffee here. This guy is writing a review and he doesn't know how to properly migrate his user and group files to preserve ownership? This is the point where I decided I had to make a reply to this review; it's too tempting to sit back and say, "surely everyone will figure out this guy doesn't know what he's doing." You don't have to be an RHCE (as I am) to figure out how this stuff works properly; even if you didn't know already, it only takes a couple test boxes (non-production of course) to figure out how to do it properly. And of course there's roughly a gazillion Web sites out there that have the information as well. Sad, just sad.
4. PCMCIA NIC
This was just ridiculous. The problem here is that the reviewer incorrectly has the NIC set to start on boot, which is not what you want to do with PCMCIA NICs. They're not present until after PCMCIA is started, and when they are detected as the PCMCIA modules load, they can be correctly started. For those of you who didn't know this already, change the<nobr> <wbr></nobr><tt>/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX</tt> file so that <tt>ONBOOT=no</tt>, or use the nice GUI network device manager to turn the "start on boot" feature off.
5. Up2date
This problem is a little less pedestrian, but no simpler to fix. The reviewer should have done <tt>up2date up2date</tt> first (or just chosen to update the <tt>up2date</tt> and <tt>up2date-gnome</tt> packages in the GUI) before completing any other updates. It would be nice if this happened automatically in the Up2date application; I'm sure Red Hat is working on it.
6. Old software
If the reviewer is so bent the latest and greatest, WHY THE HELL IS HE WRITING FOR AN ENTERPRISE LINUX SITE? Enterprise Linux is most definitively NOT about the latest and greatest; it's about staying behind the bleeding edge, where stability is far more important than new features. If you want new stuff, you should be using Fedora Core, or some other (maybe even more) bleeding edge distribution. NOT Red Hat Desktop or any other RHEL product. Red Hat is up front about this, and the reviewer's ignorance of the matter is pretty pathetic given the forum.
7. Support
RHD is designed to fit into an environment where you have support from an in-house staff, not for home users. What Red Hat provides is precisely what is required for this strategy. People buy support escalation options for their mission-critical servers, and the IT staff for the most part handles desktop user problems. It's starting to look more and more like this reviewer has basically no experience in the real world. Perhaps he's just a high school or college student trying to earn a quick buck with a crappy review. It's sad that the site editorial staff can't weed out this kind of sophomoric drivel.
8. Conclusion
The one part the reviewer gets partly right... Yes, home users will NOT be happy with RHD. They're not meant to. The reviewer has missed the whole point of the Red Hat Desktop product and where it fits in the RHEL line. Nothing in RHEL is meant to suggest, much less scream, "New! For Home Users!" That's what Fedora Core is for. I run that at home and on several of my workstations at work. I also understand where RHEL and RHD are targeted -- for corporate environments, not for kids or hobbyists.
Please, would the editorial staff here figure out what the meaning of "enterprise" is before they allow another of these cockamamie reviews to hit the site?
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Another half-baked review by an unqualified writer
Posted by: Administrator on June 15, 2004 08:19 PMThe constant barrage of distro reviews by people who don't have the requisite experience in Linux system administration (both desktop and server) is becoming really irksome. Let me refute some of the points above which should be obvious to just about any Linux admins who do work beyond the individual desktop programming level -- that is, those administering office-based systems in a mixed environment, supporting a variety of technical and administrative personnel.
1. Hardware
The reviewer tries to cover his inability to follow guidelines by suggesting that readers check an HCL to ensure their hardware is supported. He then goes on to install the OS on a hardware platform which he has obviously not done this for, ignoring his own advice! Red Hat Desktop is intended as a companion for RHEL served environments, not for standalone or home users that are looking for support for the latest and greatest hardware. Then the reviewer has the gall to suggest that somehow the installer is at fault for not detecting hardware that doesn't appear on the HCL.
2. Nvidia
I would hazard a guess that in a real office environment, there's really no one that interested in proprietary 3D drivers that are really only good for gaming. Yes, I understand that people who do 3D design or game programming don't fall into that rule. The majority of office environments aren't doing that kind of work, so the rule holds up. Nvidia drivers are interesting mainly if you're a home user or gamer, in which case you shouldn't be writing a review that's for a site that clals itself an "enterprise Linux resource." Save it for Slashdot.
3. Reassigning ownership
I nearly sprayed my screen with coffee here. This guy is writing a review and he doesn't know how to properly migrate his user and group files to preserve ownership? This is the point where I decided I had to make a reply to this review; it's too tempting to sit back and say, "surely everyone will figure out this guy doesn't know what he's doing." You don't have to be an RHCE (as I am) to figure out how this stuff works properly; even if you didn't know already, it only takes a couple test boxes (non-production of course) to figure out how to do it properly. And of course there's roughly a gazillion Web sites out there that have the information as well. Sad, just sad.
4. PCMCIA NIC
This was just ridiculous. The problem here is that the reviewer incorrectly has the NIC set to start on boot, which is not what you want to do with PCMCIA NICs. They're not present until after PCMCIA is started, and when they are detected as the PCMCIA modules load, they can be correctly started. For those of you who didn't know this already, change the<nobr> <wbr></nobr><tt>/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX</tt> file so that <tt>ONBOOT=no</tt>, or use the nice GUI network device manager to turn the "start on boot" feature off.
5. Up2date
This problem is a little less pedestrian, but no simpler to fix. The reviewer should have done <tt>up2date up2date</tt> first (or just chosen to update the <tt>up2date</tt> and <tt>up2date-gnome</tt> packages in the GUI) before completing any other updates. It would be nice if this happened automatically in the Up2date application; I'm sure Red Hat is working on it.
6. Old software
If the reviewer is so bent the latest and greatest, WHY THE HELL IS HE WRITING FOR AN ENTERPRISE LINUX SITE? Enterprise Linux is most definitively NOT about the latest and greatest; it's about staying behind the bleeding edge, where stability is far more important than new features. If you want new stuff, you should be using Fedora Core, or some other (maybe even more) bleeding edge distribution. NOT Red Hat Desktop or any other RHEL product. Red Hat is up front about this, and the reviewer's ignorance of the matter is pretty pathetic given the forum.
7. Support
RHD is designed to fit into an environment where you have support from an in-house staff, not for home users. What Red Hat provides is precisely what is required for this strategy. People buy support escalation options for their mission-critical servers, and the IT staff for the most part handles desktop user problems. It's starting to look more and more like this reviewer has basically no experience in the real world. Perhaps he's just a high school or college student trying to earn a quick buck with a crappy review. It's sad that the site editorial staff can't weed out this kind of sophomoric drivel.
8. Conclusion
The one part the reviewer gets partly right... Yes, home users will NOT be happy with RHD. They're not meant to. The reviewer has missed the whole point of the Red Hat Desktop product and where it fits in the RHEL line. Nothing in RHEL is meant to suggest, much less scream, "New! For Home Users!" That's what Fedora Core is for. I run that at home and on several of my workstations at work. I also understand where RHEL and RHD are targeted -- for corporate environments, not for kids or hobbyists.
Please, would the editorial staff here figure out what the meaning of "enterprise" is before they allow another of these cockamamie reviews to hit the site?
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