[Nautilus-list] Linux and Joe user

[OS <owensavill compuserve com>]

Hello,

Appologies if I should have sent this to someone else, but yours is the only
Helix e-mail I seem to have at the moment !

It seems to me that there is a perennial barrier to wide scale acceptance of
Linux in the home at the moment. The lack of certain devices on Linux make it
very unnatractive to all the Window$ users I speak to (an I do mean ALL).

Most of the home Window$ users I have run into have simple devices, but to them
it makes their setup complete and usable. Moreover a lot of these simple
devices came with their box, so there is now way they are going to rush out and
change them.

What 'simple' devices do I mean ? Simple non-postscript printers, simple
parallel port scanners and top of the range digital cameras !

I had not done a print out since I moved to Linux three years ago ! Yes,
really. Any printouts I required had to be done elsewhere ! When I eventually
found a Linux (reverse engineered) driver for my Lexmark 1000 all the
cartridges had dried out ! Most people I know do a lot more printing than I,
and without exception say that without printer support there is 'NO WAY' they
will convert to linux. Moreover I became determined not to buy a Linux
comaptible printer just because every Linux user told me to !!!

I still cannot use my parallel port scanner, and the new scanners being ported
to the SANE project appears to have slowed to a crawl ! People who have
scanners say the same thing as people with printers - 'NO WAY' !

I do not have a digital camera. But people I know who do have digital cameras
say the same thing as people with parallel port scanners and non-postscript
printers - 'NO WAY am I changing to something that does not support my devices'

On the other hand they all love the GIMP, PhotoGenics, gPhoto etc.. They all
love the idea of running up Xsane or gPhoto and simply switching scanner type /
camera type on the fly and not having to install new drivers all the time. In
fact some find it hard to believe the simplicity when all they hear about is
the lack of functionality in Linux that seems to predominate at the moment.

I realise that this kind of job is extremely time consuming, and potentially
not very exciting or cutting edge, but I feel that at some point this bridge is
going to need crossing. It seems that everyone is trying to pass the buck on
this one.

I would love to do some of this myself, since I now believe this may be a
crucial factor in the success of Linux in the home. But I have never coded at
driver level and would need someone to lead me by the hand for a while !

With Nautilus setting the standard for desktop usability on Linux it would be
fabulous to think that this kind of issue was being addressed. If I can help in
any way let me know, but the learning curve is likely to be steep. If you do
ask me to help I hope you are patient !!!

Owen