Study: Linux sales down, but not out

CNET News.com ^ | August 6, 2002, 4:40 PM PT | Stephen Shankland

[Bush2000]

Who *buys* Linux, anyway?

[Tennessee_Bob]

So sales are down on a free software package??

[Abcdefg]

I downloaded it for free and burned the CD on my Windows machine. My NIC and Soundcard are not supported yet, so I haven't tried it out.

[mykej]

Nobody "buys" linux. Many people buy support for linux. Red Hat's per server license is for support, not for the operating system itself. (Note, RH may include commercial software in some bundles that requires a license fee, but never for the OS itself.)

The only reason to buy support is a) it is going on a mission critical system that can have 0 down time or b) you feel more comfortable if you have somebody to yell at.

Most enterprise level software generates much more profit on support, for those two reasons, than they do on license fees.

[Wisconsin]

We run a total of 14 copies of Linux. We paid for one ---and that really was because we needed it on dvd and did not have a dvd recorder.

We do subscribe on two to a support network.

[blackfarm]

I bought a Insider ASubscription to lindowsOS for 2 years for 99 dollars. Its a great Little distro. Xandros due out in September will be worth paying for as well.

[Abcdefg]

0 down time huh?

[mykej]

"0 down time huh?"

Realistically, no. Not even 5 9's. I don't believe bitty boxes really get there yet.

You will have significantly less downtime with linux than windows though. Anything you have to reboot every few days is *not* a server OS.

[Abcdefg]

I agree. At the company I workd for, our department used some DEC Alpha servers running UNIX and I don't remember one of them ever needing a reboot other than a planned one.

[Clive]

Just curious.

What NIC and what soundcard are you using?

Rather difficult these days to find a NIC that does not have a module or a soundcard that won't run under either an alsa module or an ossfree module.

Let me know so that I can warn my friends not to buy them.

[Abcdefg]

Linksys 100TX and Soundblaster Audigy

[mykej]

Tulip chipset on the NIC, it works.

[Abcdefg]

thanks, the cable modem connection was a big issue.

Any info on the Audigy? I downloaded RH 7.3

[Clive]

The linksys LNE100TX uses module tulip.

The Audigy card uses module emu10k1

Your linux distribution should have this module in both ossfree and alsa versions.

From a root command prompt, run "slocate -u" to update your locate database, then run "locate tulip" to find the ethernet card module and "locate emu10k1" to find the sound modules.

Install the modules manually using modprobe.

In fact, sndconfig ought to install the sound modules for you if you have a reasonably current distribution of linux.




If not, get it from opensource.creative.com

[Abcdefg]

I'm green as grass with Linux. You have been a great help, thanks.

[Clive]

Sort of screwed up the reply

opensource.creative.com is for the ossfree emu10k1 module.

Get the most recent version of alsa, which includes the alsa emu10k1 module, from sourceforge, but I suggest you use the ossfree version.



None of this should be necessary as your distribution disks should have the necessary modules unless you have a very old version of linux.

[Clive]

My replies jumped your reply 13.

RedHat 7.3 is reasonalbly equivalent to my Mandrake 8.2 so it will have the modules for both the NIC and the soundcard and it has probably put them into your modules directories.

[The Duke]

I set up a new Mandrake Linux server at the office last month...what a dream machine! Almost a gig of memory -1.7Ghz processor running Postgres, MySQL, Apache, Tomcat, PHP and CVS - more SCSI and IDE disk capacity than should be legal on any one box - and local and offshore developers writing code on the machine almost around the clock.

This stands in stark contrast to the WIN2K server with Microsoft SQL server that I had to shut down a couple of months ago - simply because it was a money pit. Linux "sales" might be sluggish - but of course those comparisons are simply "apples and oranges".

(Our new workstations are also now being installed with Linux)

[bat-boy]

Every few days? Man that'd be great! I run WIN98 2nd Ed and it locks up in less than 24hrs. I hate it!

I've heard that you can actually run windows on top of Linux and if it locks up, you can close it like a program and then reopen it. Although if you're running Linux, I can't see why you'd want to run windows also.

[Tribune7]

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