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Dial-Up Users Forgotten by Linux

Posted by Digital Resistance on April 21, 2010

Post I just made to LinuxForums.org :

Why do so many distros (most?) not include a dial-up GUI? (Even among those that are otherwise GUI-intensive and “newcomer/user- friendly”)

And why is it generally so difficult to even find-out whether or not a distro has a dial-up GUI in advance?

With one or two notable exceptions, I have found that even for those distros that do come with a dial-up GUI, any mention of it is hidden pretty deeply– if even present at all.

This is quite frustrating for anyone who would like to know such simple, basic information about a distro before going to the trouble and incurring the expense of ordering a disc or bothering a friend or relative who has broadband.

Yet, most of the release announcements that I have seen for various distros do make some mention of one or more broadband/wireless tools/features.

Couldn’t a brief line such as,
(GNOME or K or whichever) PPP for dial-up
simply be added to such announcements?

What about adding this to the spec lists at Distro Watch?

Or a centralized listing, somewhere, of distros that come with a dial-up GUI?

Although dial-up users may be a dwindling minority, more than a few of us do still exist.

(In addition to those in remote areas, there are also more than a few — even in major cities– who either remain with or even have gone back to dial-up, which in many areas of the U.S. at least, is still available for a fraction of the cost of broadband or even completely free)

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One Response to “Dial-Up Users Forgotten by Linux”

  1. ABDE said

    With *DSL lines, dial-up lines were becoming residual.

    But with mobile phones used as modems, it si possible that distros will change its policy about dial-up GUIs, maybe.

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