Originally posted by melchior
linux has it's uses. it is especially useful for dedicated appliances like a music & video server/tivo or just to run folding all day
for most users though, it does not make an easy and cheerful desktop operating system. though things have improved in recent years, the latest 9.x offerings of many distro's are very user-friendly.
still, i would not reconmend my mother use linux over winxp. the re-learning curve would be staggering for her and my japan-australia technical support would quadruple.
Ximian with openoffice and evolution email and she would be fine. The "learning curve" is just a myth. Gnome and KDE (Ximian is Gnome based and run by the originators of Gnome) are pretty much windows 98 clones, appearance wise. Either one can be setup to mimick windows rather well. After all, it is still just clicking on a "start" button, finding your app, and using it.
Back on topic...
I (with help of my roommate) got gnupod up and running on my ThinkPad running Mandrake 9.1. Word of warning, you will have to install Perl 5.6-devel to get it to work properly. The Perl 5.8 that comes with Mandrake seems a little... weird. Not to mention that it isn't on
http://www.rpmfind.net yet
Generic pcmcia Firewire card I got from Amazon worked without any configuration!
Flashed the iPod from the Mac version to the Windows version (1.3) without a problem.
Transfered (command line) songs without a hitch! Now I just need a faster cd drive to rip my cd's to .mp3's....
Can anyone recommend a good Gtk front end for gnupod? Has anyone heard good things about podsync?
I have the feeling I am going to become very attached to my iPod (zed) very quickly!