On 24.06.01 at 22:32 Mark Garland wrote: >So--my experience is that the installation of a basic working Debian system >is not too hard. Configuring peripherals is hard!
Yes, I'd agree, that was my experience as a debian newbie also. The basic system installation is friendly, X and Gnome take some RTFM, but peripherals...arrrgh! For example, after I'd installed slink, I found out I'd need to upgrade the kernel to use some peripherals. That could be pre-diagnosed and help offered. It can otherwise be quite baffling and a reason to leave debian slumbering. It would be interesting to know how many people tried debian, then left it due to such difficulties. I guess nobody knows that. So, I'd say, a little more help with X and Gnome installation is required and a lot more guidance with peripherals. I'm not fond of plug-n-play, and wouldn't go that far in taking control over a system. But it would be good to guide, then prompt users with the options they have for installing a given hardware component. It would all be optional of course. >BTW, is comparing OS's on their ease of installation useful outside the >Linux world? I don't think many users of Windows have ever installed the >OS. True, but once people have used Windows, they have used many GUI setup programs and if debian installed with ease they might well try it. Marcus
