On Sun, Dec 15, 2002 at 09:03:47AM -0800, Dexter Graphic wrote: > Here are the facts: > > Dan does not want to use a graphical user interface (GUI) to > relate to his computer (that means no windows, icons, mice, > or pointers). He has a philosophical/political preference for > free (as in speech) software and would rather not continue > using Windows 95 and its lame Internet Mail program with no > spell checking.
With the exception of the spell-checking, this is old hat for me, all of
it. I can figure this much out though, relatively simply.
> It has been demonstrated at recent EUGLUG meetings that a
> text-based mail system is possible with GNU/Linux. Dan
> actually has the software on his computer (Debian 3.0). The
> problem which remains is figuring out how to configure and
> use it. (Dan's computer, by the way, is a desktop Pentium
> 133, with 32MB of ram, a Matrox SVGA card, a CD ROM that is
> not bootable from the BIOS, and a hard disk that's at least
> 2GB in capacity.)
Indeed; I use one exclusively.
> For some reason Dan is unwilling to spend the necessary time
> and effort to read the instructions and figure it out for
> himself. For some reason no on else from EUGLUG is willing
> to do this for him for free (as in beer).
Setting it all up for him is something I am able to do, but it would take
me a couple of hours at least to produce something which any idiot could
use. I assume he'd be wise to use a menu system of some sort. I can help
there as well, though I have not actually used any program that might be
useful except for pdmenu, which is likely not what he would want.
> So here is my proposal:
>
> If Dan pays me at a rate of $10 an hour, I will figure it
> out and get a text-based mail system working on his system.
> That includes setting up PPP, fetchmail, sendmail, procmail,
> mutt, emacs, and aspell. Since I know very little about any
> of these programs, I figure it will take me at least 25
> hours and possibly as many as 50 to get Dan's mail system
> working. This means it would cost Dan $250 to $500 to solve
> his problem.
I can do the mail setup however he needs it in just a few hours at the
same rate. ;)
I would offer my time freely, but experience shows me that:
1. If I do what I would normally expect to be paid for freely, then nobody
will expect to pay me for it.
2. My cost of living is higher than my income.
3. A small exchange of money for services tends to leave everyone feeling
that nothing is owed to anyone. I do not like to owe or feel like I
owe anybody personally, and I do not like to feel as if I am owed
somethinga.
> If anyone else with more expertise than me is willing to do
> it for less, then please submit your own proposals.
More information is required really. What exactly does he need? More
detail means better ability to do what is needed quickly, efficiently, and
cheaply. ;)
--
Joseph Carter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Don't feed the sigs
I did it just to piss you off. :-P
-- Branden Robinson in a message to debian-devel
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