[geeks] Linux/Ubuntu mini-rant

[nate at portents.com]

Right now I use Ubuntu for one thing, MythTV.  I won't bother ranting, I
would go on for too long.  Overall, I like it, because I like the
do-it-yourself aspect of it all, and in the end it works, and works well,
it's just that the path to get there is very long.

Basically I look at linux as a work in progress that is not yet ready for
prime time.  (I don't even have the energy to talk about something as
trivial as, say, how to get S/PDIF out to work, which varies depending on
a large number of factors, which made discovering the steps a long process
involving lots of sources.)

Thank goodness for the internet and all the linux
wikis/forums/blogs/newsgroup posts though, because I think if I was stuck
on an island with just a linux distro and it's source and no net
connection it would take an extremely long time to figure out how to do
some very simple things.  Makes me wonder if linux is so perpetually
unfinished *because* they never really have to ship...

- Nate