On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 01:18:21AM -0600, sc wrote: > > I guess it depends on your friends. A friend of mine introduced me to > Debian when I had a dormant P133 w/32MB of RAM. Only reason I used > Debian was because he introduced it to me. I had no meaningful UNIX > knowledge, and I'm not a programmer; *every* distribution would've been > overwhelming to me. > > 2 years later, I STILL have no meaningful UNIX knowledge, but I'm still > with Debian. Have no real incentive to leave. The installation / > upgrade features are terrific. I like what it stands for, and it never > gives me any problems for what I use it for. > > I'm not sure why Debian gets such low marks for newbies. Great for > learning Linux because everything's not hidden behind a control panel. > Not for every newbie, but it now has some reputation of eating every > newbie for breakfast which is too bad. > > Steve
I think that it may come from the present state of reality for computers. While there are several users out there that came from the command line, set it up yourself era. The vast majority of current users are used to a leviathan of an operating system doing all of their thinking for them. It comes in and sets up their system, then tells them this is how you do this and that. It's easy and people like that. They don't care that it takes more hardware horsepower to send an e-mail than early space launches required, all they know is that it works. My personal computer experience started with an off white box w/keyboard on-board, and used color basic as an OS. I soon discovered that it could run a real OS, OS-9, it would allow me to use the whole 64K of my memory! I still have flash-backs of starring at a monochrome monitor (which required a hardware installation including soldering some components.) With a dazed gaze, drool seeping from the corner of my mouth, and small bald patches on my head. Trying to get the thing set up. Compared to that, Debian is a breeze. I see it like the old driving a car comparison, they just want to turn the key and drive, they don't want to change the plugs, let alone the water pump. They are just unwilling to expend the time and energy it takes to do basic system set-up and maintenance. Let alone the learning curve to become proficient at it. Just my thoughts on it. >Lute<
